Social Media: The Good, the Bad, and the Productivity Killer

It's hard to imagine a life without social media. In the past decade, social media has become an integral part of our lives. We use it to keep in touch with friends and family, stay up-to-date on current events, and learn about new products and services. But is social media really all that great? Or are there some hidden dangers that we need to be aware of? In this blog post, we will look at the good, the bad, and the productivity killer of social media.
The Good

Let's start with some positive aspects of social media. According to the Passport Photo Online's "Scrolling Social Media for Dopamine" study, even 80% of surveyed Americans feel good about social platforms. That's a pretty surprising result when we consider the fact that social media has been linked to anxiety, low self-esteem, and depression.

But why do so many people feel good about using social media? The main reason is their function of connecting us with others (40% of surveyed pointed that out). Social media allows us to stay in touch with friends and family, even if they live far away or we don't have the time for a face-to-face visit. Four out of ten surveyed indicated this as the primary reason for their positive attitudes towards Facebook, Instagram, and other social platforms.

Other advantages of social media include:

• Spreading news about important events (39% of surveyed Americans claim that),
• Developing a platform where their messages can reach large audiences (37%),
• Building relationships (36%),
• Discovering sources of valuable information and learning (34%),
• Finding an outlet for creativity and self-expression (30%).

The Bad

All right, let's jump into the side effects of social media use.

Perhaps the most obvious negative aspect is addiction. Social media releases dopamine, the same hormone that is activated by other addictive behaviors like substance abuse and gambling. In fact, the above mentioned study found that even 84% of Americans find social media addictive. Not strong enough? So what would you say if you knew that 31% of Americans would spend between $5,001 and $10,000+ to quit social media for just one year? Quite shocking, isn't it?

But addiction isn't the only issue. Social media has also been linked to decreased face-to-face communication skills, depression and anxiety, low self-esteem, and distracting behavior.

One of the reasons for these negative effects is the constant comparison that social media fosters. It's easy to compare ourselves to others on social media and feel lacking in some way. Even 68% of surveyed people agree or strongly agree that social media has made them jealous of other people's lives (sic!).

We also shouldn't forget about the phenomenon of reducing our attention span. The constant barrage of notifications and the ability to quickly switch from one task to another may be harming our ability to focus on one thing at a time. In fact, even 70% of people blame social media for reducing their attention span.

The Productivity Killer

Now, let's talk about how social media can affect our productivity at work. Social media can be a major distraction, and it's easy to get sucked into the never-ending scroll of feeds and notifications. In fact, one study found that people who are heavy social media users experience higher levels of procrastination at work.

But is it really that wrong to scroll your Instagram from time to time while working? After all, 86% of American workers use social media on their jobs.

The problem is that it can become a slippery slope. What starts as a quick check of notifications can turn into hours of lost productivity, and this impact on efficiency adds up over time.

Let's take a look at the hard data and check how much time employees spend on social media sites daily:

• 43% spend up to 30 minutes,
• 39% spend from 31 to 59 minutes,
• 16% spend between 60 and 120 minutes,
• 2% spend 121 minutes and more.

Remember that from a company's perspective, each employee is an asset. The time they spend on social media during work hours is time not spent on their job responsibilities, and this can lead to lower productivity and profits.

One more important question: is remote work more susceptible to the negative impacts of social media usage? The answer is not so obvious because 38% of remote workers claim they spend the same amount of time since switching to work from home, 37% admit to spending more time on social media, and 22% spend less.

So what can we do about it? It's important to set boundaries for ourselves with social media, especially at work. This could mean limiting the amount of time spent on it during work hours or taking occasional breaks to check notifications instead of constantly refreshing feeds. It's also important to be conscious of the impact that social media can have on our mental health and to take breaks from it as needed.

To sum up

Social media is like a knife or nuclear technology: it can be used for good or bad. It can connect us with others and offer outlets for creativity and self-expression, but it also fosters addiction, decreased face-to-face communication skills, and distractions at work. As always, it's important to use social media in moderation and be mindful of how it affects our mental health and productivity.

