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This article is republished with permission from Wonder Tools, a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps. We sleep with our phones. Were tied to these devices for work, at homeeven on vacation. 43% of Americans feel addicted I was intrigued when writer Daniel Parris offered to share tips and tools he relies on to weaken the distracting pull of his phone. Daniel is a data scientist and data journalist who writes Stat Significant, a weekly newsletter with more than 23,000 readers. Its a lively read, with data-centric essays about movies, music, TV, and more. Between his consulting projects, pop culture data analyses, and weekly writing, Daniel juggles a lot. He relies on a curated toolkit to minimize distraction. In this guest post, he shares his favorite new tools for managing time and sharpening focus. A return to focus Daniel Explains: A year ago, I read Cal Newport’s Deep Work. It led me to rethink time management and reassess the distractions affecting my focus. Like most people, my smartphone makes daily life easierI text, get directions, send memes, and answer emails. In return for that convenience, my device quietly siphons away hours of free time. Since I first got an iPhone, I’ve found more and more of my time sliding toward social media and other escapist apps. Millions of others face similar challenges. Inspired by Deep Work, I wanted to see if I could retain the best aspects of modern tech without surrendering more time than necessary. Through trial and error, I’ve found a set of tools that help curb aimless tech use. I’m far from perfect, but these approaches have given me a foundation to build on. Blank spacessimplify your home screen If youd like to cut back on aimlessly scrolling through apps in search of a distractionBlank Spaces is worth a try. The app replaces your home screen with a minimalist launcher that displays essential tools in a simplified layout. You can still access all your apps through your phone’s search bar, but the interface eliminates habitual app tapping. Choosing five to eight essential apps may sound limiting, but you’ll gradually realize how little you actually need from your phone. Price: Free for 7 days, then $4/month; $18/year; $24/lifetime Brickblock distracting apps Brick is a small near-field communication (NFC) puck that pairs with an app. Its been the biggest breakthrough in how I use my phone. It lets me retain the fundamental utility of a smartphone (Google Maps, Yelp, Spotify) while blocking the apps that steal my time, including social media. You select the apps or websites you want to block, then tap your phone against the Brick to enter Brick Mode. It blocks distractions and notifications from your disabled apps, and everything else stays. To re-enable access to your restricted apps, you have to physically tap your Brick again. Brick may sound like a glorified app blocker. But the added friction makes all the difference. I usually place my Brick somewhere mildly inconvenient, far enough away to remind me I don’t really need to open Instagram right now. Repeatedly bricking and unbricking my phone usually sparks some healthy introspection. Why am I working this hard just to check my email? After my first few days, I got used to having my device bricked. Thats since become my phone’s default setting. Price: $59; students get a 20% discount. Yondr Boxput phones away Yondr may be most attractive to families or groups who want to collectively limit phone time. Phone boxes like this one allow you to store devices in a safe-like receptacle for a predetermined period. The features associated with these contraptions vary. Some prevent your phone from receiving a cell signal. With most of them, you set a timer and cant access your device until after the time has elapsed. Yondr and other tools like it work well for family game nigt or movie marathons. Price: $249 [Cheaper options include the $40 Mindsight Timed Lock Box – JC] Light Phoneget a simpler device When I was in middle school, I had a Motorola Razr. It could do very little beyond calls and texts. It broke constantly, but I loved my silly little Razr phone. For a 13 year old in the early 2000s, it was the best phone you could get. Then I got an iPhone. Overnight my Razr seemed like it was made of Play-Doh. Flash forward two decades, and a small but growing group of consumers is retreating to dumbphonesdevices with stripped-down functionality. (See a chart illustrating growth in interest) Some of these devices are extremely dumb. They work only for calling and texting. Others embrace a more intentional kind of minimalism. The Light Phone offers only essential functions: calling, texting, alarms, and directions. This streamlined design reduces screen time and digital distraction. It intentionally excludes social media, email, and web browsing, encouraging users to disconnect from their smartphones without going off the grid completely. Ive long flirted with buying a Light Phone, but have yet to pull the trigger. I have a friend who owns one and swears by it. In 2025, buying