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Olivia Gardner, a teenager from Northern California, had been severely bullied in school. After reading of her ordeal in a local newspaper, we were shocked. Olivia had endured so much pain. Her book bag had been dragged through the mud, her schoolmates had created an "Olivia's Haters" page on the internet, and they would whisper "Die Olivia" to her in the halls. Olivia's story broke our hearts, especially when we learned that she was suicidal. We couldn't imagine such cruelty.

livia's story moved us, and a spark ignited between us - we both recognized that there was something that had to be done about this situation. We knew we couldn't be bystanders. We organized a letter-writing campaign and asked our friends to write letters of encouragement to Olivia. These messages of healing and hope were the least we could send to Olivia to let her know that she was not alone and that we were thinking about her and hoping she would get better.

Heartfelt, honest and powerful letters started pouring in. And then came the media requests. The more attention the "Olivia's Letters" project got, the more letters we received. Suddenly, we were thrust into the world of bullying, as we read the letters sent to Olivia by former bullies and targets of these bullies. We learned of the remorse adults felt having been bullies themselves in their teen years, and of the depression the targets of bullies still experience years after they have been bullied. Thousands of letters from all over the country and even the world flooded into Olivia's mailbox, each offering a unique perspective on courage and compassion.

Dave Crenshaw discussed his latest book, The Myth of Multitasking. Crenshaw makes a strong distinction behind “background tasking”—reading a magazine while waiting in line, for instance, or listening to music while coding—and “switch-tasking.” Most of the time, when we talk about “multi-tasking,” we’re actually talking about the very costly practice of “switch-tasking.” Every time you switch your attention from one place to another—even from one browser window to another—you take a significant hit to your focus

Switch-tasking, he definitively proves, causes you to execute each task more slowly than you would otherwise, with more errors

pecifically, what can parents, teachers, and employers do to help their kids, students, and employees focus their attention more effectively? As a kid, student, and employee myself, I have to say that I believe the solution is emphatically not to limit access—at least not for older teens. Rather, I think the key lies in laying out the facts and discussing strategies. Information overload and the allure of infinite access, after all, are challenges that affect everyone with an internet connection—not just young people. And, though writing a stellar book report might not be a cause compelling enough to warrant total focus, every young person will at some point find a pursuit worth paying attention to. Maybe it’s writing short stories; maybe writing music. Maybe it’s making art. But when that pursuit comes along, they’re going to want to know how to firewall their attention, focus their efforts, and—for once—stop switching.

ccess Denied examines the political, legal, social, and cultural contexts of Internet filtering in these states from a variety of perspectives. Chapters discuss the mechanisms and politics of Internet filtering, the strengths and limitations of the technology that powers it, the relevance of international law, ethical considerations for corporations that supply states with the tools for blocking and filtering, and the implications of Internet filtering for activist communities that increasingly rely on Internet technologies for communicating their missions.