Life Style

In today’s modern age, most of us are so accustomed to the Facebook “like” button. We’ve all, at one time or another, liked someone else’s posts. We probably do it on the daily, as likes are considered the ‘chief currency’ of Facebook. If you post a picture or a status, you hope your friends and family will show their love and support by liking it.

And admit it…you get a little sad when you don’t get a like. That’s okay. Social media has really become the barometer for how we socially interact these days. Talking to one another in person is so overrated these days. Of course, just kidding here, but it almost seems like it sometimes. Especially if you have kids and see their faces plastered to their phones 24/7.

This sort of interaction can actually be detrimental to people’s health. Many new studies have come out recently discussing the impact of social media on our brain. It’s not good. We’re more depressed and feel lonelier than ever. That means we end up spending more time online looking for that person to talk to.

Even Facebook is starting to rethink how they do things. They were once so enamoured with the like button that they changed the logo outside their building to the “thumbs up.” But now, they’ve decided to start testing whether removing the like button will help. It won’t completely remove it, as in preventing you from liking pictures. Instead, it will hide the number of likes and shares from view.

A New Facebook?

Facebook wants to find out if removing the number of likes and shares any piece of content gets will actually improve your experience. They’re going to test this concept out in Australia first and pay close attention to whether it makes using Facebook much easier to do, and even less stressful.

“We are running a limited test where like, reaction, and video view counts are made private across Facebook. We will gather feedback to understand whether this change will improve people’s experiences,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement. They’ve already begun the process with Instagram in Canada and expanding outward to Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand.

“We are testing this because we want your followers to focus on the photos and videos you share, not how many likes they get,” an Instagram spokesperson said earlier this year. There can be sort of a pressure to accumulate likes and shares, creating adverse behavior that makes social media less fun for the rest of us. They also want to see if removing this part of the platform will create more or less engagement.

“Likes are powerful because they are immediate feedback,” Renee Engeln, a psychology professor at Northwestern University, previously told CNN Business. “In a way, likes give you the same kind of hit like a gambler gets at a slot machine.” In short: it’s addicting and not in a good way. We seek that instant gratification and it’s not good for our wellbeing.

Most people have a dream of one day becoming an entrepreneur. They want that lifestyle of calling their own shots, waking up when they want to, and making good money doing it. The problem is, it’s not always easy to do. The road towards this type of freedom can be fraught with failure, mistakes, and problems.

There are barriers to success. You might see the lives of others who have made it and it might seem so easy. But it was never easy for them, either. Many successful people today grew up in very poor situations and built their empire on their own, brick-by-brick, failure-by-failure. The difference between them and most people isn’t the start they had, but that they were unwilling to give up their dream.

Instead, they took a circumstance they were going through and endured. They wouldn’t let it interfere with what they wanted to do, even at the risk of losing everything. There are plenty of names and stories, which will be listed below. Learn from these stories.

1) It’s Okay to Take Care of Yourself

Many people think they have to work so hard at creating the reality they want for themselves. Yes, you will have to work hard, but not at the point of completely exhausting yourself. Arianna Huffington was one of those people. Huffington went to Cambridge University and majored economics, but really dreamed of becoming a writer. She had a long-held believe that if you wanted to be successful, you have to work excessively.

She never gave herself a break and it hurt her in the long run. One day, she passed out from sheer exhaustion at the office and slammed her head on the desk as she hit the floor. She learned a lesson that day that she can make sleep a priority in her life. Working yourself to the bone won’t always translated to success and can even be detrimental, as you need a clear mind and to value the work your doing enough to ensure you’re doing well.

“I wish I could go back and tell myself that there is no trade-off between living a well-rounded life and high performance is actually improved when our lives include time for renewal, wisdom, wonder, and giving. That would have saved me a lot of unnecessary stress, burnout, and exhaustion,” she said.

2) Failure is Okay

Too many people take failure the wrong way. They end up losing their confidence and decide that maybe they shouldn’t be doing what they’re trying to do and give up. But everyone who has ever made it has failed at the venture they eventually succeeded at. Elon Musk is one example of that. He has had several failed businesses and even at the beginning of SpaceX had several rockets blow up. Did he decide that was the end for him? No. He kept pushing forward.

Musk is now worth $19 billion today. Apparently, he was successful enough at something. Musk says that failure is indeed an option. “If you’re not failing, you’re not innovating enough,” he once said. Look at failure as an opportunity to improve and grow. Build upon what failed and try again. Only then will you become successful.