a dumbphone is a radical act. In 2002, you’d have been just like everyone else. It’s amazing how 20 years of technological progress can completely recalibrate how we live. Price: $699 for version 3 or $299 for version 2. Time-Block Plannermake time to focus This physical notebook helps me plan my day in 30-minute increments. Each task gets a defined start and end time. Time blocks are allocated between work, meetings, breaks, and admin taskswith the aim of minimizing idle time, avoiding the mental drag of context switching, and carving out uninterrupted stretches for deep work. When I first started time-blocking, it felt borderline draconianlike I was robbing my day of spontaneity. Over time, I’ve found it frees me up to focus on doing higher-quality work, instead of constantly thinking about what I should be thinking about. The scheduler helps me frontload my planning into one intentional session at the start of the day, instead of reconfiguring priorities every hour. I get that an analog journal isn’t the sexiest recommendation. Still, I like being able to plan my day without digital distraction, and I appreciate being able to see my schedule without staring at a screen. Price: $27.90 at Amazon Daniel was one of DoorDashs first 150 employees and data science hires. After working there for nearly six years, Daniel moved into consulting and data writing. Over the past year, hes taken on some of pop cultures greatest conundrums: At What Age Do We Stop Looking for New Music? Which Movies Popularized (or Tarnished) Baby Names? Which Shows Got Their Finale Right, and Which Didnt? Check out Stat Significant Check out Stat Significant to read more of Daniel’s work: Why Did Hollywood Stop Making Comedies? How Many Episodes Should You Watch Before Quitting a TV Show? Is Rotten Tomatoes Still Reliable? Connect with Daniel on LinkedIn or at daniel@statsignificant.com This article is republished with permission from Wonder Tools, a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps.
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E-Commerce
A Thanksgiving tradition since 1924, the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade has not quite turned 100 years-old yet. How is this possible you might wonder? Because it was skipped for three years1942, 1943, and 1944during World War II. Nevertheless, its 99th anniversary is shaping up to be spectacular. Heres everything you need to know about the (mostly) annual event in New York City, including how to tune in. The Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade by the numbers It takes many people to pull off the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade. (Some even do the pulling literally.) There will be more than 5,000 volunteers working hard to make magic happen. This spectacle includes 34 balloons and 28 floats. There are also four “ballonicles,” which are essentially balloons on wheels. Lets not forget the 14 specialty units, 33 clown groups, 11 marching bands, and the one and only Santa Claus. The parade route begins on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and ends on 34th Street in Midtown. Whos performing at the 2025 Macy’s parade? Theres a little something for everyone this year. Elphaba Thropp herself, Cynthia Erivo, will kick things off with an opening number performance. Much to the delight of hip children everywhere, the singing voices of HUNTR/X from KPop Demon Hunters will also have a golden moment to shine. Broadway fans can look forward to numbers from Buena Vista Social Club, Just in Time, and Ragtime. Country fans will look forward to Lainey Wilsons vocal talents, and the Radio City Rockettes will high kick their hearts out. Thats just the beginning. There are also performances by Drew Baldridge, Matteo Bocelli, Colbie Caillat, Ciara, Gavin DeGraw, Meg Donnelly, Mr. Fantasy, Foreigner, Debbie Gibson, Mickey Guyton, Christopher Jackson, Jewel, Lil Jon, Kool & the Gang, Darlene Love, Roman Mejia, Taylor Momsen, Tiler Peck, Busta Rhymes, Calum Scott, Shaggy, Lauren Spencer Smith, Luísa Sonza, and Teyana Taylor. Its a jammed-packed event. What other celebrities are appearing? Beyond the performances, the parade will be a star-studded event, filled with athletes such as U.S. Olympian Ilia Malinin and U.S Paralympian Jack Wallace. Actors Kristoffer Polaha and Nikki DeLoach will also dazzle the parade route. Sean Evans will serve as a special correspondent What new floats will join the parade? There are six new floats this year making their way down the parade route. Science fiction fans look out for Upside Down Invasion: Stranger Things by Netflix. Travel lovers can look forward to The Land of Ice & Wonder by Holland America Line. Parade lovers young and young at heart will be excited for Brick-tastic Winter Mountain by the Lego Group. Rounding out the new floats are Master Chocolatier Ballroom by Lindt, Friends-giving in Pop City by Pop Mart, and The Counting Sheeps Dream Generator by Serta. What new balloons will join the 2025 parade? There are four new additions full of hot air to dazzle onlookers. Buzz Lightyear and Pac-Man