fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Social Media Will Eat You Alive
By: Alyssa Grenfell
Tags: Mental Health, Life Lessons, Social Media, Digital Life, Technology

Photo by Prateek Katyal from Pexels

Instagram. Facebook. Twitter. We’re all consumers. We scroll. We double-tap. We swipe.

It’s online shopping, and we’re shopping for others and selling ourselves. I want to think I can stop consuming, but whenever I delete the app I find myself downloading it within a few days — or hours. Sometimes minutes.

I am constantly thinking up ways to commodify myself. What’s the best thing about me? What can I sell that others will buy?

My body — okay, show more skin.

My creativity — write a more clever caption.

My happy family-film every moment.

My depression — use authenticity for likes.

Maybe it’s the dopamine hits. The little pecks of joy that come with each like. For me, it’s the affirmation. Look — I am worth something. 129 people told me I looked cute in this photo. Now I have tangible proof that I am pretty. 215 people watched my story; I’m important.

Honestly, I never even look at the people who are doing the watching or liking. It’s the number I’m after. The number tells me how much I matter.

But somehow in all my searching to find what in myself might matter, I lose myself. It’s all smoke and mirrors. Pushing yourself to be better for others is a house of cards. There’s nothing behind the curtain.

When I exist for others to consume, often there’s nothing left for me.

Nothing left for me to be silent with and be present with. I can hardly be alone or sit still. I turn to my phone to fill my cavernous mind with gifs and photos of celebrities and more likes. I can’t be alone with myself; it’s other people that remind me I matter.

I realized lately that I don’t think people matter unless they’re actively achieving and growing. I don’t know how to see worth in other humans — or myself — for just being human. For only existing. For being in the world. I can see the worth in a long dirt road, or in a leaf floating down, or in a mountain; but I can’t see worth in myself unless someone acknowledges me and gives me the double-tap of a gold star.

“I can quit any time I want” by By Yasin Osman

Lately, I’ve attempted to sit in silence. I’ve tried to look at my phone less and look around me more. I’m shit at it. Without a screen to quiet the whispers that I am not enough the harsh silent stillness of the world is horrifying.

I wonder if I’m the only one like this, or if all the people watching and liking are, on some level, in search of the same thing: proof of worth flowing from a river of consumers, eating me alive.

I haven’t solved the problem yet — I keep downloading the app. I keep sharing my stories. I continue commodifying myself and my life. There’s not a quick fix solution to cutting something out of your life that was perfectly engineered to keep you as an addict.

The problem is only going to get worse. The more data collected, the more targeted the addiction. Comment below to share your own experiences, and if you’ve discovered the antidote yet.

And you can, of course, follow me on instagram here.
Why You Shouldn’t Edit Highlighted Sections In Your Medium Story
By: Erin Singh
Tags: Writing, Editing, Ｍedium, Life Lessons, Digital Life

Why You Shouldn’t Edit Highlighted Sections In Your Medium Story

Photo by Cookie the Pom on Unsplash

If another Medium reader highlights a section or two from your published article or story because it catches their attention, do not edit the words they have highlighted even if you think the section could be improved.

Why is that so?

I will give you example of what happened to one of my articles recently.

In this screenshot below Scuzzbucket Editor Franco Amati highlighted a section in this article I wrote, ‘3 Good Reasons Why Online Course Creators Should Not Heavily Discount Their Package’.

Author’s screenshot

After reviewing the highlighted section I wasn’t happy with how it read. So I decided to revise it.

Author’s screenshot

But after I made the revision I didn’t realise this highlighted area would disappear into the abyss as well as Franco’s name. Oops a daisies.

So I contacted Franco via email and told him about my dilemma. I asked Franco if I could post an update to alert other Medium writers. And of course he obliged.

Take Away
The Chompsky Weekly #1
By: Eliz Mizon
Tags: Culture, Politics, Digital Life, Media, Society

Yes, I know that’s not how you spell Chomsky.

Photo by Cookie the Pom on Unsplash

Hello! Eliz here. Welcome to the first EVER Chompsky Weekly, the newsletter about Power and Pop Culture.

Each Friday I’ll send a collection of the following to your inbox:

Media and politics news (from me and others)

News on related tech, social, and economic issues

Links to weird and wonderful content: videos, images, memes et al

Media jobs, competitions, opportunities etc.

If you’re reading this from within Medium, SIGN UP at the bottom of this page for a curated frenzy of socio-economic, politico-media content!

PS: When we launched the blog this week, I found out via Twitter that Chompsky already has its very own furry mascot friend. *heart eyes*
Susan Orlean on the beautiful ephemerality of digital books:
By: Eliot Peper
Tags: Writing, Books, Digital Life, Publishing, Media

Susan Orlean on the beautiful ephemerality of digital books:

“Ebooks reduce the experience of the book to something almost vaporous, a whisper, as if the book traveled to you on the wind. Oddly, that makes them more like where the whole undertaking of storytelling began, with oral recitation.”
“Scalpers got new Sony PlayStation 5 and Microsoft Xbox Series X and S and they got them by the boatload.”
By: Dave Gershgorn
Tags: Digital Life, Gaming, PlayStation, Xbox

“Scalpers got new Sony PlayStation 5 and Microsoft Xbox Series X and S and they got them by the boatload.” Dave Gershgorn ·Dec 8, 2020

Tech companies like to release big new products, like game consoles, in October and November because there’s guaranteed demand — in just a few weeks, everyone is looking for the perfect holiday gift.

