This New App Claims to Help Break Your Smartphone Habit

It’s a well-known fact that our smartphones were designed to be addictive, and phone companies’ success at achieving that has many people calling smartphone addiction a growing threat to public health. Even if you don’t want to admit it, you probably know this from your own usage. Perhaps you have even tried to limit how often you use your phone, but it’s always tougher than it sounds.

If so, you’re not alone. As a result, you, like so many others, likely experience the unpleasant side effects of too much phone time: distraction, depression, anxiety, and neck pain – just to name a few.

Image Credit: Pixabay

As someone who spends a lot of time in front of her laptop, I can attest to these side effects, which is why I’ve engaged an app that shuts down all my social media sites for allotted amounts of time when I need to focus on writing.

It was eye-opening to discover how hard it was for me at first. I often clicked out of my work and tried to scroll Facebook, only to find it blocked.

According to WIRED, a similar app is coming to your Apple or Android device, and it may be just what you need to get over the hump to a phone-free dinner. It’s called Flipd, and its aim is to reduce the amount of time you spend looking at your phone, which, hopefully, could help break the habit for good.

Image Credit: Flipd

For those of you who can’t fully commit, you can use the app’s “Light Lock” feature, which is displayed on your main screen and runs on a timer. It doesn’t shut off access to any of your apps — it just serves as a subtle reminder that you’re not supposed to be opening them.

If you want/need to turn the timer off, you can, but Flipd makes you click a button that shames you with a “Yup, I’m weak” admission.

If that’s not enough motivation to keep you on task (honestly, it wouldn’t be for me), then you can engage a “Full Lock” mode, which does prevent you from clicking on any downloaded apps for the duration of the set time. However, you can still text and make phone calls, if you’re worried about safety.

Image Credit: Flipd

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September 20, 2018

Can You Solve 5 Of History’s Best Riddles?

You know a riddle is good when it stands the test of time. People have been scratching their heads over these for years and years. Think you can solve them?

No matter what, just have fun with them, and wipe your brow when you come out the other side.

#5. Gollum’s Riddle.

“Voiceless it cries,
Wingless flutters,
Toothless bites,
Mouthless mutters.”

Continue reading for the answer!

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September 19, 2018

Why You Shouldn’t Let Your Baby Sleep in a Car Seat

Most parents are probably guilty of doing this, even though we know that car seat manufacturers and pediatricians warn against it. But when you’re sleep deprived and your little one is snoozing away, it’s hard to justify waking them up.

Well, as easy as it might be to let them keep snoozing, one mom’s story – and a reminder of the official party line on the subject – means we all need to suck it up and get your kid out of the car seat as soon as they’re in the house.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

The anecdotal (and heartbreaking) evidence comes from mother Lisa Smith, who lost her 1-year-old daughter, Mia, from positional asphyxia after napping in her car seat at daycare.

“I got a call while I was at work,” Smith told ScaryMommy. “Worst call I’ve ever had in my life. ‘Drop everything. Mia didn’t wake up from her nap.’”

Smith and her husband were aware of the dangers of allowing their daughter to sleep in the car seat, the childcare provider claimed she was not. That lack of awareness cost the Smiths their daughter, and Lisa has made it her mission to educate others.

A 2015 study published in the Journal of Pediatrics found that 47 children (2 and under) had died over a four-year span, all of them in car seats outside of a car, and experts remind us repeatedly of safe sleep recommendations and that car seats don’t meet any of them.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

“There’s nothing about the car seat that’s designed to sleep,” Sharon Evans, a trauma injury prevention coordinator at Cook’s Children Hospital, told WFAA News. “Of course, it the straps aren’t tight, the child can kind of slump down.”

In a safe sleep brochure created by the New York City Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), they explain that “because babies don’t lie flat in car seats, they can suffocate when their heads (which are very heavy compared to the rest of their bodies) tip forward, blocking their airway. These products are not made for babies to sleep in and are dangerous because babies are not sleeping flat on their backs.”

