Technology

Scary Charts – 11.24.23

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Source: https://www.statista.com/chart/31306/countries-with-the-highest-annual-increases-in-consumer-prices/

I suppose this should make us feel better about higher prices in the US.

More good news – lithium is cheap again.

Lithium “Shortage” Bubble Implodes (Again), Price Collapsed 77% in a Year, as Demand and Production Both Surged – https://wolfstreet.com/2023/11/23/lithium-shortage-bubble-implodes-once-again-as-demand-and-production-both-surged/

Now all we need to do is find people who want and can afford to buy an EV.

Last month, Ford had laid off some workers building the F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck. Competitor General Motors also said it was postponing adding more production capacity for its electric Chevrolet Silverado EV citing slow-growing demand.

Ford battery plant is back on track but scaled down — https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/21/business/ford-battery-plant-downscaled/index.html

Average new electric vehicle prices are actually down by more than $14,000 compared with 2022, settling at around $50,683 on average, thanks to a combination of increased supply, the arrival of more affordable models and trim levels and aggressive price cuts by Tesla, the largest EV manufacturer in the US.

Cheapest Electric Cars for 2023 — https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/the-most-affordable-electric-cars-for-2023/

The Dark Side of TikTok – Scary Charts 11.19.23

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In just three years, the share of U.S. adults who say they regularly get news from TikTok has more than quadrupled, from 3% in 2020 to 14% in 2023.

More Americans are getting news on TikTok, bucking the trend seen on most other social media sites — https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/11/15/more-americans-are-getting-news-on-tiktok-bucking-the-trend-seen-on-most-other-social-media-sites/

While TikTok is an engaging entertainment and social connection platform, there are better sources for in-depth personal financial advice. Many finance content creators sell the allure of quick wealth and success, leading neophyte investors to risky decisions that may have lasting consequences. 

TikTok Personal Financial Advice Not To Take —https://due.com/tiktok-personal-financial-advice-not-to-take/

This will not end well.

Troubling Trends

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Early adolescence is characterized by wide-reaching hormonal changes, as well as physiological changes throughout the body. At the same time, all sorts of neural, cognitive and social shifts are happening. These changes could make social-media environments, such as those provided by Snapchat or TikTok, particularly alluring, but also especially impactful on mental health9–11. Several developmental-psychology studies have shown, for instance, that adolescents — particularly those in early to mid-adolescence — place increased importance on being able to interact with their peers, and on what their peers think of them12. Other studies suggest that although young children tend to view themselves positively, as they become adolescents, their ideas about themselves come to more closely align with what they perceive others to think of them13,14. Still more work has shown that being rejected or not being included has a greater impact on mood for those in early to mid-adolescence than for people older than 2515.

How social media affects teen mental health: a missing link — Nature 614, 410-412 (2023) — https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00402-9

I Thought I Told You To Put That Phone Down!

If I have to tell you one more time to Put The Phone Away…

Yikes!

Some Old Statistics

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The Administration for Community Living (ACL) has published its profile of older Americans 2021, an annual summary of critical statistics related to the older population. The updated report shows an older population that’s increasing in size and diversity.

The older population is growing and becoming more diverse — https://healthjournalism.org/blog/2022/12/the-older-population-is-growing-and-becoming-more-diverse/

And in case you’re thinking none of this matters because you are still young…

We found that midlife, generally considered to encompass the ages of 40 to 65, has become a time of crisis…the midlife crisis experienced by most people is subtler, more nuanced and rarely discussed among family and friends. It can be best described as the “big squeeze” – a period during which middle-aged adults are increasingly confronted with the impossible choice of deciding how to split their time and money between themselves, their parents and their kids.

The real midlife crisis confronting many Americans — https://theconversation.com/the-real-midlife-crisis-confronting-many-americans-114347

Due to the holiday, travel, and entertaining I’ve been spending less time in front of my screens.

Well, time to get back to my normal screen time habit.

Americans 60 and older are spending more time in front of their screens than a decade ago

Cryptocurrencies – Extra Credit Reading Assignment (Updated 12.01.22)

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Cryptocurrencies are a social movement based on the belief that markings in a ledger on the internet have intrinsic value. The organizers of these ledgers call these markings Bitcoin, or Dogecoin, or offer other names based on the specific ledger. That’s really all a cryptocurrency is. There’s no magic. It’s not money, though it has money-like properties. It’s not anything except a set of markings. Sure, the technology behind the ledgers and how to create more of these markings is kind of neat. But crypto is a movement based on energetic storytellers who spin fables about the utopian future to come. In a lot of ways, cryptocurrencies are like Florida land that no one ever intends to use. It has value in the moment it is traded, but only because there’s a collective belief that it has some intrinsic worth.

Matt Stoller BIG newsletter 12.07.21 — https://mattstoller.substack.com/

FTX seems to be a textbook example of how many investors are easily hoodwinked by media narratives about the latest investment genius who has magically discovered some new way of delivering unprecedented returns. 

How Easy Money Fueled the FTX Crypto Collapse – https://mises.org/wire/how-easy-money-fueled-ftx-crypto-collapse

Good book. It should be required reading for everyone before they invest a single penny.

Update 12.01.22

One more extra credit reading assignment. FTX’s Collapse Was a Crime, Not an Accident

ATTENTION PARENTS – (What that does to the brain, we don’t know…)

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Concerns about the mental health impacts of social media activity are longstanding, and have only intensified in recent years. In 2021, for example, internal research at Instagram made public by Frances Haugen showed the drastic mental health impacts of the photo app on teen users – including increased rates of eating disorders among teen girls – and sparked widespread calls for stronger regulation.But TikTok hosts similar harmful content, and experts warn a host of innovative features of the platform raise unique concerns.

What TikTok does to your mental health: ‘It’s embarrassing we know so little’ — https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/oct/30/tiktok-mental-health-social-media

All social media is not bad.

But some platforms are worse than others.

Some earlier posts:

Social media use can lead to low quality sleep and harm mental health — Health Secrets of a SuperAger

More Social Media Use Linked to More Depression and Anxiety in Teens

Quit Social Media – Dr. Cal Newport

I Thought I Told You To Put That Phone Down!

Twitter and Facebook ‘harming children’s development’ – Telegraph

News Addiction

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The results revealed that 16.5% of people surveyed showed signs of ‘severely problematic’ news consumption. Such individuals frequently became so immersed and personally invested in news stories that the stories dominated the individual’s waking thoughts, disrupted time with family and friends, made it difficult to focus on school or work, and contributed to restlessness and an inability to sleep.

73.6% of those recognized to have severe levels of problematic news consumption reported experiencing mental ill-being “quite a bit” or “very much” — whilst frequent symptoms were only reported by 8% of all other study participants.

61% of those with severe levels of problematic news reported experiencing physical ill-being “quite a bit” or “very much” compared to only 6.1% for all other study participants.

Taylor & Francis Group. “News addiction linked to not only poor mental wellbeing but physical health too, new study shows.” ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/08/220824102936.htm (accessed October 5, 2022).

Management Alert – Do Not Ignore This Survey

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A mere 6% want to work entirely on-site going forward. Doesn’t it seem that traditional management and workplace practices are broken if more than 90% of 70 million employees say they don’t want to come back to the office full time?

Returning to the Office: The Current, Preferred and Future State of Remote Work — https://www.gallup.com/workplace/397751/returning-office-current-preferred-future-state-remote-work.aspx

I work in a profession that is perfectly suited for WFH. I’ve worked from home since 2006. Aside from losing most of my social skills…