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Facebook Is Doing Their Part To Support Local Business

Throughout the craziness of the last few weeks with Covid-19, many Americans have been left jobless and small businesses are suffering. Needless to say the country has been left in a state of panic from the uncertainty of where our next paycheck will be coming from. Something I have been wondering over the last few weeks is how is social media going to play a part in this? Is it simply going to spread mass panic and make things worse? 

Facebook has announced a $100 million grant program to assist small businesses. Businesses who currently wish to apply can sign up to get more information and in the coming weeks will be able to apply for the grants. Facebook says that, “Small businesses are the heartbeat of our communities, and many of the people who run these businesses are heavily affected by the crisis-especially as more and more people sensible stay home” (Hutchinson). 

Additionally, Facebook created a Business Resource Hub that allows all businesses affected during this time to get connected to different strategies, tools, and advice that could benefit their business. It is comforting to see a social media platform step up and do their part during this crisis. They have actually stepped up and implemented solutions that could get small businesses back on track. 

Compared to their yearly revenue, this number is admittedly small, but any amount is meaningful to a business in need. 

Source: 

Hutchinson, Andrew. “Facebook Creates $100 Million Grant Program to Assist Small Businesses Dealing With COVID-19 Impact.” Social Media Today, Social Media Today, 18 Mar. 2020, www.socialmediatoday.com/news/facebook-creates-100-million-grant-program-to-assist-small-businesses-deal/574323/.

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Too much censorship or protecting the younger generation?

The Information Commissioners Office in the UK has announced that they have created an “Age Appropriate Design Code” in order to start helping children online and look out for their best interest. These codes will be going into action starting in the fall of 2021.  

The code has 15 aspects that are being implemented in order to help shield children online from obscene content. A few of these include, age-appropriate limits, being as transparent online as a company can be, data minimization (collecting only the minimum amount of data truly needed by the company), parental controls, and nudge techniques. Nudge techniques caught my eye especially because it’s when a site encourages children to select different aspects of their site that are appropriate and do not ask for any personal information thus keeping the child out of risk. 

 I think this is a really positive idea that will help censor what children are being exposed to. When we were younger we had youtube and the internet of course, but we didn’t have TikTok, snapchat, and Instagram. We were watching “Charlie bit my finger” and Jenna Marbles. The amount of social media that children are being exposed to is harmful in my opinion and gives them the opportunity to giveaway their confidential information to online predators or social media sites that sell their information. 

Do ya’ll think this new code in the UK is enabling too much governmental control on censorship? Is this something that should be enacted in the United States as well? 

Personally, I support this new idea to help censor the internet for children and it will be very interesting to see the results after these codes go into action.

Works Cited 

Barr, Sabrina. “How Will New 'Age Appropriate' Code Protect Children Online?”

The Independent

, Independent Digital News and Media, 22 Jan. 2020, www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/online-safety-children-ico-social-media-age-appropriate-kids-a9296261.html. 

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Could jumping into freezing water reduce your anxiety?

Recently I stared watching a new series on Netflix called, “The Goop Lab” that examines different kind of interesting and not common methods of therapy. In the second episode of the series titled “Cold Comfort” a team of goop employees travel to go meet Wim Hoff to test out his method of therapy. Hoff explains that, “baring your body to wickedly cold temperatures can teach you to better withstand the stressors of everyday life and generally make you a healthier, happier, stronger human” (Capritto). He teaches the group breathing techniques and motions to overcome the cold and they eventually are able to jump into freezing cold water. His reasoning behind his cold therapy method is that, “Through breathing, you can control your autonomic nervous system and improve both your mental and physical health, increasing your ability to fend off stress, anxiety and illnesses” (Capritto). One of the group members who struggles terribly with anxiety said the experience was a turning point in her life. The show features other real life people who’s lives have been changed by Hoff’s method. Wim Hoff currently holds 26 Guinness World Records. To name only a few of his accomplishments Hoff, “In 2011 Wim broke his own cold-endurance record, remaining submerged neck-deep in an ice bath for 112 minutes. The same year he completed another marathon without training, this time in the Namibian desert in temperatures of up to 40°C, without drinking a drop of water” (Kenny). Needless to say the man is pretty insane, any many question his methods. However after watching the episode on Netflix and hearing peoples stories on what his teachings have done for them, I would jump into a freezing lake to see for myself if his methods are legit. I highly recommend taking a look at this captivating series on Netflix if you haven't already.

Works Cited 

   Capritto, Amanda. “Can Jumping in a Freezing Lake Cure Your Stress? The Goop Lab Tries to Find Out.” CNET, CNET, 24 Jan. 2020, https://www.cnet.com/news/the-goop-lab-cold-comfort-episode-review/ .  

     Kenny, Stuart. “Wim Hof Holds 26 Guinness World Records & Believes He Can Cure Depression Forever. Here's How...” Mpora, Mpora, 27 Jan. 2017, mpora.com/wellbeing/wim-hof-interview-happiness/. 

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#makeinstagramcasualagain

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For years I attempted to create social media accounts that made my life look perfect. On my Instagram I had the perfect family, friends, and job. My captions were witty and well thought out and the theme of my page flowed nicely. I worried about how many likes I was getting on my post and what my follower to following ratio was. However, I came to realize that my Instagram had become a chore to me instead of a platform to share my life with my friends and family. So I deleted every post prior to my sophomore year of college and wanted to start new. 

I was so intentional to do this because I realized the toxic habit I had created in my life by comparing myself to others. I would scroll through friend’s instagram pages and immediately feel jealousy or insecurity because my life wasn’t as perfect as theirs was. I failed to realize that they were simply doing what I was doing: posting the best moments of their lives. They weren’t posting the days they might have struggled with their mental health, had a bad hair day, or days their acne was flaring up. I realized the toxic behavior I had instilled in myself by comparing my life to these people’s best moments and didn’t want to potentially spread this behavior by only posting my best moments. I wanted to start to share my life for what my life truly is and that is not perfect by any means. 

A social media influencer that I really liked named Summer Mckeen posted the picture attached above and shared the vulnerable picture of an acne breakout she was having. I really appreciated this because so often we don’t get to see social media influencers be authentic and in sharing her story she was able to help others around her that also struggle with this issue. This took real confidence to post and I really admire her for sharing something so personal and using her platform to share an everyday problem that we all face from time to time. 

I’m not putting anybody down who strives to create a social media image of themselves but simply reminding everybody that it’s okay to post your lows as well because we all have struggles and you never know who you could help by posting something that they could relate to in a tough time. 

Source: Mckeen, Summer. Instagram, 4 December 2019, https://www.instagram.com/p/B5qKmW6np7L/