There’s a trillion dollar virus that is spreading throughout Silicon Valley right now. It’s called social networking. This virus, a relentless kind of digital blob, feeds on our most intimate data.

This article by Carmen Nobel first appeared on the HBS Working Knowledge website on December 10, 2012. A few years ago, when Leslie K. John was a doctoral student at Carnegie Mellon University, a ...

Without question, the intimate relationship is complex, difficult, and challenging, so not surprisingly, it often fails. When it does, it can devastate us not only emotionally, but physically as well.

From the moment we wake to the last scrolls before sleep, our phones are an intimate extension of ourselves. Most Americans check their phones within minutes of waking up, and keep their devices ...