New app rewards discounts for not looking at your phone

We all know we stare at our smartphones a little too much. Ok, perhaps a LOT too much. We know it’s hard because everything about our smartphones from notifications, to the itch to check statuses and emails is difficult to fight against.

Then comes this new, fun idea. An app that rewards you for NOT looking at your phone. Intrigued?

Growing Smartphone Addition

We’ve documented quite a bit on Clean Cut Media about the various studies that have shown the adverse affect of screen time and the impact of smartphones on our generation. We’ve also provided some great solutions to help curb or limit internet use and avoid the dangers of the internet through solutions like covenant eyes.

It’s a growing problem that have robbed a generation of social abilities, abilities to cope with life demands, shorter attention spans, happiness while causing greater game addiction, cyber-bulling, suicides and loneliness.

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New teen study shows more phone use leads to unhappiness

Anti-social teenagers on phones

New study on teenager phone usage and unhappiness

A new study on teen smartphone usage from San Diego State University showed that teens who spent more time on their smartphones were markedly unhappier. Professor Jean M. Twenge, Gabrielle Martin and W. Keith Campbell analyzed data of a survey given to more than a million U.S. 8th, 10th, and 12th graders. This survey asked the youth about their phone, tablet and computer usage as well as various questions about their happiness, relationships and social interactions. The study showed that teens who spent more time on the screen, whether playing games, browsing the internet, using social media, or watching videos, were considerably less happy than those who spend more time playing sports, reading books or participate in other face to face social activities.

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Teen Cyberbullying on the Internet [Infographic]

The Parents Guide to Bullying

The truth about bullying, how it effects your child, and what you can do to help.

Some sobering statistics from the infographic:

  • 85% of bullying occurs inside of school
  • 82% with learning disabilities have been bullied at school
  • 70% of student say bullying is a problem at their school
  • 44% middle schoolers experience bullying problems
  • 43% of kids have been bullied online
  • 1 in 10 students drop out of school due to repetitive bullying.
  • yet… 80% of bullying acts aren’t reported to parents
  • 43% of kids were bullied while online
  • 35% of kids have been threatened online
  • yet… 58% who experience cyberbullying have not told their parents or an adult

Results in:

  • 14% of high school students have considered suicide
  • … 7% have attempted it

 

Know the warning signs:

It’s important that we all understand that it’s very possible that bullying could be occurring without our notice. Below are some “warning signs” that are recommended from the infographic. However note that these signs are just potential signs and it’s also important to not assume things or overanalyze behavior that is often just common to teens. One advice is to just be involved in their lives, know what’s going on, what is stressing them, what makes them happy so that communicate stays open.

  • disconnects from people and isolates self
  • physical problems such as headaches and stomachaches
  • difficulty concentrating
  • difficult falling/staying asleep or experience frequent nightmares
  • seems listless, unenthusiastic and disinterested in many aspects of life
  • hyper vigilant, extremely nervous, depressed or emotionally explosive

Teen Bullying and Cyberbulling Guide

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Pokemon Go at Holocaust Museum? Brave New World.

Pokemon Go at Holocaust Museum

Pokemon Go at the Holocaust Museum

Is this the beginning of the end of the world?

Below is an article from Breakpoint Daily written by John Stonestreet that I wanted to share with you all.

——

The good news is people are leaving their screens inside to go outside. The bad news? When they’re outside, they’re still staring at screens.

In 1985, social critic named Neal Postman, in the introduction to his book “Amusing Ourselves to Death,” compared two famous dystopian visions: “1984” by George Orwell and “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley. He noted that though many people thought their visions similar, Huxley and Orwell had very different theories about how people would lose their freedoms.

Orwell thought it would be Big Brother—the all-watching, all-powerful state. Now certainly, in the age of the NSA and TSA, it sounds like he may have been on to something.

But Postman thought Huxley was the one who got it right. Here’s how he put it:

What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, because there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture… As Huxley remarked in“Brave New World Revisited,” the civil libertarians and rationalists ever on the alert to oppose tyranny “failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions.

In “1984,” people are controlled by inflicting pain. In“Brave New World,” they were controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared what we love will ruin us.

“My book,” Postman then concluded, “is about the possibility that Huxley was right, not Orwell.” And perhaps nothing has so vindicated Postman’s take on American culture like Pokemon Go, a game in which users capture, battle, and train mythical creatures. Already it has more users than Tindr and even Twitter!

