Do our phones negatively affect our brains?
For years, people have suggested that the advancement in smartphones will negatively affect us. “The smarter the phone, the dumber the person,” that kind of thing.
This is often referred to as the ‘brain drain’ effect.
A meta-study, taking data from other studies, has found that actually, phones don’t seem to affect our brains like we thought they might. The studies dove into areas like memory, intelligence, attention span, and decision making.
While previous studies have suggested that even an idle phone nearby can affect these areas, the researchers all found no evidence of that being the case. Whether a phone was present or not during the studies had zero impact on the overall scoring.
How often are you on your phone? iPhones will give weekly time summaries; how many hours a day do you spend on your phone? As someone who uses his phone for both work AND entertainment, mine is pretty high… Close to six hours! Yeah, I’m not happy with that.
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What else did we talk about this morning?
ICYMI – The Trews, Tegan and Sara, and more highlight jampacked schedule at local arts centre
Some big shows are coming to the FirstOntario Arts Centre Milton over the next few weeks and months! Johannes Linstead is putting on a spicy guitar performance in less than two weeks. The Trews are town later this month. There’s also Tegan and Sara, and a Fleetwood Mac tribute band! If music isn’t your thing, and you’re looking for a family-oriented event, you can check out Erth’s Dinosaur Zoo Live! It’s got life-like dinosaur replicas! Should be a fun stretch of events.
Daily WTF – Gamer’s 59-hour World of Warcraft session breaks world record
How long could you spend playing video games? Depending on your age, and depending on the status of your career and family, you could either play all day or struggle to find time for an hour. Barnabás Vujity-Zsolnay of Hungary spent two and a half days playing ‘World of Warcraft’, known as an MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game). You basically create a character and slay monsters with friends online in a world comparable to ‘Lord of the Rings’. 59 hours and 20 minutes playing the game, giving him two world records. He livestreamed the whole thing, giving the proceeds to a charity. According to Barnabás, about 45 hours in, he started to hallucinate… and he still played for another 14 hours! If that isn’t the purest form of “just one more game“…
Daily Did You Know – Here’s when registration is open for local summer camps
According to the groundhogs, spring has started early and now we’re looking ahead to summer! The Town of Milton is starting the process for their summer camp programs. Children and their families can now look at which programs are available online. Starting on Tuesday, Milton residents can register for those camps. Non-residents will have to wait until the 15th. There’s a bunch of themed programs available, including sports, performing arts, and eco-science. There are age requirements, but there’s a role for kids 4+.
Gen Z Is Overwhelmed by Tax Season
Becoming an adult and realizing that you have to do your taxes is never a fun experience. As the rest of Gen Z enter this stage of their life, it turns out, they’re feeling the stress. In a study, 54% of Gen Z expressed anxiety regarding filing taxes this time of year. That’s up from 38% for millennials in the same study. Experts have provided tips for younger people on how to navigate the scary world of tax season, including filing early to receive the refund early; finding free resources for filing; and, learning what students qualify for in their filing. It’s a hard adjustment, but at least it tends to go quicker when you’re younger. Throw in owning a home, having a family, and every claimable asset that someone much older has to go through, and you’ll long for the days of being a taxable 20-year-old… And if you’re still stressed, just pay a tax guy to do it for you.
A certain sandwich shop is promoting five-dollar (half) foot-longs
This is more an observation than anything else. I heard an advertisement yesterday that promoted getting a 6-inch sub for $4.99. I found that strange because this same establishment (let’s call them ‘SandwichWay’) was famous for a long time for their five-dollar foot-long promotion. Granted, it was more like $5.65 for a 12-inch sub (that was also not 12-inches), but the point I’m trying to make is ‘WOW, INFLATION IS A LOT TO HANDLE’. Like, just stepping back and thinking about that… I was in college when they still had the five-dollar foot-long promotion, and that was less than ten years ago. So, in that time, they raised prices to the point where HALF the food is worth ROUGHLY the same price… AND they’re marketing it as a deal! I feel like I’m taking crazy pills… And people wonder why they have no money these days.
Bizarre Canadian taxidermy bear heist featured on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”
It’s not often that Canada makes headline news in the US, but when we do, it’s guaranteed to be a strange story. So, a taxidermy polar bear was stolen from a resort near Edmonton. Police have no leads, and the story absolutely tickled ‘Late Show’ host Stephen Colbert. He speculated that it was probably college students that stole the bear, and the poor thing is being used as drug paraphernalia. So, that’s a visual for you this morning. Thing is, it’s a 500-pound taxidermy polar bear… How easy is it to steal? Right now, pretty easy.
Plants are starting to sprout early as spring (so far) comes early
Tuesday was a GREAT day. Lots of sun, and it wasn’t too cold. It was a great walking day for early February. Last week, Wiarton Willie called for an early spring, and so far, the oracle woodchuck is correct. On my walk through my neighbourhood, I noticed that trees were budding already. We’re expecting a high close to double digits this Friday! Whether this will officially stick around remains to be seen. We’ve all experienced yo-yo weather before, and we all know, Southern Ontario is fickle this time of year. That said, as of February 7th, it seems spring truly has come early. EMBRACE IT! It could be winter again by next week.
Looking forward to the Super Bowl Halftime Show? Usher is coming to Toronto
With just a few days until the big game, Usher has announced a North America tour! The performer for this year’s Super Bowl Halftime Show has a big weekend ahead of himself. Many believe he’ll put on a good show just because he’s been running a residency in Las Vegas leading up to this weekend’s show, and that’s more practice than most Halftime Show performers get. His newly announced tour will bring him to Toronto this September for the first time in a decade. Tickets go on sale this weekend!
Here’s why you should add “proficient in AI” to your resume
You might want to get acquainted with artificial intelligence sooner rather than later. Experts say that soon, entry level job postings will require experience with AI. While it might scare you or confuse you, learning how to navigate services like ChatGPT could be what helps you (and your kids) get jobs in the near future. The robots are coming to take over the world! And I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords.
These Canadian companies switched to a 4-day work week. Here’s why
We work way too much. Five days a week, eight hours a day, for a long, long time. You’re supposed to be happy! Love your career, enjoy what you do, embrace the challenge. Blah, blah, blah. Look, I love my job – but I’d still take a four-day work week immediately if given the chance. A recent study led to 41 companies giving the four-day work week shot, with employee pay unaffected. The pilot project was organized by the non-profit advocacy group 4 Day Week Global and researchers at Boston College. 35 of the 41 companies said they kept the schedule after using it for six months. The reason why? What you’d expect to hear: everyone is happier. It turns out, when your employees are happier, they’re healthier and work harder. The companies in the study were smaller ones, with an employee cap at 25. What about bigger companies? The study says it could still work! Would you like to work four days a week – or are you a liar?
Cameron Wilkinson is the morning show host for FM 101 Milton. Listen to ‘Cameron in the Morning’ 6:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m., Monday – Friday, at 101.3 on the FM dial within Milton, and online here. You can also stream us live right from your phone.
Want to hear Cameron on the weekend? A ‘Best Of’ version of his morning show is broadcast in Orangeville and Alliston on the weekends:
- Saturday – 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
- Sunday – 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
If you have a news tip or story idea, you can now send us a heads up via email at News1013@LocalRadio.ca. If you’d like to get ahold of me personally, shoot me a message at Cameron.Wilkinson@LocalRadio.ca. We’re in the business of content creation, so no idea is a bad idea.
