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Some of the people close to me usually ask me why I keep myself isolated. They get confused about why I often spend my time alone with my computer for more than 8 hours a day. Some even question why I don’t go out and socialize with others. Honestly, it is all related to my mental health issue that I don’t want to talk about. I don’t often go out, and I don’t mingle with people because I get socially anxious when surrounded by individuals I do not know.

Some people think I am a loner, and that is okay. As long as I can avoid social interactions, I can spend the rest of my life isolated in my room playing computer games. Some may think it is weird, but I can honestly say I can get used to that setup. Perhaps that is because I am already battling a mental health condition, so I am no longer interested in any acquaintances.

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At what age does social anxiety begin? 

Social anxiety disorder usually begins around 13 years of age. Factors that associate with it include bullying or a history of abuse. It could also come from childhood trauma or can be a result of having overbearing or controlling parents.

As for my situation, I can’t tell. It just happened that I became so scared to be around people. Maybe it has something to do with the things I like, which is not usually what others would feel comfortable dealing with. I like playing video games, and I must admit, I am addicted to them. Since not everyone I know likes to spend all their time in front of the computer, it changes everything.

 Can you self diagnose social anxiety? 

No. You cannot self diagnose any mental health disorders, including social anxiety. There is no medical test to check the exact presence of the rate of the condition. Only a professional expert or a healthcare provider can diagnose social fear by describing your symptoms and examining certain behavioral patterns.

 What triggers social anxiety? 

Social anxiety is triggered by negative social interaction experiences such as rejection, bullying, teasing, ridicule, or humiliation. It gets triggered when there are ongoing stressful life events and trauma from physical, sexual, or emotional abuse. It can also come from a family history where you become more likely to develop the condition if your biological parents or siblings are diagnosed with a mental health problem.

Honestly, I think my social anxiety got worse when I developed extreme emotional dilemmas. When depression hits me, I felt so alone that I do not want anyone to be near me. That is because I can only hear judgments and assumptions. Most of the people I know think that I am overreacting and hurt my feelings even more.

 Can you have mild social anxiety? 

There is no mild to moderate anxiety. Mild-to-moderate social anxiety is still a social anxiety disorder. The treatment options and programs are still necessary to control any form or any level of anxiety’s intensity. Mild and moderate social anxiety will still experience feeling nervous, restless, increased heart rate, and feeling weak or tired. You can still have problems concentrating or thinking about anything other than the present worry.

Therefore, whatever I do, as long as I tend to avoid people, it is still considered social anxiety. Regardless of what I do or who I want to spend my time with, I don’t think I will live with it when there are too many people around.

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 What should I do if I think I have social anxiety? 

One thing you have to do is understand the condition. Thus, it would be advisable to have a diagnosis, usually administered by a mental health expert. You need to consult your doctor or a health care provider about the best treatment so you can manage to know how to deal with your social anxiety. Typically, social anxiety disorder is generally treated with psychotherapy or also known as “talk” therapy. However, medication or both can work as well.

Note that not because you are in medication and therapy, that does not mean you will get better in no time. Trust me. The process is long and tiring. The agony of trying to be better is worse than assuming that you are okay. It takes time and effort to be able to be socially active once again finally.

 How can I fix my social anxiety? 

Anxiety can often make you feel uncomfortable. To avoid and fix that, you need to learn how to control your breathing. You can incorporate it when you do your morning or evening meditation, as it works best when you are concentrated and focus. Avoid distractions and use your senses to exercise or progressive muscle relaxation. Focus on yourself and always talk back to negative thoughts.

The process is not going to be easy, and that is a fact. You need to pull yourself and focus on your mental health recovery. Because if you can’t handle the pressure, things will crumble down, and you might get trapped into a social situation that can add more mental health problems in the long run.

Can you beat anxiety without medication? 

At times, there is a chance that you can win the anxiety battle without medication as long as you consider mindfulness meditation. It helps in overcoming worry and nervousness simply by modifying your thoughts, behavior, and lifestyle. It works so well with many patients that some psychotherapeutic methods used it as a basis of treatment.