The official recommendation from the American Association of Pediatrics is that infants sleep on a tight, fitted sheet on their back, in an environment free of other items like blankets, pillows, or toys. They also recommend that infants room in with their parents for six months to a year.

As tempting as it can be to break the rules for our own comfort, parents like Lisa Smith hope we’ll remember their tragedy and think twice.

“She was our first born, our only child, and she didn’t deserve what happened to her. But other families don’t deserve this to happen to them, either.”

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September 19, 2018

Vet Explains Why It Bothers Him When Owners Aren’t There for Their Pet’s Final Moments

Owning a pet is a huge responsibilty. It starts with things like housebreaking, training, and bonding, and for a lot of people, being there to make sure they’re comfortable at the end is included in the list of things that must be done, no matter how hard.

My first dog died almost a year ago, and as he declined in age and health, one of my biggest fears was not being with him when he went. We were best friends for fifteen years; he didn’t trust or love or need anyone the way that he needed me. After everything, how could I leave him to face those final moments alone?

Photo Credit: Twitter,kinsey_brod

Photo Credit: Twitter,hallikat_007

Luckily (in that aspect, anyway) I was the one to recognize when he was ready to go and to take him to that final appointment. It was one of the hardest days of my life, but I am comforted to know that I didn’t let him down in the end.

Photo Credit: Twitter,spoondiggitty

So, it’s hard for me to believe that there are people who love their pets but opt to leave them alone to die with their vet and staff instead of being in the room. My personal feelings are backed up by not one, but two different vets who have had posts go viral on the very topic – this one on Facebook…

Photo Credit: Facebook,hillcrestvethospital

And this one on Twitter.

Photo Credit: Twitter,jessi_dietrich

I don’t want to believe that 90% of people leave their pet to face their final moments alone, but if it’s true, maybe these vets – and the sweet owners who posted in response – will change some hearts and minds.

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September 19, 2018

Boost Your Toddler’s IQ Simply by Talking to Them

Toddlers are a fount of endless questions. They want to know everything about the world around them and you’ve got the answers. So, if you’re one of those parents with plenty of patience who is willing to answer any question they throw your way, then you’re doing them a great service by engaging with them. In fact, a recent study showed that talking to your toddler can boost their IQ.

But head’s up: the study showed the benefits came from holding actual conversations with your toddler, not merely speaking to them.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

The study, published in the journal for the American Academy of Pediatrics, was run by Jill Gilkerson. She and her team studied kids between the ages of 18 months and 2 years for six months, then brought them back to test their IQs and language skills when they were between the ages of 9-14. Gilkerson spoke with the Evening Standard about the results, which showed that toddlers who took more turns speaking when having conversations with an adult scored an average of 14-27% higher on IQ tests, verbal comprehension, and receptive and expressive vocabulary.

“Parents need to be aware of the importance of interacting with children who are very young and not necessarily even talking. The more interaction, the better.”

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Researchers also wrote that their study showed “early talk and interaction, particularly during the relatively narrow developmental window of 18-24 months of age, can be used to predict school-age language and cognitive outcomes.”

Photo Credit: Pixabay

The time in a child’s life the research focuses on – from a year and a half to two years of age, can be a challenging one for parents for so many reasons.

New siblings are often added, sleep issues abound, and there will certainly be days when the last thing that appeals to you is having a mostly one-sided conversation with your toddler about blocks or dogs or bubbles or poop (all favorites in my house!), but hopefully this study will encourage parents to remember that every little chat could help your child have a more positive experience years down the road.

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September 19, 2018

12+ People Share Their Favorite Paradox and Why They Think It’s Awesome

A paradox is defined as a “seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well founded or true.” Does this sound familiar to you? If not, don’t worry, because Redditors are here to tell you all about their favorite paradoxes.

And in this case, we’re all better for it.

#15. Design conundrum.

“Maybe not a true “paradox”, but a great design conundrum:

Prescription pill bottles must be: 1) Easy for older people with arthritis to open 2) Difficult for small children’s hands to open.”

