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“APPstinence,” which as you may have guessed, refers to abstaining from using your apps, is a movement encouraging people to get off social media and become less attached to their smartphones. It was founded by Harvard graduate student Gabriela Nguyen. The 24-year-old, who grew up in the center of Big Tech in Silicon Valley, realized she was addicted to both social media and her phone, probably from an early age, so she decided to something about it and started a club at the Ivy League school for her fellow students, along with the website APPstinence. Aimed at her Gen Z and Gen Alpha peers although it applies to everyone who feels they have an unhealthy relationship with tech (which is basically all of us, right?) APPstinence forgoes popular quick fixes like screen time controls, algorithm hacking, or digital detoxes, and offers something much more radical: a five-step method (which sounds Alcohol Anonymous’ 12-step program) to free yourself once-and-for-all from the chains of technology addiction. Appstinence’s 5-steps method can be summed up in just as many words: Decrease, Deactivate, Delete, Downgrade, and Depart. The point of this process is to reduce the sources of stimulus gradually. The idea isn’t to be completely phone-free, but to eventually be able, over time, to downgrade to some type of dumb-ish phone without social accounts. (Nguyen herself has three dumb phones, including the Light Phone.) According to her, people, and Gen Z specifically, should know they have the choice to opt out of social media. How does the process work? Sure, quitting cold turkey is hard. (Am I the only person who regularly deletes Instagram off my phone, only to reload it at 1:00 a.m in a panic?) Instead, Nguyen’s 5D Method decreases your usage incrementally, by deactivating your social media accounts one-by-one, which automatically deletes your apps 30 days later, allowing you to downgrade your phone, and finally depart from the digital world. Interested in trying it out? Here’s a full breakdown of the steps. Before you start: Make a list of family and friends you are in regular contact with, and who are important for you. Let each know, one-by-one, youll be moving offline and to reach you by text or phone instead. Step #1, Decrease: Delete all of the apps from your smartphone, and only access them through the browser on your laptop. Unfollow non-essential accounts and turn off non-essential notifications. After a few weeks, you can move to the next step. Step #2, Deactivate: Social media apps have a 30-day deactivation period before your account is deleted. Start by deactivating the app you feel you use the least. Step #3, Delete: As your accounts automatically delete in 30 days, spend this time strengthening your connections in the real world, for example, exercising, calling your relatives, hanging out with friends, or reading. Refer to your list from before you started. Set a regular schedule to call loved ones (or text, if necessary) and propose a time to hang out in person. Doing this regularly will help you stay connected with the people that matter, and more intimately so. If you panic during this withdrawal stage, re-activate, it’s not a race. Repeat Steps 2 and 3 until youve deleted the last app. Step #4, Downgrade: Get a transition device” like a low-fi smart phone with limited functionality, something cheap that will allow you to access the basic apps you need (banking, Double Factor Authentication for students, QR codes) and keep it shut off in your bag on outings when you may need it. Also get a flip phone, which you should use most of the time. Step #5, Depart: It could take several weeks, months, or over a year to get to this final stage.
Category:
E-Commerce
The U.S. Treasury said on Thursday it is phasing out the penny and will soon stop putting new one-cent coins into circulation. The U.S. Mint, which produces the coins, made its final order of penny blanks and will stop producing themafter over two centurieswhen those run out, reported The Associated Press. (The penny was first issued in 1793, when it featured a woman.) Like many things these days, it turns out the cost of making a penny is a lot more expensive than it used to beover 20% more in 2024, to be precise, according to the Treasury. Blame it on higher costs of production and materials, but either way, the U.S. lost more than $85 million making the penny last year, per The Wall Street Journal. Halting production is expected to save taxpayers $56 million annually. The decision isn’t surprisingkilling the penny has had bipartisan support in recent years. Back in February, President Donald Trump said he ordered the U.S. Mint to halt penny production. Elon Musks so-called Department of Government Efficiency also targeted the penny, posting on X that it costs more than 3 cents to make each one, for a cost of over $179 million to U.S. taxpayers in fiscal 2023. Don’t worry, you can still use your pennies for now, but be prepared to round up to a nickel, since eventually businesses will run out of them. However, a look at the numbers also shows that nickels cost even more money to produce at 13.8 cents each, or 11 cents for production costs plus 2.8 cents for administrative and distribution, based on the most recent fiscal year, per CNN.
