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3:11 pm
Mon August 15, 2011

Cell phones used to text, take pictures, and avoid others

Credit user edenpictures / Flickr
Is she really texting someone, or does she just not want to talk to you?

The Pew Internet & American Life Project has released its annual findings on how Americans use their cell phones. Other than talking on the phone (it was a phone survey, after all), most of us use our phones for texting and picture taking.

From Pew:

As in previous Pew Internet surveys of mobile usage, texting and picture-taking remain the most common mobile phone activities—73% of cell owners engage in each of these—followed by sending photos or videos to others (54%) and accessing the internet (44%). The two least prevalent activities (among the 15 we inquired about) are accessing Twitter and using one’s phone to take part in a video call or chat (6% of cell owners do each of these).

People interacting with younger cell phone users take note.

30% of cell phone users aged 18-29 say they pretend to use their cell phone to avoid interacting with people around them.

The avoidance technique is used significantly more by this age group than by others (11% of those 30-49 said they do this, 6% of those 50-64, and 2% of those 65 and older).

So younger users... teach the elders.

How is this best done? Do you pretend to take a call? Or do you just glance down at your device when you feel eye contact coming your way?

Or maybe you really are playing Angry Birds.

Arts/Culture
6:00 am
Mon August 15, 2011

Students take to the stage to tell the story of Flint arsons

Credit Photo courtesy of the Project's facebook page
UM-Flint students interviewed more than 50 residents about the arson fires.

Students in Flint have written a new play inspired by the string of arson fires that plagued the city last year.

Students at the University of Michigan-Flint spent a good part of the this year interviewing victims of the arson fires that ripped through the city in 2010. The students then transcribed the interviews and strung them together to create a new play called EMBERS: The Flint Fires Verbatim Theatre Project.

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Arts/Culture
4:08 pm
Thu August 11, 2011

New "Be Me" project champions black men in Detroit, Philadelphia

A new initiative in Detroit focuses on the role black men and teens play in the city’s revival.

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Arts/Culture
5:45 pm
Wed August 10, 2011

Sphinx founder Aaron Dworkin to serve on National Council of the Arts

Credit Bruce Giffin / Courtesy of the Sphinx Organization
Aaron Dworkin is President Obama's first confirmed appointment to the National Council on the Arts

Aaron Dworkin, founder of  the Detroit-based Sphinx Organization, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve on the National Council on the Arts. Dworkin is President Obama's first appointment to the Council.

The National Council on the Arts advises the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, currently Rocco Landsman, about policies and programs.

Dworkin founded the Sphinx Organization in 1996 with the goal of "building diversity in classical music."

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