【推荐3】How to Avoid an Internet Addiction

While it may seem like everyone surfs the web these days, there is fine line between casually checking your social media pages and having a full blown Internet addiction. If you fear that you may lose interest in other aspects of your life because you prefer to be on the Internet, you may be on your way to an Internet addiction.     1    

Admit you are at risk of an addiction.

    2    You are not the only one with this problem and it is becoming more and more common and more and more well- known. Do not be embarrassed; find others with the same problem and help each other beat it.

Set aside limited time for computer use.

Make sure not to turm it on too many times a week. If you have a laptop, make sure to put it somewhere that you can remember but not somewhere that you see every day. Try keeping the lid closed when you are not using it.     3    If you have a desktop PC, try not to go near it or put something over it like a sheet.

Call people instead of sending instant messages or texts.

If you are free on weekends, call friends and ask them to go outside. This will distract you from the computer. If you have a problem on weekdays, phone your friends orask for help in person.

    4    

Before using your computer, decide on a time limit such as 30 minutes. Set the clock or timer and make sure that you get off the computer when the time is up. Alternatively create a shutdown timer shortcut on your desktop.    5    

【推荐1】Splash (落水声)! Did you hear that? Can you guess what it is? Can you figure it out? If you guessed the ocean, then you’re correct! I believe that my organization, Reef Check, is the most worthy of receiving the Chocolate Heart money. Do you want to know why? Well, soon you’ll find out.

First of all, Reef Check needs the money to repair and clean coral reefs (珊瑚礁) which are home to millions of sea animals. Reef Check hopes to educate the public about the value of reef ecosystems (生态系统) and the danger that sea animals and plants are facing. Based in Los Angeles, Reef Check has volunteer teams in more than 90 countries, making community volunteers, businesses, universities, and other non-profit organizations work together. It works to create a worldwide network of volunteer teams trained in Reef Check’s scientific methods that survey coral and rocky reefs and report on reef health. Also, Reef Check takes action to protect remaining ancient reefs and repair reefs in danger worldwide.

For example, imagine you are a poor sea animal, whose home just got destroyed or wasn’t clean. What would you do? What could you do? Nothing much, really. But that’s exactly Reef Check’s job! To clean and protect these homes for many sea animals!

Furthermore, in 1997, Reef Check carried out the first-ever survey of coral reef health that provided scientific evidence that our coral reefs were in danger because of overfishing, illegal fishing, and pollution. The results surprised many biologists who had not realized the seriousness of human influence on reefs. In August 2002, Reef Check presented its report, The Global Coral Reef Crisis - Trends and Solutions, at the World Summit in South Africa. The report warned that there was no reef in the world that remained untouched by human influence, such as overfishing, pollution, and climate change.

In short, everyone should have a home including animals from the sea. So don’t leave them out! Be generous and give them a home!

【推荐2】Fifteen volunteers have emerged from a cave in the southwest of France after spending 40 days without clocks, phones, or sunlight for a human isolation experiment.

The group of eight men and seven women lived in a cave as part of a $1.4 million project called Deep Time, which set out to explore the limits of human adaptability to isolation.

During their time in the cave, the volunteers slept in tents and made their own electricity with a pedal bike since there was no natural light. They also drew water from a well 146 feet below the earth. Since there was no sunlight, the team had to follow their biological clocks to know when to sleep, eat, or do daily tasks. To no one's surprise, they quickly lost their sense of time.

The group had no communication with the outside world and was not able to use phones or other electronic devices. One volunteer, Johan Francois, said he ran 10-kilometer circles in the cave to stay fit. He told reporters he had "instinct urges" to leave the cave.

But other volunteers felt differently, with two-thirds saying they wanted to stay in the cave for longer. "For once in our lives, it was as if we could press pause," said Marina Lançon, one of seven women in the experiment. However, she admitted it was also great to be outdoors and hear birdsong again.

Scientists monitored the volunteers closely during their time in the cave. They would regularly check the team's sleeping patterns, social interactions, and cognitive functions via sensors. The volunteers' brain activity was also collected before and after they entered the cave.

【推荐3】The word paradigm comes from the Greek. It was originally a scientific term, and is more commonly used today to mean a model or theory. In the more general sense, it’s the way we “see” the world —not in terms of our visual sense of sight, but in terms of perceiving (感知), understanding, and interpreting.

A simple way to understand paradigms is to see them as maps. We all know that “the map is not the territory.” A map is simply an explanation of certain aspects of the territory. That’s exactly what a paradigm is. It is a theory, an explanation, or model of something else. You can never arrive at a specific location in a new city with a wrong map.

Each of us has many maps in our head, which can be divided into two main categories: maps of the way things are, or realities, and maps of the way things should be, or values. We interpret everything we experience through these mental maps. We seldom question their accuracy; we’re usually even unaware that we have them. We simply assume that the way we see things is the way they really are or the way they should be. And our attitudes and behaviors grow out of those assumptions. The way we see things is the source of the way we think and the way we act.

We see the world, not as it is, but as we are or, as we are shaped to see it. Clearheaded people see things differently, each looking from the unique angles of experience. But this does not mean that there are no facts. Instead, each person’s interpretation of these facts represents prior experiences.

The more aware we are of our basic paradigms, maps, or assumptions, and the extent to which we have been influenced by our experience, the more we can take responsibility for those paradigms, examine them, test them against reality, listen to others and be open to their perceptions (观点), thereby getting a larger picture and a far more objective view.