I am not very handy.
The algorithm thinks I need an electric vehicle. But just in case the target doesn’t want to spend that much…
How about a cheap cruise?
Or a cheap Tiny Home?
New bathtub?
AND my favorite ad…
Seriously???
Counsellor Hilarie Cash, the co-founder of reSTART Life, a residential treatment center for tech addiction, told The Epoch Times that screen use is classified as problematic when it starts eating into time necessary for normal human functioning…
Ms. Cash, whose program to treat people struggling with addiction to internet pornography and video games began in the 1990s, has observed a worrying trend. While her earlier clients also experienced major upheaval due to their screen addictions, they had sufficient life skills. In contrast, many of her clients today lack necessary life skills, such as knowing how to cook, maintain personal hygiene, hold down a conversation, make meaningful relationships, keep a job, etc. These people are more challenging to treat.
The Silent Epidemic Eating Away Americans’ Minds — https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/the-silent-epidemic-eating-away-americans-minds-5560857
I see this every day. People cannot drive a car responsibly, process a restaurant meal order correctly, make the correct change when presented with cash not credit, and cannot tell you what time it is unless the clock has a digital readout.
We. Are. Doomed.
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/
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.
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!
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.
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
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:
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
lifeunderwriter.net 
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