The upside—this game takes users outdoors to look for Pokemon, around cities and towns, even fields, using their phones’ GPS and camera. The downside—though outdoors, users are still staring at screens, oblivious to the world in which they’re searching, not to mention to other people.
As you might imagine, there have been casualties. This weekend, hundreds of gamers snarled traffic heading into Central Park, when a particularly elusive Pokemon was spotted there. Last week, two men fell off a cliff near San Diego playing the game. Others have been stabbed, robbed, beaten up and shot at by those taking advantage of unaware users.

As a San Diego Sheriff’s Department spokesperson said, “People need to realize this is just a game. It’s not worth your life. No game is worth your life.”

Neil Postman’s warning in “Amusing Ourselves to Death”, however, went further than that. He warned we were becoming a silly culture, addicted to distraction, without the ability to prefer the good, the true, and the beautiful to the trivial, the meaningless, and the titillating. Such a culture, he thought, would be easily taken captive by the inability to discern what’s truly important.

And in perhaps the ultimate indictment on our culture, the Arlington National Cemetery and the Holocaust Museum issued appeals last week that users not search for Pokemon at these hallowed sites of remembrance. The fact that it even needed to be said only affirms Postman’s prophecy.

Look, games are fun, and Pokemon Go is pretty cool. So if your kids are playing, don’t panic. But if they’re addicted to perpetual distraction, it’s time to intervene. Our friends at Axis.org can help. They have a marvelous tool for parents of teens called the Culture Translator to get you up to speed on this game and all kinds of other things. Come to BreakPoint.org, click on this commentary, and I’ll link you to it.

——-

Your Thoughts?

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Family hit by 3192 Paintballs for Media Profanity

Profanity Impact in Movies

What if for every curse word you heard in a movie, someone shot you with a paintball?

Now watch a family get hit with 3192 Paintballs in 5.2 Seconds. Yea that’s a lot of swear words.

Profanity has been increasing steadily in the media, particularly in movies. There was a time where a curse word would actually shock the viewers. Now? It’s the norm. Very few ever flinch. Thus it’s much more difficult to find family friendly movies, even movies rated PG-13 are no longer safe.

Profanity and Swearing in Film

1939: Gone with The Win
– First Swear Word in Film

2013: The Wolf of Wall Street
– Most Swear Words in Cinema History
– 528 F-Words alone.
– 200+ other swear words.

Enjoy this visual representation of swear words hitting us through media. By Paintball. 3,192 Paintballs in 5.3 Seconds to be exact.

Watch Movies Pre-filtered

This video was made by VidAngel. VidAngel allows you to stream movies that pre-censor out profanity, sex and other potentially offensive scenes in movies and TV Shows. These tags allow user to filter out what they want to avoid based on their personal values and content preferences. Even better? You can watch a movie for only $1. Pretty new movies at that! For legal reasons you “pay” $20 to get the movie so you “own” the movie and legally censor out what you wish, but then after watching you can sell it back for $19. Yea a little bit complicated, but in allowing you to watch a movie with all the filters you (or your family) want in place, it’s a pretty sweet deal.

Use this VIP link to find out more about VidAngel.

That paintball video mentioned earlier!

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Movie Review: Masterless Movie

Masterless Movie Poster

Masterless Synopsis

Adam LaVorgna (from the popular TV Series in the 90s called 7th heaven), plays Kane Madison, an architect working in Los Angeles looking to work his way up the corporate world. His counterpart, a Ronin, lives in the parallel spirit world where he is tempted to follow a dark lord and deviate from his path to finding truth.

What Makes Masterless Unique

When I first heard of this synopsis, I really respected the creativity required to come up with this concept. I am a fan of medieval Japan so I was intrigued. However as I was watching the film, it became apparent to me that if the viewer has no background in the idea of the “spiritual realm” as described in the bible, it would have been easy to get lost or not appreciate what this movie was trying to depict. So here is a quick high level explanation of what a viewer should know going into this film.

The title, Masterless, is partly based from this verse:

Matthew 6:24 – “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

It’s the simple idea that in the end you can only serve one master or one true purpose.

