burnout

Recognizing and preventing burnout

I don't know about you, but I've experienced job burnout, and it isn't pleasant.

In case you're not acquainted with this somewhat poorly understood phenomenon, burnout is sort of a workplace version of depression. You know, you used to whistle while you worked, and now you'd rather get a root canal than get out of bed to go to work.

Burnout is bad news. If you're not aware that your work stress and frustration have reached the boiling point, you can find yourself in a near-constant state of irritability or anxiety. You might end … Read more

The 404 020: Where Jeff looks a little like Heath Ledger's brother

EPISODE 20 We're a little bummed about Heath Ledger's death, and we talk about it at the top of the show. We also talk about Burnout Paradise, which is a pretty nice looking game, and a Mass Effect non-troversy.

First look at 'Burnout Paradise'

The good people over at EA were able to send us a copy of Burnout Paradise an entire week before its release. While we're by no means completely through the game, we've gotten a great idea of what the game is all about, how it works, how it doesn't, and what you can expect.

The biggest news about the latest iteration of Burnout is the new open-world environment you're introduced to just seconds after you begin the game. Known as Paradise City, the town is loaded with destructible areas, jumps, billboards, and hidden paths. In addition, the team at Criterion (the British development house that continues to shepherd the series for publisher Electronic Arts) has decided to drop all menus and car classes in favor of a system that allows you begin an event just by pulling up to various intersections around town. This system works well, but one major drawback is that you won't be able to restart an event via the Pause menu. No, you'll have to return to the intersection at which you began in order to retry the same event. We've noticed ourselves not even worrying about which event goes where, and just beginning a new event at the next available crossroad.

Burnout Paradise is all about leveling up your license,… Read more

Do baby gadgets increase new moms' burnout?

You won't read this in the glossy ads of a pregnancy magazine, but motherhood often leaves women feeling burned out, disappointed at times, and confused about who they are anymore.

As a writer on this topic, one of my major conclusions is that it's not our reality that is necessarily so difficult, but rather the gap between our expectations and reality that drives us crazy.

What creates this gap? It begins with the romanticization of motherhood, the buildup to the "big day" of childbirth, like the idealization of a wedding as opposed to the reality of a marriage. Mothers-to-be are marketed to like crazy, and I am concerned that high-tech gadgets have a particular role in this problem. The marketing of gadgets raises the bar of expectation even higher, and gadgets tend to promise new parents an unrealistic level of control and certainty.

Take the BabyPlus "prenatal education system." Hey, I guess a regular baby isn't good enough any more. You need to produce a baby PLUS. This little pod is the latest gadget that a pregnant woman is supposed to strap to her belly to give her fetus a jump-start on academic achievement. The device "introduces patterns of sound to the unborn child in only the language he or she understands - the maternal heartbeat." The promised benefits include better sleep, better nursing, more self-soothing...right up to improved school readiness.

Now I can't say whether this program has any effect or not, but the marketing really bothers me.… Read more