But that leaves little time for manufacturers to make enough Xboxes and PlayStations. Demand outstrips supply, especially when scalpers buy consoles in bulk with the hopes of reselling for massive profits.

Veteran tech writer Lance Ulanoff looks into the scourge of holiday console scalpers in the story below.

My $0.02? Release the consoles a month earlier, and give yourself some time to make a few more.
Shaping our Digital Future Part I: Fund Digital Infrastructure
By: Interpersonal Frequency
Tags: Government, Digital Life, Society, Accessibility, Technology

By Harish Rao, Founder & CEO Interpersonal Frequency

Shaping our Digital Future Part I: Fund Digital Infrastructure

About this Series:

In the coming months, I’ll be sharing ten lists of ideas for things we need to do now to ensure that our digital future is as bright and booming as possible. It’s not too late to fix the mistakes of the past and create a firm foundation for the years ahead, but our prosperity and well-being at every level of American society will depend on confronting these challenges and taking meaningful action.

Fund Digital Infrastructure

Our nation’s digital infrastructure is outdated, undersized, and insecure. Without investing in it and treating it like an essential foundation, rather than a “gee-whiz” extra line item, any new programs or vital reforms that our government seeks to enact won’t be able to get off the ground and up to scale.

Here’s what we need to do:
Thank you so much for this!
By: Sylvia Emokpae
Tags: Side Hustle, Mental Health, Entrepreneurship, Self Care, Digital Life

Thank you so much for this! Some great lines in there. This is literally what I’ve written about. I’m a full-time mother to a toddler with a firm goal of establishing myself as a writer, and with much less time than someone without a child in day-care or school. I have more than once feared burnout, and I had to really bring myself back emotionally and look after my health above everything else. That being correcting my sleep and creating more of a balance rather than being anxious about whether I have written enough all the time.

Here is mine on hustling, if you’re interested. (It’s a personal story.)
Cyberpunk 2020
By: Jm Miana
Tags: Fiction, Social Media, The Bad Influence, Digital Life, Society

Cyberpunk 2020

Photo by kevin laminto on Unsplash

It’s the distant year of 2020. Big tech corporations govern the world from the shadows, and everyone is permanently connected to The Network.

You are at home, waiting for the food reheating system to finish your dinner. The latest fiction hit is on the TV. It is a reality show about a secret science recently discovered.

You are there, wondering if you should keep paying for the personal TV service when your pocket information system emits a light and beeps.

You have just received a new status update from Friends Network. The Networks’ service that allows you to socialize with others

“Citizen 987–092, there has been a breach in our behavior policy, your ability to socialize has been limited to protect the freedom of speech.”

You already know what that means. It means that others won’t be able to see, hear, or feel you during an amount of time that can go from an hour to several years.

Immediately you mentally revise all of your last day’s actions. And suddenly you realize that during your coffee break you have expressed doubts about the government to a co-worker.

Expressing doubts about the government weakens democracy and freedom of speech, as is something that just the members of the Opposite do.

It makes sense.

You should have thought twice.

After all, all of this is just to keep you safe.
Confronting Cycles of Online Abuse
By: C.S. Voll
Tags: Mental Health, Digital Life, Media, Psychology, Self

New developments create unforeseen repercussions. This holds true for one of humanity’s most powerful inventions — the internet. In the early 2000s, when the worldwide web was morphing into its more social guise, the Web 2.0, it opened doors to different kinds of expressions, even hate. Cyberhate would continue to proliferate after 2010, becoming harmful to users’ mental health. As our lives become more enmeshed with our digital realities, it has increased the importance of social media literacy and self-care.

Naming your experience

By identifying the specific type of abuse, a person can remove some of the fear in the situation. It also gives assurance that no one is alone and that there is a classification because other people have gone through it. With this newfound term, you can communicate your problem to allies, to allow them to understand the extent of the challenges.

Create a database of the abuse

As painful as it is, the importance of making copies of the abuse is important to create a log of behavior, which could be evidence at a later date. Including the time, date, and date ensures the record is as complete as possible for the eventuality of reporting the abuse to the social media company, employer, or law enforcement.

Photo by Polina Zimmerman on Pexels.

Creating distance

Do not engage the troublemaker. Blocking, reporting, and muting are important tools for individuals targeted by abuse. Whenever you feel it is right to employ measures, do so. Enlisting allies to monitor the offender can allow to stay updated about a threat without the risk of direct exposure. Your wellbeing takes precedent and setting digital boundaries is imperative for healthy digital life.

