Social media, it’s something all of us use, and a reality that children are now introduced to at a very young age. It’s a powerful tool that seems to be involved in the daily lives of many people. Millions of people are constantly flocking to popular social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Vine to give and receive the latest scoop on almost everything.

Don’t get me wrong, in some ways this is awesome because there is no denying that social media has connected us all in ways we couldn’t have imagined. This connection allows us all to become more aware of valuable information, and it also allows us to share it. Some of this is information that we wouldn’t have easy access to if it weren’t for these social media platforms.  The rapid growth of social media is likely the leading contributor to why alternative media platforms -such as our site -have become as widespread as they are today.

Within this article however, I would like to focus on the other side to social media -in particular some of the habits, addictions and ego driven things many of us seem to do quite regularly. Here is a list of 7 things that I believe we all need to stop doing on social media:
(We have also done a video on this which you can check out here.)

1. Stalk The Life Of A Former Partner
We’ve all done it, some of us openly flat out love to do it, but that doesn’t necessarily make it healthy. Using social media to regularly check in and follow the life of a former partner is a surefire way to keep unnecessary attachments strong and also sets you up for a lot of drama filled mental comparison. It’s one thing to use social media to remain friends with an ex, but it’s another thing to use it as a tool to keep track of them. Remember that you broke up for a reason, you never did own them and certainly do not now and monitoring their every move will only preoccupy you with thoughts in the opposite direction of truly moving on.

2. Create An Ideal You
One thing that social media profiles offer us that real life interaction cannot, is the opportunity to master the creation of a false persona. We hand select which pictures we post, formulate the perfectly witty status update and choose to follow and like the groups and posts that we feel best represent who we want to be perceived as. The end result, an ideal you that in reality I’m sure very few of us can actually live up to. Rather than creating a false self that is bound to crumble if ever faced in person, why not use social media as the perfect platform to truly be yourself and connect with likeminded individuals?

3. Poke Fun Of Or Respond To Something Angrily
Being on the other end of a bigger social media page I regularly get to see all of the colours of social media commenting. No matter how researched, factually supported, or simple a post you put up may be, you will always have 1 to 2 “smart ass” remarks for every 50 made in support. It’s not to say that everyone needs to agree with everything that is posted or shared, it’s just that there is a definitive difference between constructive criticism that presents an opposing view to be considered and a smart ass remark fuelled by spite, anger or hatred. Next time you find yourself disagreeing with something, opt to take the more sensible approach, which ultimately is way more likely to be taken seriously.

4. Compare Yourself To Others
With the lives of so many people at our fingertips it’s easy to find ourselves regularly comparing ourselves to countless friends, family and acquaintances even as we simply scroll our news feed. Rather than compare ourselves to the social media lives of others, instead choose to either genuinely celebrate or pay no attention to what they share. There is always going to be someone publicly sharing something (a relationship, job promotion, a killer beach body) that your mind will want to be jealous of, whether or not you let it, is up to you.

5. Make It Your Primary Form Of Socialization
As cool and connective as social media may be it never has and never will trump in-person socialization. Just as you make sure to make time to regularly check your news feed, make sure to make even more time to connect with people in person.

6. Post Things Solely To Get Attention/ Gain Approval
Getting a like, comment, share, retweet, pin or any of the other fancy signs of approval can always be a pleasant experience, especially when it comes in response to a very genuine post. The issue I’d like to bring our attention to is when we specifically choose to post things with the sole purpose of hoping to get attention or to gain approval. I’m not trying to be the post police here, since I’m sure several posts scattered across my own social media account could come across in this way. The intention is to get us all to reflect on our true motivation behind things, and rather than always look externally for something to make us feel better, to instead look internally and hopefully learn to love ourselves for who we are regardless of whether or not anyone else agrees.

What We All Can Use Social Media For Instead
A lot of these may seem very common sensical but here are some of the more healthy ways that we can use social media:

To keep in touch with friends and relatives
To connect with like-minded people all over the world
To support one another
To follow and share posts from pages that inspire you
To help spread awareness of non-mainstream news
To bring us all together more easily to create and inspire change
Let me know what you think of this list via the comment section below. Is there anything that you disagree with or would like to add?

1. You get mad when people post videos or articles about played-out trends on your Facebook wall, because people might actually think you still think things like the Harlem Shake are cool.


2. You often find yourself resisting the overwhelming temptation to say “their older albums were better” when people ask you if you’ve heard a cool new song.