will have their time to float, as will Shreks Onion Carriage and Mario. Additionally, KPop Demon Hunters fans should keep their eyes peeled for Derpy Tiger and Sussie, who will appear in midsized balloon and ballonicle form. How can I watch or stream the parade live this year? The parade airs today (Thursday, November 27), which is Thanksgiving. No matter your time zone, the action starts at 8:30 a.m. on NBC. NBC’s telecast covers those with traditional cable subscriptions and those with an over-the-air antenna with good reception. If you have the latter, you can watch the parade for free. The event will also be available on Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming platform. If Peacock is not in your streaming arsenal, you can turn to a live-TV streaming platform that includes NBC in its bundle. Those include: Hulu + Live TV YouTube TV Sling TV Unfortunately, due to a carriage dispute between NBCUniversal and Fubo, NBC had been removed from that streaming service as of press time. Be sure to check regional differences before you commit to yet another monthly charge.
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E-Commerce
Black Friday isn’t what it used to be. Less than 15 years ago, it was fairly common for people to wake up at ridiculously early hours to drive to a store, where they would stand in line, waiting for the doors to open in order to grab the best deals. Those people still exist, but not in the numbers they used to, thanks to the convenience of online shopping (and the early start to holiday deals). But as artificial intelligence becomes more entrenched, it could play an outsized role in Black Friday (and Cyber Monday)and 2025 could be something of a test case for the technology. The average consumer is expected to spend $1,595 on holiday gifts this year, according to Deloitte. That’s 10% less than 2024 and highlights the importance shoppers will place on bargains this year. And a growing number of consumers will be relying on AI to help them find those deals. Some 33% of the people Deloitte spoke to in its 2025 Holiday Retail Survey said they plan to use AI as part of their holiday shoppingdouble the number who did last year. Many say the tech could assist them with inspiration and product discovery. That could benefit retailers who have already embraced AI in their recommendation engines, as well as those planning to roll it out. “Consumer adoption of gen AI shows that expectations are shifting toward personalization and efficiency,” Deloitte’s report states. “Shoppers now expect instant recommendations tailored to their preferences, budgets, and recipients, raising the bar for retailers digital experiences. To meet holiday shoppers expectations, retailers could consider embedding AI-powered gift finders, style assistants, or deal copilots directly into their sites or apps.” A separate study from marketing automation platform Klaviyo found that 56% of consumers say theyll use AI tools during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. AI can do a lot more than just help people think of creative gifts, of course. Gen AI models like ChatGPT can research prices and recommend the best deal, in some cases even making the purchase for you, a feature used by a growing number of people. Traffic from AI platforms to retail sites during Prime Days and other sales in July was up by 4,700%, according to Adobe Analytics. And the company is predicting an increase in AI usage of between 515% and 550% this holiday season, compared to 2024. Thinking of enlisting a Gen AI to help you find deals? Here’s how to go about it. Make your list. Check it twice Chatbots dont work so well without specifics. You’ll need to know exactly what you’re looking to buy if you’re planning to use AI for price comparisons. Using the broadest example, telling ChatGPT you’re looking for the best price on, say, a Barbie or a blender is akin to calling a Best Buy or Gamestop and saying you want to know their best price for a game console. The $60 no-name brand that has a Tetris clone might technically be the correct answer, but that does you no good if you really wanted a PlayStation 5. Set the AI loose Ask your chatbot to find the best deals for your specific product. Again, details matter, so be sure to offer as much granularity as you can about the product. (To go back to the PS5 example, do you want the PS5 with a disc drive? What amount of internal storage do you want? Do you want a PS5 Slim or Pro or some other model?) It’s also worth asking the chatbot to suggest additional ways to save, such as applicable cash-back apps (like Rakuten), promo codes, or coupons. Fact check the results Prices change all the time during the holiday season, so just because ChatGPT says Store X has the best deal, you’ll still want to check that store’s website to verify the amount your AI assistant quoted is still valid. At the very least, using AI to help you shop will quickly eliminate some options and, ideally, free up some of your time, letting you spend less of November and December hunting for deals and more time enjoying the season.