#14. A weird mathematical result.

“Less of a paradox and more of a weird mathematical result: Braess’ paradox. Basically, by opening new lanes and roads to improve traffic conditions, you can actually worsen the congestion. The mathematical example in the article explains it well; basically if you have two moderately efficient routes, and you create a new connection which gives an alternative, more efficient route, everyone is going to start using this one and it’s going to make things worse, even for the people still using the original route!”

#13. They would have to be crazy.

“I really want to date someone, but not someone crazy. Someone would have to be crazy to date me. From catch-22.”

#12. Simple and sweet.

“Don’t take instructions from me.”

#11. When groups are combined.

“Simpson’s Paradox: when a trend appears in several different groups of data but disappears or reverses when groups are combined.”

#10. Don’t go there.

“No one goes there because it’s always crowded.”

#9. A problem in logic.

“Paradox of the Court.

“The Paradox of the Court, also known as the counterdilemma of Euathlus, is a very old problem in logic stemming from ancient Greece. It is said that the famous sophist Protagoras took on a pupil, Euathlus, on the understanding that the student pay Protagoras for his infrastructure after he wins his first court case. After instruction, Euathlus decided to not enter the profession of law, and Protagoras decided to sue Euathlus for the amount owed.

Protagoras argued that if he won the case he would be paid his money. If Euathlus won the case, Protagoras would still be paid according to the original contract, because Euathlus would have won his first case.

Euathlus, however, claimed that if he won, then by the court’s decision he would not have to pay Protagoras. If, on the other hand, Protagoras won, then Euathlus would still not have won a case and would therefore not be obliged to pay.

The question is: which of the two men is in the right?” (from wikipedia)”

#8. In that case…

“For this job, forget everything you learned in college.”

“But I never went to college.”

“Oh, well in that case, you’re not qualified enough for this job.”

#7. Extremely surprised.

“The unexpected exam. A professor says there will be an exam next week, and it will be a surprise: they won’t be able to deduce the exact day. The students reason that it can’t be on Friday, since if all the other days have been exam free, it won’t be a surprise anymore. So it must be Mon-Thu. But then it can’t be Thursday, by the same logic. Proceeding similarly the students deduce the exam can’t happen at all, and are thus extremely surprised when it happens on Wednesday.”

#6. Unambiguous proof.

“It’s not a paradox, but it is named the Fermi Paradox, so I’ll use it.

From anywhere on Earth, anywhere you look, there is unambiguous evidence of an intelligent civilization. You might have to look hard for it if you are in the middle of the ocean, but look up and you’ll see orbiting satellites and a telescope will prove they aren’t natural. Or look around you and see plastic, etc.

The Fermi Paradox asks ‘with two trillion galaxies in the observable universe, and quintillions (millions of trillions) of Sun-like stars, why don’t we see unambiguous proof of other technological life?’

Edit: This kinda exploded.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDPj5zI66LA&feature=youtu.be is an excellent video discussing this, from Youtuber Isaac Arthur, who is one of the rare breed of actually good Youtubers. He has a minor speech impediment but you’ll get the hang of it fast.

Highly, highly recommend binge watching his entire channel the next time you have a long weekend.”

#5. More, not less.

“Jevon’s Paradox. If humans come up with a more resource-efficient way of doing something, it results in more of the resource being consumed, not less.”

#4. Experience.

“You need experience to work and you only get experience by working.”

#3. Infinite length.

The Coastline paradox. Despite being seemingly easy we can’t really measure the length of coastlines. If you start really going into every curve and turn you end up with a nearly infinite length.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coastline_paradox

#2. Who wrote the music?

“Bootstrap paradox.

So this guy has a time machine and he is a big fan of Beethoven so he goes back in time with all of Beethoven’s sheet music to get it signed. He asks around and no one has heard of Beethoven not even his family. Beethoven doesn’t exist. He can’t bear the thought of a world without Beethoven so he copies down all of the sheet music and gets it published.

