Pulitzers, Phone Phobias and Lemonade
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Pulitzers, Phone Phobias and Lemonade

The Morning Show - Season 1, Episode 180

  • Apr 19, 2014 1:00 pm

PULITZER PRIZES AWARDED Awards are generally empty of any real meaning, according to Morning Show Host Marcus Smith, but even he acknowledges that the Pulitzer Prize is significant to the reporters and newspapers who receive them. This year’s Public Service award went to the Washington Post and the Guardian for their reports based on Edward Snowden’s leaks about the NSA domestic surveillance program. BYU communications professor Joel Campbell shares highlights from the 2014 Pulitzer Prize list. “To me the gist of journalism is the breaking news story,” says Campbell.  This year’s Pulitzer for breaking news went to the Boston Globe for its coverage of the Boston Marathon Bombing.  “The Globe became a primary news source for minute-by-minute coverage of what was happening,” adds Campbell. “And that’s the kind of story that gets journalists’ blood pumping – to go out and cover something big as it’s happening.”  YOUR PHONE IS MAKING YOU NEUROTIC  Smart phones and Twitter and Facebook have led to an ever-connected state in which many people find themselves seized with anxiety over the fear they might be missing out on something.  A new disorder has even been documented: “phantom vibration syndrome.”  Much like an amputee who can still feel his missing limb, there are now people who feel their phone vibrating in a pocket, when the phone isn’t there.  Larry Rosen, author of the book iDisorder: Understanding our Obsession with Technology and Overcoming Its Hold on Us, says we would do well to recognize the extent to which our emotions are tied to our use of digital technology.  He suggests setting personal limits on the frequency with which you check email or Facebook, to prevent them from creating unnecessary anxiety. OPTIMISM BIAS Humans tend to be more optimistic about our own futures than about others. Tawli Sharot says that’s because we have a greater sense of control over our own lives. Sharot directs the Affective Brain Lab at the University College of London.  Her research finds people are also better able to learn from good news than bad news. The brain’s frontal lobes respond more to good news.  She speculates humans have evolved an optimism bias, making us more likely to go after our goals.  There are also bad outcomes to an optimism bias, she warns (a tendency to feel invincible and not get health insurance, for example.)  But “on the whole, the good outcomes of this optimism bias outweigh the bad.” BIG INTERNET MUSEUM  What would YOU include in a museum of the internet? Dani Polak and other co-founders of http:/thebiginternetmuseum.com says viral videos (thing the NumaNuma Man or Gangnam Style) belong in the museum alongside ARPANET and other more serious milestones of the internet’s history.  Why make an internet museum? “Because there wasn’t one,” says Polak. “And we want our children to know what it was like when we had the internet,” because sometime in the future technology will have moved on. RIO2 AND DRAFT DAY  “They pack a lot into RIO2,” says Rod Gustafson of ParentPreviews.com.  “This latest animated film for kids touches on nearly every standard story line you can imagine.”  The G-rated RIO2 earns a “B” grade from ParentPreviews.com because of mild violence.  “Draft Day” starring Kevin Costner gets a “B minus” from ParentPreviews.com, “because it has a disappointing amount of bad language,” says Gustafson.  ZACK’S SHACK  Zack Bird had a lemonade stand in Provo, Utah when he was six years old, because he wanted to raise money for a special cause. And he kept it up! “Zack’s Shack” has opened one weekend every year for the past five years and has raised some $50,000 for charity, overall.  Zack donates the money to LDS Philanthropies to purchase wheelchairs for people in need around the world. His advice to other youngsters looking to start a charity? “It takes a lot of time, so if you only want to do something for an hour, then it won’t work.”  Bird’s father, Danny, says Zack’s younger siblings are eager to start entrepreneurial ventures, too, but he says, “We’re making them wait until they’re six, like Zack was.”  In the next few years, Zack hopes to be able to travel to one of the countries where his wheelchairs have gone and meet the people benefiting from the lemonade and cookies he sells.