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Technology

The New iPhone Camera Is Giving People Anxiety

There is always lots of press and commentary surrounding the release of a new iPhone. The most recent, the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max, were revealed Tuesday night with a bold new upgrade from the already impressive previous design of the iPhone X. These new phones now have three rear cameras, which help to create professional looking photos (even at night). However, this new design comes at a price… triggering anxiety in people with trypophobia.

color variations of the new iPhone 11 Pro

What Even Is Trypophobia?

According to Irena Milosevic, author of “Phobias: The Psychology of Irrational Fear,” trypophobia is an “intense fear of a repetitive pattern of holes.” This might sound very strange upon reading, but when you look at some visual references, you might be shocked at how much your skin crawls. Looking at items with repetitive holes like honeycombs and seed pods cause certain people to experience a variety of symptoms, including disgust, anxiety, vomiting, and distress. If the following picture makes you feel nervous, you too might feel triggered by the new phone.

a honeycomb that can cause people trypophobia

People Tweet About Their Anxiety From The New iPhone

While it may sound comical, it is actually a very serious condition. As the triple camera does create a creepy hole-filled void, many people took to Twitter to share their disgust and discomfort with the new iPhone’s camera appearance.

Viewing the new iPhone 11 Pro design is incredibly unnerving for people who have trypophobia, causing various physical and emotional responses. Which leads to the question, how do people get anxiety from looking at these images?

The Origins Of Trypophobia

It is believed that 18% of women and 11% of men in the adult population globally have symptoms of trypophobia, potentially deriving from survivalism. Specifically, researchers at the University of Essex say this phobia “arises in part because the inducing stimuli share basic visual characteristics with those of dangerous organisms.”

Given the considerable chunk of the population affected by this phobia, it could mean a drop in sales for Apple (or maybe people will spend less time on the screen?) Nevertheless, Apple has yet to respond to the public concerns about the anxiety induced by the design.

Photos: Unsplash, Twitter: @BenGeskin ,

This Simple Solution Will Help You Cut Back On Screen Time

With smart phones having access to download apps for just about everything, it’s no wonder that most of us are spending more hours looking at a screen than we would like to admit. Sure, many of us have jobs that require working on a computer, but what about the rest of the day? The time can add up, and studies show that excessive screen time is bad both for our physical and mental health. So how can we reduce it without locking up our phones entirely? This one simple solution.

person working on a computer, while also having a laptop and phone screen open.

Declutter Your Phone’s Home Screen

How can removing apps from the phone screen make you spend less time on the phone? The theory is that by not seeing apps that we notoriously use to waste time (like Instagram, Twitter, games…) we will be less likely to open them. This theory is similar to what commonly happens in supermarkets. You go in with the intention of buying one thing, and come out with all the special items on display. But the cookies were calling my name! Same goes for those apps. You might go in your phone simply to respond to one message, and end up 20 minutes later scrolling deep in your Instagram feed.

phone screen with many apps.

Decide Your Own Strategy

What apps are kept on the home screen are your call. For most people, the messages, email, calendar, and settings all serve very specific purposes that typically we don’t get lost in. Therefore, these are most likely “safe apps” to leave on the home screen. The other apps however, are better off on other pages so they are less accessible. Remember, out of sight, out of mind!

The Screen Solution Success Rate

woman looking serious, holding a phone and showing screen to camera.

Undoubtedly, having to swipe one or two screens is not that huge of a time obstacle to prevent you from spending time on your screen. However, if you don’t have these apps displayed first thing when you unlock your phone, you are less likely to be thinking about them. It’s ultimately a test of your own self restraint, and if reducing your screen time is a true personal goal. Just think about all the time you will have for other activities in your life!

Photos: Unsplash

Products That Can Make You Productive

Working a typical 9-to-5 job can make it hard to maintain the motivation needed to stay focused throughout your shift. Hours on end sitting at a desk and are not recommended for your best quality work, however we often have little say on our work hours. That said, these amazing products are designed to help you be more productive in your day and produce your best results.

people at work celebrating their productive success.

Adjustable Standing Desk

Sitting on your behind for endless hours negatively impacts your blood circulation, making it harder to think clearly. An adjustable standing desk helps you easily get to your feet whenever you want and potentially help spur new ideas. This is especially ideal for active people who feel restless sitting at a desk all day.

Blue Light Glasses

Do you find you get reoccurring headaches from looking at the computer all day? The blue light from screens can have a major effect in causing digital eye strain, leaving you foggy and pained. A stylish solution (that doesn’t involve quitting your day job) is wearing blue light glasses, which block out the glare that causes you headaches. Now your great ideas can flow the whole work day sans problems!

woman wearing blue light glasses while working on a computer to be productive.

Portable Blender

Hunger pangs in the early afternoon are enough to distract anyone from the task at hand. Get out of your slump with a delicious smoothie made whenever and wherever thanks to this portable blender. No need to think serving sizes either, this blender is sized for a personal smoothie to fuel your most productive self!

Productivity Timer

No one can properly live by the mantra of “all work, no play.” That’s why this productivity timer is the perfect solution for keeping you motivated to work. It functions by setting up 30 minutes for your work and 5 minutes of “play,” in which you can use to free your mind and get up from the desk. You’ll be shocked by how productive you truly are with this method!

Productivity timer.

Photos: Freepik, Amazon Play/Work

Sassy Bark: Spanish brand creates anti-rape jewelry

Over the years we have become more and more aware of the massive problem that is sexual assault. Statistics show that one out of five women will be sexual assaulted at some point in their lives. It has become increasingly normalized. Rape culture is a big issue we have to stand against.