He becomes Beethoven and time goes on.

But who wrote the music.”

#1. The linguistic challenge.

“Non-Serious The Pudge Paradox – whenever you play against a Pudge he always seems to be killing it but, conversely, when a Pudge is on your team he always seems to suck.

Serious The liar paradox: “This statement is a lie”. I like the linguistic challenge it brings up.”

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September 18, 2018

5 Scientific Facts About Spite That Are Sure to Surprise You

Did you know that the phrase “you’d cut off your nose to spite your face’ actually comes from a real incident? Back in medieval times, a nun cut off her nose (and lips) to try and make herself too horrific for Viking invaders to rape. The other nuns followed suit, and the painful plan worked – sort of. While they weren’t raped, they were eventually burned alive.

Okay, so that’s an extreme scenario, but what else do we know about spite? It’s defined as action deliberately designed to hurt someone, even when there’s nothing to gain and even though those actions might cause you to suffer as well. Sounds like a pretty terrible way to be, right?

Here are five more facts about spite and why it’s an aspect of human behavior.

#5. Science notes two specific types of spite.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Hamiltonian spite — named for biologist W.D. Hamilton — are actions directed against unrelated or loosely related individuals. Meanwhile, Wilsonian spite — named for biologist E.O. Wilson — is when your act of spite indirectly benefits someone you’re closely related to.

The latter might seem like the lesser of two evils, but really, they’re both based in bad behavior.

#4. Men tend to be more spiteful than women.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

The same study found that men showed higher levels of spite than women, but the results weren’t clear as to why. However, the press release speculates that men tend to score higher across the board when it comes to traits that predict psychopathy in general, so there’s that to consider.

#3. It could be a sign of psychopathy.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

One of the traits of a psychopath is Machiavellianism, which is the willingness to be duplicitous and disregard morality to achieve one’s own goals. In 2014, researchers at Washington State University subjected more than 1200 people to a personality test, and the results showed that high scores in spitefulness correlated with the presence of psychopathic behavior.

#2. It’s not that different from altruism.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Some researchers call spite the “neglected ugly sister of altruism,” since both practices come at the cost of a person’s own happiness. The spite-r doesn’t necessarily care what happens to them because they’re not acting for personal gain and they’re not deterred by the prospect of personal loss.

This 2006 paper notes, “any social trait that is spiteful simultaneously qualifies as altruistic. In other words, any trait that reduces the fitness of less-related individuals necessarily increases that of related ones.”

#1. Children and the elderly are generally less spiteful.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Kids resent unfairness from an early age, researchers pointed out. “So, if they divide up candy and they get more candy than the kids they’re playing against, they’re like ‘nope, neither of us is going to get anything.’”

A malicious or spiteful reaction isn’t natural to children — everyone wins or no one does — and the elderly tend to revert to the same code of ethics.

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September 18, 2018

Latest Skin Cancer Reports Will Have You Rethinking How Much Sunscreen You Use

Did you know that skin cancer is the most prevalent form of cancer in the States? When you think about it, it makes sense: your skin is your largest organ, and it regenerates on a regular basis, which leaves more room for mutations. Still, people refuse to do their due diligence when it comes to sunscreen.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

According to the CDC and the American Cancer Society, melanoma rates have been on the rise for the past 30 years, with over 90,000 new cases being diagnosed this year. That’s crazy, cause people didn’t used to have sunscreen at all!

There are plenty of choices out there when it comes to sunscreens that protect against both the UVA and UVB rays that increase your risk of melanoma, and according to the American Academy of Dermatology, you should be using at least an ounce if you need to cover your entire body.

