Health
TikTok acts on children’s brains like a ‘candy store’ shortening their attention span: report
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The best way youngsters are consuming social media, particularly on TikTok, is probably going negatively affecting their consideration spans, based on a latest Wall Road Journal report.
“It’s laborious to take a look at growing developments in media consumption of every kind, media multitasking and charges of ADHD [attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder] in younger individuals and never conclude that there’s a lower of their consideration span,” mentioned Dr. Carl Marci, a psychiatrist at Massachusetts Normal Hospital.
Though the hyperlink between ADHD and display time is debatable, new analysis suggests the kind of brief and fast-paced movies that youngsters eat in the present day are partly responsible for why they wrestle to take part in longer-term actions.
TikTok, generally known as Douyin in its residence market, debuted in China in September 2016 as a shortform video sharing platform, primarily for lip-syncing and dancing movies, however turned probably the most downloaded app in 2019, based on paper printed in NeuroImage final 12 months.
The paper is considered one of a number of research to look at the impact of TikTok on the mind, which examined how personalised movies, in comparison with general-interest movies, influenced the reward facilities of the mind.
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The MRI scans of contributors had been extremely activated within the habit a part of the mind who watched personalised movies, discovering some customers struggled to manage when to cease watching.
On the whole, actions that require sustained consideration, like studying and doing math issues, use the a part of the mind chargeable for decision-making and impulse management generally known as the prefrontal cortex, per the Journal.
“Directed consideration is the power to inhibit distractions and maintain consideration and to shift consideration appropriately. It requires higher-order expertise like planning and prioritizing,” mentioned Dr. Michael Manos, the medical director of the Heart for Consideration and Studying at Cleveland Clinic Youngsters’s.
However many youngsters wrestle with this sort of talent as a result of the prefrontal cortex just isn’t absolutely developed till after they attain maturity at age 25, per the information outlet.
However Manos famous, “If youngsters’ brains turn out to be accustomed to fixed modifications, the mind finds it tough to adapt to a nondigital exercise the place issues don’t transfer fairly as quick.”
TikTok makes use of an algorithm to personalize the video feeds based mostly on the time they watch every video after which cycles comparable content material, based on a latest Wall Road Journal investigation.
However the paper famous the corporate is now engaged on methods for the algorithm to diversify its movies, with a TikTok spokeswoman saying they’re engaged on decreasing extreme app time.
However TikTok just isn’t the one social platform youngsters have a tough time breaking away from, with Google additionally making modifications to restrict utilization by not routinely replaying movies for individuals’s accounts beneath the age of 18, per the Journal.
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The mind releases the neurotransmitter dopamine when it anticipates a reward, so the frenzy of dopamine makes us crave for extra – from a scrumptious meal, medicine, or a viral TikTok Video, based on the Journal.
“TikTok is a dopamine machine,” mentioned Dr. John Hutton, a pediatrician and director of the Studying & Literacy Discovery Heart at Cincinnati Youngsters’s Hospital.
“If you would like youngsters to concentrate, they should follow paying consideration.”
Some easy methods to extend youngsters’s attention-span is to encourage train and play time, however: “Depriving youngsters of tech doesn’t work, however concurrently decreasing it and increase different issues, like enjoying outdoors, does,” mentioned Johann Hari, creator of “Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Consideration—and The way to Assume Deeply Once more.”
TikTok and YouTube additionally permit dad and mom to create their very own account and hyperlink it with their youngsters, generally known as Household Pairing and Google Household Hyperlink, respectively, to restrict utilization, however dad and mom are additionally in a position to set direct limits on Apple and Android units as effectively.
“We’re dedicated to giving dad and mom perception into, and management over, how their teenagers use TikTok and serving to facilitate essential conversations inside households in regards to the accountable navigation of digital platforms,” TikTok mentioned in a 2020 press launch.
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As a result of youngsters is not going to need to initially put down their leisure units, they need to follow stopping it, as a result of it will regularly bolster the connections of their brains to make it simpler to cease it the following time, mentioned Dr. Bonnie Nagel, professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at Oregon Well being & Science College.
Some examples of how to do that just isn’t permitting youngsters to make use of their social media units on the dinner desk and setting day by day limits on how lengthy they’ll use them, per the Journal.
“It’s like we’ve made youngsters stay in a sweet retailer after which we inform them to disregard all that sweet and eat a plate of greens,” mentioned James Williams, a tech ethicist and creator of “Stand Out of Our Gentle: Freedom and Resistance within the Consideration Economic system.”