Continue to make your voice heard

One aim of an abuser is to take away a person’s voice, make them feel small, and disconnect them from their support network. The stigma surrounding online abuse can be reduced by speaking out about the experience, raising awareness about this mental health issue. Through exhibiting courage in a tough time, we forge links with other individuals going through similar experiences, so that durable support networks blossom.
What Is Parler, and Should You Care?
By: Sharon Alger
Tags: Diversity, Equality, Social Media, Culture, Digital Life

It’s been quite a ride

I was pleasantly surprised by the layout and appearance of the app. It looks nice and clean, with a large font, which is easier for my tired eyes to read. I was even able to choose an accent color, which was a nice touch. I chose pink. The first thing that happens after sign-up, is Parler posts a message for you. It says something like, ‘hi, I just joined Parler, I can’t wait to meet everyone.’ Then, you receive three comments. One is from a member of the concierge, offering help, support and tutorials. I didn’t feel it was necessary, but I’m sure some people would appreciate the welcoming touch.

Want to know about the other two comments?

Huh. I was most curious about the comment from @TeamTrump, so I clicked on the link:

Gulp. Now, I was expecting this platform to lean far right, but I did not see that coming. Given Parler claims to be ‘non-biased’ as one of its selling points, it was immediately clear to me this was untrue. Many members of Parler complain that Twitter shows bias. I started up a new Twitter account 2 months ago. Neither the republicans nor democrats commented when I joined, nor did either party demand I donate to them.

And before you ask, no, there was no @TeamBiden posting comments or linking me to anything on Parler. Of all the social media platforms I’ve used, this was the most biased introduction I’d ever experienced, bar none. This site is biased toward the right, and heavily so.

On the right-hand sidebar, was a list of recommended accounts to follow. At the top of the list was the Proud Boys. So, you want me to sign up, donate to Trump, then join the Proud Boys? At this point, I was already queasy about the place, and I hadn’t even explored the posts of users, yet.

I had the option of following organizations, such as Babylon Bee, a right-wing Christian satire site, and conservative outlets. Because I enjoy reading and writing satire myself, I begrudgingly followed Babylon Bee. I ended up also following The Daily Mail, because I’m familiar with it, although not a fan. I wanted to see Parler members in action.
How to Double Your Productive Time
By: Madusha Prasanjith
Tags: Distraction, Wellbeing, Digital Life, Technology, Productivity

It’s Monday morning. You’re not hungover after a night of partying, at least not today. (It’s 2020 after all.) You have a look at your schedule, and alas, you have a thousand and one things to do this week, and another thousand and one leftover from the last week. You sit at your work desk, resolving to crunch through all of this work. Like if it was that easy! Facebook knows exactly when you’re gonna start work, and decides to send you a notification asking to check those cute kitten photos your friend posted. After all, who can say no to kittens? You check the notification, and when you realize what you’re doing, half of the day has magically already vanished.

While this sounds exactly like an episode of Black Mirror, this is not some far-away dystopian nightmare future. Yes, I’m talking about our lives, everyday.

Probably one of the hardest things to do in the today’s connected world is to disconnect. Whether it’s your friends buzzing you on WhatsApp, or Facebook deciding to see why you haven’t checked your news feed in the last 30 minutes, distractions will eat away your valuable time. I’m going to show you how to take it back.

The first step in the journey is to figure out how much time you’re spending being distracted. Let’s see what your options are, to measure this.
How To ‘Reply All’ To Show You’re The Hardest Worker In The Office
By: Ryan Fan
Tags: Satire, Remote Work, Digital Life, Work, Humor

How To ‘Reply All’ To Show You’re The Hardest Worker In The Office

They’re the two best words to show off your work ethic in an all-staff e-mail: reply all.

You should be hitting reply all on every e-mail you send. Sure, it might come off as cringey. Sure, it might come off as annoying. But you need everyone, including all your bosses and co-workers you’re battling with for a promotion, to know you’re the hardest worker in the office.

The first couple times you reply all, feign technical difficulties. Apologize, using reply all, and inform them you didn’t know you could reply to just one single person.

Since your office and workplace have shifted to remote, you need to dominate the remote workspace. People need to know when you’re doing good deeds and helping others, or else what’s the point? Make sure people know you’re the one to go to when they have questions on how to open a Google Doc, or how to convert a word document to a PDF. Make sure you’re the one who can teach your older, more technology adverse colleagues how to use Google Sheets like a boss.

Once everyone else starts replying-all, you need to up your game. Start replying-all to e-mails you have absolutely no business replying-all to. That means emails like “Congratulations!” “Thank you!” and “I agree!” shouldn’t just have one recipient — they should be sent to the whole staff. Reply all to every possible e-mail to show your boss you read your e-mails and are absolutely on top of your shit.

Note: your reply all e-mails must become increasingly less professional. What started with a “Congratulations!” must be followed up two minutes later with the laughing and crying emoji.

