The internet has changed how kids learn about sex, but sex ed in the classroom still sucks. In Sex Ed 2.0, Mashable explores the state of sex ed and imagines a future where digital innovations are used to teach consent, sex positivity, respect, a…
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The Catastrophe: Climate change and the 22nd Century
NOTE FOR 2019 READERS: This is the sixth in a series of open letters to the next century. The series marks a little-known chronological milestone. According to UN data, life expectancy at birth in 27 countries now exceeds 81 years — meaning babies born in 2019 are more likely than not to see the year 2100.
What will the world be like at the other end of our kids’ lives? Today’s scientific discoveries, Silicon Valley visions, and science fiction can give us glimpses. But in this series of digital time capsules, we also recognize that our hopes and fears can shape what the future will become.
Dear 22nd century, Read more…
More about Climate Change, Climate Change Effects, Dear 22nd Century, Social Good, and Climate Environment
Google loses its Human Rights Campaign endorsement over conversion therapy app
Sometimes, you just need go viral to incite change.
Following a Change.org petition requesting that Google remove an app that promotes conversion therapy that received over 140,000 signatures, the tech company has lost its endorsement from the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index.
The app from Living Hope Ministries is available on Google’s app store, and as Change.org explains, it seeks to “help homosexuals leave their destructive lifestyles” while calling homosexuality “a stomach-ulcer-of-a-life.” The app has been removed from Apple’s, Microsoft’s, and Amazon’s app stores, says Axios. Read more…
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Suicide deaths of mass shooting survivors have us asking questions experts can’t yet answer
The recent suicide deaths of Sydney Aiello and Calvin Desir, survivors of last year’s mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, unleashed collective grief online as the public mourned the loss of two teenagers who’d endured an unthinkable tragedy.
Th…
7 of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s most inspirational speeches
Since Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was elected to Congress, she’s brought a refreshing and powerfully passionate energy to Washington, DC.
When she isn’t mastering the art of the Twitter takedown, sharing her social media skills with fellow Democrats, or answering interview questions as candidly as possible, the 29-year-old is making insightful speeches that effectively communicate her personal beliefs and challenge the American people to rethink our power structures and national priorities.
Whether she’s at a protest or on the House floor, Ocasio-Cortez never shies away from expressing her opinions, no matter how bold. She delivers her messages calmly and succinctly, and though she’s only been on the job for a few months, she’s already made several memorable — and quotable — speeches. Read more…
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March For Our Lives exhibit sends Congress a poignant message about gun violence
The March For Our Lives activists have a message so big, you can’t miss it. And neither can Congress, we hope.
On March 26, the activists installed a gun violence art exhibit called “One Week in America” on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol.
In a Twitter thread, Matt Deitsch, the organization’s co-founder and chief strategist, explains the thinking behind each component of the installation. A sign reading “Your Complacency Kills Us” is directed to Congress, he explains, and in the exhibit’s center, a “jarring” statue depicting a student at a desk represents “a day in the life of an American student — painfully vulnerable to both trauma and violence.” Read more…
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March Mindfulness 2019: Gamers take their turn
March Mindfulness is our new series that examines the explosive growth in mindfulness and meditation technology — culminating in Mashable’s groundbreaking competitive meditation bracket contest. Because March shouldn’t be all madness.
Previously on March Mindfulness: We took the sport of Competitive Meditation to what you might call professional meditators at a local meditation center and Silicon Valley’s top meditation app. This week’s round brings the tournament to two groups of people more concerned with video games than mindfulness.
Will the competitive aspect, the drive to win, work in a meditation game — or does the knack of calming your mind and not really caring about the result matter more? Let’s find out. Read more…
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Vice’s Broadly creates a free, gender-inclusive stock photo library
Stock photos don’t have a great reputation when it comes to gender-inclusivity. Options are limited at best or non-existent at worst.
That’s why Vice Media’s feminist channel Broadly decided to launch their own stock photo library of gender-inc…
ROKiT debuts radical 3D tech in new phones — and bigger goals of social change
When was the last time a new mobile phone offered you truly jaw-dropping tech? Something more than a sharper camera or bigger screen — something you’d never seen before? You might be able to count backwards and pinpoint the time, years ago, when an innovative new feature gave you that wow moment. This week, the answer got a lot simpler, thanks to the debut of ROKiT’s groundbreaking, stereoscopic, glasses-free 3D smartphone technology. This game-changing tech is exclusive to ROKiT’s two brand new 3D smartphones, part of a larger launch of five new mobile devices.
And here’s a bigger question, one crucial to ROKiT co-founders John Paul DeJoria and Jonathan Kendrick. Read more…
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wants us to focus on the ‘deeper’ problems behind Trump’s election
For many Americans, it’s easier to believe that Russia — not American voters — installed Trump as president.
On Sunday, Attorney General Barr released his summary of Mueller’s report, writing that Mueller had found insufficient evidence to prove that Trump conspired with the Russians during the 2016 election. For folks who had hoped that the Mueller report would result in Trump’s impeachment, it was heartbreaking.
For Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, however, the Mueller report was more than that. It was a wake-up call.
SEE ALSO: Hillary Clinton replied to AOC’s take down of Jared Kushner and we all need a minute Read more…
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‘Am I depressed?’: How teens can find mental health help online
Teens don’t need to read the headlines to know that they and too many of their peers are feeling lonely, sad, anxious, and suicidal. Recent headlines, however, confirm what’s happening in their lives.
This week, a Pediatrics study documented a…
How to help survivors of Cyclone Idai
Tropical Cyclone Idai struck the African countries of Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Mozambique a week ago, but humanitarian workers are only now grasping the scale of the storm’s destruction.
Hundreds are dead, and experts believe that number will rise sharply in the coming days. The storm brought catastrophic flooding that submerged entire villages and towns. The United Nations estimated that 2.6 million people were affected by the tragedy.
“If these reports, these fears, are realized, then we can say that this is one of the worst weather-related disasters — tropical cyclone-related disasters — in the Southern Hemisphere,” Clare Nullis, a spokeswoman for the World Meteorological Organization, said this week, according to the New York Times. Read more…
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