1 . Growing up as kids we are told to share our toys and not to be selfish. We also live in an age when discussing our feelings is encouraged. But when does it all become too much? With new trends growing all the time, such as dance challenges and wearing a carpet as a dress, the question is: when can sharing become oversharing on social media?

“Oversharing” has become associated with social media, but it isn’t exclusive to this platform. Imagine you head to a party and meet someone. Within five minutes they have revealed private details about their life. While some of us may try to escape these people, according to marriage advisor Carolyn Cole, this form of oversharing could come from a strong desire to connect with someone. But how does this translate to social media?

Dr. Christopher Hand, a lecturer in cyberpsychology (网络心理学), says the more details people uncover, the less sympathy we express when things go wrong. It seems that searching for sympathy by oversharing is generally considered as negative rather than the cry for help it could really be.

However, Dr. Hand’s research also seems to suggest that the more we post on a platform, the more socially attractive we become-only if the posts that we share are positive. Even back in 2015, Gwendolyn Seidman PhD said that we should avoid complaining and being negative online. We should also avoid showing off, especially about our love lives. It makes sense-if your date is going “that well”, would you really have time to share a photo with text?

So, how can you know if you are oversharing? Well, why not ask your friends in real life. They would probably be happy to tell you if your posts about your breakfast or your complaints about your lack of money really are too much.

2 . Australian experts have expressed concerns that too many millennials(千禧一代) are hoping to use their social media accounts to build their careers. Their concerns follow the sudden rise in “insta-celebrities” who make money by posting sponsored(赞助的) photos online. For the lucky few who are not only talented photographers but also good-looking and business-savvy(有商业头脑的), making money off social media isn’t impossible.

Instagram is flooded with social media professionals paid to promote products and services. However, social scientist Lauren Rosewarne, from the University of Melbourne, says that in reality, there are far fewer people making money off the platforms than one may think. She said many young Australians were getting sucked in by the appeal of making money on platforms like Instagram, describing it as “totally unrealistic” and extremely difficult to do.

“Young people are hoping to be famous in numbers that were simply not there 20 years ago,” Rosewarne told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Saturday. “There are some people who can make fortunes out of monetizing(使具有货币性质) their Instagram posts, but that is not the norm.” She said it was up to parents and schools to discourage students from seeking Insta-fame, as many believe it is a possible career choice. “There’s the warning for parents; this is not a normal or even common occurrence that you can monetize your Instagram account.”

Meanwhile Toni Eager from Australian National University said social problems could arise from spending too much time with social media. “Where do the insta-celebrities go to separate the life people see on Instagram from their actual normal life?” Eager said. “All of a sudden, people own your private life.”

3 . During the recent school holidays I was walking past a playground on my way to a meeting. The thing that_______me was not the number of children enjoying the fresh air on a pleasant Queensland winter day, but the number of older people_______those children.

Sure, there were a few younger mums and dads, but there were_______more “old folk” who I doubt were all grandparents. It is great that they are able to_______quality time with their grandchildren. After all, we often hear people saying that their reason for retiring is that they can devote more time to their families. However, I_______how many grandparents are spending their retirement (退休) years taking on the role of full- or part-time_______of their grandchildren.   

Retirement is a valuable time. We are generally living much longer than our own grandparents did, but as we_______, we become more limited in our ability to pursue (追求) our own favourite. However, what if your plans for pursuing some of these lifetime dreams are _______，out of a sense of responsibility for your family?

So how can you keep a_______ balance between helping out your family and pursuing your dreams altogether? I'm not sure where the answer lies, but having an open and honest________   with your family should be at the top of the list. You need to nip sense of________ in the bud (对……一开始即加以阻止) — and sooner________later.

By all means, help your family whenever you can. Everyone will________from it, and your grandchildren will get the rewards from staying with their________. Do it because you want to, not because you feel you have to. In addition, spare time for ________ to pursue your dreams and ensure that nobody puts your retirement on hold.

4 . Have you ever run into a careless cell phone user on the street? Perhaps they were busy talking, texting or checking updates on WeChat without looking at what was going on around them. As the number of this new “species” of human has kept rising, they have been given a new name — phubbers(低头族).

Recently, a cartoon made by students from China Central Academy of Fine Arts put this group of people under the spotlight. In the short film, phubbers with various social identities（身份）are buried in their phones. A doctor plays with his cell phone while letting his patient die, a pretty woman takes selfie(自拍照)in front of a car accident site, and a father loses his child without knowing about it while using his mobile phone. A chain of similar events eventually destroys the world.

Although the ending sounds overstated(夸大), the damage phubbing can bring is real. Your health is the first to bear the effect and result of it. “Continuously stretching(伸展) your head to check your cell phone could damage your neck,”   Guangming Daily quoted doctors as saying. “the neck is like a rope that breaks after long-term stretching.” Also, staring at cell phones for long periods of time will damage your eyesight gradually, according to the report.

But that’s not all. Being a phubber could also damage your social skills and drive you away from your friends and family. At reunions with family or friends, many people stick to their cell phones while others are chatting happily with each other and this creates a strange atmosphere, Qilu Evening News reported.

