Welcome to 2018! And here's a challenge: can you define how technology is coming between you and happiness? At work and at home, technology in the form of smartphones, tablets and ordinary computers is taking an increasingly intrusive place in our lives. Cumulatively many of us spend over 2 hours every day simply checking our phone for messages and other updates. Via our devices and social media, we allow ourselves to be swamped in a random yet constant feed of stories of which the majority are negative in content. All of this takes us away from ourselves. It snags our focus and pulls us away from the tasks that matter. And even more insidiously, we are becoming reliant on external stimuli and narratives to reflect our internal state. In other words, we're losing the ability to make ourselves happy just by being who we are, where we are, how we are. Take a look at this short TED talk by Amy Blankson - who just happens to be the sister of Shawn Achor, the work-happiness author and speaker.  And then as your year begins, take a look at how you could monitor your interactions with technology to actually increase your ability to be present in your own lives - and where technology could help you find more happiness.