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E-Commerce
With millennials and Gen Z opting for fur babies over actual babies, a new workplace benefit is starting to take over. Enter the era of pawternity leave, where pets are dictating benefits, as companies scramble to keep up with shifting priorities. The reality is: without pet perks, companies are risking losing top talent. Sixty percent of pet parents say they would quit their job if it interfered with their ability to care for their pet and almost 10% already have. With the growing number of people placing such a high value on their pets, companies are beginning to recognize pet parenthood as more than just a lifestyle choice. Its a reflection of todays priorities, and its reshaping how employers approach workplace inclusion. Younger generations are replacing kids with pets Generational differences are driving the need for modernized workplace benefits. Twenty years ago, two-thirds of women at age 30 had at least one child. Today, half of American women at that age do not. This comes as 67% of millennials and Gen Z say they would rather have a dog than a kid. As the workforce transitions from parents to pet owners, traditional benefits like paid parental leave are not resonating with newer generations in the same way more flexible, lifestyle-oriented perks like pet care do. According to a study from Vetster, 48% of Gen Z see no difference between their pet and an actual human child compared to past generations, a powerful indicator of how deeply pets are integrated into their emotional lives. These new family priorities present an opportunity for companies to recognize pet parenthood as a legitimate caregiving role. Offering benefits like pawternity leave, free or discounted pet health care, or pet-friendly office policies allows companies to meet employees where they are in todays age. Supporting mental health through pet-inclusive policies Amid economic uncertainty and looming layoffs within many industries, 80% of people cite work as their primary source of stress. Knowing that heightened stress negatively impacts productivity, companies are turning to pet-friendly policies as a part of their overall well-being strategy to ensure employees feel cared for. Pets such as dogs have been shown to lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Beyond physical health, their presence in the workplace also directly impacts employees mental well-being with 73% of people saying having pets in the office reduces stress levels. For remote workers, the impact is significant, too51% of pet owners working from home report lower stress levels because of the ability to easily care for their pet. By recognizing the emotional needs of employees and integrating pets into workplace culture, companies are helping to alleviate stress while fostering a more compassionate and inclusive environment that supports employees. Companies are seeing high engagement with pet benefits Fifty-three percent of workplaces are pet-friendly to some degree and those that are implementing pet benefits are seeing high engagement with the benefits. For example, Samsungs pet benefits program saved employees $20,000 on vet bills and over 800 hours that would have otherwise been lost to time spent on vet appointments. These types of programs not only reduce logistical and financial burdens for employees, but also demonstrate that the company values their employees needs beyond traditional healthcare. As a result, pet benefits are emerging as a meaningful component of inclusive workplace culture A more inclusive workplace starts with recognizing pets as family Seventy percent of the workforce are pet owners. Neglecting to acknowledge and support the role pets play in employees lives means overlooking a key part of what drives employees personal well-being. At its core, inclusion means creating a workplace where people feel seen and supported. As definitions of family evolve, so should benefits and policies. In recognizing pets not just as companions, but as central figures in many employees lives, companies who recognize this dynamic when considering benefits packages are experiencing a much happier, healthier company culture.
