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For a person struggling with an addiction, the road to recovery can be extremely long and toilsome. It’s said for anyone who needs help that in order to change, they have to want change, and they have to work for it.

People tend to have different opinions when it comes to time estimates on how long it takes to get hooked on a substance. There are certain harder and definitely more dangerous drugs that have addictive qualities that act fast, but for most substances, the dependency on that particular substance or thing depends entirely on the individual taking the substance and how often they’re taking the substance.

Nobody can doubt the addictive qualities of drugs, the way they change people, and the way they rule lives. Although addiction is always grievous, there are perks to living in the 21st century that help addicts come out of the fire with a little more ease than what has been available in the past. Here are different technologies that can help people struggling with addiction.

Wearable Technology

Technology is so cool in that way that it can aid people when they most need it. Just as your iPhone or your iWatch can help remind you to go to appointment or connect with friends, other wearable technology can help in a big way, too.

There is a wearable device being developed by Chrono Therapeutics that gives those addicted to nicotine a calculated dose of nicotine based on an algorithm. The program knows when the cravings are at their worst and it will wean the individual off of the substance.

This technology is being developed for more addictive substances like cocaine or heroin, although the market for people wanting to come off of those substances is a little more limited. The technology is still in process and will be more effective than more traditional methods.

Apps that Aid Recovery

If wearable technology isn’t something that is up your alley, there are always apps available that aid in the recovery process. For alcoholics seeking recovery, there is an app called Sober Grid that is free and allows users to find and connect with others in the area who are facing the same challenges. There is also an AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) app,  NA (Narcotics Anonymous), and other apps that have a goal to help those suffering get free,  and they even offer advice as to other things to do to fill the time and void.

People say that the key to getting free is to have a support system. Those who try to do things alone are more likely to fail. Thanks to technology, the opportunity to connect is easier than ever. Even though technology helps in the process, it’s still important to get an individual into a recovery program that is structured to include everything an addict needs to get clean.

Photo Credit Flickr.com
https://www.flickr.com/photos/wlscience/2143293439/

I am about three days into Peter Drucker’s book, Innovation and Entrepreneurship. It’s a good read provided you skip the introduction that consists almost entirely of understated 1984 prophesy’s about the future of the tech space.

Drucker approaches entrepreneurship as a science centered on confronting new frontiers rather than establishing a new businesses or owning a business. The argument is that a person starting a new hamburger stand where there is a market need for a hamburger stand is not an entrepreneur. The entrepreneur would open a beatnik hamburger bar that plays old movies instead of sports in a part of town that already has hamburger stands, coffee shops and sports bars.

He goes so far as to make the point that companies like DuPont, 3M and Apple (I added Apple to his list) have proven that well established companies can be entrepreneurial. Whenever a person, partnership or company takes a risk by forging into a new frontier, entrepreneurship has taken place. Read the rest of this entry →

English: Classroom in SIM University. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have been teaching at Colorado Mesa University for almost six years. What began as a co-adjunct position teaching a Desktop Publishing course, evolved into a full-time instructor position in which I teach five courses per semester and covering 10 total course titles. I am also the faculty adviser to the student magazine and co-adviser to the school’s chapter of The Society of Professional Journalists. I keep busy, and I love it.

My first full year as an adjunct, I began teaching a course called “Web Content Development.” The previous instructor had primarily taught basic web design, but I felt teaching communication majors about web design was a little like teaching journalists how to fix the printing press.

Instead of focusing on the nuts and bolts of HTML, file management, and FTP clients, I redesigned the course to focus on social media as a communication medium. Facebook was about three years into its proliferation into the mainstream and Tumblr was brand new.

In order to get the students to use social media, I made it mandatory for all students to join a class Facebook group. Only four students in the class were on Facebook and one was on Twitter (but never used it). One or two students claimed that they had some sort of moral/ethical objection to joining Facebook, so I gave them a pass. Less than four weeks into the class every one of the students had joined – even those who had originally objected.

Read the rest of this entry →