Masterless Samurai Adam LaVorgna

The whole story is based on Kane Madison’s struggle with success in his career. There are two notable “masters” competing for Kane Madison’s attention. His wife, Emi Masuda played by Okiko Saito, urges him to go to church and read the bible. So on one side is truth and the seeking of this truth. Kane isn’t really interested and gets quite annoyed at Emi whenever she brings up the subject. On the other end, the other “master” is success and money. Kane is an ambitious man, initially driven by (small spoiler alert) his wife’s sickness and his desire to take care of her, but as he starts to taste success, he slowly gets drawn into the corporate world. Like what we see often in real life, he gets sucked in by the success and starts to value his work and recognition above the more important things in life. So this master isn’t just career, but the money, the recognition, and the comforts that come with it.

This is the battle that is depicted in the “spiritual realm” by his samurai-like counterpart. This character is a Ronin, a samurai without a master. He doesn’t have any one in particular to follow and has no true purpose. He is a character that represents his internal battle with money and success. As we see his ups and downs in the real world, we see his counter part struggling along his journey, battling attempts at his life, being seduced by a temptress and dealing with a masked Lord who both wants him to join him as well as want to kill him. He is on a journey to find truth, to find answers but he is often derailed by all sorts of troubles and temptations.

It’s an interesting concept to watch as our internal struggle with money, with success, and faith is visually shown through the live action battles of the Ronin.

Ephesians 6:12 – For our struggle is not against the flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Masterless Full Poster MovieClean Cut Thoughts

It’s an interesting film. The acting is good. No Oscar winners here, but no cringe moments either and believe me, many movies have such moments (think Anakin Skywalker). I love the creativity and they did a good job on making the spiritual realm look dreamy and artsy. As I previously stated, I think people who are not familiar with the basis of the spiritual realm needs a bit more information in the beginning to better appreciate what is being attempted here. Though I also understand the difficulty here because for someone who is familiar with the spiritual realm idea, the movie seems to spell things out too much and make it too obvious. It would have been nice to have an “ah-hah!” moment where the person can make the connection themselves rather than making all the links for the viewer. How to balance the two is a difficult question though and would require a lot more thought. I still don’t know what the best solution would have been.

Story: The story is pretty basic, but I don’t think the story is really the point here, but it really is the depiction of the spiritual realm which I thought was very interesting.

Overall: I think the part of me that loves art and creativity enjoyed watching this piece because it was unique and interesting. What they attempt, I’ve never seen anyone do or perhaps even thought about. The part of me that is into story, acting, scriptwriting thought it wasn’t so great. It’s clearly a B-level movie with a limited budget. I absolutely admire the attempt at something new and different though, just felt it could have been done better. It’s honestly one of those movies that I am glad to have seen, but probably won’t see a second time unless I wanted to share it with someone else who might benefit or enjoy how the spiritual realm was depicted in this two-universe style. Basically I am saying the same thing in many different ways, can you tell?

Basically if the concept of a dual spiritual realm depicted in two parallel worlds sounds interesting to you, give it a shot. If it doesn’t, well it’s a free world. All I know is, thanks for reading this review!

If you have seen Masterless or have thoughts on it? Please add your thoughts or comments below!

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Check Out the Social Media Marketing World [Conference]

Hey all,

Just wanted to put in a plug for this social media marketing world conference. For those who are interested in understanding the world of social media, this is a great conference to attend. 100+ workshops and sessions led by leading marketers from top brands including the likes of IBM, Cisco, San Diego Chargers, Experian, Tyson Foods, SAP, Priceline, Dell and so on.

SOME GOOD REASONS TO CHECK IT OUT:

1) Find practical workshops to help you setup and measure social strategies for your company/blog/website.

2) Don’t waste money testing things that you can learn from experience learned the hard way by those who went ahead of you.

3) Meet leading social strategist and marketers – pick their brain, go get those nuggets of wisdoms that will save you a ton of time and effort.

4) Dude, it’s San Diego. In April. Take a few days to go relax on the beach!

5) Full recording of EVERY SESSION available to you after the conference. This I think is the money items as you can review or go through sessions you missed. Share it with colleagues, get people on your company on board.

Ticket prices go up as time goes by so read more about it quick and sign up quicker if interested:
>> CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

SOME GOOD SPEAKERS:

Guy Kawasaki (author, The Art of Social Media)
Mari Smith (co-author, Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day)
Michael Hyatt (author, Platform)
Chris Brogan (co-author, The Impact Equation)
Jay Baer (author, Youtility)
Amy Porterfield (co-author, Facebook Marketing All-In-One for Dummies)
Mark Schaefer (author, Social Media Explained)
Joe Pulizzi (author, Epic Content Marketing)
Ann Handley (author, Everybody Writes)
Michael Stelzner (author, Launch)
Brian Solis (author, What’s the Future of Business?)
and more!

