Happy New Year! Do you see the start of 2012 as an opportunity to improve your life? Have you made any changes or resolutions? Do you want to? If not, why not? Several recent New York Times articles address common resolution-worthy complaints, like Pico Iyer in the op-ed piece "The Joy of Quiet" writes: We have more and more ways to communicate, as Thoreau noted, but less and less to say. Partly because we're so busy communicating. And - as he might also have said - we're rushing to meet so many deadlines that we hardly register that what we need most are lifelines. ... Maybe that's why more and more people I know, even if they have no religious commitment, seem to be turning to yoga, or meditation, or tai chi; these aren't New Age fads so much as ways to connect with what could be called the wisdom of old age. Two journalist friends of mine observe an "Internet sabbath" every week, turning off their online connections from Friday night to Monday morning, so as to try to revive those ancient customs known as family meals and conversation. Nick Bilton, in his Bits blog post "Disruptions: Resolved in 2012: To Enjoy the View Without Help From an iPhone" also focuses on the need to take breaks from his tech devices: Bill Maher, on the other hand, prefaces his "New Rules for the New Year" with a less optimistic comment about resolutions: New Year's resolutions are the original New Rules. Except that resolutions are usually self-oriented: I am going to lose weight this year. My New Year's resolution, by the way, is to do the ones from "75; I made a lot of good ones that year. I was 19, and thought I could polish them off by age 20. Alas, I'm a little behind. Students: Tell us what you think about New Year's resolutions. Do you think they can work? Do any of the ideas about cutting back on using technology strike a chord with you? Do you share Mr. Maher's cynicism about resolutions? Have you been able to make lasting changes in your life-as New Year's resolutions or otherwise? Students 13 and older are invited to comment below. Please use only your first name. For privacy policy reasons, we will not publish student comments that include a last name.