3) Investment is Key

Many people work to make money. Once they start gaining a lot of success, they rarely use that money to invest back into the business to make it better. They would rather start spending their money and live lavishly. Mark Zuckerberg has a different approach. He lives a very frugal lifestyle. Has anyone ever seen him in a nice suit? Sure, as a billionaire he probably has a few toys, but he doesn’t focus on making money. He uses the money he has to improve what he’s built.

“We don’t build services to make money; we make money to build better services,” Zuckerberg said. Other sites and apps have come and gone with the weather. Facebook has stuck around and is as popular as ever. Why is that? Because he has tirelessly worked to build and adapt. He’s doing a lot of good in the world with his money. He invests in developing technology and is building a better world, not just collecting his money and running.

We may give too much credence to the idea of generational differences. If there’s one thing we can be sure of, it’s that one generation tries hard to learn from the mistakes of the previous. Gen Z is no different in that regard. They’ve had privilege of learning from several generations who had to face unique circumstances. They hope to apply these lessons into their own life while blazing a new path that may change the way we do everything.

Gen Z ranges from people born between 1998 and 2016. While the youngest of the are only a few years old, the other end of the spectrum is graduating college and entering the workforce. The largest group of them is currently in middle and high school, learning new ideas and being trained on technology the rest of us could’ve never imagined in our days.

Learning from Our Example

Our generations certainly had a lot of failures. Baby Boomers worked tirelessly and instilled the concept of a work ethic. They ‘played the game.’ “They saw their parents believe, ‘All you gotta do is work hard, keep your head down, go early, stay late, and you can advance and move up in a company.’ They saw their parents do that, and lose their jobs,” Casap said. All their hard work proved nothing in the end. It wasn’t any better for the Millennials who focused on education.

“They watched their brothers and sisters

[get that college degree]

and then come home and live in the basement with $200,000 worth of debt,” Casap said.

Gen Z sees more than ever how the entire system is broken. Going to college means starting out life tens of thousands of dollars in debt. It’s almost not worth it. Applying yourself at a job and busting your tail to move up ultimately proves fruitless as well. The economy is more volatile than ever and there’s more risk for taking chances. It breeds nothing but exhaustion and worry.

Gen Z wants something unique. They want to change the culture so they’re not just another cog on the wheel. They’re out there inventing new ways of doing things and that gives them a great deal of power. Technology gives them a door that wasn’t as accessible to us. They’ll do it with ease, breaking all the standard rules.

How Gen Z Will Rule the World

Starting a business in today’s world of technological advances are quite easy. You don’t need money to make money anymore. You just need to know a skill…a skill that easily accessible and can be learned for free online. Before, you had no chance of success unless you had a ton of money saved up to buy your merchandise and hope your store front is easy to find. All you need today is a bit of WiFi and a laptop.

Why do the standard, boring job, like working at McDonalds, like previous generations have done? Instead, they can learn a little bit of code, start a YouTube channel, or start selling art on the Facebook marketplace? More kids than ever are in high school today who also run a business on the side and make money using the internet.

This will change the world because Gen Z has other options than to sit in a stuffy office. If employers want to fill their seats and bring in qualified workers, they’ll have to change how they do business. If not, they’ll wither away and die.

Actor Dan Nufer was in the market for a new home in the Los Angeles area. Driving around and looking for new properties, he found one specific house that had everything he was looking for. It was larger than other homes he tried to get, was newly renovated, and even fit within the lower end of his budget. His first thought was that this was too good to be true.

“This house was way too nice, in an up-and-coming neighborhood and at the low end of my budget,” he said. “It was too good to be true.” In some ways, it was. When he asked his real estate agent to check into how this larger house in an awesome neighborhood went for so cheap, he found out that it was being offered as a tenancy in common.

Believe or not, there’s actually movement going on in neighborhoods and cities across the country. In these areas, rent is so expensive that it’s forcing complete strangers to decide to buy a home together. They want a nice house in the nice neighborhood. Rather than living in an unsavory and unsafe area, they’re deciding that buying a home with someone else puts them in a better situation.

Managing living in a home with roommates, except this time, both roommates are the owners. They share all the bills and have every responsibility and right to the home. No one owns it outright, so they both co-own it together. This can be a large townhome, a very large house, or even a single property that has several smaller homes on it.

What is Tenancy in Common Like?

“It is exactly like living in a condo complex,” says Nufer. “Except that legally I don’t own my house, I own 1/7th of the property and I have the right to live in my house.” This might seem like a strange situation, but there is an upside for people looking to buy a home or property. The prices for owning a piece of it are much lower than if you are buying the entire thing yourself.

