Smartphone addictions seems to be cause for less self-control and other psychological ailment

We all love smartphones, don’t we? It's good to access any valuable data or to initiate a conversation without even leaving your couch. Almost each and every individual has their own personal smartphone device and due to the hype, smartphones are getting more innovative than ever before.

Since smartphones have become an important part of our everyday life, according to the International Journal Of Environmental Research and Public Health, the excessive use of smartphones can be a reason for negative thinking and less self-control.

Moreover, Researchers like Rosa Fabio, Alessia and Riccardo Lo Faro initiated research to find if excessive smartphone usage is the reason behind aggressive behavior and loss of self-control. In order to start the research Fabio and college mates gathered data from around 111 participants.

There was a small percentage of college students and the rest were everyday workers. Each smartphone device was equipped with the software called SocialStatsApp in order to keep track of daily consumption with regards to social media platforms such as TikTok, Facebook and Instagram.

To calculate the risk of smartphone addiction. The smartphone Addiction Scale Short Version (SAS-SV) was deployed and turned out to be successful in terms of research.

As the Research was diverse and complicated, this study was broken down into three phases, an initial phase, an experimental phase and an after-test phase, for the first one researcher checked the visibility of the participants on social media apps through SocialStatsApp that was initially installed onto their phones.

For the sake of second phase of the test, the participants were told to limit their online social media activities to one hour a day for a time period of approximately 3 days, meanwhile the day before and after the second phase, a test for memory, attention, self-control etc, was taken in order to have a good understanding of the changes. And for the last stage, participants were instructed to use their smartphone devices as much as they want for 7 days.

According to results, participants who were having smartphone addiction were ignoring the second phase and were consuming a lot of screen time via their smartphones as per their usual usage. Study also shows, due to their excessive use of smartphone usage they were having a low visual reaction time and worse working memory as well as less self-control as compared to the other individuals who were limiting their smartphone usage.

Moreover, some of the participants even left the research as soon as they came to know about limiting their smartphone usage.

Beware! Smartphone addiction is real and could result in many worse scenarios, try to limit your smartphone usage by setting a timer.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Snapchat Rolls Out Exciting Voice-Powered AR Experience With New Balance

Leading digital platform Snapchat is making head waves in the world of AR technology with its latest offering.

The company has launched a new AR-based experience that’s voice-powered. And hence, we can soon see that turning into a great ad push for the festive season.

This project will entail VoiceML which is another term reserved for audio prompts that discovers different products. As can be seen through such an endeavor, the feature is a collaboration with New Balance Lens.

Therefore, Snapchat users may now be able to promptly answer a long list of questions on the app that uses their own voice. You can think of it as a substitute for typing and that would assist them in discovering some of the greatest product matches for a particular purpose.

The company released a statement on the matter where they mentioned how Snapchatters could answer questions about a particular person that they happen to be shopping for. With the help of VoiceML, all users of this app would now have the chance to utilize their own voices and answers for a match to attain the ultimate gift idea. This may be for themselves, a colleague, a friend, or any loved one too. After the questions are rightly answered, the user can unveil product recommendations with the help of the best unboxing experience.

Some experts are looking at this as another angle to the entire AR experience. And that is what provides some of the most immersive and engaging experiences for a natural connection when compared to just typing.

While some might feel this shift is not too massive, considering the number of people who love to type, we do see where the app is going with this. There are some great considerations for how such decisions could invite people toward a more enhanced AR experience. And in addition to that, it builds further engagement for the entire process too.

As is, the world of AR is really turning into the most valuable complement for online shopping and it assists consumers in making faster and some of the most beneficial decisions too. Who knows, you can now avail the best offerings from the world of AR, thanks to great engagement and promotions.

As anyone can probably imagine, creating AR isn’t very simple. But it’s not as complex as one would imagine. And thanks to Snap, we’re going to be seeing it offering some AR courses that are free of cost, alongside some great innovative tools too.

We feel this might be something that’s actually worth taking a look at and investing your time in while exploring various options.

Snapchat says that this new and exciting Balance Lens endeavor may soon go live only in the US for both iOS and Android devices. The expected date for the launch would be the end of this month. To gain access, you can simply log into the Lens Carousel on the application.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Majority Of The Countries All Around The World Are Working Together To Make Rules To End Plastic Pollution

Many governments from different countries around the globe are on the same page to end plastic pollution by the end of 2024. For this purpose, they all have agreed to draw some global rules which will not only help with plastic pollution but will also help in its useful production. Plastic consumers also believe that now it is important to make these rules because plastic is affecting the environment of this world.

