Susan Maushart
Columnist, author and social commentator Dr. Susan Maushart is a mother of three teenagers. For over a decade, her weekly column has been part of a balanced breakfast for readers of the Weekend Australian Magazine. Maushart is heard regularly on ABC Radio's popular online series 'Multiple Choice', and is a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies at the University of Western Australia. Her four books have been published in eight languages, and her essays and reviews have appeared in a host of international publications. She holds a PhD in Media Ecology from New York University. Maushart's first book was the award-winning Sort of a Place Like Home, a history of the Moore River Settlement (later depicted in Philip Noyce's 2002 film classic Rabbit-Proof Fence). The bestselling The Mask of Motherhood was hailed by the London Times as "a feminist classic," and Wifework: What Marriage Really Means for Women started arguments right around the globe. Her book, What Women Want Next, looks at the question of feminine fulfilment in a post-feminist world.
She moved to Perth, Western Australia from New York 19 years ago but insists she is only passing through.
“Cities have personalities, just as people do, and that finding the right place to live is akin to finding the right partner to live with.”
“Friend' requires an adjective these days, since it otherwise feels empty.”
“Online chatting, on the other hand, has been linked to symptoms of loneliness, confusion, anxiety, depression, fatigue, and addiction.”
“The information paradox- that the more data we have, the stupider we become- has a social corollary, too: that the more frantically we connect, one to another, the more disconnected our relationships become.”
“A pencil is an extension of a finger writing in the sand. But our electronic media are extensions of our brains.”
“The mind boggles, in other words, but the brain toggles- sometimes quite rapidly, from one task to the next.”
“Giving up one activity does not guarantee you will take up a more worthy substitute.”
“No one's brain is different enough to make constant interruptions, distractions, and task-switching an optimal environment in which to function. No one's.”
“Parenting in the age of mobile communication really does allow us to be there for our kids in a way never before possible.”
“SMS made everything negotiable: hour by hour, minute by minute. There was no such thing as a firm plan or a final schedule.”
“The devices meant to simplify our lives merely create new and improved complexities.”
“Respondents had been so overwhelmed by their in-box they'd declared "e-mail bankruptcy.”
“He's a pug and he always looks that way.”
“Maybe it was the lack of stimulation that made you so productive and sort of... determined.”
“Have you ever considered whether Perth's 'dullness' may have inspired you rather than inhibited you?”
“A world without boredom would be dull.”
“Motivation begins with discomfort- with needs that are unfulfilled.”
“Boredom might be construed as the impetus for achievement rather than as an obstacle to it.”
“Maturity is largely about acquiring the confidence and the competence to make your own decisions.”
“The whole point of becoming an adult is to achieve self-reliance.”
“The more interesting life becomes, in other words, the more boredom we are doomed to experience.”
“...boredom is all about perception. It's a self-diagnosis, plain and simple. If you don't realize you're bored, you're not.”