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E-Commerce
Below, Corinne Low shares five key insights from her new book, Having It All: What Data Tells Us About Womens Lives and Getting the Most Out of Yours. Corinne is an economist and professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Her research has been published in journals such as the American Economic Review, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, and the Journal of Political Economy. She also regularly speaks to and advises companies on their practices. Whats the big idea? Women face unequal demands at home and in the workplace, making having it all costly. Research shows how hidden factors shape choices and offers a way to reclaim time, energy, and joy. Listen to the audio version of this Book Biteread by Corinne herselfbelow, or in the Next Big Idea App. 1. Its not in your head; its in the data In 2017, I gave birth to my sonand had a midlife crisis. Things that used to work, like commuting two and a half hours to my job, just didnt add up anymore. I was constantly stressed, angry, depleted, and so tired all the time. Pumping in the Amtrak bathroom, crying that I would miss my sons bedtime because of a train delay, I wondered, Is it just me? I started studying womens time use, and the data told me I was far from alone. Women are getting squeezed from all sides. As our time in the labor market has increased, our time on home responsibilities hasnt declined accordingly. This is for two reasons: Mens time spent cooking and cleaning has stayed fixed since the 1970s. The way we parent has become much more intensive than a generation ago. Mothers in the ’80s were not babywearing and pumping at work or driving to a million activities. I grew up in the ’80s, and we were out riding bikes with no snacks and no water bottleswe must have been very dehydrated! The parenting game has changed. Some changes are great and have to do with our greater understanding of child development, but we spend almost twice as much time with our kids as compared to mothers only a generation ago. Without getting sufficient help from our partners, there just arent enough hours in the day. The amount our partners do also doesnt change when women are the primary breadwinners at home. Women who are the breadwinners still do twice as much cooking and cleaning as their lower-earning male partnerswinning the bread and baking it too. If you look at time usage over a lifecycle, you see womens time use on kids and housework swells to a mountain in our thirties (a period I call the squeeze), and the mirror image of that is our time on leisure and career investments, which goes down like a valley. During that period, time inequality with men is also at its peak. They do less childcare and housework and have more work and leisure time. We need to figure out a different way forward. 2. Your goal in life is utility, not career success The problems facing women in the workplace are structural. Were trying to be a Frankenstein of a super career woman at the office and an Instagram mom at home. We feel like were falling behind because were trying to do more (succeed in a world built by and for men) with less. But economists model human beings as maximizing not career success, not prestige, but their utility function. Your utility function is unique to you. Utility is like a firms profit function. Your personal profit function is made up of all the things that bring you joy, meaning, and fulfillment over the course of your lifetime. If you were to look back at your life when youre 85 years old, what would make you say, That was a life well lived? Your career is part of that, but its not the whole thing. Your utility function is unique to you. Only you know what brings you the deepest feelings of satisfaction. So, you cant compare yourself to someone else in terms of accomplishment because theyve accomplished different thingstheir utility function is different! Meaning, theyre maximizing something else. 3. A job is a tool to turn time into money Lets talk about where your career fits into your utility function. Your job converts time (the natural resource youre endowed with to maximize utility) into money. Your job is like an ATM; you put time into it and get money out of it. Ideally, it does this with minimal hassle and maybe some enjoyment, potentially adding to your utility rather than subtracting from it. But when I ask people what they would do with their time if money were no object, almost no one says theyd try to file more reports or climb higher on the corporate ladder. Thats because we recognize that a job is a means to utility, not an end. If we didnt need the money that comes from employment, wed spend most of our time on things we really enjoy: being with loved ones, hobbies, nature, and taking care of ourselves. We need to think of our careers a little more transactionally than the business books at airports press us to. Exactly how much money do I need at each phase of my life, and how do I plot a career that gets me that while eating up as little of my precious time as possible? This means thinking hard about the lifecycle of your job. Investing lots of time in your twenties can make sense because youre not as squeezed by home responsibilities, and it can buy you a better time-to-money conversion rate from your job later in life. But you want to make sure youre in a field where you are working toward the ability to take your foot off the gas at some pointlike during the squeezeand use more of that time making utility directly. Otherwise, the prize for the pie-eating contest is more pie! Your investment in your career should be proportional to the role money plays in maximizing your utility. Everything else is just chasing success at the expense of true happiness. 