By Stephen Nellis and Samrhitha A (Reuters) -Chipmaker Intel said on Tuesday it plans to operate its programmable chip unit

Scientists have found that students who cut social media use to 30 minutes per day can see significant reduction in anxiety, depression, and loneliness, an advance that can lead to better mental health interventions. A growing body of research in recent years has shown that an increase in social media use among young people is linked to their declining mental health. Researchers at Iowa State University assessed this link further in a two-week experiment with 230 college students. Half of the participants were asked to limit their social media usage to 30 minutes a day, and received automated, daily reminders. The study, published in the journal Technology, Mind, and Behavior, found that this group of participants scored significantly lower for anxiety, depression, loneliness and fear of missing out at the end of the experiment compared to the control group. These participants also appeared to have a brighter outlook on life, scoring higher for “positive affect,” which the researchers describe as “the tendency to experience positive emotions described with words such as ‘excited’ and ‘proud.’” “It surprised me to find that participants’ well-being did not only improve in one dimension but in all of them. I was excited to learn that such a simple intervention of sending a daily reminder can motivate people to change their behavior and improve their social media habits,” study co-author Ella Faulhaber said. The psychological benefits from cutting back on social media was found to extend even to participants who sometimes exceeded the 30-minute time limit. Scientists suggest it is not about being perfect, but putting in the effort that makes the difference. While previous research has assessed the effects of limiting or abstaining from social media, many of the interventions recommended in these studies require heavy supervision and deleting apps or using special applications to block or limit social media use. “When a perceived freedom is taken away, we start resisting,” says Douglas A. Gentile, another author of the study, who adds that eliminating social media completely may take away some of its benefits like connecting with friends and family. For those looking to cut back on social media use, scientists recommend setting a timer to see how much time one spends on social media. “Recognize that it’s not easy to stick to a time limit. Social media apps are designed to keep you engaged,” researchers said in a statement. However, they urge people not to give up as limiting social media use over time has real benefits for daily life. “We live in an age of anxiety. Lots of indicators show that anxiety, depression, loneliness are all getting worse, and that can make us feel helpless. But there are things we can do to manage our mental health and well-being,” Dr Gentile said. Read More TikTok allowed millions of people to see Canadian ‘helicopter’ wildfire conspiracies Reddit hit by outage as fight over its future escalates Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp all stop working Is your WhatsApp group making you anxious? Don’t worry – you’re not alone From a post-truth world to a post-trust world Why suicides among young women are rising at the fastest rate ever

A man has been nicknamed the "Hardest Geezer” after he embarked on a mission to run the entire length of the continent of Africa for charity. Who is the the Hardest Geezer? Russell Cook, from Worthing in West Sussex, is no stranger to some physically brutal challenges that have earned him the label. In 2022, he was the first person to run from Asia to London and now, the 26-year-old has taken it to another level, aiming to become the first person to run the length of the African continent. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Project Africa began on 22 April and, if completed, will be the equivalent of Cook running 360 marathons in the space of 240 days. Now, 24 days into his journey, he has covered several hundred kilometres and even been stalked by wild cats and thieves in the process. His route began in South Africa and will see him travel north up the west coast of Africa through Namibia, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Senegal, Mauritania, Algeria before finally ending his mammoth run in Tunisia. Cook is completing the run to raise money for two charities – The Running Charity and WaterAid. At the time of writing, he has raised £13,300 of his £100,000 target. He is documenting his journey on social media, regularly updating his Twitter, Instagram and YouTube channels on his progress. In one video, Cook revealed he was “absolutely bouncing” and was looking forward to reaching a petrol garage 6km down the road where he was told they sold Cornish pasties. In a Q&A with Twitter users, he gave his advice on how others can motivate themselves. Cook explained: “Be accountable to someone or something bigger than yourself.” Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Italy's biggest telecoms company Telecom Italia (TIM) said on Friday it received two new offers for its landline

Scientists have detected huge waves in outer space that measure three times the size of our sun. The waves are being formed on a star system called MACHO 80.7443.1718, found around 169,000 light-years from Earth in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The waves are formed in a similar way to waves on Earth. Just like ones on our planet are formed due to the gravitational pull of the moon, a nearby celestial object stretches the star and causes enormous waves in the system MACHO 80.7443.1718. Experts have studied the star’s unusual behaviour and published a paper in the journal Nature Astronomy. The experts stated that MACHO 80.7443.1718 contains a "heartbreak" star, which is a term they use to describe the way plasma is influenced by the pull of a nearby object to unleash incredible waves of energy. The sheer power of these waves is, itself, difficult to imagine. In fact, just one of them would end life on Earth in an instant. "Each crash of the star’s towering tidal waves releases enough energy to disintegrate our entire planet several hundred times over," MacLeod said. "This heartbreak star could just be the first of a growing class of astronomical objects," MacLeod added. "We’re already planning a search for more heartbreak stars, looking for the glowing atmospheres flung off by their breaking waves." The scale in general is far beyond human comprehension – at least ours, anyway. In fact, the waves of plasma measure around 2.5 million miles above the surface of the primary star – which itself has a radius of 10.4 million miles, around 24 times the size of the sun. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

TL;DR: The Fire HD 8 Kids tablet features an 8-inch HD display, 2GB of RAM,

A resurfaced clip of the makers of the first GTA game creating the fight scenes is going viral as it shows just how far the franchise has come since 1997. DMA Design Ltd, a Scottish company who created the first game were interviewed by the BBC, and the clip shows one of their employees punching the air while wearing pads to map it out for the animators. When describing how the game would look, they told cameras: "It's a mission-based driving game, where basically you're driving around the city, stealing cars, running over pedestrians... " Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Prime Day is here, and Amazon Prime members can cash in on a range of

RESTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 9, 2023--

Privacy and security experts widely panned a new feature that Twitter unveiled Wednesday that encrypts some direct messages between users, raising questions about the future of user safety on the platform.

Major music publishers on Wednesday filed a federal lawsuit accusing Twitter of failing to stop "rampant" copyright...

xQc was shocked by Pokimane's remarks stating that his experience with Kick was different