When you’ve started a trend among the staff of everyone replying all, reply all to remind people of e-mail etiquette and how reply all e-mails should be used only when necessary. If it gets really out of hand, reply all asking to be removed, and tell your staff that their reply all habits are a disrespectful waste of your time.
My Quest to Hatch a Shiny Pokémon
By: Logan Noble
Tags: Features, Gaming, Pokemon, Digital Life, Videogames

Their rarity and unique look make them special. As each generation of games has come along, getting your hands on a Shiny Pokémon has become easier and easier. Before I set off on my mission to hatch Dreepy, I had 10 Shinies. I’d received them in trades, Special Events, and caught them in the wild. My favorites are Shiny Charizard, Metagross, and Dragonite. All special, but not quite right. I wanted a Shiny that I made, IV trained with the right nature. I wanted to hatch the egg myself, there on the long path beside the Pokémon Nursery on Route 5.

Before I began this quest, I did everything in my power to increase the odds. The base odds of hatching a Shiny are 1 in 4096. After I completed the Pokédex and received the Shiny Charm, my odds increased to 1 in 1365.33. I got a 6 IV Japanese Dreepy and slid into the Masuda Method. Odds increased once again; 1 in 512.

To increase my hatching speed, I threw a Pokémon with the ability Flame Body at the front of my party. That would half the number of steps it would take to hatch an egg. I even downloaded an app that I planned to use to track the number of eggs hatched (because that’s not an in-game feature, which drives me crazy).

I had my boosted bike and every star had aligned. Nothing could stop me now. I would hatch my first Shiny.

The Height

Dragapult is one of my favorite new Pokémon. He joins the ranks of all the other glorious pseudo-legendaries from across the Generations. I was motivated to hatch and train a Shiny version. He would be my partner as I continued Raiding and completing both of the DLC’s Pokédex.

I hatched eggs while my wife and I watched episodes of The Office. I hatched eggs while I surfed YouTube, or when I was too tired to focus on anything taxing. It was a relaxing activity, and it helped that my motivation was sky-high. It went on like this for the first 100 to 200 eggs. This was the height of the process. I was confident. I’d done everything that I knew of to increase the odds, and those odds were in my favor. 1 in 512? That’s nothing.

The Reality
上網就是出賣自己？如果守不住隱私，那乾脆來賺〈Google 意見回饋獎勵〉
By: Seitei Huang
Tags: Mobile, Digital Life, Google, Digital

Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more

Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore
The 3 Reasons I Was Addicted to Social Media
By: Megan Holstein
Tags: Mental Health, Social Media, Digital Life, Lifestyle, Psychology

#1: I was too ashamed to be myself

When I was dependent on social media, I spent a lot of time browsing Instagram, Tumblr, and Pinterest to find pictures of androgynous, genderfluid, nonbinary people who were dressed fashionably and looked great.

I was young and still ashamed of myself. Browsing these photos was my way of subconsciously trying to boost my self-confidence. After all, if these attractive androgynous/nonbinary people have good lives, maybe I can too!

What ended up happening is I wasted a lot of money trying to be these people. I spent a lot of time online reading about what they wore, bought, and did. I learned about fashion and spent a lot of money trying to buy the “right” clothes to make me look like them.

Inevitably, I never did. No matter what clothes I bought or how much money I spent or how many guides online to looking great I read, I never looked the way those people did in their photos.

When I quit social media, I realized that even though they share androgyny in common with me, they are not actually me. Only I am me. The only way I was going to find a way to be happy being myself was by being myself.

I dropped my mall shopping habit and sold all the clothes I bought just because they were worn by androgynous icons. I started shopping at my local Goodwill, buying clothes because they’re comfortable and functional instead of fashionable. Now, my closet is filled with clothes I like, and I’m happy just being myself.

Learning to live my life my way did far more for my happiness than social media ever did.
Can Music Increase Your Productivity?
By: Harry Khan
Tags: Remote Work, Digital Life, Work, Data Science, Productivity

Music without lyrics is best

Source — Photo by Kristina Flour on Unsplash

When you’re studying or working you are using your working memory. Your working memory can be affected by music that has vocals.

Your brain has to multi-task to process the lyrics in the song and the thoughts in your mind at the same time.

Playing lyric-free music can keep your mind stimulated while allowing you to stay focussed.

Music Affects Our Mood

Source — Photo by kazuend on Unsplash

The state of our mood can really affect how productive we are.

To state the obvious, if we are fully motivated and ready to learn then our productivity will be at a high. If we are emotional and our mind is somewhere else then our productivity will be low.

There are times when listening to Adele and eating ice cream while curled up in bed is needed, but not when you need to work.

Playing music may not necessarily improve your cognitive functions, but it helps improve your emotional state, which can affect not only your motivation to work, but it may encourage you to work at times you wouldn’t normally.

Try and find what music genre that gets you in the mood to crush whatever deadlines you have to meet.

Keep The Noise Down

Source — Photo by @chairulfajar_ on Unsplash

Remember that music should be in the background while your study or work, it should not take your mind away from your goal.

Make sure it's at a level that does not drown out your own thoughts.

The perfect level to have is where you can still hear the thoughts in your mind while being able to enjoy the beats in the background.

Don’t Let It Distract You

Source — Photo by bruce mars on Unsplash

There is a fine balance between the music motivating/helping you concentrate and the music hindering your concentration.

You need to find a genre of music that does not totally drown out your thoughts while you are working.

Many of the studies suggest that classical music, spa music or nature sounds are best.