 How can I kill anxiety naturally? 

You can get rid of anxiety naturally if you consider these things: Regularly exercising, avoiding late-night alcohol and caffeine consumption, eating a well-balanced diet, getting enough sleep, drinking plenty of water, quitting smoking, practice deep breathing, and meditating. You can also consider having a meaningful conversation with a friend or family or simply set time for self-talk.

 What does the Bible say about anxiety? 

The Bible often talks about anxiety. There is always a constant reminder not to worry about anything because God is with you. By reading the Bible and internalizing God’s word, and praying to him, you can lighten the stress that weighs your heart and mind down.

 Does CBD help anxiety? 

CBD products show excellent results in treating social anxiety, general anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, and anxiety-induced insomnia. Many feel CBD’s effects almost instantly, but it could usually take anywhere from 15-60 minutes.

 Are there any bad side effects of CBD? 

CBD is often permitted specifically for medicinal purposes. However, it causes side effects, such as reduced appetite, nausea, diarrhea, dry mouth, and restlessness. CBD can also interact with other medications currently prescribed and work differently, such as blood thinners.

 Does CBD do anything? 

Contrary to what others believe, there’s no evidence that CBD cures cancer. Though some researches show its damaging effects on the body and brain, there is still moderate evidence that CBD improves fibromyalgia pain, sleep disorders, muscle spasticity related to multiple sclerosis, as well as certain conditions of anxiety.

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Insight

 A lot of people assume that social anxiety is just something one invented to avoid social situations. But the truth is, its existence is something that no one can explain. It is not just introverted because there is a mental pressure that lies within the condition.

 

 

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As parents, you may think that your kids are spending a lot of hours with digital technology like smartphones and tablets. You might even catch your teenagers rolling their eyeballs at you when you try to reprimand them about using their phones at dinnertime. But the reality is that technology has affected almost all areas of family life.

The World Wide Web and the thousands of electronic gadgets that companies are releasing year by year have given families with choices that we could never have imagined ten years ago. I, for one, could only remember having a very hard time when my husband worked in a different state during the 90s. There were no cellphones then, so I had to wait for him to get home before I’d get to talk to him and ask how his day went, or if my kids missed their dad and wanted to hear his voice. Now, I can easily talk to my college kid through Skype or Face Time at any time of the day to see how she is. Technology has indeed helped improve relationships in terms of communication.

It has also brought about improvements in several other aspects of family life, and this includes education, child growth and progress, business, and work. Below, we take a closer look at the ways that prove how the family has taken advantage of digital technology.

Work

A lot of families have adapted the digital way of life to attain a much better work-life balance. Previously, work meant long travels and being stuck in the office from 8 ‘til 5. This has changed through the advent of remote access systems, email, and social media platforms, which have made it possible for us to have a little leeway with staying long hours in the workplace. Employers have embraced the idea of giving their employees the choice to work remotely or telecommuting. These work-at-home setups have allowed a lot of families to spend more quality time with each other, plus saving them thousands from childcare costs and transportation.

Home Management

Housewives and working moms no longer need to go out of the house when they need to withdraw money and pay their bills. They can subscribe to their bank’s mobile app, and lo and behold; they can do all their transactions in the comfort of their own homes!

Education

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Technology provides us with the opportunity to gain more knowledge whenever we want to and wherever we want – as long as there is an Internet connection. A long time ago, people would keep themselves updated about local and international events by purchasing newspapers. Women would learn new recipes by reading books and magazines and making notes out of them. For students, finishing their term paper meant spending painful hours at the school library, searching through card catalogs, and whatnot. Now, in the online era, different software applications, ebooks, and virtual libraries make it so much easier for us to learn something new in just minutes. Students now can even pursue other courses that were not accessible to them years before by just searching online.

Teachers, too, have taken a step forward in the way they teach their lessons. They also use the computer, interactive whiteboard, projectors, and video presentations to conveniently hold their classes and give instructions for homework and projects.