See Full Speaker List Here >> LINK HERE

SOME GOOD TESTIMONIALS!

Testimonials from some high caliber stars in marketing. This video is crazy long though.

SOME GOOD HIGHLIGHTS SHOTS

And here another crazy long video showing scenes from the last summit. Pretty cool, but as I am also a videographer, I think this video is way too long! ha! You guys need a consultant?!

>> READ MORE ABOUT THE SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING WORLD HERE <<

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More Advertising Leading to More E-Cigarette Use Among Teens

E-cigarettes - Vaping by Teens

Did you know that almost 7 in 10 middle and high school students are exposed to e-cigarette ads. E-cigarettes are now the most popular tobacco product among children. E-cigarette advertising dollars have risen from $6.4 million in 2011 to $115 million in 2014. In high school the use of e-cigarettes in the previous 30 days have gone from 1.5% to 13.4% during that timeframe.

A 2015 study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that teens who saw a e-cigarettes ad on TV were 43% more likely to say they would try e-cigarettes than were teens who did not see the ads.

“It is unacceptable that e-cigarette advertising remains unrestricted,” American Heart Assn. Chief Executive Nancy Brown said in a statement. “Kids are encountering these ads virtually everywhere – in stores, online, in newspapers and magazines, and on television and in movies. And the sad truth is, it’s working.”

“The U.S. Surgeon General has found that tobacco and nicotine are not safe, and nicotine negatively impacts adolescent brain development and has been associated with lasting cognitive and behavioral impairments, including effects on working memory and attention in youth.”

E-cigarette Teen Use - Advertising

In a survey of 41,551 high school students in 377 schools around the country, 8th and 10th graders were twice as likely to have used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days then regular cigarettes. Not only do these e-cigarettes come in fun flavors like cotton candy and apple pie, it’s popularity may have been spurred by popular perception among teens that e-cigarettes do not harm their health. For example among 8th graders, only 15% viewed e-cigarettes to be harmful for them versus 62% believed regular cigarettes had harmful effects.

E-cigarette advertising is still not regulated. This has to change.

Everyone should be mindful that that e-cigarettes are very prevalent both in high school and in middle school. E-cigarettes do not leave the smell of “smoke” thus it would be easy for parents to be unaware of it’s use by their children. It is also important that parents educate their children on how harmful nicotine is to their brain development.

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California Governor Signs ‘Right to Die’ Legislation

Governor Jerry Brown California

It’s done. California has passed legislation that will allow terminally ill patients to legally choose to end their lives using doctor-prescribed drugs. Jerry Brown an announcement today (OCT 5th) that he has signed this bill.

Governor Brown released a statement that says he decided to sign this bill because it is “what I would want in the face of my own death.” As a professing Catholic, Gov Brown chose to sign the bill after a long personal struggle, and 10 months of hotly contested debates by many different groups.

Opponents of the bill are worried that this will legalize premature suicides. There is also deep concern that this introduces a dangerous options for those who have low income or cannot afford health care for their disabilities. Supporters on the other hand emphasize counter the premature suicide argument by stating that this option is only available to those who are terminally ill and are not depressed or impaired in anyway.

Right to die legislation CaliforniaCalifornia is the fifth state to pass such a bill, the other four being Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Vermont. New Mexico also had previously allowed this practice until this past August when the appeals court over turned that ruling. Several states have similar bills currently stalled or going through the legal system for approval. This California bill will take effect in 2016.

  • What are your thoughts on this issue?
  • Does a person have a right to end their lives?
  • Where does such a right come from?
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Movie Review: CAPTIVE (2015)

CAPTIVE the Movie 2015 - David Oyelowow Kate Mara

Movie Synopsis – CAPTIVE

CAPTIVE, based on a miraculous true story that drew the attention of the entire nation, is a thrilling drama about the spiritual collision of two broken lives. When Brian Nichols – on the run as the subject of a city wide manhunt and desperate to make contact with his newborn son – takes recovering meth addict Ashley Smith hostage in her own apartment, she turns for guidance to Rick Warren’s best-selling inspirational book, The Purpose Driven Life. While reading aloud, Ashley and her would-be killer each face crossroads where despair and death intersect hope.