4. You can work like a girl and get paid There is no evidence that male traits are actually more productive, and there certainly isnt any evidence that women will be rewarded for mimicking them. When I got to Wharton, a male colleague told me that students respect you more when you are tough, saying that I needed to show them who was boss right from the start. So, I marked them tardy if they were a minute late, and guess what? They hated it coming from me. A female professor told me that shed found her students expected her to be really nice, and she had to fulfill their social expectations to receive good reviews. Research backs up this anecdote: Women are often penalized for failing to exhibit expected traits like niceness and community-mindedness. I want women to view their gendered traits as superpowers. While its also true that the evidence shows that men are, on average, more competitive, more risk-loving, tougher negotiators, and greater self-promoters, it does not say that those things lead to more productivity or higher profits. In a study on competitiveness, men were overcompetitive. Subjects performed a task and had to decide whether they wanted to receive payment for their efforts or participate in a tournament, where they would only be paid if they scored the highest. Of the worst-performing men (the men certain to lose the tournament), 60% still chose to enter rather than take the guaranteed payoff. In my own research on negotiation, I found that male-male pairs were more than twice as likely to fail to reach an agreement and therefore walk away from a negotiation with nothing. I want women to view their gendered traits as superpowers, and find workplaces where they can get ahead by being themselvesnot by pretending to be a man and getting punished for it anyway. 5. We must radically prioritize what contributes to our happiness When the deck is stacked against us, we cant keep trying to play fairmeeting everyone elses needs, and never our own. We have to become ruthless in aligning our time with what gives us utility. Take these three steps: Renegotiate how time and money are allocated in your household. Throw out your houseplants and make other hard choices. Pay yourself first with leisure time. First, to renegotiate the deal in your household, I want you and your partner to track your time. Often, men think theyre doing about half the household work, but thats only because they do half of the things they know about. While theyre doing half the school drop-offs, youre the one making sure there are clothes in the right size, lunches packed, after-school care, and playdates are scheduledhalf of which you multitask during work. If you track your time, you might realize theres a lot more inequality than you think, and you can start reallocating. Once you reallocate the households joint time budget, if theres still inequality in work and leisure time, see if reallocating money can help. Not outsourcing a task is hiring yourself to do it. We rarely do this with male-coded tasks (like car repair and plumbing), but somehow, for female-coded tasks, we forget that doing something in-house has an opportunity cost of where else you could invest that time. If youre a lawyer who bills at a certain rate, or a nurse who could pick up an extra shift, can you really afford that much of your own time for laundry? We have to become ruthless in aligning our time with what gives us utility. Second, throw out your houseplants is my pithy phrase for decluttering your time of anything thats an obligation rather than a calling. For me, it was wilting houseplants that I didnt have time to care for and made me feel like a failure. For you, it might be volunteering at your kids school, making homemade baby food, or planning the office retreat. Understanding how were being squeezed from all sides gives you the freedom to say, Nope, this doesnt add up for me right now. Importantly, you can always say yes later when youre in a different, and easier, chapter of your life. Lastly, pay yourself first with leisure time. We do get some time to ourselves, but often its just little crumbles of time left over at the end of the day. By then, were so depleted we end up just zoning out on our phones. If we block out time for the things that bring us the most joy and meaning, everything else can claim the scraps! Its like how we can suddenly get a project done in an hour before the deadlinethings expand to fill the available space in our calendars. Block your leisure time like an important meeting, and let yourself be your own top priority. Enjoy our full library of Book Bitesread by the authors!in the Next Big Idea app. This article originally appeared in Next Big Idea Club magazine and is reprinted with permission.
Category:
E-Commerce
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