I’m all for modern technology, but sometimes it feels like it’s kind of out of hand.
We all think we’re so enlightened and our lives are so advanced, but maybe we’re getting dumber? And maybe we don’t really need all of this stuff after all?
– apple quietly slows down 1-2 year old phones almost to 500mhz when the battery gets worse – doesn't tell users – gets caught red-handed – says it's in our best interest
More people are addicted to their tablets and smartphones than ever before, and while we’ve acknowledged that letting our kids have unlimited access to screens can be detrimental to their emotional and mental health…what about letting them see us have unfettered access to screens?
It’s not so good, either.
A recent study suggests that, in households where family time is interrupted by parents picking up their phone or tablet, children are more likely to exhibit behavior problems like oversensitivity, hot tempers, hyperactivity, and whining.
Brandon McDaniel, the study’s co-author, believes his findings should be seen as a piece in a bigger puzzle of how technology is affecting parent-child relationships.
“In our study, we controlled for a variety of factors, such as parent stress, depression, coparenting quality, and child screen use. This seems to suggest that there is something meaningful here, even though the data is cross-sectional.”
This study joins others that have shown that children of technology-consumed parents are more likely to display attention-seeking behavior, and one animal study that found distracted rat parents permanently impaired their children’s ability to experience pleasure.
This recent study, which was published in Child Development, gathered data from 170 two-parent families. More than half of them reported three or more technology interruptions per day, while only 11% reported no technological interruptions at all.
So watch yourselves, and take personal inventory. You might be interrupting time with your children more often than you think – and it might be costing your family as a whole.
Many of us know what it feels like to get a cavity and go through the unpleasant process of getting it filled. And for many, the first cavities occur during childhood.
So while the discomfort was ours, the bill belonged to our parents.
Now, scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences are working on perfecting a “cavity vaccine” that could put an end to both.
It hasn’t been approved for human trials, but the developers hope that it could defend kids’ teeth from developing cavities in the first place.
Cavities are caused by acid erosion, which can be battled by mixing the bacteria that emits the acid with proteins that protect enamel from being eaten away. No one is immune to cavities, though some people are more prone to getting them (no matter how meticulously they care for their teeth) because of the shape of their teeth or their diet. Often whether you’re prone to cavities or not is a product of socioeconomic status.
Cavities are the most common ailment in children and can cost around $2000 to maintain over a person’s life – a hefty price tag for parents already struggling to make ends meet.
If you’re searching for ways to mitigate cavities in your house pre-vaccine, then look no further than the sugar content in the foods you and your kids eat. As high-sugar foods break down, they release that cavity-causing acid and can start to cause decay within 20 minutes of touching your teeth.
But since avoiding sugar or brushing your teeth every half-hour doesn’t seem particularly realistic, here’s hoping that cavity vaccine passes into human trials and onto shelves sooner rather than later!
Many of us know what it feels like to get a cavity and go through the unpleasant process of getting it filled. And for many, the first cavities occur during childhood.
So while the discomfort was ours, the bill belonged to our parents.
Now, scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences are working on perfecting a “cavity vaccine” that could put an end to both.
It hasn’t been approved for human trials, but the developers hope that it could defend kids’ teeth from developing cavities in the first place.
Cavities are caused by acid erosion, which can be battled by mixing the bacteria that emits the acid with proteins that protect enamel from being eaten away. No one is immune to cavities, though some people are more prone to getting them (no matter how meticulously they care for their teeth) because of the shape of their teeth or their diet. Often whether you’re prone to cavities or not is a product of socioeconomic status.
Cavities are the most common ailment in children and can cost around $2000 to maintain over a person’s life – a hefty price tag for parents already struggling to make ends meet.
If you’re searching for ways to mitigate cavities in your house pre-vaccine, then look no further than the sugar content in the foods you and your kids eat. As high-sugar foods break down, they release that cavity-causing acid and can start to cause decay within 20 minutes of touching your teeth.
But since avoiding sugar or brushing your teeth every half-hour doesn’t seem particularly realistic, here’s hoping that cavity vaccine passes into human trials and onto shelves sooner rather than later!
Many of us know what it feels like to get a cavity and go through the unpleasant process of getting it filled. And for many, the first cavities occur during childhood.
So while the discomfort was ours, the bill belonged to our parents.
Now, scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences are working on perfecting a “cavity vaccine” that could put an end to both.
It hasn’t been approved for human trials, but the developers hope that it could defend kids’ teeth from developing cavities in the first place.
Cavities are caused by acid erosion, which can be battled by mixing the bacteria that emits the acid with proteins that protect enamel from being eaten away. No one is immune to cavities, though some people are more prone to getting them (no matter how meticulously they care for their teeth) because of the shape of their teeth or their diet. Often whether you’re prone to cavities or not is a product of socioeconomic status.
Cavities are the most common ailment in children and can cost around $2000 to maintain over a person’s life – a hefty price tag for parents already struggling to make ends meet.
If you’re searching for ways to mitigate cavities in your house pre-vaccine, then look no further than the sugar content in the foods you and your kids eat. As high-sugar foods break down, they release that cavity-causing acid and can start to cause decay within 20 minutes of touching your teeth.