David Oyelowow - Captive 2015 Movie

Movie Spotlight:

When CAPTIVE first came to my attention, I was slightly intrigued but a little hesitant. I wasn’t quite sure if this was a Christian movie or if it just happened to have Christian themes in it because of Rick Warren’s “The Purpose Driven Life”. I was intrigued by how Rick Warren’s book managed to convict a convict (see what I did there *groan*) to turning himself in. Remember this was based on a true story. How did that book even get into the picture? How did different parts of the book take hold of Brian Nichols? What kind of inner turmoil must he have gone through? I was excited to see what had actually happened. In the same time I knew it would immensely difficult to capture such psychological nuances let alone not come off as preachy or overtly religious. The good news is that it didn’t come off preachy or religious at all. But that is also the bad the news. The movie didn’t really show or explain how different pieces of the book transformed his life. I was expecting the bulk of the movie to be centered around this “conversion” or whatever you want to call it. However it went by quickly without much explanation. I am still left with the question I want answered: “How did Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life, change Brian Nichols from a convict on a murder spree to turning himself in?”. The one question I wanted answered, never was. In all honesty, I think the story could have been better written, and a lot more attention should have been given to how Brian Nichols came around. Perhaps the movie was afraid to dive in because it didn’t want to seem overly Christian? I am not certain. Having said that, the acting was well done. Very believable. David Oyelowo, who plays Brian Nichols, recently got a lot of attention for his role as Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma.

CAPTIVE RATINGS:

Story: 2 of 5
Acting: 3 of 5
Film Quality: 2 of 5
Family Friendly: No (drug use, gun shooting)

CAPTIVE Trailer:

Have you seen CAPTIVE?
Tell us what you thought of the movie below.

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Cecil the Lion – Walter Palmer’s Non-Apology

Dentist Cecil Lion

In light of the terrible “apology” by Walter Palmer for killing Cecil the lion, I wanted to share this great little piece by Jake Flanagin about what I call a “non-pology” – Where Sorry is not Sorry.

Non-pology is where a person seems to apologizes but carefully crafts their words to not take any responsibility for what had happened and thus maintain their innocence and their pride. Politicians do it all the time. So do athletes. So do many ordinary people. We hear it all the time, though we might not always catch it. Some examples:

“I am sorry this happened”
– Are you sorry you did it, or are you sorry that things turned out the way it did. That you got caught. That you are sorry this happened.. to you?

“This is not characteristic of me.. lapse in judgment”
– This is totally not me. What I said is not a reflection of who I am but just a slip of the tongue. I didn’t say the racist remark because I am racist. It was a slip. Don’t know what happened there. I did not rape/hurt/beat that woman because I was angry/dumb/have issues/evil. It was a lapse in judgment.

“I apologize if I offended anyone”
– I am sorry if what I did, happen to offend those who are overly sensitive to this.

Some quotes uttered by real people. I will leave out the names.

  • “I am sorry that statements taken out of context have had such repercussions.”
  • “You have my apologies for offending you for thinking I was being serious instead of accurately realizing I was mocking you”
  • “Our cover illustration last week got strong reactions, which we regret. […] Our intention was not to incite or offend.”
  • “I am truly sorry for the loss of your son” (by someone who shot and killed a teen)
  • “If anything I said this morning has been misconstrued to the opposite effect I want to apologize for that misconstrued misconstruction. “
  • “I feel bad if her feelings were hurt.”

and of course Walter Palmer himself in his letter to his patience

  • “I deeply regret that my pursuit of an activity I love and practice responsibly and legally resulted in the taking of this lion…”

Can you fit any more justifications in one sentence? In other words “I am sorry that my love for something good ended up this way.” The blame lies in his love for his hobby. Ignore the fact they lured the lion out of a protected area in order to “legally” shoot it. To be clear, I think the kind of hate & bashing going on to this man is wrong in itself as well. The kind of scary and hurtful threats people make and the things they post is just as wrong and people should be called out for such hate. Hate is hate. But apologies like these don’t help and only stoke the fire. Just say what you did was wrong. Take responsibility.

Have you heard other good “non-pologies”? Share it the comments below.

 

Cecil Lion Dentist Apology
Em.. you call that an apology? That was weak bro.
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