Category:
E-Commerce
The U.S. Department of Energy announced Wednesday that $365 million originally slated for solar projects in Puerto Rico will be diverted to improve the islands crumbling power grid, sparking an outcry just days before the Atlantic hurricane season starts. The funds had been in limbo in recent weeks, with the Department of Energy missing a recent deadline to finalize contracts worth $365 million that would see battery-operated solar systems installed at health clinics and public housing units in Puerto Rico. The money had been set aside for that purpose under the administration of former U.S. President Joe Biden. That money was spring-loaded to flow now, said Javier Rúa Jovet, public policy director for Puerto Ricos Solar and Energy Storage Association. He and others criticized the move. This is shameful, Democratic New York Rep. Nydia Velázquez wrote on X, noting that the funds were meant to serve the most vulnerable. Republicans have turned their backs on those who need it most, just one week before the start of hurricane season, she wrote. Grantees that include the nonprofit Hispanic Federation had said the funds were urgently needed to provide stable power to people, including those on dialysis, as major outages continue to hit Puerto Rico. Pretending that reallocating these funds will make any immediate difference on the stability of the electric grid, when the grid already has an $18 billion allocation, is just a way to distract from the real consequences of their decision. Puerto Rico deserves better, said Frankie Miranda, the federation’s CEO and president. The Department of Energy said in a statement that the money would now be used to support technologies that improve system flexibility and response, power flow and control, component strength, supply security, and safety. A spokesperson for the Department of Energy told The Associated Press that the money would be used for things including upgrading aging infrastructure, clearing vegetation from transmission lines, and dispatching baseload generation units. The department said it has final authority over how the funds will be used, adding that the solar projects were not scheduled to be constructed until 2026. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement that redirecting the funds would ensure that taxpayer dollars are used to strengthen access to affordable, reliable, and secure power, benefiting more citizens as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, Puerto Rico Gov. Jenniffer González praised the move in a statement, saying it would help all 3.2 million residents on the island instead of a few customers. Puerto Rico is facing an energy emergency that requires we act now and deliver immediate solutions. Our communities, businesses, and healthcare facilities cannot afford to wait years, nor can we rely on piecemeal approaches with limited results, she said. González previously came under fire as her support for investing $1 billion of federal funds in solar projects across Puerto Rico appeared to fade. A spokeswoman for the governor did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment and details. A spokeswoman for Josué Colón, the islands so-called energy czar, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Dwindling power generation Rúa Jovet noted that there are currently at least $16 billion in unspent funds from the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency meant to improve Puerto Ricos electric grid, adding that the $365 million should be used for its original purpose. There is nothing faster and better than solar batteries, he said. We should all be moving as fast as we can on generation. Officials in Puerto Rico already have warned that there will be a shortage of generation this summer. In addition, the Atlantic hurricane season starts June 1, and it is predicted to be above average, with nine anticipated hurricanes, four of them major. Many in Puerto Rico worry that any storm, regardless of how small, could knock out the grid, given its fragile state. Puerto Rico already was hit with island-wide blackouts on Dec. 31 and April 16. The diversion of funds come as González criticizes the work of Luma Energy, which oversees transmission and distribution of power on the island, and Genera PR, which oversees generation. The two private companies were contracted by the previous administration as Puerto Ricos Electric Power Authority struggled to restructure more than $9 billion in public debt, with mediation still stalled. “Elections have consequences” Under Biden, there was a push for more renewable energy projects in Puerto Rico, where crews are still rebuilding the power grid after Hurricane Maria hit in September 2017 as a powerful Category 4 storm. But the grid was already weak before the storm hit, given a lack of maintenance and investment for decades. Rúa Jovet said the Department of Energys decision is an ideological one supported by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. Of the $1 billion allocated for solar projects in Puerto Rico under Biden, $450 million already has been granted to install solar rooftop and batteries in thousands of homes located in rural areas or whose occupants have medical needs. Overall, roughly 117,000 homes and businesses on the island currently have solar rooftops. More than 60% of energy in Puerto Rico is generated by petroleum-fired power plants, 24% by natural gas, 8% by coal, and 7% by renewables, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. By Dánica Coto, Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
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