But since avoiding sugar or brushing your teeth every half-hour doesn’t seem particularly realistic, here’s hoping that cavity vaccine passes into human trials and onto shelves sooner rather than later!
If you’re not familiar, the traditional version involves focusing on a task for 25-minutes, then taking a 5-minute break. After four Pomodoros, you get a longer, half-hour break.
People use different variations, but Alexey Guzey has hacked a way to make the technique even easier to use. Guzey suggests the reason why you might give up on Pomodoro is your brain is using energy to think of how to get a task completed in 25-minutes. Or at least getting to a point where taking a break doesn’t interrupt your flow.
Then, there’s the problem of interruptions. Do you restart your Pomodoro timer or keep going?
Guzey says that a better way than using a timer is to keep a calendar with fixed Pomodoro times. Each hour and half-hour starts with the 5-minute break. After three hours, you get a half-hour break.
Work: 9:35 to 10:00
Break: 10:00 to 10:05
Work: 10:05 to 10:30
Break: 10:30 to 10:35
Work: 10:35 to 11:00
Break: 11:00 to 11:05
Work: 11:05 to 11:30
Break: 11:30 to 11:35
Work: 11:35 to 12 noon
Break: 12 noon to 12:35
After a few days, this daily schedule should become a habit. And in case you do get interrupted or distracted, you can check the time and know exactly where to pick it back up.
The calendar/Pomodoro method is also good for reminding yourself to avoid distractions.
For those of us who like schedules, this is a pretty good hack. With or without the Pomodoro timer app, it’s great to be able to see at a glance where you are in your productive hours.
According to NewsWeek, “An undercover investigation in the United Kingdom revealed that warehouse employees resort to urinating in bottles and trash cans around the warehouse so that they won’t miss their strict time targets.”
For obvious reason, Amazon has been on a mission to squash these so-called rumors, so they turned to their “FC Ambassadors” for help. These employees are on a team that posts on Twitter and social media about how much they enjoy working with Amazon.
While the retail juggernaut insists these people are real and speaking their true minds, Twitter followers smelled something fishy. Many were curious about the strangely stilted language being used. This FC Ambassador mission started over a year ago, and since then there has been some serious backlash.
One Twitter user wrote:
the newest twitter rabbit hole i’ve fallen down is the fact that amazon makes some of its employees write tweets that are *not at all* suspicious pic.twitter.com/uvhWWCxpTP
Here are some Amazon FC Ambassadors doing their thing…or not…who knows?
Are these people even real?
Mental Illness is no light subject. As a person who suffers from Depression, I am happy to know i have resources thru my job to help me if I need it. #youarenotalone This job can be tough, it isn't for everyone: but just like puzzle pieces we fit into different pieces.
— Hannah – Amazon FC Ambassador (@AmazonFCHannah) March 13, 2019
Back from more than a week of absence at work. Good thing I was able to cover it up using my time bank. (Personal, Sick, and Vacation).
— Rafael – Amazon FC Ambassador (@AmazonFCRafael) August 5, 2019
Took a picture of the leadership principals I see on the wall every day while walking to the break room. I love the abstract design, simple, and elegant all at once. #wallart#leadership#amazonpic.twitter.com/V5ChTmrmO6
— Rafael – Amazon FC Ambassador (@AmazonFCRafael) May 6, 2019
I can honestly say, in the 3 years I've been working at Amazon, I never thought I'd get to do what I am doing now. Amazon has offered me a lot of opportunities but being able to see what people actually think about my job has by far been the most interesting. #PHL4forLife
— Dylan – Amazon FC Ambassador (@AmazonFCDylan) May 13, 2019
An Amazon spokesperson said,
“FC ambassadors are employees who work in our FCs and share facts based on their personal experience. It’s important that we do a good job educating people about the actual environment inside our fulfillment centers, and the FC ambassador program is a big part of that along with the FC tours we provide.
Thousands of guests across the world have come to see for themselves what it’s like to work inside one of our FCs. If you haven’t visited, we recommend it.”
You get the point. As a way to combat this further, Amazon has been offering FC tours for anyone who would like to check it out. You can follow #AmazonFCTour for more on that. In the meantime, we can all sit back and watch this unfold.
It’s hard, even in places that have banned cigarettes, to make it through a meal or a movie without a fruity-smelling cloud emanating from somewhere in the room. Have you noticed that?
And it’s very hard to convince anyone who loves vaping (or is addicted) that they should be more cautious with a technology that’s too new to have been thoroughly studied by health professionals in the field.
Smoking during the teen years is especially harmful to a still-growing brain – studies have previously shown that if a person can hold off smoking until they’re in their 20s, the chances of getting addicted reduce drastically. And while fewer teens than ever are trying traditional cigarettes, a disturbingly high – and growing – number of kids are vaping.
“Nicotine mimics the chemicals that brain cells use to communicate with each other and causes the brain to reconfigure itself. The nicotine molecule is shaped a lot like acetylcholine, which the nervous system uses to communicate, so it fakes out and overstimulates the nervous system. This rewiring of the brain is bad for adults, but it’s especially bad for young people because until around age 26, the brain is still developing. When you start messing up normal communication between nerves as the system is still being built, the adaptations are a lot more permanent.”
