Latest news with #OxfordDictionary
TimesLIVE
5 days ago
- Health
- TimesLIVE
Children's mental health harmed by excessive screen time: help for parents
South Africans spend more time on screens than almost any other nation and the obsession is fuelling a mental health crisis among children and adolescents, warns the South African Society of Psychiatrists (Sasop). Globally, excessive screen use has become so widespread that 'brain-rot' — a term used to capture concerns about the effect of consuming excessive amounts of low-quality online content, especially on social media — was named the Oxford Dictionary's Word of the Year. The effect on children is alarmingly evident, the society said. Adolescents who spend more than five hours per day on digital devices are 70% more likely to have suicidal thoughts or actions than those who spend less than an hour a day. Even adolescents with moderate screen time of 4-6 hours per day are more likely to report symptoms of anxiety and depression than those with two hours less screen time per day. A study in 14 countries reviewing children from pre-primary to high school found mobile phones consistently distracted pupils from learning. Simply having a phone nearby, especially with notifications coming through, is enough to break their attention. Another study showed that once distracted, it can take up to 20 minutes for children to refocus.
BBC News
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Sir David Amess and Jimmy Greaves feature in new biography book
The lives of prominent Essex people - including MP Sir David Amess, footballer Jimmy Greaves and Labour politician Stan Newens - are to be detailed in a long-running reference book of noteworthy British Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB) is updated each year to reflect the lives of historical figures who have died in a certain who died in 2021 and whose biographies are to be featured also include Prince Philip, actress Helen McCrory, drummer Charlie Watts and charity fundraiser Captain Sir Tom ODNB started in 2004, but the original Dictionary of National Biography was first published in 1885 and featured thousands of notable people. Other Essex names among the 238 being added are writer, actress and former model Clare Dunkel and Conservative MP James Brokenshire, who was born in total, more than 5,000 people with Essex connections feature in the David, who was fatally stabbed at his constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea in October 2021, was the the Conservative MP for Basildon from 1983 to 1997 and Southend West from 1997 until his who still holds the record for the most goals scored in top-flight English football, played as a striker for Chelsea, AC Milan, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham over the course of his later became a newspaper columnist and television personality and died at his home in Little Baddow, Essex, in September of the Essex figures, Stan Newens, was the Labour MP for Epping from 1964 to 1970 and later served as an family moved to Epping when he was a child following the outbreak of World War Dunkel, who used the pen name Mo Hayder for her numerous successful crime and thriller novels, starred in Are You Being Served? in her younger years and grew up in latest edition of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography includes biographies of more than 63,000 individuals. Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Hindustan Times
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Who is Kristin, TikTok influencer finds she is colorblind after viral blue chair post
A woman was left baffled after finding out that the armchair she bought years ago, thinking it was blue, is actually grey, indicating that she might be colorblind. Kristin, a TikToker, got to know about the discrepancy when she listed the product online for free. A prospective buyer pointed out its actual color, The Sun reported. Hailing from Santa Monica in California, Kristin is famous for her videos on TikTok through her @ username. She has close to 18,000 followers on TikTok. Earlier this month, she shared a video on the social media platform stating that she was planning to give away her chair for free. Describing it as blue in color, Kristin said the person interested in buying it told her that it is actually gray. "Is this chair gray or blue?" she asked her followers. She quipped that the interested buyer was "gaslighting" her and she has started to believe the same. The chair is featured in the video as the TikToker wondered if it was due to some lighting issue with her phone. Ever since the video was posted on TikTok, it has gone viral on the platform, garnering more than 18.3 million views and over a million likes. The clip has received thousands of comments, with most of them suggesting that the chair's color is actually gray and not blue. "Your graydar is off hunny. It's gray," one person wrote. Another user added, "I thought you were gonna flip the camera and show us the most ambiguous shade of periwinkle that's gray straight out the crayola box." An account remarked, "I wasn't expecting it to be the Oxford Dictionary definition of gray." Some users even said that it might be because of Tritanopia, a color blindness problem where the patient experiences reduced sensitivity to blue light. In such cases, the person struggles to differentiate between blue and other colors like green, yellow and red. "Specifically, grey may appear as a very pale blue or blue-green to someone with tritanopia," one TikTok user said. In another video, Kristin revealed she had done some tests online which revealed she had protan color blindness, Dexerto reported. As per Healthline, the color blindness occurs 'when red-sensing pigments of the eyes are either missing or dysfunctional.' Kristin said she would visit an ophthalmologist to confirm the results. The video was about a chair the TikTok personality was giving away. Kristin had asked her followers if the chair was blue or gray. Users said that the chair was gray, and not blue. The TikToker said she had taken some online tests which indicated she suffered from protan color blindness.