It can also cost you your life. There have been lots of reports on phubbers who fell to their death, suffered accidents, and were robbed(抢劫) of their cell phones in broad daylight.

5 . Social media is taking over our lives: Facebook, Instagram, Twiter and now, TikTok. These social media platforms have transformed from a way to stay connected to an industry where even kids can make money off their posts. While this may seem like another opportunistic innovation, it’s really full of hidden false realities.

The median income(中位收入) recorded in the United States of America was about $63,000 in 2018. Tiktokers can make anywhere from $50,000 to $150,000 for a TikTok brand partnership, and Tiktokers with over a million followers can make up to $30,000 a month—$360,000 a year,. They are making more than the average person trying to feed their family and keep a roof over their heads, simply by posting a 15-second video.

This is mad in more ways than one. Not only is it an overpaid “job”, it promotes undeserved admiration from viewers and a false sense of reality. Many of these famous TikTokers are still teens, and the effects of fame at such an early stage in life might cause issues later in life, such as mental illness. Teens between the ages of 13 and 17 make up 27% of Tiktok viewers, who can be easily influenced by what they are watching. They can put a false sense of self-value into who they look up to and what they represent: money, fame, being considered conventionally attractive.

While TikTok has become a great tool for marketing, it’s important to understand how this content affects young viewers. If we’re constantly consuming content that shows us all we need to do to be successful is be conventionally attractive and post a 15-second video featuring a new dance, it will challenge our knowledge of what really makes someone successful and will in turn affect our individual work ethics(伦理). What about the people who miss birthday and family holidays due to their jobs and aren’t getting paid nearly as much as these TikTokers?

Richard Colyer, president and creator of Metaphor, Inc, had his own view on this issue. “It sounds great can make money for doing the latest dance moves in a 15-second video, but we should feed the minds of kids and not just their bank accounts. TikTok can be great if used properly. Money alone is not good, technology alone is not good and connectedness can be bad if it’s only online.”

Again, as a fellow consumer of Tiktok, I do enjoy the app when I have some time to kill and need a good laugh. I’ m not against someone making a living on entertainment, but what does getting famous of a 15-second video teach young people?

7 . Do you ever pull your phone out of your pocket, thinking it is vibrating (振动), only to find that it isn't?

This phenomenon, which scientists call "phantom(幻觉的) phone vibration", is very common. Around 80%o of people surveyed say they have imagined their phones vibrating when they were actually still.

So, what leads to this universal behavior? According to the BBC, the explanation lies in your brain’s ability to discover signals from the outside world.

When your phone is in your pocket, there are two possible states it is either vibrating or not. Meanwhile, you also have two possible states of mind: the judgment that the phone is vibrating, or that it isn’t. Ideally, you match the four states correctly. Howewer, sometimes your brain decides that the consequences of missing a call are more serious than a "false alarm". Therefore you become more sensitive to vibrations so that you don’t miss anything.

This is just like the fire alarm in your home- it can be annoying when it goes off in response to just a tiny bit of smoke. But that's a small price to pay compared to a fire really breaking out because the alarm fails to alert you. Now, you might still ask why can’t our brains just make every judgment correctly without being too sensitive to false signals? The answer is that your brain bears a heavy burden every day. “You get a large amount of sensory information that’s coming from your eyes, ears and skin, and you can’t deal with all that information all the time,” Michael Rothberg a researcher at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, US, told Live Science.

For example, the rustling(沙沙声) of clothing or the growling(咕咕声) of your stomach may both lead your brain to believe that they come from the vibration of your phone -it is like trying to hear your name being called in a noisy room.

So, perhaps you should just check your phone whenever you think it's vibrating. It's not too much trouble to do that. is it?

Glad to hear from you !_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yours,

LiHua

Many couples who already have one healthy, happy child, are facing a dilemma(困境), that is, the issue of whether to have a second child or not. They have hard jobs and limited time and money, but they want to make sure that their only child does not become a lonely child. So, what are the advantages and disadvantages of having a second child? That is what so many couples are very much concerned about and eager to understand.

One popular saying is that one child means a lonely child. That's why many single- child parents plan to have a second child. They feel guilty about their decision to have only one child, because there are no other children in the family for their only child to play with, which may make the child feel lonely at times, especially during vacations.

Another common argument against having just one child is that an only child may be more spoiled than one with brothers or sisters. If one couple have only one child, the child can't learn to share things with others and is less capable of getting along well with other children than one who grows up with brothers or sisters.

However, in many parts of the world, more and more parents are still choosing not to have a second child because they argue that there are advantages for the child as well as the parents. With just one child, they suggest, there is little chance of family arguments concerned with children. Besides, as an only child in the family, the child can receive more quality time and attention. This often leads to increased self-respect and independence, which can lead to the child being more confident.

Unluckily, there is no simple answer to the question of whether or not to have a second child. Every family is different, and what is suitable for one family may not be for another. The important thing, in the end, is to make a decision that both you and your spouse(配偶)feel confident about.