Entertainment

Digital technology has blessed us with easy access to hundreds of movies, series, and interesting shows that are available on your phones or smart televisions through the Internet’s streaming services and applications. In many ways, this has managed to bridge the gap between families, friends, and significant others, keeping them entertained together and strengthening their bonds. Couples get to bond with their favorite romantic comedy, while teens and parents can watch a great family movie after dinner.

If you are not that tech-savvy, you might be hesitant to use some of the devices and gadgets that look easy when the younger generation uses them. Well, read these tips to help your digital life a little easier than it used to.

• If you want to play online games with your kid, try the tablets first. They’re handier than the laptops and have bigger screens than the smartphones, so they’re just perfect for gaming and learning too.
• Find games that are fun and appropriate for your child’s age. Remember also to choose games that are educational and enriching as well.
• Always find time to bond with your child through online games. You can commit to making it a regular thing, like weekends.
• Be patient and eager to be led by your child when it comes to these things. Letting him share his forte with you will help boost his self-esteem.

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Takeaway

If you are a parent, it is natural to be anxious about the negative effects that digital technology can bring to the family. Of course, there are dangers in sharing family life and everything on it to the online world, especially to the children and the teens that may not yet completely understand what it means to be exposed. For this reason, you must be obliged to educate them about it, including the limitations of using technology.

Technology does provide opportunities for the whole family to discuss issues with their kids like the fact that as parents, they must know what their children are watching online, or concerns about privacy and cyber-bullying, among others. By knowing all these and having an understanding with your children, you can help them avoid the possible harmful effects while reaping the benefits that the digital world has opened for all of us.

 

 

Millions of people across the world are feeling the effect of the Coronavirus outbreak. There is the plummeting of the stock market, lacking supplies of essential items in stores, cancelations of small and large events, adjusting school classes, and so on. But some effects of the situation are less apparent. Here are some of the ways the COVID-19 virus outbreak can affect us primarily in months to come, specifically in the world of technology.

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The Change In Technological Needs

The Coronavirus is either the success or the failure of a business, depending on which side of the industry gets involved. For some companies that run in an internal function, they urge their employees to work from home and interact via video conferencing applications such as Zoom and Slack. As you can imagine, these two apps are doing quite well because they get to be in demand in this particular situation. It provides an advantage to those individuals who no longer need to travel only to go to work.

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The same goes for delivery options. Since people are required to stay at home, they now turn to delivery services to get food and supplies. Regardless of the fee, people are now choosing to pay additional cash for the convenience they are receiving. That is because of the advantage of not exposing themselves from the uncertainty of the outside world.

Another one is the convenience of finding entertainment despite getting stuck at home. To pass the long hours, people enjoy streaming platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Youtube, and others alike. These networks provide people with convenience and stress-relieving options, making them want to stick with the rules of social distancing and home quarantine.

Thus, with all these advantages, we can expect that these technology companies continue enjoying their services and seemingly getting the benefits of the situation. That is not a bad thing, actually. In a time like this, those are the only options people can get.

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The Supply Chain

Coronavirus is affecting the tech hardware business by targeting the supply chain. Perhaps people know the brand name of a TV, laptop, and phone. But that only tells them little about the design and assembly of a particular item. That is because getting all the parts together needs a complicated web of contractors, subcontractors, and manufacturing warehouses that goes entirely unseen. Meaning, the parts of an item comes from different manufacturing companies. So people get the idea that the process of creating a particular item is all interconnected. Thus, if one manufacturing company or supplier shuts down, it cripples the entire production system and grinds everything into a halt.

People assume that these large companies can stand alone during this pandemic crisis because they have been the most prominent companies in the market. However, the shortfall is not immediate. When the warehouse and other manufacturing factories stay empty, we can all expect a shortage of goods. It will be followed by rising prices as the demand for some technological items increases as well. But fortunately, most of these technical items are high cost. Therefore, they are less prone to hoarding. However, that does not mean that with the Coronavirus outbreak, things will still be the same.