“We’ve got an limitless stream of instant pleasures that’s unprecedented in human historical past.”
Health
Best friends have babies on the same day, at the same hospital: ‘Can’t make this stuff up’
Two best friends in Florida got to experience one of life’s most meaningful experiences together — becoming mothers — and it was caught on camera.
It started in May 2024, when Carolynn Shada announced her pregnancy to her best friend, Kali Gaynor — only to get a surprise of her own when her friend said she was also expecting.
“Our due dates were eight days apart, so we always joked around with the idea that we all could be at the hospital at the same time,” she wrote on Instagram.
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“NEVER did we ever think our BOYS would be born on the same day.”
Yet that’s exactly what happened — in August, the best friends went into labor and delivered their baby boys on the same day, in the same hospital.
“Her precious baby boy was born a bit after 12AM on Tuesday,” Shada wrote of her friend.
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“The hospital we were at was at a max capacity, so a few hours after she birthed her baby they moved her to triage. As morning rolls around, I head to the hospital and was placed in the EXACT room she delivered her baby in. My son was born later that afternoon with the same midwife group.”
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“You can’t make this stuff up!”
Fox News Digital reached out to Shada and Gaynor for comment.
Health
Health, happiness and helping others are vital parts of free and responsible society, Founding Fathers taught
It’s well known that Ben Franklin was a morning person. In his “Poor Richard’s Almanac,” he famously said, “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.”
But what did Ben Franklin do when he got up early? What was his morning ritual?
That is less well known. In his autobiography, Ben Franklin wrote that the first thing he did when he woke up each day was to ask himself the following question: “What good shall I do this day?” (See the video at the top of this article.)
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I love Ben Franklin’s ritual.
For most of my adult life, my default morning thoughts included questions such as, “What annoying tasks do I have to do this day?” and “What terrible things have happened in the world that I’ll read about when I open my laptop?”
Nowadays, I try instead to do what Ben Franklin advises: I ask myself, “What good can I do today?”
Written on a piece of paper, it now hangs over my desk as a reminder.
This new habit is the result of the year I spent recently trying to live like the Founding Fathers. I wrote about the wisdom I learned in my new book, “The Year of Living Constitutionally.”
“The Founders’ idea of virtue meant public-mindedness. A virtuous person puts the interests of others before their own interests.”
As Franklin’s morning ritual implies, the Founders were obsessed with the idea of virtue.
Nowadays, the word “virtue” has a bit of a cringey and fusty ring to it.
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I hear the word most often used in the phrase “virtue signaling,” which is not a compliment.
“Virtue signaling” refers to someone who is ostentatiously trying to show off how righteous they are by, for instance, loudly asking a waiter about the living conditions of the bees that produced the honey for their oatmeal.
In the Founders’ era, the word virtue had no such mixed connotations.
Virtue was a cherished ideal. In his book “First Principles,” Thomas E. Ricks writes that the Founders used the word virtue about 6,000 times in the collected writings from the Revolutionary era.
That’s more often than the word “freedom.”
“I almost wish the Constitution had a Bill of Responsibilities.”
The Founders’ idea of virtue meant public-mindedness. A virtuous person puts the interests of others before their own interests. A virtuous person focuses on those two key words in the Constitution’s preamble: “General Welfare.”
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I think we’re due for a resurgence of virtue. I know I could use more of it.
As a rule, I’m too focused on my individual rights. Rights are wonderful, and I’m grateful that I live in a country that puts an emphasis on individual rights. But rights come with responsibilities.
I almost wish the Constitution had a Bill of Responsibilities.
The idea of public responsibility, I believe, was more ingrained in the 18th century and didn’t need to be spelled out. You were expected to sacrifice for your community.
If there was a fire, you were expected to be part of the bucket brigade, helping to save your neighbor’s house. If you were a man, you were expected to be a part of your local militia.
“If I’m depressed, I find the best thing to do is to help others. It gets me out of my head.”
When my wife and kids and I wrote a Constitution for our family — an exercise I fully recommend — we included a Bill of Rights, but also a Bill of Responsibilities.
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It’s not about being saintly.
Service actually wasn’t opposed to happiness. It was integral to it.
As Jeffrey Rosen, president of the National Constitution Center, has said, “Happiness wasn’t about feeling good. It was about doing good.”
I find this observation to be true in my own life. If I’m depressed, I find the best thing to do is to help others. It gets me out of my head.