Newsweek
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
Woman Asks What Color Her Chair Is, The Responses Don't Disappoint
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A woman in need of help has turned to the internet to ask what color people think her chair is, and the responses do not disappoint. TikTok user Kristin (@ posted a video in June explaining that she's giving away a chair that she described as blue, but the person interested in buying it thinks it's gray. During the clip, Kristin jokes that the person is "gaslighting" her into thinking it could actually be gray after all. So, she came up with the only reasonable solution to solve the problem—she asked social media for their thoughts. Anyone watching the TikTok video might have expected the camera to show a bluish-gray chair that could perhaps fit into either category depending on the lighting. Many might have thought it would be a repeat of the 2015 viral phenomenon of the blue or black dress that was hugely controversial at the time. But what they certainly weren't expecting, however, was a simple gray chair that didn't appear to have any discernible blue tones. As Kristin showed the chair in the clip, she said "it's definitely blue," but even she started to question her judgement. In the days since the video was posted online, it has taken the internet by storm with over 18.3 million views and more than 1.1 million likes on TikTok at the time of writing. Needless to say, social media users have many thoughts on what color the chair really is—and the answer isn't blue. This has led to more than 1124,800 comments on the initial TikTok video so far. One comment on the post reads: "Your graydar is off hunny. It's gray." Another TikTok user wrote: "I thought you were gonna flip the camera and show us the most ambiguous shade of periwinkle that's gray straight out the crayola box." Another person joked: "I wasn't expecting it to be the Oxford Dictionary definition of gray." "I wasn't prepared for how gray it would be," reads another comment. While one social media user added: "Girl please, what else do you think is blue in your apartment? For science, we need to know." A stock image of a woman looking at a wooden dining chair. A stock image of a woman looking at a wooden dining chair. Halfpoint/Getty Images The online reaction to the blue vs. gray debate has captured plenty of attention online, as internet users can't cope with Kristin's realization that maybe she doesn't know her colors as well as she thought. While she thought she was adding plenty of color to her home, many have suggested that she actually lives in a millennial gray home. Following the seemingly unanimous decision online, Kristin has continued to post more videos online showing herself laughing at the "13K people telling you it's grey." Indeed, it's even made her realize that the chair might not be the only piece of furniture in her home that's gray. Now, she's questioning the sofa that she always thought was blue. Newsweek has contacted @ via TikTok for comment. We could not verify the details of the video. Do you have any viral videos or pictures that you want to share? We want to see the best ones! Send them in to life@ and they could appear on our site.
Otago Daily Times
03-06-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Drones can be worker bees too
My Oxford Dictionary is way out of date because the subject I would have a look at this week is the modern drone so when I went to my dictionary for its definition it stated "male or non- worker bee", that's all. While I find the drone bee an interesting insect as they only make up about 1-2% of a hive of 50,000 female worker bees or more who collect the pollen and nectar, protect the hive and raise a new queen and when the time is right she flies out of the hive to mate with several drones. It seems to be their sole purpose in the hive's life cycle is its procreation. However, when I went to Google there was no mention of the bee and its definition of a drone is an "unmanned aircraft vehicle (UAV) can be controlled remotely or fly autonomously". Essentially, it is a flying robot capable of carrying a payload for various tasks. While the concept has been around for decades its only in the 10 years or so that they've come into prominence. The United States army's stealth drone was designed to evade detection and used for intelligence-gathering, reconnaissance and potentially combat operations. I think the modern drone has been given the wrong name because they are workers. The first one I was familiar with was a glorified toy and could be bought for a few dollars a but now they are capable of lifting over 1000kg. In the last few years different businesses, organisations and government departments are finding more and more uses, such as traffic monitoring, aerial photography, surveying and police crowd surveillance. But the drone is also revolutionising agriculture as Kiwi ingenuity makes them bigger and adapts them to perform tasks once restricted to helicopters or fixed winged planes. On the farm, Cameron engaged a company with drones to spray gorse in a couple of steep gullies. The drone carried 50 litres of chemical, calibrated to be of the strength and volume if it was sprayed by a helicopter, and was cheaper. Three months on, the gorse is not healthy, but 12 months on will tell the full story. Small ones can be used for stock handling. Will every farmer have one, if they prove to be cost-effective? They can perform tasks like spraying crops, spreading fertilisers and insecticides, sowing seeds on steep country, pest control and even firefighting. There are rules, regulations, training and costs regarding bigger drones that pilots must adhere to.
