Infotrade

Are you addicted to the Internet? If so, you’re not alone. Some 61% of people feel addicted to the Internet and are unable to quit browsing, according to an informal survey. Opinion pollster SodaHead surveyed 602 visitors to its site Feb. 16. about whether they experience Internet addiction, and found that many people are self-diagnosed addicts. Women experience addiction more than men, with 64% of women compared with 55% of men reporting the symptoms of addiction. Interestingly, respondents addicted to other behaviors were less likely to be addicted to the Internet. Only 48% of smokers, compared with 65% of non-smokers, experience addiction. The margin between drinkers and non-drinkers was narrower, with 57% of drinkers and 64% of non-drinkers describing themselves as Internet addicts. Among respondents who felt addicted, teenagers between 13 and 17 were worst off, with 73% reporting addiction. As respondents get older, they reported subsequently less addictio...

The relationship between social media and privacy has long been a controversial one, but with recent privacy breaches, ever-changing privacy settings and an overall increase in the things we share in social media, there is now renewed attention to the troublesome topic. To shed some light on where consumers stand on social media privacy issues, MDG Advertising created an enlightening infographic that shows consumers’ levels of trust, feelings of control, and attitudes toward online privacy and protection. It also offers insight on what consumers ultimately want in terms of social media and privacy. With consumers becoming more and more concerned about protecting their privacy in the social media era, social networks must make privacy a priority in order to keep consumers as fans and followers.

“A good government implies two things,” wrote James Madison in 1788. The first is “fidelity to the object of government, which is the happiness of the people.” The second is “a knowledge of the means by which that object can be best attained.” Over the past 224 years, those means have changed. Today, federal and local government agencies undertake challenges that Madison could scarcely have imagined – from space exploration to promoting mass access to higher education to addressing epidemics of obesity and diabetes, to protecting citizens and soldiers from terrorists. In a vast country like the United States in a world of lightning-fast change, it no longer makes sense to presume that governments possess, or even understand, the best ways to address pressing needs and promote “the happiness of the people.” Today’s problems are complex and unpredictable. Similarly, the problem solving knowledge is not concentrated in any one agency, faculty, company or country. It’...