Personally I like to listen to lower tempo tropical house music. The lower the tempo the better.

Trial and Error Is Key

Source — Photo by Wes Hicks on Unsplash

After reading many studies on the matter there is no real scientific evidence to suggest that music can improve your cognitive functions and therefore improve your ability to work.

A lot of us go through life not knowing what environment is best for us to be as productive as possible, mainly because we do not actually try to find what works best for us.

Take this as an opportunity to try many different environments and see what is best for you. Most articles suggest that songs with no lyrics and a slow beat are best for overall performance. Give it a try, and then try another type of music and another type of study, and come out knowing exactly what is best for you.

Below are some interesting articles for further reading.
That pointless but pleasant email? Don’t press send if you care about the planet
By: Rashmee Roshan Lall
Tags: Emails, Carbon Footprint, Britain, Digital Life, Climate Change

Photo by Krsto Jevtic on Unsplash

It’s not just paper and all those dead trees. Your online life is also bad for the planet.

Especially pointless emails or ones in which the point is purely to be pleasant, courteous, social, even.

In an astonishing revelation, the Financial Times has covered the idea that it’s better to limit brief, pointless email exchanges.

Apparently the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), a London-based agency charged with making Britain’s online life secure, recently raised the issue of unnecessary emails in a paper.

And research commissioned by OVO Energy, an energy supply company based in Bristol, indicated last November that if each individual in the UK sent just one fewer email a day it could cut carbon output by more than 16,000 tonnes a year.

Really?

That’s a huge carbon footprint.

How and why?

Weren’t we always told that the digital life is less polluting than travel and consumption in the real world?

Well the email carbon footprint is supposed to be the result of electricity used to power devices on which digital missives are written and read, the networks that transmit them and the data centres that store them.

This sounds shocking and frankly unbelievable.

The FT acknowledges that data centres are responsible for less than 0.1 per cent of the world’s carbon footprint, compared to 20 per cent from cars. But it says that data centres’ emissions are rising on account of more video calls, games and streaming.

So we can’t really win, can we? Damned if we do, damned if we don’t?

Actually, no. Perhaps the answer is to email when you must, just not that brief, pointless exchange of pleasantries.

To my mind, such behaviour would widen the gap between the real and virtual worlds.
“ Only by studying your history and literature, especially literature, did we begin to, I don’t…
Tags: Computer Science, Digital Life, Artificial Intelligence, Electronics, Technology

“ Only by studying your history and literature, especially literature, did we begin to, I don’t know if understand is the right word. Bear in mind that you are organic conscious beings of evolutionary origin while we are not. Only through such study did we learn to respond appropriately. You are so complex! No wonder we adore you.”
【像人生一樣無趣，卻是最符合你我生活型態的手機】 — Google Pixel 5
By: Seitei Huang
Tags: Mobile, Digital Life, Mobile Phone

Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more

Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore
Living Through the Presidential Election Was Way Easier Without Social Media
By: Megan Holstein
Tags: Social Media, Election 2020, Politics, Digital Life, Psychology

1. I was able to keep an open mind

The first time I actually learned anything about the election cycle was the first presidential debate. Which, honestly, is the way I think it should be.

Without social media, there was no algorithm-powered news cycle pumping the lastest meaningless news into my psyche. Outside of the candidate’s general positions — that is to say, that one was Trump and one was not Trump — I didn’t know anything about them. I didn’t know Trump was coming after Biden’s family. I didn’t know Biden was touching children’s shoulders weirdly. I didn’t even know what happened to Breonna Taylor, though I assumed it was yet another terrible abuse of police power. I didn’t know much at all.

And honestly, for this election, I didn’t need to. Knowing Biden touches children’s shoulders weirdly doesn’t help anyone pick the next leader of the US. And as for the inappropriate personal attacks and dismissal of the civil rights of minorities… well, none of that was exactly new, was it?

All this is to say that, when I watched the first Presidential debate, it was with an open mind.

That was such a refreshing feeling. I was free from all the psychological trickery of the campaigns and media, free from the pressure of the opinions of friends and family, and free from partisan preconceived notions about either of the candidates. It made it possible for me to thoughtfully assess each candidate based on what I see, not what I’m told I’m supposed to see.

It was all the more refreshing because I’m young enough that I’ve never participated in an election without social media before. It’s the first election I was ever able to observe with a level of detached rationality.

Of course, the debate I actually did see was a disaster and made me fear for the integrity of America, but I was able to experience that clearly for myself, instead of having my mind influenced by all the other minds around me.
The M1 Macbook Pro is Blazing Fast
By: Megan Holstein
Tags: Gadgets, Tech, Digital Life, Apple, Technology

Photo by Daniel Cañibano on Unsplash

The M1 Macbook Pro is Blazing Fast

On my old 12" Macbook with an m3 core, the slowest part of my workflow was opening Affinity Photo.

Affinity Photo, a faster and more affordable alternative to Photoshop, is my tool of choice for designing book covers, marketing materials, web design assets, and anything else I need for my writing business.