Again, think about sharing rent with a roommate. Many people live like this already to help with the bills. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t any risks involved with the situation either. If things turn sour between you and the other person(s) involved, it’s more difficult to just up and leave. You partly own the property. You would have to sell your share.

There are other risks as well. You might be difficult to find financing and/or insurance options that cover the living situation. Then there’s the situation of what happens if your partners financial situation goes downhill. You will be expected to share property taxes and maintenance costs. Your real estate partner in this deal may not be up for all the costs.

“I understood the potential risks. And I was fine with it,” Nufer said. “From start to finish, with TICs, I found the bark was much worse than the bite.”

Millionaires often live financial lives we couldn’t comprehend. They have the money to burn to buy things we can only hope to look at while they’re driving past us on the freeway. It’s easy to be jealous of that kind of buying power, but it’s also important to learn from their mistakes. Many of their purchases we covet really are unnecessary and have no real value other than, “just because I could buy it.” But should they buy it?

Yes, even the rich and famous are capable of making financial mistakes, many of which they might regret themselves. Let’s take a look at several of those mistakes and put it into context.

1) Buying the Mansion

You might be asking yourself how buying a mansion is a mistake. We all want that dream home in a nice neighborhood, but more often than not, the bigger the house, the larger the regret. Many people get to a certain age when the kids move out and have all this space they don’t need anymore. For the rich, it’s the same.

Why buy a 20-room mansion? Then you have to find a way to keep it clean, mow the massive lawn, and the vast majority of the space goes unused. It’s simply impractical. If it’s a status symbol for you, it really doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things. Too many people want the best of the best but don’t consider the amount of extra money and work they have to put into it.

2) Yachts and Boats

Unless you live on the ocean or a lake, buying a boat is a wasted purchase. Especially if you’re a millionaire. You get to take a quick vacation, but most of the year, the yacht is put up in storage. You’re literally burning dollar bills to keep the thing in storage for most of the year. Then there’s upkeep and so much more.

If you really want to go on a fishing trip, you can rent a boat or go on a fishing tour. You don’t need to waste money on a boat that’s going to sit in storage and barely be used. That’s money that could be used elsewhere. Making better financial decisions will leave you better off in the long run.

3) Airplanes

If you’re rich enough, you might buy a plane or two. Again, this is a frivolous purchase that has no real value. You just want to get from one point to another. Instead of spending millions to buy a plane, you can charter your own flights or just ride in first class. You’ll save a lot more money that way.

Really, the big point here is that our desires can get us into financial trouble. We want the extra space and the freedom to buy whatever we want, but with those things comes more responsibility. It means money is being drained from your bank account on things you barely used just so you can say you own it.

Technology has certainly changed our world. Who among us doesn’t remember going to Blockbuster to rent a movie?  Or heading over to Borders books for their latest fictional fix? It’s sort of sad in a nostalgic way. Still, there’s a whole new generation of children being raised who don’t know what these things are.  They laugh at the very mention of CDs or landline phones. This can be good news for the future.

As we grow and become more connected, the industrial revolution has been replaced by the more modern information age.  We’re always searching for new ways to improve our lives. That’s why we have no choice but to use this modern technology to lessen our carbon footprint. That’s exactly what researchers, engineers, and scientists all around the world are doing.

Ever since Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb in 1879, the model for delivering electricity to power our homes, schools, and businesses hasn’t changed much.  We actually burn fossil fuels to generate the electricity that is carried through over millions of miles of power lines. Thankfully, this practice (and all the power companies who supply it) will soon be on its way out.  

Thanks to a rigid combination of political pressure and influence, amazing new advances in computer technology, and an outcry in the environmental sector due to rising global temperatures, homeowners are looking for new ways to get off the grid. It’s almost a return to the days when you were reliant on your own devices to survive.

A Green Revolution

One such smart technology involves harnessing the power of the sun.  Every home and business has a rooftop, and instead of reflecting the sunlight back into the atmosphere, solar panels placed on the roof can collect and transform it into electricity.  This makes your roof a decentralized power plant of its own on a tiny scale.  

While the movement might be slow in getting to the majority of homes, at some point the revolution will spread.  Higher energy costs will force people to think about more budget-friendly alternatives. 

As more people converted to solar energy, the less profits the electric companies draw in. That means they must raise prices to keep up, ultimately forcing away more customers.  The end game is literally the death of the power company, as they will fail to maintain current numbers. Just look at the Southwest and you can already see power companies struggle to compete.