Ipsos surveyed plastic consumers in 34 countries of the world. 23,000 adults did this survey in the light of Ipsos in collaboration with WWF and Plastic Free Foundation. 70% of people included in this survey agree that there should be worldwide rules to end plastic pollution. They also said that these rules should be given out to governments of the countries so they can easily apply them.

According to this survey, the most plastic consumers who want some global rules to end plastic pollutants were from Peru and Indonesia. They both showed the highest percentage of 81% to support the regulations that should be implemented.

After these countries, Columbia and Spain were the countries with the most positive responses with 78% applying some rules for plastic pollution. 74% of people in France also wanted the rules. The response in the UK and Brazil was 71%. 63% of people in Denmark were supporting this decision. China, Japan, and the United States were the ones with the least percentage of support for the poll. One of the biggest reasons for this was that many people didn't choose a specific answer. Most of them chose "Don't know" which means they were confused about this. Japan had the lowest percentage (41%). Another reason for this could be that people aren't in support of low plastic use as plastic is cheaper than any other material.

The survey also stated the points people want to add to the global rules. The majority of them said that they want the governments to ban unnecessary plastics which are only used once. Many of them also want plastic that is easily recyclable and want the manufacturers to reduce what they produce. It is also important that the manufacturers add labels to the products that can help people know how to reduce, reuse and recycle plastics.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Publishers Are Now Prioritizing Ad Consent More Than Ever

For a really long time, data collection practices were implemented in a way that was quite secretive with all things having been considered and taken into account. A few changes in EU regulations coupled with a new default opt out feature in Apple’s updated iOS meant that third party tracking no longer held the sway that it used to. This is changing the way that publishers think about advertising in general.

The managing director of the Association of Online Publishers, Richard Reeves, recently spoke out about how many publishers are starting to prioritize ad consent more than might have been the case otherwise. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Reeves was referring to programmatic ad consent which is quite different from, say, a user opting in to receive emails from a publisher of their choice.

Personalization engines that are powered by AI can be a useful tool for publishers because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up showing insights that can help them personalize ads without having to infringe on someone’s online privacy. Reeves criticized the Transparency and Consent framework because despite its fulfilment of all GDPR requirements it might be lumping in too many tracking practices some of which are not all that harmful.

Just 51% of ad revenue goes to publishers, and around 15% of ad revenue ends up being unaccounted for, and that suggests that malicious actors may be entering the fray. The more muddled up and confusing regulations are, the bigger the opportunities would be for so called rent seekers to set up shop.

People will always try to find workarounds for regulations, but for now it seems that publishers are trying to find new ways to obtain consent so that they can get vital tracking data to personalize ads for users. Zero and first party data will become ever more prominent, since it can provide a gap between the needs of publishers and the privacy needs of the users that they are going to be showing their ads to.

Illustration: Freepik / jcomp
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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Google Announces List Of Winners For This Year’s Best Apps On The Play Store

It’s December and that means the year is coming to an end.

Therefore, it’s time that we sit down and reflect on moments that really stood out. And that’s exactly why tech giant Google is going public with its list of award winners for best apps at the Play Store.

From games and products to gadgets, apps, and more - the company really had a lot to consider in terms of what people loved. And a month after we saw it open up the voting for this year’s Users’ Choice Category, it’s time for Google to unveil who rose above all others.

In a fashion that we observed last year, Google really split down its own list of awards, and that included a list of categories for Users’ Choice and various sections. A separate degree of honor and respect was provided to every app on an individual level.

Stans: This game is the best#GooglePlayBestOf 2022: But actually

You can view these Best of titles in the US Play Store. To discover local winners in your area, please visit: https://t.co/WW21XPJ1eE pic.twitter.com/4wuivQCyqF

— Google Play (@GooglePlay) November 30, 2022

And the category is…inspirational ✨ You can view these Best of titles in the US Play Store. To discover local winners in your area, please visit: https://t.co/WW21XPJ1eE pic.twitter.com/EdLi400Deo

— Google Play (@GooglePlay) November 30, 2022

Coming down to the apps theme, it was ‘Dream By Wombo’ that really outshone all others and stole the top spot. The reason being is very simple. This was the year to celebrate AI artwork and the download count for Dream proved just that and more. We saw the app gather a staggering 10 million downloads, moments after it was launched in the year 2022.

Moving on to the category of games, it was the Apex Legends Mobile that turned out to be the winner. The adaptation of this popular endeavor meant it was going to convert to smartphones without ever thinking about losing out on things that makes it special. Yes, there were quite a few bugs but today, it’s thriving bigger and better on Android than ever.

We have to mention that users’ reviews continue to depict that there is still some ground that needs to be made up in terms of a great many crashes taking place. Without much luck, we may soon be seeing stability updates regarding Apex.

