Info Tech Inc

I have four kids and my last one left at home is an 8th grader.  I feel bad for him because as much as I try to keep him busy in sports and other activities, it’s really hard to replace having brothers and a sister around to keep him company.  My wife and I have been talking a lot about what is the most healthy way we can help him stay busy with productive and fulfilling activities.

Truth is, even though he’s a great kid, plays sports year round, is on the student council and gets all A’s, he spends a lot of time alone playing video games and looking at his phone.

So while I was looking into recent research on health and fitness, I came across a recent study.

In the summary it states that “Teens do better with less screen time and more time with sports and art.”  The results of this study were published in The Journal  of Preventive Medicine.

According to this most recent research, spending less time watching TV, looking at cell phones and video games and spending more time in sports and other extracurricular activities boosts teens’ mental health.

They found that spending less than two hours a day of screen time was linked to “increased levels of life satisfaction, optimism and lower levels of anxiety and depression, especially among girls.”

This data was compiled before the pandemic and the researchers said that these findings are even more relevant now, due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The lead researcher for the study said, ”Our findings highlight extracurricular activities as an asset for teens’ mental well-being. Finding ways for children and teens to continue to participate in these activities during current times is a way to reduce screen time and promote mental health and well-being.”

Nearly 29,000 7th graders were surveyed in this study.

They found that teens who took part in extracurricular activities were less likely to engage in screen-based activities for two or more hours after school.

Increased screen time was directly correlated to negative effects on mental health in teens, and the correlation was even more pronounced in girls than boys.

Dr. Oberle said, “We do know that some forms of screen time can be beneficial, like maintaining connections with friends and family members online if we cannot see them in person, but there are other types of screen time that can be quite harmful,”

Even though my son is highly active in school and sports, he is still getting more than 2 hours per day of screen time.  My wife and I need to discuss effective and constructive ways to keep him involved in as many positive things as possible after school and try to keep his screen time under two hours.

Another thing I read is that our example is a huge influence on the amount of time kids spend on their phones.

Good luck with your teens.  Let me know some things that work for you!

Adam Legas
Founder/ CEO Nanohydr8

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought hardships to personal lives as well as upended how businesses operate in 2020. Marketers have had to adapt as purchasing routines have changed for many target audiences. Businesses are recreating the ways they sell to customers as they widen customer bases and keep in touch with the public.

Christopher Lee, the Marketing Manager at WNY Holdings, shares eight tips for businesses to carry on with marketing efforts during a global pandemic.

Stay Up on Communications

Marketers should maintain open lines of communication with customer bases. First and foremost, businesses should acknowledge the pandemic and its immediate impact. Customers will appreciate and support companies that empathize with them and ensure that they will continue to be there. If the pandemic has impacted operations in any way, inform your audience of any changes and their impacts. It is also crucial to reassure your customers that the quality of your products or services will not be changed regardless of the circumstances.

Refocus and Refine Marketing Strategies

The landscape of successful industries has shifted amidst the shutdown and pandemic. Good marketers can identify which markets have been successful and modify strategies to target new audiences or refine existing customers.

Increase Content Creation

Some businesses may choose to go dark during a lockdown or reduce the amount of content produced. Strong marketers will increase spend on content creation to help address customer questions, provide reassurance, and help boost their name in search results. Taking advantage of downtime will set up businesses for a strong competitive advantage when things begin to settle down or return to a relatively normal place.

Review Marketing Automation Initiatives

As the environment changes, it is essential to review automation initiatives for your business. While some strategies may have been effective before the pandemic, those activities may need to be modified to focus on current business and customer needs. Customers may become sensitive to the frequency of campaigns and feel that profits are more important than people.

Maintain or Increase Marketing Budget

Many businesses will have to cut back expenses across the board to stay afloat during this period. If your company can maintain or even increase the marketing budget, it may be able to go much further than it had before. Rates for advertising will most likely decrease, which gives your campaign more reach for every dollar spent.

Recharge Your Digital Presence

With many businesses shut down across the country and globe temporarily, successful companies must take to online channels to continue to serve their customers. Adapting an online presence to fit multiple audiences from social media to podcasts to other online forums can help stretch a business name further.

Change How to Meet with Customers

Some industries are turning to virtual events to engage with audiences. Find a way to interact with your customer base, whether it is a webinar on current trends for customers, tutorials on new products, or conferences to learn best practices from others in the industry.

