Protecting Sight #209: Why our screens make us less happy. Soft chop, phaco-rhexis, miLoop, giant nodular posterior scleritis, & The Iliad. Pearls on building a personal brand.

Welcome to my daily learning journal. My daily goal is to watch one Ted Talk and one cataract surgery. I also plan to read one journal article and read/listen to a book chapter, podcast, or significant work.

Here is today’s list:

1. Ted Talk – Adam Alter: Why our screens make us less happy. “What are our screens and devices doing to us? Psychologist Adam Alter studies how much time screens steal from us and how they’re getting away with it. He shares why all those hours you spend staring at your smartphone, tablet or computer might be making you miserable — and what you can do about it.” (ted.com)

Have always marveled that the titans of Silicon Valley limit technology use among their own children. And this is a chronic “New Years resolution” which I fail to live up to. I need to remove my iPhone, iPad, and Macbook from the dinner table. A very good talk if you need more inspiration to limit screentime. (And day 1 of 1 successful!).

2A. Cataract Surgery – Uday Devgan MD – Soft Chop technique for soft cataracts. Dr. Devgan writes, “This video shows the soft chop technique which is very useful for patients with minimal nuclear density. The phaco tip is pushed into the sub-incisional nucleus and then the chopper is placed opposite it but still within the confines of the capsulorhexis. The two instruments are brought together and then a crack is propagated until two separate hemi-nuclear pieces are achieved.” Great pearls.

2B. Tom Oetting MD and Caroline W. Wilson, MD – Phaco-rhexis (dense white cataract) and MiLoop technique. Excellent demonstration by Dr. Oetting and University of Iowa chief resident Dr. Wilson.

3. Agranat JS, Moussa K, Aronow ME. An Amelanotic Choroidal Mass in a Middle-aged WomanJAMA Ophthalmol. 2019;137(12):1452–1453. doi:10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2019.4134

Achilles tending the wounded Patroclus
(Attic red-figure kylix, c. 500 BC)
(via Wikipedia)

4. Iliad by Homer – Book 3. Listening to the LoyalBooks free podcast version. (Wikipedia | Spark Notes)

5. Polina Marinova (Founder & author of @ProfileRead) – An excellent, 1-minute pearl on building a personal brand.

I will add this pearl to my future talks on protecting online reputation! My free talks are available on my blog here.

6. 5 Pearls to Transform Your Physician Brand (9 minutes) – My top 5 pearls to create & curate a physician (or personal!) brand.

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