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Takeaway

People are noticing the situation right now.  So it is no secret to them that some businesses choose to stay out of the competition due to lack of demand. While the large industries are striving hard to keep intact with the economic function, the smaller enterprises are giving up their chances because of the slow return of investments. In some unfortunate cases, the chances of earning seem impossible.

 

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One of the most important goals of the 2019 World Indigenous Cancer Conference was to address the increasing rates of cancer among indigenous populations. Researchers have gathered to share what they have in terms of statistics and information on how they could find ways to reduce the incidence of cancer among the indigenous peoples of Canada, Australia, and Native America. It seems that cancer control services, surveillance, patient support, and treatments are not sufficient and feasible. They focused their discussion on the reasons why Native Americans have a higher risk of developing cancer.

Why Can’t Native Americans Beat Cancer? 

They lack access to the proper healthcare system. 

While the government has made ties with Native Nations, they have failed to fund efficient healthcare facilities and programs. The Indian Health Service exists, but the budget cuts make it impossible to run appropriately. They have insufficient resources, which is why cancer patients do not get what they need to get treated. Also, because of the high rates of poverty, most Native Americans cannot afford to avail of healthcare and even Medicaid. They also encounter discrimination and stigma.

They lack sufficient documents.

The Native American population is frequently misconstrued when they seek help, and this has led to significant problems in terms of getting the proper information, documents, and statistics for their cancer rates. Details are often inappropriate or lacking. The CDC reports that one significant barrier to improving healthcare among the Native American communities is that a lot of them, including Native Alaskans, are misinterpreted on their records. They are often reported as a different race at the time of their death. This may sound insignificant, but it is a very vital issue, as there are so many discrepancies in terms of cancer and Native Americans. Researchers struggle to find ways to get the appropriate information to help reduce the rate of cancer among Native Americans. If they misreport because of incorrect details, they are falsifying data for this population. More attention must be made to achieve proper documentation.

Source: 163atkw.ang.af.mil

Illegal dumping of waste on native lands.

This is commonly done in most Native American communities. A lot of factories have been fly-tipping, or illegally throwing waste materials without the knowledge of the people living in these areas. Most of the waste materials contain asbestos, which is odorless, tasteless, and toxic. This is one of the major reasons for causing cancer.

 

 

An average number of people around the world check their mobile phones almost a hundred times per day. Not all that. These people also spend their time using their devices for not less than 5 hours. That is nearly a third of every person’s waking hours. Considering the non-stop usage of the mobile device, we can say that it is somehow related to addiction. And now that we are on lockdown due to the Coronavirus outbreak, the temptation of using it at an extreme level arises. So how can we decrease spending too much time with our digital phones?

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Use The Device Only With A Purpose

Being active on social media platforms is okay. Perhaps it is your way to get news and information from the current situation of the world. But to refrain from smartphone addiction, use the device only with a purpose of knowing. Use it to contact a family or friend, or when you want to access government and healthcare chat support. Just avoid checking it subconsciously. Discipline yourself not to use the device for more than an hour and only find time to use it when necessary. Yes, this process of self-control is not easy. However, you can benefit a lot from the struggle. You might appreciate yourself for becoming independent and away from your phone for more extended periods.

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Turn Of Your Internet

One way that triggers the usage of smartphones is due to the internet connection. It is considered the biggest distraction that links to overusing a digital device. With all the access to social media posts, video entertainments, pictures, and memes, you can easily get caught up with it. Yes, it is one of the essential things as of today. However, it still poses a risk for smartphone addiction, especially now that there has been a limit to some things that you can do. So to avoid that condition, choose to turn off the internet and only turn it on when required.

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Switch Off Push Notifications

In case the internet is so essential that you can’t turn it off, consider changing your phone settings. Try to switch off ALL push notifications from your mobile device applications. Not only these push notifications distract you, but it also increases the mental torture of eagerly wanting to know what makes your device pops a sound. Technology should not decide when you would need it. You should be the one who creates the rules of when you should use or check your mobile device. You should control technology and not the other way around.

