Based on detailed police accident reports for Tippecanoe County, Indiana, and using the introduction of the virtual reality game Pokémon GO as a natural experiment, we document a disproportionate increase in vehicular crashes and associated vehicular damage, personal injuries, and fatalities in the vicinity of locations, called PokéStops, where users can play the game while driving. The results are robust to using points of play, called Gyms, that cannot be used to play the game while driving as a placebo. We estimate the total incremental county-wide cost of users playing Pokémon GO while driving, including the value of the two incremental human lives lost, to be in the range of $5.2 million to $25.5 million over only the 148 days following the introduction of the game. Extrapolation of these estimates to nation-wide levels yields a total ranging from $2 to $7.3 billion for the same period.

Natural selection in action, thousands of stupid bastards are dead.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3073723

In is real issue with reading now

Researchers and educators say that how well a child reads in third grade is a key indicator of future academic success. Michigan, and many other states, have focused efforts on improving early reading skills.

Despite that focus, third-grade English language arts scores have dropped from 2014-15 to 2016-17 across the board:

• White students: 58 percent to 52 percent.
• Black students: 23 percent to 19 percent.
• Hispanic students: 37 percent to 32 percent.
• Economically disadvantaged: 35 percent to 29 percent.
• Non-economically disadvantaged: 66 percent to 60 percent.

http://www.bridgemi.com/talent-education/michigan-spent-80-million-improve-early-reading-scores-went-down

Schools are removing analogue clocks from examination halls because teenagers are unable to tell the time, a head teachers’ union has said.

“The current generation aren’t as good at reading the traditional clock face as older generations,”

“They are used to seeing a digital representation of time on their phone, on their computer. Nearly everything they’ve got is digital so youngsters are just exposed to time being given digitally everywhere.”

Huh. News from 2030:

Schools don't know that to do with new arising problem. The current generation can't piss and shit without proper Google robot instructions and assistance. The only skill they get in this regard is calling Google voice assistant and asking for help. Pulling pants down is very complex and advanced procedure and schools are worried that they have little time for such advanced courses.

https://www.rsph.org.uk/uploads/assets/uploaded/62be270a-a55f-4719-ad668c2ec7a74c2a.pdf

Gaming disorder is characterized by a pattern of persistent or recurrent gaming behaviour (‘digital gaming’ or ‘video-gaming’), which may be online (i.e., over the internet) or offline, manifested by: 1) impaired control over gaming (e.g., onset, frequency, intensity, duration, termination, context); 2) increasing priority given to gaming to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other life interests and daily activities; and 3) continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences. The behaviour pattern is of sufficient severity to result in significant impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational or other important areas of functioning. The pattern of gaming behaviour may be continuous or episodic and recurrent. The gaming behaviour and other features are normally evident over a period of at least 12 months in order for a diagnosis to be assigned, although the required duration may be shortened if all diagnostic requirements are met and symptoms are severe.

https://icd.who.int/browse11/l-m/en#/http://id.who.int/icd/entity/1448597234

Main cause of gaming disorder - alienation from work, doing stuff you do not care of or hate. And main cause of this - capitalism.

Dangerous trend

People tapped, swiped and clicked a whopping 2,617 times each day, on average.

For the heaviest users—the top 10%—average interactions doubled to 5,427 touches a day.

https://blog.dscout.com/mobile-touches

Youtube is catching Twitch and help increase wasted time

It all looks really horrible.

Consequences of games and too much smartphone use:

More on smart speakers

Shit happens in Japan also

For women between the ages of 18 and 39, a total of 24.6 percent were virgins in 2015, up from 21.7 percent in 1992. Among men of the same age bracket, the percentage without sexual experience increased from 20 percent to 25.8 percent.

The trend towards less sex was consistent even for the older half of the cohort. 6.2 percent of women and 8.8 percent of men aged 30 to 34 reported no heterosexual experience in a 1987 survey; those figures jumped to 11.9 percent and 12.7 percent, respectively, in 2015. Between the ages of 35 and 39, 4 percent of women and 5.5 percent of men reported no heterosexual experience in 1992; in 2015 the figures increased to 8.9 percent and 9.5 percent.

The data comes from the Japanese National Institute of Population and Social Security Research's National Fertility Survey of Japan.

Report about gamers (it is source of some numbers in post above)

http://www.theesa.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/EssentialFacts.pdf