3. You judge people for driving.

4. When you read articles about things like gentrification, you get a little knot in your stomach because you know, on some level, it’s referring to you and your friends.

5. That still isn’t going to discourage you from moving to Harlem and/or Bushwick.

6. The most exciting thing that’s happened to you in recent memory is a Trader Joe’s/Whole Foods opening up in your neighborhood, and you kind of don’t care how many row houses were evicted and demolished to put it up.

7. Several of your friends are bartenders at hole-in-the-wall bars, and at least one of them frequently says things along the lines of “Beer is the new wine.”

8. You know what a barista jam is, and have possibly been to one/dated someone who went to one.

9. You get pissed at your local coffee shop for not knowing what a “flat white” is.

10. You have gotten so into cycling that the majority of your disposable income now goes into buying new gear for your longer rides and parts for your bike.


11. There is rarely a dinner conversation that goes by where you don’t mention the fact that your city does not have nearly enough combinations for cyclists, and how frustrated you are with the city council’s inactivity on the subject.

12. You actively choose to wear glasses that you know don’t flatter your face just because they’re big and obnoxious.

13. If you’re a women, you wear crowns of flowers with your outfits as though that is somehow a thing normal human beings do.

14. You get really into things like wine and tea even though you don’t really care about them, simply because you want to know a lot about it and be “the wine guy,” or “the tea guy.”

15. You live in an awesome apartment that your parents pay for even though you have a job yourself, because using your own means to pay for it would mean downgrading.

16. You are a part-time DJ.

17. You constantly refer to bars and restaurants as being “too pedestrian” or “too full of tourists,” even if they are not at all a tourist spot.

18. You have an iPhone, yet can’t afford basic groceries.

19. You constantly bum cigarettes off of people while out drinking yet claim that you “don’t smoke.”

20. You feel the need to reiterate how much you would not eat the junk food or fast food that someone else is eating while they’re eating it.

21. You own a pair of pastel Doc Martens.

22. You participate in Movember year-round.

23. Your profile pictures look like they were shot and art directed by Terry Richardson.

24. You own at least one coffee table book with vaguely pornographic art/photographs.

25. No matter what is going in life, no matter what you’re facing, you always magically have money for drugs.

26. You talk about how much you hate American Apparel, yet all your clothes look like they came from there.

27. At least one your profile pictures is you smiling with a bunch of impoverished children in Africa/South America/Southeast Asia.

28. You try to re-thrift your thrift shop clothes, and are rejected because they fall below Goodwill standards. TC mark

 In a Facebook post that has been  shared thousands of times, Rozelle  woman Sue Evison has told a story  of how she found out this amazing  air con trick:

 I have to share this with you….We  did a delivery yesterday to a  special customer and her house  was like a fridge. She explained she  has her air conditioner set to DRY  which makes the room much more  comfortable whilst only using half the power. I tried it at home myself and found I only have to run my one big air conditioner to make my whole home chilly cold without the stuffy feeling an air conditioner can cause. It removes the humidity out of the air, runs the compressor at a reduced speed and makes the room SO much more comfortable! Not to mention the huge cost saving in comparison to running the normal COOL mode. AND you don’t have to set your AC to a lower temp. The DRY mode is much cooler. Did you know setting your AC lower than 24/23 makes it use 10 times more power per degree? Watched a segment on TV last week about this…..Be sure to read others feedback about how this worked for them…

HERE’S WHAT THE DRY MODE IS ABOUT From Air Conditioning Services website:

Air conditioning matters – using the dry mode.

Air conditioners are very convenient devices especially when the temperatures are ridiculously high. When it is cold you can do something about it- wear as many warm clothes as possible. However, when the temperatures become unbearably high, there is only so much you can do about it. Removal of clothes has its limits. A good air conditioning system comes in really handy as it will keep the cool air running in your home and office to make life all that much easier. But what if you have no idea on how to use it? For instance, very few people know how to use the dry mode function that comes with most air conditioners today.

What exactly is dry mode?

Dry mode is often compared and confused with the cool mode. To some extent they do not feel different. Nonetheless, they are very different in terms of function and the result- even the remote control will tell you. On the remote, the dry mode is shown by a symbol which is a water drop on the other hand the cool mode symbol is frequently a snow flake. The dry function, as aforementioned, is not a common feature of all air conditioners. It is mostly on some varieties of central air conditioning units and window units. The main point of the dry mode is to reduce the humidity in a room. As you probably know, an increase in humidity translates into an increase in temperature. When it is humid, temperatures even those that are relatively low tend to be a bit too uncomfortable.