Source: pikrepo.com

Look For An Alternative

Instead of continually looking and scrolling on your mobile device for news feeds and information, you might want to consider using other avenues. You can watch television or listen to the radio podcast to get even with the details of the outbreak. You can read newspapers as well. You can try can calling a friend on a landline phone to get updates. There are multiple ways that technology can help without getting stuck for hours on a smartphone. And if in case your purpose of using the device is for entertainment, you can find something else that requires non-digital usage. These can include reading books, writing a journal, drawing and painting, and a lot more.

With the increased smartphone usage during this COVID-19 lockdown, the risk of developing an addiction is at stake. You need to understand that the number of seconds you always use to check your mobile device can sum up a total of an accomplished task. So when you feel bored, try to consider looking for productive things to do.

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The gathering of clinicians, researchers, and people with cancer themselves happened at the 2017 Cancer Conference in Liverpool. There was a discussion on cancer research and the collaboration of cancer industry representatives in order to improve research and developments about the disease. The Dragon’s Den is a popular part of the conference where there is an opportunity to meet and share knowledge between carers and patients regarding research and treatment.

Currently, there are breakthrough cancer treatments that have been proven to improve the symptoms of cancer patients that have done clinical trials and even those who were willing to pay a little more to see some improvement in their condition. Here are two popular cancer advances that are giving hope to cancer patients today.

Immunotherapy. A person’s immune system takes down and kills foreign substances that invade his body – substances like viruses and bacteria. Unfortunately, cancer has found a way to become undetected by the body’s immune system, which is why it can grow despite its efforts to get rid of it. Immunotherapy is a kind of treatment that helps one’s immune system to find these cancer cells, attack them, and kill them. it works in two ways: boosting one’s immune system and prevent cancer cells from hiding.

Some immunotherapy treatments that have been tried and proven include monoclonal antibodies, which are created to destroy cancer cell antigens. Other antibodies are intentionally attached to toxic substances that kill the cancer cells. Checkpoint inhibitors are also popularly used. They block ‘checkpoints’ on the cancer cells to assist T cells in finding cancer. These checkpoint inhibitors have been proven to treat cancers of the bladder, kidneys, and liver. Finally, cancer vaccines are some of the most commonly utilized types of immunotherapy treatments. They also help detect cancer cells in the body and have been proven to alleviate prostate cancer symptoms.

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Gene-based Therapy. The study of the changes in the genetic makeup of one’s DNA, genomics, has given doctors relevant clues as to what kind of treatments are best for specific types of cancer. They explore mutation in cancer genes to help provide a diagnosis, predict outcomes, find the best treatment, and finally determine whether or not the treatment is actually working. Currently, scientists are continuing to discover new therapies based on these gene changes. They believe that studies on this treatment could lead to improved treatments in the coming years.

In our recent generation of relationship struggles, the problem with video game addiction escalated higher compared to the past few years. Though innovation is highly acceptable, the root of most relationship problems among teens and adults happens to be something we thought could never exist.

Continue reading Women’s View – Gaming Addiction Can Ruin A Relationship

My relationship with my girlfriend was almost perfect. We used to be best buddies, and we shared the same daily activities. From going to the office and spending our time in front of the computer playing League of Legends and DOTA2, everything was perfect. I could say that this was the kind of relationship I honestly wanted in my life.

Continue reading A Gamer’s Confession: An Affair I Know I Shouldn’t Have

An extreme case of video game addiction is Hawaii’s Craig Smallwood, who recently leveled a lawsuit against the makers of Lineage II, saying that he became so addicted that he had problems “getting up, getting dressed, bathing or communicating with family and friends.” — Ryan G Van Cleave Ph.D.

It was an incredible five years of marriage that ended up in a divorce recently. My wife’s ground for our legal separation was irreconcilable differences and physical assault. I honestly don’t understand why everything turned out to be uncontrolled when in fact we were supposed to be a happily married couple. It just happened too fast.

Continue reading I Lost My Wife Because Of My Video Gaming Addiction