Read next: What Country Has the Highest Carbon Emissions?
by Web Desk via Digital Information World

Experts At iFixit Release A Scary Visual Reminder Of The Dangers Linked To Rechargeable Batteries

If you’ve got a spare seven minutes by your side then we sure do hope you take out the time and witness the scary reminder that iFixit is sending out regarding rechargeable batteries.

The repair experts thought the best way of doing that is by making devices carrying such batteries explode. Hence smartphones and laptops were both included in the experiment and it wouldn’t be wrong to say that people are losing their minds at what was put on display.

iFixit says that the whole idea of sending out such reminders is making people realize that it’s best to repair your own product as compared to having them replaced. But remember, when you do a repair, you need to be mindful of a few things as you are dealing with batteries.

If you don’t take the appropriate measures, it’s going to be super dangerous as the wrong handling can really prove to be hazardous. The latter is true when you are dealing with something as dangerous as a fully-charged battery and you end up opening up the device.

You may have heard a lot of warnings in the past but seeing is believing. And that’s why courtesy of iFixit, we’ve got details of what makes such batteries explode in the end.

iFixit could be seen producing videos that showcase exactly what happens during such circumstances. It’s a video that is a clear reminder of why people shouldn’t use batteries that are damaged. And yes, even if the damage or defect is minor, it should not be ignored.

Batteries could end up being on the edge of exploding and causing massive thermal damage. Hence, it must be looked upon by professionals who have an idea of what they’re getting themselves into. If in doubt, it needs to be replaced.

One good news is linked to how the future does look promising as lithium batteries and their associated fires may end up disappearing with time as more productive alternatives may be in store. Remember, solid-state ones do hold a great promise of a greater charging capacity and a faster pace for charging too. There are no electrolytes in liquid form to worry about and the risk related to fires is massively reduced when damaged.

So yes, it’s scary but with time and technology developing, we can greatly benefit.



Read next: What Country Has the Highest Carbon Emissions?
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

More Chaos On Twitter As App’s Copyright System Collapses While Racist Posts Dominate

It’s another day of absolute drama and chaos on Twitter. Despite so many changes and setbacks coming the app’s way, we are yet to see it crumble as a whole. But the initial signs of cracks did begin emerging yesterday.

Last night, the platform’s copyright and takedown systems which function through automated means were seen breaking down.

One of the app’s users was witnessed putting up an entire video that featured chucks of the famous Fast And Furious Tokyo Drift. This was spread over a massive 50-tweet thread.

Right now, it might be offline but the situation got pretty weird with time. For starters, the media wasn’t ever taken down. If that was the case, you would have seen a message being displayed that mentioned, ‘media can’t be displayed’ at the top. That was nowhere to be seen. Instead, it appeared as if someone sat down and suspended the whole account.

If that was not enough, there was more evidence of another bug as viewers who log into the Twitter app through their mobile devices are still seeing the clips of the movie playing at this second. It might be removed successfully for desktop viewers but not for those on their mobile devices.

Experts believe these are clear indications of how Twitter’s copyright system is shattered as it failed to detect and remove this. In fact, seeing the post go viral really was an eye opened.

A platform as big as Twitter not having the right copyright system in place means that workers at the office would now be on the hunt to remove such ordeals manually. And with millions of posts published each day, that’s near to impossible.

Let’s not forget how CEO Elon Musk has more plans of adding a feature that allows Twitter’s Blue subscribers to upload 40-plus minute Disney videos on the app. As you can imagine, it would turn out to be a huge nightmare if such systems were not improved.

For now, we aren’t sure if Twitter is really working hard to improve the issue or not but it should be really worrying as we suspect legal cases to arise soon.

Next up, it was shocking for the world to witness how racist abuses were thrown directly in the face of footballers with no checks and balances. The posts dominated the platform and weren’t removed, serving as a great source of embarrassment for top FIFA world cup players across the board.

There were comments that went as far as making use of the N-word and then a range of controversial emojis being used while calls to have such individuals get deported also started to make sense.