But when you actually come to think of it, Users’ Choice is really what matters in this scenario. BeReal was seen taking the top spot in the world of applications. And the fact that it’s not new on Android as it’s been there for three years, it’s only now that people are really getting to know more and more about the app as it enters the public eye for the year 2022.

For BeReal, this slow launch managed to work out well in its favor. But now, the real question is if such questions would continue in the next year but by the looks of it, users appear to be very content.

Last but not, it was time to unveil the winner for the category of games. And no surprises here as the Apex Legend Mobiles cinched the top spot. So don’t forget to jump in if you want to without any sort of excuse.

Google was even seen giving out awards to an array of subcategories like apps and games. You can see them all on the Play Store’s pages.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Elon Musk Sets Up New Plans For Twitter While Keeping Its Paid Verification On Hold

Musk has mentioned to the world that he’s on the verge of launching his Twitter files that would focus on how much free speech is suppressed by this social media app.

The Twitter Chief says it’s high time the world knew the reality of the matter and what really took place. Moreover, he failed to outline any specifics about it and is yet to mention what sort of suppression he’s talking about. But it’s definitely something that has some people wondering what it could possibly be.

Twitter has been busy removing accounts and taking down information requests and now, this seems to be a new strategy employed to make others realize that what you see is not always what you get and every story has a background to it.

The new tweet that was published on Monday comes after a massive tirade aimed against Apple which mentioned that it would be pausing advertising on the app, despite being one of the platform’s biggest advertisers for this year.

He even directly hit back at Apple by asking if they were against his free speech mission as that is what it currently looks like. For that, he opted to strike the firm’s CEO and asked for an explanation.

The huge string of tweets is a clear indication of Twitter’s war with Apple and Musk thinks that free speech can’t be lost in the US as that would mean tyranny lies ahead. For a while now, the Tesla CEO has been promoting free speech and that’s despite experts trying to question his moves.

In other news for the world of Twitter, Elon Musk has been seen delaying the app’s paid verification and there is a very good reason behind that. You will not find it as in-app purchases for the iOS device because the company wants to dodge an expensive bullet which is Apple getting its 30% cut for sales made through the app store.

When the blue subscription plan was first released, we saw it coming forward on the iOS app but now that Apple is not keen on being an advertiser for Twitter, Musk does not feel the need to pay its due share. He wants to do everything and anything that would avoid taking this route for Apple’s fees.

Signups for this project have been paused for a while now, thanks to a series of impersonators arising on the platform. Therefore, a relaunch has been planned for Tuesday with verification through phone numbers and also a one-cent rise in price from $7.99 to $8. Other than that, the blue subscription might not be getting a whole lot of changes anytime soon.

But over a month’s time, we saw Elon Musk go full throttle with his tweets that are aimed against Apple. He has since then been calling out the platform’s store cut and a 30% internet tax that was not fair and was not needed.

For now, Apple is yet to publicly acknowledge tweets fired by Elon Musk. But there is news about outsiders speculating that huge firing sprees and little to no accountability for content moderation could be a major reason.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Analysts Semiconductor Revenue to Decline by 3.6% in 2023

Semiconductors have been seeing a lot of ups and downs ever since the pandemic. The pandemic itself choked up supply lines, but matters were made even worse by manufacturing issues and political unrest in China as well as further problems that occurred in Taiwan. Such issues becoming prevalent in the two biggest semiconductor manufacturing hubs was sure to create shockwaves, and that is almost exactly how things have played out.

The revenue that companies received from semiconductors reached $595 billion in 2021, which increased by 4% to $618 billion in 2022. Previous predictions suggested that semiconductor revenues would continue to grow in 2023, ostensibly reaching $623 billion by the end of that year. In spite of the fact that this is the case, newer analysis has revealed that the growth rate will actually be in the negatives, and that could make industry recovery take much longer than might have been the case otherwise.

The newest predictions from Gartner indicate that semiconductor revenues are going to see a 3.6% decline in 2023. This will erase almost all of the progress that was made this year, with the current projection estimating around $596 billion in revenue. That is just $1 billion more than the numbers seen in 2021, and the short term outlook seems quite dire with all things having been considered and taken into account.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that memory demand has been seeing a huge decline. Inventories are overflowing, customers are demanding reduced prices, and all in all demand is expected to take a 16% hit in 2023 given all these factors.

Some consumers will rejoice because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up making their devices cheaper in 2023. However, companies might refuse to decrease prices and instead keep them stable by opting against raising them as they normally do. We will have to see how the events of next year play out, and we might see a vastly different industry by the time 2023 draws to a close.

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World