So, basically the dry function reduces the temperature in a room by lowering the humidity. This function is most convenient during those times of the year when it is humid for instance during the rainy season. During this season the temperatures might not be hot enough to necessitate the need for cold air. The humidity however, is high and quite irritating. One point worth noting is that the dry mode is not meant to remove all the moisture in the room.

The working of dry mode

When the air conditioner is function in dry mode, the fan and other inner components of the device will be running. However, the unit does not blow out any cold air. The air in the room passes through the aircon and the water vapor condenses on the evaporator. Dry air will then exit the unit and flow back into the room. This working of the dry mode is almost similar to that of a dehumidifier. A standalone dehumidifier can be found at just about home improvement or hardware store. This one is better than the air conditioner working on dry mode in the case that you are working on a large room. The air conditioner will only remove some of the moisture and not all.

Assuming that the thermostat is set to 25C and that the humidity in the room is about 90%, the air conditioner will reduce humidity till the temperature is 25C in that room. When the aircon is switched on, the fan will start running to suck in the air and the compressor cuts in to facilitate the condensation of the humidity. Once the room temperature has dropped to 25C then both the fan and compressor will stop. Humidity rises steadily again and so does the temperature. When the temperature goes to 26C the unit starts running again- the cycle repeats itself.

Cool or dry: which is better?

Cool mode works almost similar to the dry mode only that when the temperatures drop to 25C the compressor stops running and the fan is left on alone. In dry mode, it is all about keeping the relative humidity at a comfortable 60%. This happens in both the cool and dry mode but in dry mode this value is maintained. In cool mode, humidity keeps increasing dramatically as the fan continues running. Benefits of using dry mode include:

• Lowering moisture in the room significantly

• Maintaining comfortable temperatures without really cooling

• Energy efficient

Dry mode does not really cool the room like COOL setting. The cooling effect comes from the removal of excess moisture not that the unit is actually cooling the room however you will feel the room is in fact cooler and more comfortable. By using the dry function of your air conditioning unit you will be spending less money on energy bills. It is a really effective way of keeping the temperatures comfortable.



Wow! Will you be changing to dry mode?

A teenage girl got unlucky when the main preoccupation mobile phone.  From mirror.co.uk, an unnamed girl  was too focused on her cell phone while walking in the area of Mianyang City, Sichuan, China. When he was busy sending text messages to her friends, she did not realize there was a sewer with a manhole cover in front of her. As a result, the  legs are stuck through the iron grating and trapped.

Pedestrian crossing trying to help. But there was nothing they could do. Finally firefighters were called. Just 45 then, the girl's feet can be released from the iron grille of the sewer cover. Well, not imagine how you feel when the girl stuck her long, yes ladies.


Photo: mirror.co.uk


A spokesman for the fire brigades  said, "We have finally removed the grille cover sewer and immediately release her. The girl was slightly scratched and bruised and a little numb pinched iron grilles but she was fine and did not need to admitted at  the hospital. "

An eyewitness June Niu who upload a photo of the girl said, "She must be mortified, she continued to cover her face as those around him, it was obvious he wanted to go away from there." He also added that the girl's body is very thin. Besides iron grilles also somewhat crooked, no wonder the girl's feet can easily fall into it.

Ladies, I hope you never experience what happened to this girl. We need to be more careful and cautious when using mobile phones, wherever and whenever needed.

1. Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden
 


Shinjuku Gyoen National Park is one of the oldest traditional gardens in Japan. In this park there are a variety of pull like a small lake, traditional bridges, and a variety of beautiful trees. Inside the park there are also some major French garden Garden and Bahasa Inggeris Garden. The park will be a major pull the Japanese people to relax with family in the spring cherry blossom. In addition, in the autumn, interest in this park will change color to golden yellow and views at this time is very pretty.
2. Sensoji Temple dan Nakasime Street
 

Sensoji Temple also known as Asakusa Cannon Temple is a Buddhist temple located in Asakusa. Sensoji Temple is the oldest temple in Tokyo. After entering the main gate of the Temple Kaminarimon (Thunder Gate), all the way up to the second gate Hōzōmon, there are rows of souvenir shops called Nakasime Street. The row of shops selling a variety of traditional Japanese souvenirs unique and interesting

3. Tokyo Disneyland dan Disneysea
 

 
Tokyo Disneyland is a theme park built on a film produced by Walt Disney. The theme park was built in 1983 and is the first Disneyland theme park outside the United States. While Tokyo DisneySea theme park was built by the legendary fantasy sea. Unlike Disneyland is more inclined towards the children, Disneysea built to entertain visitors to the adults.