Meanwhile, new research has shed light on how the company is badly failing at removing 99 out of 100 tweets that promote racism as seen before and during the World Cup.

There was just one that was removed and it was done so after getting flagged. But again, the response was too slow, leaving so many questions on people’s minds.

Read next: Social channels received 61% of the total digital ad spend in the U.S
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Social channels received 61% of the total digital ad spend in the U.S

According to the latest report released by digital marketing agency Pathmatics, the overall ad spend in the United States alone has gone up by 5% in the third quarter of the ongoing year.

Despite brands going through an economic crisis, it appears that the digital ad spending sector is doing pretty well, as ad spending had crossed $23 billion at the end of September 2022.

With Meta-owned Facebook leading the advertising trend chart, ByteDance’s TikTok was successfully able to have the highest growth rate. The short video platform experienced a 29% rise in its ad spending while the famous e-commerce platform, Amazon, became the number 1 advertiser brand for TikTok. Amazon was just ahead of tech giant Google, with Disney coming in at the third spot.

With Disney going head-to-head with Hulu, Hulu increased its advertising budget by 667% during the previous 2 quarters. To reach a larger audience, online streaming applications preferred social media platforms for their ad campaigns. The famous HBO Max went forward with Meta’s Facebook while the most common Netflix decided to use TikTok for its campaign, as shown by the data received from April to September. This shift indicates that social platforms are now considered more potent for running ad campaigns for different brands.

Not only this, but the report also covered several areas, which included the names of top advertisers and the amount of money they have spent so far. Different categories were also part of the complete analytical report.

To assist new advertisers or guide struggling ones, the Pathmatic report included creative ideas used by big brands and agencies, along with how much such brands spend on advertisements from one quarter to the next.

Lastly, it was also made a part of this report to discuss what influence the current economic situation has on different brands and agencies and how the big names are taking initiatives or planning ideas to protect themselves from being caught in this situation.

With the last quarter almost about to reach its end, the data report will further clarify whether things are going well or slipping out of hand.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

WhatsApp Is Rolling Out The Ability To Forward Videos, Images, And GIFs With Captions

Getting media files on WhatsApp is always a delight. Be it images, videos, or GIFs- you never know what to expect and hence, you end up opening them up immediately.

But did you ever feel that such media content would be better off with a caption? Well, if the answer is yes, this just might be your lucky day.

Say hello to WhatsApp rolling out new functionality that allows users to add captions to their media while forwarding them to others. For now, the feature is getting tested out for WhatsApp Desktop users but we don’t see why it can’t be introduced to the likes of WhatsApp smartphones too.

The news comes after we just saw the famous social media platform witness profile icons located on group chats. Hence, for now, it’s still under development but we love the sounds of it.

So what can we expect? Well, the rollout would entail a unique caption view that would pop up when forwarding pictures, documents, GIFs, and more with captions. With the new view in place, users get a better sense of what caption would come into place on the new message and when it gets forwarded as you can select if you’d like to remove it by dismissing it or not.

If for instance, you don’t see the feature available for you on WhatsApp, you could end up getting a future update so keep an eye out for that. The chance to follow media with captions was released to a few beta testers right after they installed the Desktop Beta for the WhatsApp update. And so we should see it launched in a few days.

It’s definitely unique and one that might be really useful too, judging by the preview provided by Wabetainfo recently.

Read next: WhatsApp Is Going To Become A Driven Source Of Sales Expansion
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Researchers Warn Of Hackers Dropping Malware Through Google Drive On Government Networks

Researchers at Trend Micro are raising the alarm against Chinese hackers who are receiving support from the government.

The hackers are confirmed to have been taking part in spearphishing campaigns that deliver customized malware that's stored in Google Drive. This malware is dropped on specific locations such as government networks, research areas, and even academic organizations.

Moreover, the researchers claim that such incidents were seen peaking during the period between March and October of this year. Security researchers have even gone as far as attributing the disturbing behavior to a cyber group named Mustang Panda.