That piece of paper over my desk serves as a moral North Star and helps tamp down my Larry David side.
When I start to get angry about something silly — such as my Instagram post didn’t get enough likes — I can look at the phrase and get a reality check.
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It reminds me of the big picture.
“The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution’s Original Meaning” by A.J. Jacobs (2024) is published by Crown.
Health
Ultra-processed foods have these repercussions on children's health, nutritionist warns
Super-processed, packaged foods have become prevalent in U.S. diets — and experts are warning of the potential effects.
Recent research has shown that 60% of Americans’ daily caloric intake comes from ultra-processed foods (UPFs).
A study published by the BMJ revealed that exposure to UPFs was associated with 32 poor health outcomes, including mental, respiratory, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and metabolic complications.
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Some of the linked conditions include cancer, heart disease, metabolic syndrome, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and type 2 diabetes.
While America’s diet is 60% ultra-processed overall, registered dietitian nutritionist Ilana Muhlstein warned that consumption among American kids is even higher than that.
“With children, it’s actually over 70%,” the Los Angeles-based expert told Fox News Digital. “That is really wild when you think about it.”
“What we eat defines how our cells work, how our organs work, and we’re seeing a strong decline in mental health and well-being.”
Muhlstein explained that people are not consuming the vitamins, minerals or healthy fat sources as previous generations.
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Instead, today’s kids are ingesting “plenty of fat” that comes from ultra-processed seed oils, fried foods and sugary foods, she said.
“We’re actually seeing that this next generation might be the first generation to … have a shorter lifespan than their parents due to nutrition and lifestyle factors,” Muhlstein said.
Studies have shown that providing children with a nutritious diet improves their mental well-being, behavior and academic achievement, noted Muhlstein, who teaches a kids’ nutrition course called “Raising Balanced Eaters.”
The goal isn’t necessarily to get to 0% ultra-processed foods, Muhlstein noted, as that would likely be unrealistic.
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“But right now, if we’re seeing that kids are eating about 70% ultra-processed foods and only 30% of their calories are coming from whole foods, the goal would be to reverse that.”
The nutritionist encouraged parents to follow the “80/20 rule” when feeding their kids, which would include 80% of whole foods like eggs, fish, meat, fruits and vegetables, and 20% of not-so-nutritious foods like chips, cookies and ice cream.
Healthier alternatives for kids
Muhlstein listed a few alternatives for ultra-processed foods that are popular with kids.
This includes using marinara sauce instead of ketchup on foods like chicken nuggets and French fries.
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“[Marinara] has fewer ingredients [and is] much lower in sugar,” she said. “You actually see chunks of tomato, some basil, maybe it’s made with some olive oil or another healthy oil and some salt.”
“It’s still creamy, it’s still red, it’s still tasty, and it’s one step closer to less processing.”
For popular processed foods like chicken nuggets, which have been “all blended up and mechanically separated,” Muhlstein suggested switching to chicken strips and gradually moving toward baked rather than fried.
Even at a barbecue, the expert recommended the simple, healthier decision of choosing a hamburger over a hot dog.
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“Hot dogs are usually made with nitrites and nitrates,” she cautioned. “We actually have incredible research to show that they increase the risk of certain cancers.”
“When you can go from a hot dog to a hamburger, that’s usually just ground beef … with some seasoning,” the expert went on. “It’s already a nice step in the right direction of less processing overall.”
Muhlstein encouraged parents to take these transitions “one step at a time” and to “be really joyful” about the experience to boost their child’s attitude.
Failing to address a child’s eating habits and assuming they might “grow out of it” could cause long-term consequences, she warned.
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“If you’re not exposing your kids to flavors and textures beyond chicken nuggets, sugary yogurts, French fries, hot dogs and pizza, it’s very unlikely that they are going to establish a better palate and a healthier relationship with food moving forward.”
The expert recommended sitting down for family meals, noting that it’s one of the most “well-researched” ways to reduce eating disorders.
This includes turning off the TV and electronics during dinner, she said, as studies show TV-watching during meals leads to higher consumption of UPFs.
“Only three to five family meals a week can lower a person’s risk for eating disorders,” she said. “It’s [proven] to bring a healthy, positive relationship around food, especially if you can make the conversations lighthearted … keep it somewhat positive.”
“It’s a great way for the family to connect, for the kids to see their parents eat a wholesome meal, and for everyone to return to more meals and less mindless snacking.”
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