It’s a great piece of software, and I am a raving fan, but opening that thing on an m3 Macbook was slow. I would click to open the program and then pick up my phone to pass the next half a minute. And that’s the blazing fast Affinity Photo. Photoshop, Affinity Photo’s larger (and slower) competitor, would easily take five minutes to load fully on my Macbook.

All in all, the m3 Macbook is not as slow as you would expect an m3 core to be, but it’s still slow. For writing articles or browsing simple websites, it is a fabulous machine, and I still recommend it to writers who are looking for their first writing computer. But for the more complicated parts of my business workflow — designing marketing materials, configuring my website — it showed its limitations.

The M1 MacBook Pro is a world apart.

After fully setting up my M1 MacBook Pro, the first thing I did was open Affinity Photo. It opened in exactly two heartbeats. One heartbeat for the preview screen, one heartbeat for the main photo editor to load. Done.

I gasped so audibly my mother asked me what was wrong.

The initial configuration process for the machine, a process that notoriously takes ten to fifteen minutes, passed in a matter of moments. I barely processed that I was waiting on my new computer to load before it was fully loaded and ready to rock-and-roll. Indexing the entire machine, which normally takes about an hour, took fifteen minutes.
This Is Why Social Media Is So Harmful
By: Ueyisyj Yidgidvdjhhkdkhd
Tags: Self Improvement, Time Management, Social Media, Digital Life, Addiction

I thought I had greatly reduced my daily social media consumption.

But according to the screen time function of my iPhone, on average, I am still spending 26 minutes a day just on Instagram.

I know, for many people out there, it would be very little overall, but I still find it sad. 26 minutes for what? To see food, unrealistically attractive people, and memes?

I really should use less social media, and I think it’s a good idea for all of us. An exciting book about this topic is Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jaron Lanier.

Lanier’s book discusses the various reasons to delete your own social media accounts or change your own consumption.

This article offers some good reasons to think more critically about digital media. The book mentioned serves as a source for this.

In the end, you will find a few tips from me on how to I am effectively reducing my social media usage.
Slow down
By: Adolfo Ramírez Corona
Tags: Tools, Information Overload, Digital Life, Thinking

When my train of thought goes too fast about an idea, project, new study, or I simply suffer from information overload, I need to slow down or have a pause.

A change of tool of thought is useful in these cases: stop typing ideas on the computer and start handwriting them on paper.
Researchers Lie About Giving Out Incentive For Survey
By: Ryan Fan
Tags: Satire, Techonlogy, Digital Life, Humor, Education

SATIRE

Researchers Lie About Giving Out Incentive For Survey

The professor thought about escalating his scheme by lying about the survey results as well

Photo by Celpax on Unsplash

Local researchers and graduate students conducting a psychological study have offered an incentive for completing the survey — a $50 gift card. However, researchers have come up with a savvy idea: they are going to lie about giving out the incentive.

Instead, the researchers have decided to tell every potential participant on the e-mail list server that they’re going to give out 20 prizes. But one graduate student came up with a cost-saving measure: they aren’t going to give the incentive to anyone.

Almost 59% of students at the university completed the survey, which took 10 minutes long, which was time they could have spent doing their work or getting shitfaced drunk at frat parties.

“Look, no one was expecting to win a gift card anyway,” the professor supervising the study said.

At the end of the day, every student who did the study just forgot about it, not expecting to win a gift card. With the $1000 saved, the research group decided to hit the bar a month later and celebrate their newly won grant and published paper based on research from their survey. The party quickly got out of hand, and the group decided this lying about survey incentives was a pretty good deal.

The professor decided he was in on lying about the survey incentive. Secretly, the professor thought about escalating his scheme by lying about the survey results as well — he could publish papers and save a lot of money.
Trump’s Most Ridiculous Tweets Since 2016, Translated
By: Ginny Hogan
Tags: Donald Trump, Social Media, Politics, Digital Life, Humor

Ding dong, the witch is dead. Nothing was funny about Trump’s disastrous administration (okay, that Four Seasons snafu was a little funny, and so were a bunch of other things), but overall, it was a dumpster fire that we really wish we’d completely avoided.

The day Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were declared the winners, I saw the word “relief” float around Twitter more frequently than in a Miralax commercial. Speaking of Twitter, if we want a complete catalog of Trump’s insanity, we need to look no further than his most absurd tweets.

I wonder if he ever considered zooming out a little on his avatar. Until I get answers on that, read on for a translation of his most chaotic thoughts throughout his thankfully nearly finished term.

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15. November 9, 2020

Translation: The stock market is up as a response to me losing the election, LOL.

14. April 26, 2020

Translation: I can’t think of a new tweet. I’ll just give a bump to this nonsense I tweeted yesterday.

13. September 1, 2016

Translation: There will be no wall. And if there were, Mexico would definitely not pay for it.

12. May 31, 2020

Translation: THEY’RE HAVING A MARATHON ON TBS!

11. January 6, 2018

Translation: I am unstable and unsmart.

10. July 24, 2018

Translation: They want Trump, and I want them back.

9. January 2, 2020

Translation: They never would have done this to Obama — because Obama wouldn’t have committed collusion, but still.