4. Shibuya
 


Shibuya is among 23 major cities of Tokyo and is known as a shopping and entertainment. Shibuya is also famous for crossing a pedestrian crossing the busiest in the world known as Shibuya Crossing. In Shibuya, there are many attractive clothes boutique and a center for teenage fashion and culture. In addition, there is a monument to the famous dog as a meeting place for the people of Japan the Hachiko Statue. Legend has it that this dog named Hachiko faithfully awaiting the return of his master in front of Shibuya station every day even after his master died.

 


5. Meiji Shrine
 

Meiji Shrine built for Emperor Meiji and completed in 1920. During the second world war broke out, the temple was damaged but restored afterwards. Meiji Shrine is one of the most popular shrines in Japan. On the 1st day of January every year, this temple will be visited by nearly 3 million people to pray first (hatsumōde). The temple is also famous among lovers as a place to hold a traditional wedding ceremony known as marriage Shinto.

6. Yoyogi Park
 


Yoyogi Park is the largest park in Tokyo and is well known as a place for recreation and family picnics. In this park there are a variety of pull like a small lake, traditional bridges, and a variety of beautiful trees. The park is adjacent to the Meiji Shrine and visitors will be able to enjoy the beautiful views of Yoyogi Park all the way to the Meiji Shrine.

7. Akihabara
 

Akihabara is famous for many electronics stores. Moreover, Akihabara is also a paradise for fans of anime and manga. Among the main pull is unique in Akihabara Maid Cafe, Cafe Gundam and AKB48 Cafe and Shop.
 
8. Gunung Fuji
 
 
Mount Fuji is Japan's highest mountain with a height of 3,776.24 m (12,389 ft). Mount Fuji is very famous in the world as a form of mountain peaks and evenly resembles an almost perfect cone shape. Around Mount Fuji there are 5 beautiful lakes namely Lake Kawagushiko, Saiko Lake, Lake Tamanakako, Shojiko Lake and Lake Motosuko.
9. Odaiba
 


Odaiba is a man-made island located in Tokyo Bay. Odaiba means fortress and was built in the old days with the aim to defend Tokyo from enemy attack. But now Odaiba has been converted into a tourist destination, entertainment and shopping center. In Odaiba there are various attractive designs and sophisticated building.
10. Tokyo Skytree
 

Tokyo Skytree is a television broadcast tower and Tokyo is a city landmark. The tower is the tallest tower in Japan and also the second highest tower in the world when completed with a height of 634 meters. There are two observation deck on the tower at a height of 350 meters and 450 meters. Visitors have the opportunity to enjoy the 360 degree views of Tokyo's most captivating.
 
11. Harajuku dan Omotesando
 


Harajuku is the center of teen modeling fasyen most extreme in Japan. Here there are many well-known clothing boutique that sells a variety of unique and weird clothes. Every week on Sunday, young people in Japan are gathering in Takeshita Street, Harajuku while wearing a costume like mengerupai cosplay anime character, punk musicians and so on.
 
Omotesando is also a pedestrian walkway along the 1 kilometer across Harajuku and Meiji Shrine. Omotesando is famous for the architectural design of the building is unique and amazing.


12. Ueno

  
In Ueno there are a variety of museums such as the Tokyo National Museum, the National Museum for Western Art, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum and National Science Museum. For individuals who enjoy history, culture and art, Ueno is a place that you must visit. In addition, there are also in Ueno Ueno Zoo is first zoological garden in Japan.
13. Shinjuku
 

Shinjuku is one of the 23 major cities in Tokyo. Shinjuku famous as a center for shopping, entertainment and business. Shinjuku train station is the busiest train station in the world. Among the main pull at the Metropolitan Government Office Shinjuku, Kabukicho Red Light District, Shin-Okubo Korean Town, and many large supermarkets like Isetan, Takashimaya, Odakyu Department Store, Keio Department Store and Big Camera.

 


14. Roppongi

 

Roppongi is a popular place to see the whole view of Tokyo from Roppongi Hill observation deck. Among the main pull is Mori Tower in Roppongi, which is the tallest building in Roppongi. In addition, there are also Mori Mori Art Museum and Garden near Mori Tower.