A Third-Party Option

As the technology is currently being developed and advanced, you will notice there’s still room for improvement.  How do you generate electricity when the sun is down or if you have series of cloudy days? Some customers decide to stay on the grid as a back-up, hooking back up as night falls.  This is a cost-effective system, but there are other ways being considered.

For those who are truly intent on living off the grid can purchase a hybrid solar and wind energy system.  If you live in an area with average sustained winds of 9-14 MPH, then this system would work great for you; solar when you have sun and wind energy when you don’t.  

Regardless of what option is best for you, the world is changing thanks to advancements in technology.  The days of coal or fossil fuels being burned for energy are numbered. The only option these companies have is to adapt or die.  The smart companies have already invested millions of dollars in further research to clean, renewable energy. They want to stay relevant in an ever-changing world.

Your boss calls you into the office and says he likes what you’re doing and you’re a valuable asset to the team. He tells you that things are so good that he’s offering you a raise. It’s definitely an exciting time! You’ve worked really hard to get to this point and should be proud of yourself!

Now, the big question is, what should you do with that extra money? Let’s take a look at five ways to manage your finances after getting a raise.

1) Figure Out Exactly How Much You’re Getting

Not to dampen your excitement, but a big raise might not equate in as big of a boon as you were expecting. Depending on the size of the raise, it can push you into another tax bracket. Then, Uncle Sam will want a bit more of your money, leaving you in not in a much better spot. This is the first thing you should find out.

Do a bit of research, add up the numbers, and calculate how much more you’ll be paying in taxes. Do this before deciding it’s time to upgrade the car or whatever project you needed to get done around the house. It will give you a realistic picture of what you can expect to be making and how much more you’ll be paying in taxes.

2) Don’t Look to Increase Your Spending

You may be really excited to make some extra money. But the worst thing you can do is use it as an excuse to increase your spending. In reality, most people need to not spend as much money as they do. They think it’s fine to take on more debt and add to their expenses. You’re setting yourself up for failure in the long term.

The best thing you can do is find ways to save money. Put it into a rainy-day fund until you have at least 6 months’ worth of salary saved up. Put it into retirement or your kid’s college fund. If an economic downturn happens and you lose your job, you’ll be prepared and can continue to afford living at your means for a time.

3) Donate the Money

You might be thinking the last thing you want to do when getting a raise is to send it back out and give to someone else. The thing is, charitable giving has plenty of economic and financial benefits. Not only are you helping a great cause, you’re also getting a nice tax break. You can write that money off your taxes and the recent tax cuts signed by President Trump actually doubles the standard deduction.

4) Pay Off Your Debts

Yes, paying off your debts is the best way to get to true financial freedom. If you want excellent financial health, you should have no debts whatsoever. Life is much easier when you fully own the things you’ve been paying off. Then you have hundreds, even thousands, of extra dollars in your pockets. Pay off those debts!

5) Invest

The thing that separates the rich from the poor is their ability to make wise investments with their money. You should do the same! Then, when bad times happen, you still have an investment you can lean on. It will make your future brighter as well.

In a time when it seems as if retail stores are either thriving or dying, Target is on the thriving list, but they’re not satisfied yet. As Amazon and Walmart keeps fighting for that #1 spot, Target isn’t that far behind. They, too, revamped their website and put an emphasis on online sales and to boost the convenience of shopping at Target stores.

Now, they want to entice customers to keep shopping at the red brand just in time for the busy holiday shopping season. On October 6^th, Target looks to release an updated loyalty program, called Target Circle, that offers tons of perks for their biggest fans. The company has been testing this program in 6 U.S. cities for the past 18 months to see if it would be rolled out nationwide.

The answer appears to be “YES!” This new loyalty program appears to offer personalized deals and earlier access to deals that other shoppers have to wait for. You can even get 1% back on all your Target purchases, inspiring you to shop more often to see the benefits. Over 2 million members got to test out the new loyalty program, so apparently it was good enough to expand.

This new program was designed to partner up with Redcard, which is Target’s own credit card and eliminates the previous program they had called Cartwheel. Both services plus more were added to these cards. And if you were already a member of Redcard or have signed up with Target.com, you’ll be automatically enrolled. Don’t worry, the program is absolutely free!