8. March 22, 2018

Translation: I am threatened by Joe Biden, even though he’s a full million years old.

7. November 24, 2017

Translation: Time magazine didn’t call me. And why would they need a photo shoot anyway ? They can just use my Twitter avatar.

6. March 6, 2018

Translation: I’d like to be in movies very much, please! Someone cast me! (I’m not kidding.)

5. October 5, 2020

Translation: Jump off a bridge, see if I care.

4. May 5, 2016

Translation: I am racist.

3. December 12, 2019

Translation: I’m so insecure, I have to insult and be condescending to a teenage girl!

2. January 2, 2018

Translation: I’m taunting a dangerous dictator over nuclear weapons because I am one as well.

1. November 7, 2020

Translation: I did not win this election, BY A LOT!
Make Your Smartphone So Boring You Won’t Want to Use It
By: Dave Gershgorn
Tags: Gadgets, Smartphones, Tech, Digital Life

Make Your Smartphone So Boring You Won’t Want to Use It Dave Gershgorn ·Nov 9, 2020

I’m a little nuts. Sometimes I use my smartphone too much, and get this — I don’t listen to my screen time notifications.

That’s why I admire this post by Maxime Vaillancourt, who tried to turn his phone into a tool, rather than a toy.

“A tool does its job, then gets out of the way,” Vaillancourt writes.

His methods are for Android rather than iOS, which I will use an excuse to not change how I live my life at all.

Check it out below:
10 Subtle Behaviors on Dating Apps That Turn People Off
By: Kelly Eden
Tags: Relationships Love Dating, Relationships, Digital Life, Love, Dating

10 Subtle Behaviors on Dating Apps That Turn People Off

Photo by diana.grytsku @ Freepik.com

There’s a lot about online dating that turns many of us off, but it’s here to stay. Some happy Tinder-matched couples even assure me it can work! I decided to do some digging and find out for you what good online dating looks like…and what people hate, so you can avoid turning off potential matches.

I asked over 200 singles — men and women — from two Facebook groups, Twitter, and some of my local single friends, what their pet hates are. Obviously all the big hitters turned up: d*c pics, early sexual comments, asking for naked pics, hunting/fishing photos, scammers, and getting aggressive, were among the most hated things on dating apps. We all know these basic “what not to do” behaviors, but what about the more subtle ones? The ones we don’t realize are turning people away?

Here’s what they said:

1. Less than cute

It’s lovely when your partner calls you sweetheart, darling, or pumpkin-pie (whatever does it for you). Research shows baby-talk, couple-speak, and cute names can be good for your relationship. But what about when someone you haven’t even met does it?

Over one hundred women were asked this question in one of my Facebook groups and all unanimously said they hated it. The least favorite? Baby or babe. For some reason there are a number of men on Tinder and similar apps starting their messages this way. They dole out variations of “Good morning, sweetheart” or “Hey sexy” to every woman they message.

To make a good first impression, it’s best to save the endearments for when you’re snuggled up on the couch with her in real life.
Unless There’s a Valid Reason, Don’t Feel Guilty About Playing Video Games
By: Casimir Mura
Tags: Gaming, Digital Life, Dota 2, Addiction, Self

Unless There’s a Valid Reason, Don’t Feel Guilty About Playing Video Games

Photo by AronPW on Unsplash

The last time I played Dota 2 was January 8th, 2018. If you asked me to describe my experience with Dota 2, I would have to say that Dota 2 is the high-grade prescription amphetamine of video games.

Like a crippling drug addiction, you don’t realize how far you’ve gone until your room is trashed, your bones ache and you manage to look at the clock. It’s 2:00 AM and you realize that you started playing at around noon. Where has the time gone? Your friend, sitting in the voice chat with you, asks if you want to play another game.

On most nights where I didn’t have school the next day, it wouldn’t be uncommon to play until the sunrise. Dota 2 is just that good when you get into it. Now, I’m not trying to say that every person who plays Dota 2 has this issue. It’s just that this particular game had that effect on me. I couldn’t stop playing. However, when I stopped, it was always the same.

There was that overwhelming sense of guilt — the feeling that I had wasted an entire afternoon or day in a world that was so far disconnected from my own. Reality would come crashing down after I logged off. All of my problems were still at the front door, and I had done nothing to address them.

I never was, and I’m still not, a good Dota player. As of today, I’ve only put in about 1,600 hours into the game. That’s about 66.7 days or a little bit over 2 months of game time. Despite this, I’m really bad at the game. When I played about two years ago, my friends would constantly remind me about how bad I was.

And no, this isn’t some success story where I kept playing and ended up at the international. Nothing like that ever happened. The truth is that I ended up going to college and stopped focusing on video games as a source of validation. Despite this, I want to address the existential dread that can sometimes hit someone after a long play session.
Strength Beyond Strength
By: Hogan Torah
Tags: Mental Health, Art, Digital Life, Society, Self

Image Luvecat. All rights reserved.

Strength Beyond Strength

I am not writing this as Hogan Torah. My name is Logan. I am a performance artist who uses social media as my canvas. Hogan Torah is character I play who delivers a message of positivity and self love using absurdist humor.

