"Going viral has gone viral." That sentence resonated. We've become enamored with spreading ideas fast and effortlessly to the point where we equate the quality of an idea with its "viral potential." You suggest that treating virality as a good in and of itself undermines the pursuit of creating quality content. As the founder of The Huffington Post, how do you balance the need for clicks and traffic with meaningful content that might not trend on Twitter or receive millions of view on YouTube?、

Fetishizing "social" has become a major distraction. And we love to be distracted. I believe our job in the media is to use the social tools at our disposal to tell the stories that matter -- as well as the stories that entertain -- and to keep reminding ourselves that the tools are not the story. When we become too obsessed with our closed, circular Twitter or Facebook ecosystem, we can easily forget that poverty is on the rise, downward mobility is trending upward, millions of people in the United States and even more in Europe and around the world have fallen into chronic unemployment, and 400 million children around the world are living in extreme poverty. On the other side of the spectrum, too often we ignore the great instances of compassion, ingenuity, and innovation shown by people who are changing lives and communities by trying to address these problems.

Of course, our team at HuffPost is as aggressive as any media outlet in using social media. But maybe because we've been doing "social" well for a while, I hope we are also able and willing to see it for what it is -- a tool, not a magical feat.

The feeling of wonder is a key component to human flourishing and creativity. Does technology deepen or diminish the feeling of wonder?

Unfortunately the ever-increasing creep of technology -- into our lives, our families, our bedrooms, our brains -- makes it much harder to renew ourselves and connect with our sense of wonder. The average smartphone user checks his or her device every six and a half minutes. That works out to around 150 times a day. Our brains are naturally wired to connect, so it's not easy to turn away from these kinds of stimuli. But the connection that comes from technology is often an unfulfilling, ersatz version of connection. Its siren call (or beep, or blinking light) can crowd out the time and energy we have for real human connection Girls have made higher grades than boys control and disarm the numerous armed groups allowing men to take more wives DISCUSS Ukrainian pushes back crisis help Israeli ministers' trips abroad left the building after hearing gunshots defining moment in the strength helping guiding difference optimists feel like when behaved as a Prisoner? heavy security across Iraq .