Photo Credit: CDC.gov

Oh, and here’s the real head’s up – you don’t only need it if you’re going to the pool or the beach. You should be slathering the stuff on your face, arms, legs, and any other body parts that are exposed to the sun on an everyday basis. Recommended products include zinc-oxide or titanium-dioxide and boast an SPF factor of no less than 30.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

People are more diligent than they used to be when it comes to sunscreen, but with the destabilization of the ozone layer, the sun’s rays have gotten stronger. So examine your regimen and find the kinks, people. Future you and your skin will thank you.

h/t: Scary Mommy

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September 18, 2018

Caution: Don’t Let People With Cold Sores Near Your Baby

Newborn babies have fragile immune systems, which is why it is so important for us to keep them safe.

Pregnant women get flu shots and tetanus-diptheria-pertussis shots. Partners and grandparents get them, too, and for those first three months, anyone with a runny nose and some common sense stays far away.

What you might not think about when considering whether to get near – kissing-level near, I mean – a newborn baby, though, is the herpes virus. Not the one that infects your nethers (though you should absolutely keep that away, too), but the one that manifests in cold sores on your mouth.

Photo Credit: Facebook

That’s why this viral post by new mom Lucy Kendall is getting so much attention – she almost lost her two-week-old son to a terrifying infection passed through a cold sore. She made this post on Facebook detailing what had happened, how they found out, and how baby Oliver was treated – along with the wonderful news that he has made a full recovery.

Photo Credit: Facebook

Some babies aren’t so lucky, and Lucy wants all of us to be aware of the dangers a simple cold sore can pose to a newborn. Statistics say that a third of infants who contract neonatal herpes will not survive, even with treatment, so it’s not something to take lightly.

The first signs are a high temperature and unwillingness to feed, followed by sores. If your baby is ever listless, hard to wake, or struggles to breathe you need to seek emergency help right away.

Photo Credit: Facebook

It’s important to be informed when a newborn is coming into your life, so make sure and heed this warning from a mom who has been there – but wishes she hadn’t been. Keep those sweet babies close and safe through flu season and beyond!

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September 18, 2018

Why It Seems Impossible to Only Buy One Item at Target, According to an Expert

If you shop at Target then you are well familiar with the experience of stopping by to pick up one or two things, only to make it to the checkout with a cart full of items. What did I need these dumbbells and spray cheese for? Who knows…but they were on sale!

Photo Credit: Flickr,Mike Mozart

Now, the experts interviewed by Refinery29 – including Tom Meyvis, a New York University marketing professor – are backing us up with some science.

According to Meyvis, the Target juju starts with the enticing layout.

“Stores have an idea about the path shoppers take. Walmart was once famous for doing things like putting Band-Aids next to fishing hooks and things like that. Something you don’t naturally associate, but once you see them there, it makes sense. So when people come in for something in one category, you can cross-sell, you can sell them something that compliments in the next product category by making sure they’re right next to each other.”

Photo Credit: Instagram,queenrebecca101

Basically, Target designs their stores to help you find – and buy – what you didn’t realize you actually needed when you came into the store. Or something. A fact that seems to be confirmed by Refinery29’s interview with Target’s VP of Store Design, Joe Perdew.

“We know that some guests want to grab a coffee at Starbucks and explore the aisles, so we’ve added features like dynamic product vignettes throughout the store that help guests envision how things will fit into their lives. …in Home, products are cross-merchandised and displayed in lifestyle settings, so guests can imagine what they’ll look like in their own homes.”

It’s the reason you don’t see just a chair. You see a chair with a cute throw pillow sitting next to an end table with a picture frame and a lamp that complements everything else perfectly.

The bottom line, though, is that the layout, design, and colors at Target are inviting – they make us happy, which makes us want to stay, and the longer we stay, the more things go into our cart. At least, that’s what Kentucky psychologist Dr. Kevin Chapman says.

“It’s really well lit at Target, right? There’s a lot of color at Target. It’s pretty consistent throughout the store and generally that’s going to make people feel happier.”

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

No one loves forking over their cash, but the experts seem to agree that all of the store’s design and marketing makes it hard for us to resist doing just that, and to feel good while we do it. I’m not sure whether that’s supposed to make me feel better or worse, but one thing’s for sure – heading to Target seems to be a recipe for a happy day.

At least, until you get your bank statement.

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