Hogan is an idealized version of myself.

Why do I wear this mask? Why can’t I just be myself?

Because the real me is a dark empath. An empath feeds off emotion. I’m not an empath. I don’t give a fuck about your emotions. Only my own.

I’m a sociopath who feels deeply. Naturally possessing the ability to draw in those who are lost. I build people up so I can use them as I please. Then spit them out with no remorse like a stick of Dentyne when their flavor dissipates.

We feel things deeply.

When Hogan sat down four hours ago these were the titles he wrote:

Kid Skateboarding in Mall Parking Lot Claims to Have Landed Kickflip

I Tried to Land a Kickflip But Accidentally Restarted The Soviet Union

How I Make 200k a Year Blowing Goats

Bitches Call Me Space Invaders Because I weigh 400 lbs And am Found Non Functional in The Back of Dive Bars

I couldn’t do it. Whatever. Who gives a shit? Not feeling it.

Maybe people need a laugh. Not today. Not from me. Fuck em. They’re getting Logan.
The Perfect Portable Charger for All Your Apple Gadgets Is Here
By: Dave Gershgorn
Tags: Gadgets, Consumer Tech, Smartphones, Digital Life, Technology

The Perfect Portable Charger for All Your Apple Gadgets Is Here

Photos courtesy of the author

I love power banks.

I used to carry around a 26,800 mAh Anker power bank all the time, back when we went outside for extended periods of time. It weighed 20 ounces—more than a pound—but it was worth it.

The most annoying part of carrying around a power bank, though, is also needing to carry a bag with its associated cords. You probably already get the gist that I have more gadgets than common sense, so I’d need to carry around a USB-to-Lightning cable for my phone, USB-to-Apple Watch charger, USB-to-micro-USB, and USB-to-USB-C cables all the time just to use the already bulky charging brick.

But I recently preordered and received a gadget that fixes those issues.

The $100 Satechi Quatro wireless charging bank is a 10,000 mAh power bank that has a built-in Apple Watch charger and wireless charging pad, as well as USB-C and USB-A ports. It can charge my phone, watch, and iPad all at the same time, and I only need to carry one USB-C cable for the iPad. I can also use that USB-C cable to recharge the power bank. I have the iPhone 12, and it works well even though it’s not MagSafe, and if you have wireless earbuds like AirPods, they can charge wirelessly too, though not at the same time as the phone.

I’ve used the power bank only a few times and can’t speak to details like how rapidly the wireless charging works or how many days of charging I can get for all my devices. (My gut feeling and some back-of-the-napkin math says one night of charging and a little more the next day.) But I can say that the device works as advertised, and I’m excited to use it on a trip. It’s a little clunky to use as a daily charger, but I have used it around my apartment to charge my phone if the battery is low while I’m watching TV or something like that.

I am obviously not traveling often due to the global pandemic, but this was more of an aspirational purchase. An investment into a future where I can take a trip without packing a mask.
Tips to Teach Your child How to Read
Tags: Reading, Mothers, Child Activities, Kids Activity In Chennai, Teachers

READING ACTIVITY…..

Learning to read at a young age is important for a child’s development. It helps them develop a better understanding of their surroundings, allows them to gather information from printed material, and provides them with an amazing source of entertainment when they read stories and poems. Children develop at different rates, and some children will develop reading skills quicker than other children; However, it is important that as a parent, you are well aware of your child’s maturity and reading level and provide appropriate books and activities to help them improve.

As a parent, you are the most important teacher for your children. You will introduce your child to books and reading.

Below we have some tips to help teach your child how to read.

Teach your child the letters and sounds of the alphabet at the same time.

Studies have shown that children learn best when they are taught letter names and letter sounds at the same time. In one study, 58 preschool children were randomly assigned to receive instruction in letter names and sounds, letter sounds, or numbers (control group)

The results of this study are consistent with previous research results, which found that children who received letter names and voice instructions were the most likely to know the sounds of letters that had signs in their names. [1]

While reading the alphabet to your child, allow them to slowly locate the letter, while at the same time it is called the sound of the letter.

For example, if you are teaching your child the letter “A”, you would say:

Then give a voice to your child, tracing the letter with his / her index finger.

When teaching your child to read, always emphasize with them that proper reading should be from left to right and top to bottom.

For adults, it may seem so basic that anyone should know it. However, our children are not born with the knowledge that printed text should be read from left to right and top to bottom, and that is why you will sometimes see children reading from right to left instead — because they are clear Are that they were not taught to read from left to right. When teaching your child how to teach, always emphasize this point with them.

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Teach final consonant blends first.

By teaching these “like” and “and” words, your child can directly learn the words that are sung with them. For example, “on”, you might have:

For “and”, you can have these rhyming words:

Once your child learns the sounds of some consonants and short vowel sounds, you can start teaching mixing. You do not have to wait until your child has mastered the sound of all letters before teaching them the mix.

Learning to read is a long process, but it is not a difficult process. Break into simple and logical steps, because a two-year-old child can learn to read, and older children can accomplish even more.

Reading by children

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