Target Circle Info

One benefit the company has with the Target Circle club is that it will allow them to check out and monitor your shopping habits. No, not in some creepy way, but the card will be able to send you discounts on products you buy more often. For example, if the system sees you have started buying a lot of diapers, then it will send offers and coupons for diapers to your email.

“This will help Target build a more complete picture of shoppers,” said Neil Saunders, managing director at GlobalData Retail. “It gives customers a little incentive to go to Target.”

Target is yet another big-name brand store that is looking for new ways to keep customers shopping. Giving money back and sending them great deals is a great way to make shoppers happy. Many other companies like Kohl’s, Starbucks, Macy’s, and others have created similar loyalty programs that reward users who shop with them often.

Facebook enjoys marketing itself as the place where people can be connected with each other better. We share everything going on in our lives on the social media website, from what we eat, to what we believe in, and even every major life event. Facebook itself continually looks for new ways to open the door for more human connection.

Their latest project includes starting a new dating service called Facebook Dating. No, we’re not kidding. If you’re listed as “single” on the site, you most likely got a notification saying, “it’s time to look for love” and offering an invite to Facebook Dating as it was released on Thursday. The new service will allow you to connect with others and reach out to singles in your area or abroad.

“Facebook Dating isn’t about swiping or having to wait for someone like you to get a first chance at reaching out,” the company said in its announcement. “If you are interested in someone, you can comment directly on their profile or tap on the Like button to let them know. If you aren’t interested, you can pass on them.”

How Facebook Dating Works

People who use Facebook dating will be able to find matches with complete strangers or even friends of friends. They won’t match you directly with a friend you already have. That can be a bit awkward, so thankfully Facebook kept that part out of it. But there’s also a secret crush feature that can allow you to add someone as a crush.

If you attend events with others or run in similar circles, Facebook will use their algorithm to pair you with them. There are even several safety features built in. If you go on a date with someone you met on Facebook Dating, you can share the details of your date on the site or even allow a close friend or family member to track your location live through the app.

So far, it’s been released in 20 countries around the world, including North and South America and Asia. Europe won’t see Facebook Dating until around 2020. Facebook assures everyone that there are plenty of safety features built into this new product and they hope it will be a great way for new people to meet and fall in love.

The world is growing more connected all the time. We recently ran an article that discussed how couples are meeting online more than ever, even surpassing the traditional methods of meeting someone new. If you’re single and looking to mingle, then perhaps you can give this new service a try.

As innovation continues to expand, many manufacturing jobs appear to be on a downward trend. Any job that can be replaced by a robot is going to save the company tens of thousands of dollars over several years. Companies do this because robots essentially work for free, don’t need vacation or sick time, and they don’t have to worry about robot labor laws.

Yet, this sort of practice is only going to continue hurting the U.S. economy. Millions of manufacturing jobs have been lost to robots and as many as 36 million more are slated to be replaced over the next decade. This isn’t a good thing for those workers and there’s someone who has had enough.

New York mayor and Democratic presidential candidate Bill de Blasio has a new idea. He wants to make sure that companies are looking to automate in the future, they should foot the bill for ensuring those workers get new jobs. “If a company is gonna put thousands of people out of work, they should bear responsibility for making sure that those folks get a new job,” de Blasio said in an interview with Tucker Carlson.

He’s looking to protect American workers. Not only should the company help employees find good work, he wants to institute what he calls a “robot tax” to make it more costly to automate jobs. He says that “many livelihoods are threatened by the unchecked growth of automation.” If Flint and Detroit provide any indication of life after huge manufacturing plants leave or cut jobs, then we should see massive problems in the near future.

Reapplying the Tax Funds

“Thirty-six million jobs that could be made obsolete [by automation],” de Blasio said. “We’re talking as early as 2030.” By paying the robot tax, those funds would then be appropriated to other necessary industries, such as creating green tech union jobs. Other industries include those which are rapidly growing, like education or health care.

“Workers displaced by automation would go to the front of the line for these new positions,” according to de Blasio’s press release for the plan. The plan would create an agency that would keep track of automation progression and regulate the use of robots. By seeing the impact of that automation, the agency could then require the company to pay a tax and even require permits to be used.

Offsetting the economic cost of automation isn’t a new topic. Bill Gates has spoken of the issue in the past. Even Andrew Yang, another presidential candidate, has talked about automation being a problem. That’s why he wants to offer every adult American an additional $1,000 per month as a universal basic income.

“I don’t care about what folks in Silicon Valley who are trying to justify that technology is somehow going to save us all,” de Blasio told Carlson. “You know, they’re resting their laurels on the universal basic income.”