As mentioned by Trend Micro researchers, this threat group targets mostly those organizations located in places like Australia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and even Japan. Moreover, you’ll see the hackers making use of established Google accounts to release targets in emails. These work at luring the victims into installing custom malware through links from Google Drive.

More details have gone about revealing how a lot of the hackers utilized messages linked to geopolitical themes and most targets were the government’s institutions. They ended up bypassing all forms of security mechanisms in place as their links point to folders seen on Google Drive or even Dropbox. Both the former and the latter have the best reputation for being less suspicious.

So many of the links are leading to files that arise in compressed ZIP or RAR formats and entail various malware strains like ToneShell and PubLoad.

Researchers are also unveiling how the recent campaign has some of the Mustang Panda tactics that experts had warned about in September of this year. But this new campaign displays signs featuring better toolsets and the ability to expand which causes an increase in hackers’ ability to gather intelligence details and even attack targets with ease.

During the start of 2022, another report by Proofpoint mentioned how Mustang Panda focused operations taking place in Europe and these targeted diplomats with high rankings.

Meanwhile, another report that was released during a similar time showcased the Mustang Panda initiative targeting officials from Russia.

Then in March of this year, Mustang Panda conducted operations in places like Southeast Asia, Africa, and even the southern parts of Europe. And that is what made so many people realize that this Chinese cyber group is a huge gang that is proving to be a global threat.

Read next: Ransomware Attacks Decrease by Over 20% in 2022
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Here's What You Need to Know About Notion's Newest AI Feature

Have you heard about famous note-writing apps? An app known as "Notion" is one of them, an outstanding tool that will help you solve your note-taking issues. But you will be surprised to know that this all-in-one workspace app has announced a new feature called Notion AI. This Artificial Intelligence (AI) based will be able to assist users with their blog entries, to-do checklists, and other tasks. With this new feature, users will be able to get help with their work without having to hire a separate assistant.

Notion AI is a welcome addition to the app, which is already one of the most popular productivity tools on the market. With this new feature, users will be able to get even more out of the app.

Notion AI is a nifty AI application that provides users with a wide range of features and tools. The app is designed to help users boost their productivity and get more done in less time. Notion AI is also equipped with a powerful set of features that allows users to write easily without any limitations efficiently. For example, if you're struggling to come up with ideas for a blog, the AI assistant can help by generating a list of potential topics. Or, if you're trying to come up with an everyday checklist, it can help by prioritizing your tasks and providing you with a suggested order in which to complete them.

One most notable features of its AI is its sleek, simple, and user-friendly interface. The app is easy to navigate and use, and it comes with a wide range of customization options. Notion AI also offers different lists of scripts you wanna create, such as "articles," "official emails," and "everyday checklists." There is just a need to click "Create," and it will do so smoothly within seconds.

People using it are always explicit about whether it will satisfy their needs. To meet their wants Notion tried experimenting with this, and the piece created by the tool was appreciable because it was the same as what people look for in other AI tools. One of the draft Notion AI produced was based on smartwatches, and it says all about different brands of watches and also documented the need's state in previous years rather than how it is right now.

AI by Notion is still in its early stages, said the CEO of Notion, but the company is already working on making it better. You must join a queue and pause for an invitation from the business to try AI. Team Notion is currently training the AI that will be there to handle more complex tasks, such as scheduling meeting times and sending emails. If you are looking forward to an innovative plus user-friendly artificial intelligence application, you should check out this AI tool!

Everybody has various experiences in writing. But, at a point where every writer is stuck on how to start. In these circumstances, Notion AI will assist you in writing it and will help you to begin. The most engaging point is that it will allow us to create unique content. We can improvise in our writing; construct it how we want it to be, and we are good to go. For customer feasibility, it is now free to operate; however, Notion warns that there may be additional fees in the upcoming days. Further, the enterprise claims that when its AI advances, it will spread the functionality to additional people.

Read next: Educational applications in European countries generated $220 million in revenue, up 14%
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World