21% of high schoolers report using e-cigarettes. In 2011, that number was only 1.5%.
4.9% of middle schoolers are vaping, up from just .6% in 2011.
So, the problem is not only growing at an alarming rate, but levels of kids who are addicted to nicotine are reaching levels that should concern everyone, says Dr. Stanton Glantz.
“Our understanding of e-cigarettes is still accumulating, but at this point, we are pretty confident that e-cigarettes are at least two-thirds to three-fourths as bad as cigarettes. And remember, cigarettes are pretty horrible. Vaping is like, instead of jumping out the 40th story of a building, you’re jumping out of the 30th story.”
We’re starting to see evidence of this showing up in the news from around the country, too.
This summer, 8 Wisconsin teens were hospitalized with serious lung damage – some of whom found themselves on ventilators in the ICU – due to their vaping habits. A few weeks later, 4 Minnesota kids spent weeks in the hospital battling vaping-related lung troubles, after which the state’s public health department issued an official warning against the use of e-cigs.
Then, an 18-year-old Florida student’s lung collapsed after regular JUUL use, and the FDA reports that they’ve received 127 reports of seizures and other neurological symptoms also related to vaping over the past 10 years. And there has now officially been a death caused by lung illness linked to vaping.
None of these types of issues were seen with traditional cigarettes – so what’s different about vaporized nicotine?
Cigarettes contain 69 known carcinogens, but the juice needed to get a nicotine buzz from an e-cig isn’t harmless – it also contains an assortment of chemicals that go straight into your lungs (and then into the air) that scientists are starting to realize can be as harmful (if not more).
The fact that kids are getting “nic sick” – experiencing nausea, headaches, lightheadedness, and vomiting, none of which was a side effect of traditional cigarettes – seems to point to the fact that the nicotine in e-cigs is ultra concentrated.
Stantz explains how and why these findings are possible – and super concerning.
“Free-base nicotine, which you get in a cigarette and an older-generation e-cigarette, is very alkaline and hard to inhale, so it triggers a gag reflex, which limits the amount of nicotine per puff. Juul transitioned to nicotine salt and added some acid to the e-liquid to make it less alkaline, as well as adding flavors. When you put all that together, it is much easier to inhale, so Juul devices deliver a much higher dose per puff.”
Setting aside the increased nicotine content there are more reasons that, even though they contain fewer known carcinogens than regular cigs, the e-cig vapor is just as dangerous.
“It consists of ultrafine particles that are about 100 times smaller than a human hair. These particles include acrolein and formaldehyde, as well as diacetyl, cinnamaldehyde, and other flavorants that are fine to eat but not to inhale as fine particles.”
In fact, Harvard researchers have discovered that diacetyl and its chemical cousin 2,3-pentanedione – found in 90 percent of e-cigarettes tested – do damage to the cilia lining the lungs and airways, which increases the risks of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
“E-cigarettes also include heavy metals like lead and silica. Their wicks often have silica, and when they wear out, you can get little particles of silica in the lungs, which is very harmful. Additionally, e-cigarettes disable normal functioning of macrophages, cells within the lungs that gobble up bacteria and other infectious agents we breathe in. When you disable them, you are more prone to infections.”
Like smoking old-school cigarettes, vaping also puts people at risk for cardiovascular issues, like heart disease, heart attacks, and strokes.
So, even though Glantz estimated that e-cigs are around 75% as harmful as smoking regular cigs, even he doesn’t think that number will stay the same as more research surfaces.
“With the data we should have about 3 or 4 years from now, I think we’ll find that e-cigarettes are equally as bad or worse in terms of overall health risks.”
Just say no, y’all, and if your kids are vaping or think it’s cool, please step in. It’s not harmless, and as with everything this big, bad world throws at your teen, it’s your job to help them mitigate as many risks as possible.
For some folks, getting out of bed in the morning is easy. They love the energy of a new day, the promise of a fresh cup of coffee, and they feel invigorated by the idea of twelve or more hours to get stuff done.
For others, prying their lids open far enough to find the snooze button feels like pure torture.
If you fall into the latter group – but still have to get up in order to keep a job, take care of kids, or just be a person – then you might consider this alarm clock that evades your attempts to snooze it until you literally chase it down.
Meet Clocky, the nightstand pet of your nightmares.
This alarm clock performs a number of antics designed to get you up and moving before you manage to hit snooze, from his extra-loud alarm to rolling away from where you’ve left him (including down stairs) – and believe me, the volume and variety of the noises it makes would wake even the soundest of sleepers.
Clocky’s snooze button comes disabled, but you can adjust your settings to allow one or more snoozes before he gets up and runs away, as well as choosing how long your snoozes will last.
The US Military still uses 8 inch floppy disks on outdated IBM computers to run the nuclear missile systems. It’s because they are incredibly hard to hack. The computers are essentially air-gapped and the old IBM computers are reliable. They could run for another 40 years with spare parts.