Anti-rape jewelry

A Spanish company called Sassy Bark

In Spain, a company called Sassy Bark has started developing jewelry that can help women feel safe when outside. Women all over the world have this lingering feeling of unsafeness when walking down the street on their own. Sassy Bark’s jewelry can put an end to this.

A necklace to defend yourself

They have developed a “defense necklace” that acts as a pepper spray. Pepper sprays are illegal in many places, but this particular spray has been approved by the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Interior of Spain. With this necklace, the element of surprise will be on your side. It’s discrete, as they actual spray is contained inside the necklace.

Self-defense anti assault

What the spray does

You will be able to act fast, as you won’t have to wait until you’ve found it in your purse. You can easily pull it off from your necklace and spray it, as the jewel is held by magnets. Besides blinding the aggressor for around 15 to 20 minutes, it will “stain” them with ultraviolet ink, which will allow the police to easily track down said person for up to 48 hours after the aggression.

It’s safe and easy to use

The spray is reusable, and once it’s empty you can refill it. Plus, the jewel is completely adapted to the spray, which means that it’s easy to use, and fail-proof. However, it is safe enough that you won’t press it by accident.

Walking home alone

If you’re unsure of how to use it, you can practice with the jewel without filling the spray, just to make sure you know how it works when the time comes (but we pray it doesn’t). It’s better to be safe than sorry.

There are even different designs you can choose from, as well as different types of spray. You won’t ever have to worry about getting home safely again.

Images: Sassy Bark and Unsplash

“The superhero factory”: providing free limb prostheses

Gino Tubaro is the young student who started this project. He travels around in a truck that’s equipped with solar panels, and goes around printing 3D prostheses to give them out to those who need them.

The young inventor

It all started some years ago, when Tubaro was only 16 years old. He had set up a 3D printer all by himself, although 3D printing technology was still in its early stages. From then on, he decided what he would be doing for the rest of his life. He kept experimenting and improving his technique until he set up what now is “Atomic Lab”.

A non-profit organization

Atomic Lab is a non-profit, non-governamental organization that is changing people’s lives all around the world. In addition to this particular project, it has many others going on. And they all have one thing in common: providing products 100% for free.

Making prosthesis available for everyone

Tubaro claims that he think this is something society needs. Prostheses were extremely expensive and people could not afford them, thus becoming unreachable for those who need it. He came up with a solution, and made it available for those who ask for it.

PLA, a biodegradable material

The prostheses are 3D-printed out of a material called PLA, which is a corn derivative. It’s completely biodegradable, unlike other materials they chose not to use, which also means it cannot cause skin rashes or any other conditions.

Not just for children

The inventor is riding around Argentina creating prosthesis as he goes, using the energy that comes from the solar panels. However, his project has already gone worldwide. “The superhero factory”, though the name might lead you to believe it’s focused on children, is available for all age ranges.

The project obtained that name because it was set up with the thought in mind of allowing people to have a “superhero hand”. Children are those who need it the most, as they will keep growing and moving. But the prostheses have been given out to an equal number of adults.

Make a donation

As the Superhero Factory is a non-profit organization, it relies on the donations of people. You can make your contribution on their webpage, and make sure they keep putting smiles on people’s faces.

A worldwide project

Throughout the world, the project is active in over 35 countries, a number that is still constantly increasing. They count with over 1000 ambassadors that help print the 3D prosthesis, and over 2000 volunteers that help set them up and send them out, amongst other tasks.

Would you like to improve the design?

It’s worth noting that all of the 3D designs of the limbs, as well as the accessories, that have been designed from the start on, have been published freely for anyone to use. The intention behind it is that people download, and print them, and then try to improve the designs.

Images: Instagram

Seizing to appear on Google and the expensive price to pay

Google search bar

How often have we not heard “once on the Internet, always on the Internet”. It is so, that once you upload something personal onto the cloud, it is impossible to take down. Or at least we thought so.

A life-ending picture

Imagine you have the job interview of your life, and the interviewer comes across an embarrassing photo of you that you thought you had deleted from your Facebook page. Bye-bye to your dream job. And all because of an indecent picture some friend uploaded for fun. Now it’s not “fun” anymore, is it?

The right to forget

The right to forget

Well, a couple of years ago Google introduced the option of applying for your personal information to be deleted from the Internet. This finally made “leaving Google” possible, yet still very hard to accomplish. It works like so: the information is still on the original website, but it’s not available for people to search on Google.

But don’t think Google was actually thinking about you. Truth is, that it was the result of a sentence from the European Union Justice Tribune. It stated our right of suppression, also known as, our right to forget.

Over half of the applications are rejected

Applications rejection

This is good news for those of us who’ve had the most embarrassing pictures taken. However, what’s not so good news is how difficult it is for your request to be approved.

Over 55% of all requests have been rejected since its implementation. This means it’s quite probable your application gets turned down. But it’s not impossible. You just need one thing: money. And quite the amount of it.

It’s not exactly cheap

Piggy bank expensive

Companies that are in favor of the right to forget are not exactly the cheapest. For every URL you want deleted, they ask between 100€ and 1,000€, depending on your case and the difficulty behind it.

However, the difference with these companies is that they actually do delete the information, rather than just the search. It’s not that it won’t appear on Google. It will not appear anywhere because the information is completely gone. Are such amounts of money worth it?

Images: Unsplash