Help the Community

Demonstrating that your business is a valued community partner can go a long way. Find a way for your business to aid the local community through donating food, supplies, resources, or volunteering. Customers will follow companies that are stepping up in difficult times.

About Christopher Lee

Christopher Lee is the Marketing Manager at WNY Holdings LLC – a digital marketing company that was started in 2018 to provide industry-leading marketing services for small businesses. 

Christopher Lee goes above and beyond for clients, helping them make data-driven decisions that will increase their keyword rankings and visibility to attract and convert more customers. 

WNY Holdings LLC offers services such as content marketing, web design, graphic design, media creation, SEO, and Facebook advertising. They focus on creating an excellent user experience that keeps customers coming back for more. Throughout the process, ongoing data analysis and custom reporting help clients track and understand how their digital marketing efforts are helping their businesses thrive.

Mr. Lee is focused on fostering a productive and stimulating working environment. This helps WNY employees grow and develop professionally, making them excited to come to work every day and grow along with the company and with their clients.

Your fear of flying does not have to stop you from traveling to the cities you have always wanted to visit. By taking a few simple steps, you can overcome your fear and become more accepting of air travel.

The fear of flying, or flying anxiety, is not uncommon, although it affects people differently comments ronaldshapiro.com. Some may feel a low level of stress or anxiety when they consider taking a flight. They would rather not fly, but they don’t alter their behavior to accommodate the fear. Others are nearly incapacitated at the thought of flying, and they will go to great lengths to avoid it, if at all possible. In extreme cases, the fear of flying can manifest itself with panic attacks or nausea, even at the sight of an aircraft. About 20 percent of the population says that flying anxiety interferes with what they would like to do.

In this article, investor and pilot Daniel Calugar pulls inspiration from the guide the Anxiety and Depression Association of America provides to nervous flyers. Here is a look at the four best steps to conquer a fear of flying.

Identify the Fear

For about 90 percent of flight phobics, worrying about being overwhelmed by anxiety during a flight causes pre-flight stress. This fear of fear is different from being afraid of something terrible happening during a flight. Logic and common sense can quell the idea that you are unsafe during a flight. Statistics prove that you are, indeed, safe. But dreading that you will be overcome with panic during a flight can cause great anxiety outside your control.

Experts agree that the anxiety over the possibility of being overcome with fear usually stems from an experience when a panic attack, unrelated to flying, happens during a flight. This unfortunate experience is then associated with flying but is rarely caused by a traumatic event in the air.

Understanding that your anxiety is only associated with flying, and not caused by flying, can be a good step toward breaking that mental association.

Identify the Triggers

Giving in to your anxiety by avoiding aviation will not usually help your fear of flying go away. Once you understand that your pre-flight anxiety is caused by a concern that something will trigger anxiety during a flight, work toward identifying those triggers. This will, in most cases, require steps leading up to and including taking a flight.

In severe cases, start by taking a trip to the airport. Monitor your anxiety level for signs of a trigger. Maybe it is the sound of planes taking off or landing. Perhaps it is the smell associated with jet engines.

If possible, start by taking shorter flights and taking note of what happens during take-off or landing or turbulence. This will help identify the exact events that may trigger the overwhelming anxiety you are afraid of.

Seek Professional Treatment

Anxiety disorders are treatable. Anxiety therapy can equip you with techniques or medications that will help you control your reaction to the identified triggers. Breathing techniques can be useful in providing a defense against anxiety. Once you have proven to yourself that you can control the in-fight reaction to stimuli, you can begin to reduce the pre-flight fear of becoming anxious during the flight.

Learn the Facts

Anxiety can be tricky in that it does not always yield to common sense or even specific knowledge. But knowledge can help. Read about airline safety. Knowing that you are statistically much safer in an airplane than you are in an automobile can equip you with a compelling argument against the part of you that starts to feel fear during flight. If your fear is triggered during a flight, recite in your mind the safety facts you have learned. This technique may help you defeat the rising anxiety and give you the confidence to stay in control.

About Daniel Calugar

Dan Calugar is a versatile and experienced investor with a background in computer science, business, and law. He developed a passion for investing while working as a pension lawyer and leveraged his technical capabilities to write computer programs that helped him identify more profitable investment strategies. When Dan is not working, he enjoys spending time working out and being with friends and family. As a pilot with over 2000 hours of single-pilot experience flying business jets, he enjoys flying volunteer flights for Angel Flight.