COGNITIVE DISSONANCE: “Over the years, I’ve noticed that when I do have a specific reason to ask everyone to set aside their devices… it’s as if someone has let fresh air into the room,” writes long-time digerati Clay Shirky, a journalism professor at NYU. After years of witnessing this, Shirky’s switched his classes to a “banned unless required” policy when it comes to devices during lecture. Why? It’s bad for the quality of cognitive work, he writes. (Translation: multitasking=bad.)