1 Has our phone

addiction gone too

far? Average
person now
spends equivalent
of TWO working
days a week on
their mobile

New research
looked at the
mobile phone
habits of people in Britain
A fifth of those questioned admit to using their
smartphone on the loo

A quarter of people said they checked their mobile devices 50 times a day

Taking 'selfies' was found to absorb up to 35 minutes a week on average

By Katherine Rushton For The Daily Mail

Published: 18:04 GMT, 6 May 2015 | Updated: 18:10 GMT, 6 May 2015

The average Briton spends the equivalent of two working days a week on
their mobiles, with a quarter of people checking their mobiles 50 times a day,
according to new research.
In fact, a fifth of Britons are now so obsessed with their smartphones that
they even use them whilst they are on the loo.
The findings are likely to cause alarm amongst certain users, who feel that
people have become too dependent on their smartphones. But others will find
the pattern all too familiar.
Over the course of a day an average Briton spends more than two hours glued to their smart
phone, like above

Nearly a third (29 per cent) check their mobiles last thing before they go to
sleep, whilst 18 per cent check them as soon as they wake up, and 14 per cent
will look at their handsets if they wake up during the night.

All that time adds up, so that over the course of a day, the average Briton now
spends two hours and 13 minutes on their smartphones the equivalent of
almost 16 hours a week.
Parents are constantly being told to restrict the amount of time their children
spend using phones and other gadgets - but their own technology habits could
be equally as damaging.
Researchers from Boston Medical Centre studied parents while they eating at
fast food restaurants with their children.
They found that one in three parents used their phones almost continuously
during the meals - and previous research has found a lack of eye contact and
interaction with children can reduce the bond with that child.
Researchers also found that when parents spent a long time looking at their
phones, their children had a tendency to play up and seek attention.
Predictably, it is younger users who are the most attached to their mobiles.
Nearly half (46 per cent) of 18 to 24 year olds check their phone at least once
every 15 minutes.
However, older users are far from immune. More than one in ten checks their
mobile phone just as often, according to research commissioned by
Comparethemarket.com, the price comparison website.
Somewhat surprisingly, a relatively small proportion of that time is actually
spent making calls or sending text messages the kinds of things 'old
fashioned' mobiles were intended to do.
The average user now spends less than three hours a week contacting people
in this way. Instead, we spend their time browsing social networks, scrolling
through old photographs and banking and shopping online.
In a sign of people's growing self-obsession, the average Briton also spends
35 minutes a week taking so-called 'selfies', and another 35 minutes a week
using the reverse camera function on many phones as a substitute mirror.
Mobile phones have become so central to people's lives, one in ten Britons
would rather sacrifice time with their loved ones rather than lose their
handset, according to the research.
A quarter of people would prefer to give up sweets than go without their
mobiles, whilst one in ten would go without lie-ins or give up sex.
Comparethemarket.com commissioned the research to mark the launch of a
new online comparison tool for mobile phone tariffs.

Its head of utilities, James Padmore, said: 'We are more dependent than ever
on our mobile phones which it why it's so important to shop around to make
sure you're on the most cost efficient tariff for your needs.
'We hope our new mobile phone tariff comparison service will help
consumers save money on the best mobile deals.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3070725/Has-phone-addiction-gone-farAverage-person-spends-equivalent-TWO-working-days-week-mobile.html

2
Global warming to blame for most heat extremes -study
By Alister Doyle
OSLO, April 27 (Reuters) - Global warming is to blame for most extreme hot
days and almost a fifth of heavy downpours, according to a scientific study on
Monday that gives new evidence of how rising man-made greenhouse gases
are skewing the weather.
"Already today 75 percent of the moderate hot extremes and about 18 percent
of the moderate precipitation extremes occurring worldwide are attributable
to warming," the climate scientists, at the Swiss university ETH Zurich,
wrote.
The rest were due to natural swings in the weather.
"Moderate" extremes are the type expected in any place once in 1,000 days.
In Britain, for instance, that is 33.2 degrees Celsius (92 F) in south-east
England or 27 degrees further north in Edinburgh, according to the UK Met
Office Hadley Centre.
The scientists, Erich Fischer and Reto Knutti, noted that a U.N. study last
year found that it was at least 95 percent probable that most warming since
the mid-20th century was man-made.
The study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, was the first to
give global percentages for how warming affects extreme heat and
downpours.

"We were surprised," Fischer said of the findings, especially by the high
impact of global warming on heat extremes.
Last year was the warmest since records began in the 19th century, according
to the U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization. Heavy flooding hit
countries including Serbia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, South Africa, Morocco and
Brazil.
The scientists compared rising numbers of hot days and downpours in
modern computer models with historical records stretching back more than a
century. They found that warming was loading the dice in favour of extremes.
"The approach here is reminiscent of medical studies, where it is not possible
to attribute a single fatality from lung cancer to smoking," they wrote. Even
so, smoking raised the overall risks of cancer in the same way as warming
increased risks of extremes.
Peter Stott, of the Hadley Centre, welcomed the findings as showing global
statistical impacts of warming.
"The weakness is that you can't apply this method to individual events," he
said. Stott led a study that used different methods to detect that global
warming had raised the risk of a devastating 2003 heatwave in Europe.
Global average temperatures have risen 0.85 degrees Celsius (1.4F) above
pre-industrial times so far, and further warming would increase risks of
extremes, the Swiss study found.
A rise in temperatures to a U.N. ceiling of 2 Celsius (3.6 F) above preindustrial times would raise the share of heat extremes attributable to
warming to 96 percent and the share of extreme precipitation events to 40
percent, it said.
Governments meet at a U.N. summit in Paris in December to agree a global
plan beyond 2020 to limit climate change.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-3057673/Global-warming-blame-heatextremes-study.html

http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-privatisation-of-water-nestle-denies-that-water-is-afundamental-human-right/5332238

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3071702/Heartwarming-social-experiment-showsAmericans-happy-food-hungry-child.html