【推荐2】A breed of upstart apps is taking on an internet function that might seem unneeded or even ill—advised: helping teens talk to strangers.

Branded as “social discovery” services, these apps pitch themselves as alternatives to outlets that already specialize in online connections, like Facebook and Instagram. They say they are better at helping young users meet like —minded people outside their existing circles. And they say they have safeguards, such as separating users by age and using artificial intelligence, to protect against their appropriate or unsafe behavior that has plagued previous attempts to connect young people online.

Their user numbers suggest that, whether they succeed in striking the right balance, apps like Yubo and Hoop are tapping into a need among teens and 20 —somethings for new ways to branch out online.

“There is no place today to socialize online,” says Sacha Lazimi, the 26—year—old French co—founder of Yubo, which connects strangers with messaging and live streaming.

It is a counterintuitive statement for anyone who had seen teens sending Snaps rapid fire to their friends, responding to videos on TikToK, Face Timing for hours, or using Instagram. But Mr. Lazimi thinks those platforms allow for too much passive participation. “Snapchat, Instagram and Tik Tok are all about performance, content and individual”, he says.

Yubo features a swiping interface similar to that of Tinder. But Mr. Lazimi insists it is not adating app. The point, he says, is to facilitate communication between people all over the world who share mutual interests. Yubo isn’t present everywhere in the lives of American teens yet —and may be never will be—but the company says the app has 25 million users signed up, with nearly half of daily use now coming from America.

But some of these apps have also been the subject of safety concerns. Yubo has also faced its own safety challenges. In Florida, law—enforcement officially say they arrested a man who reportedly lured a teenager through Yubo.

In a statement, Yubo said that the prevention of child abuse has been a key priority for the past three years. “Yubo recognizes its responsibility in protecting young people using its service and has gone far beyond many of the main social media services.”

However, actually teens are doing more to protect themselves than many give them credit for, says Dr. Hinduja. “They are doing something to keep themselves safe or we would have strikingly more victimization than we do.”

【推荐2】It is an ancient Chinese tradition to cherish grain. In ancient China, farming promoted the development of civilization so people regarded grain as a God. The ancient people firmly believed that “food is the most important thing for the people”. The earth God “She” and the grain God “Ji” were the earliest gods worshipped by our ancestors and the country was called “Sheji”.

Chinese believe in food conservation. Scholars have strongly advocated that “every single grain is fruit of hard work” and nothing should be wasted. Strong daily practices are associated with “respecting” the grain. Families that run out of rice never leave their container completely empty. There is always a little rice left in it. Parts of the poultry (家禽) and livestock that are unsuitable to be the main dishes are always deliciously cooked.

Food also helps bring people together. In Chinese culture, “Ju” (get together)is a very particular word. There are many ways to get together, but the word “Can” is usually added to it in case of festivals, birthday celebrations, moving to new houses, weddings and funeral. “Ju Can”(get together and have dinner)is an important way for Chinese families to bond.

But these ordinarily frugal (节俭的) people often end up wasting food during “Ju Can”. Some reports show that the annual waste of grain in China is close to 6% of the total grain output, of which, the waste rate of a large party is as high as 38%. The food waste is driven by people’s flamboyant nature-they think the plates must be full and taking away packed food from a party is “disgraceful”. The dishes at a dinner party have become a symbol of a person’s wealth and having too many dishes at the menu has become fashionable, thus promoting waste.

Small to a person, a family, big to a country, the whole human race, to survive, to develop, we have to be frugal. Being frugal does not mean being mean, it simply means one is wise enough not to waste food. If the culture of diligence and frugality is more widespread in all countries, it would provide for a stronger foundation for national security and family happiness.

【推荐3】Research shows people have a tendency to seek out information during uncertain times — it’s a natural coping mechanism (机制). But is continuous information-seeking on social media, sometimes called doomscrolling (末日刷刷刷), helpful during a pandemic, or any time?

Research on the effects of bad news on mood suggests exposure to negative COVID news is likely to be dangerous to our emotional well being. For instance, one study conducted in March 2020 involving more than 6,000 Americans found that the more time participants spent consuming COVID news in a day, the unhappier they felt.

These findings are striking but leave a few key questions unanswered. Does doomscrolling make people unhappy, or are unhappy people just more likely to doomscroll? How much time spent doomscrolling is a problem? And what would happen if, instead of doomscrolling, we were “ kindness scrolling ” — reading about humanity’s positive responses to a global crisis?

To find out answers to these questions, researchers conducted a study where they showed hundreds of people real-world content on either Twitter or YouTube for two to four minutes. The Twitter feeds and YouTube videos featured either general news about the COVID, or news about kindness during COVID. Researchers then measured these participants’ moods using a questionnaire, and compared their moods with participants who did not engage with any content at all.

People who were shown general COVID-related news experienced lower moods than people who were shown nothing at all. Meanwhile, people who were shown COVID news stories involving acts of kindness didn’t experience the same decline in mood, but also didn’t gain the boost in mood they’ d predicted. These findings suggest that spending as little as two to four minutes consuming negative news about COVID-19 can have a negative impact on our mood.

Researchers are still working on what people can do to look after themselves, and make time on social media more pleasurable.