Year: 2022

There is a lot of research that needs to be done on the effect that social media has on adolescents but the early studies suggest some reason for concern. The University of Columbia says that the more time teens spend on social media, the more likely they will experience mental health symptoms like anxiety, isolation and hopelessness.

Teens who can’t help but compare themselves to others are bound to have a difficult time with their self-image after spending hours a day scrolling through a world that’s predicated on likes, followers and comments.

Social media also makes it easy for teens to minimize their face-to-face contact with others. This can exacerbate feelings of alienation and hopelessness in those who suffer from social anxiety and depression.

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One of the most disturbing studies out of BYU has found a correlation between time spent on social media and suicidality risk among teenage girls.

Lorna Klefsaas’ daughter had a tough time with Snapchat in her teens. “She got so obsessed with keeping up her Snapchat streaks that it was really affecting her mood. It was affecting her friendships,” the Minnesota mom told WUSA9.

The daughter is in grad school now and doing great with her social life, but Klefsaas hadn’t forgotten about her daughter’s troubles when her younger son, Sivert, turned 12. She wanted to do whatever she could to keep him off social media, so she made him a bet. If he could stay off until he was 18, she would pay him $1,800. She called it the “18 for 18 challenge.”

“Being 12, I didn’t really have that great of a concept of money yet. So, I was like oh sick, yeah, absolutely,” Sivert told WUSA9.

The student-athlete took on the challenge just like it was football or basketball. “He did really dig in. He was like ‘I’m not breaking this.’ I’m proud of him, because there were a few times where it was harder,” Klefsaas said.

“I knew for sure he was going to make it,” she added.

Klefsaas came up with the idea after hearing about another mother who issued a “16 for 16” challenge to her daughter. She beefed up the deal by two years to hopefully carry her son into adulthood.

And it did.

Recently, when Sivert turned 18, he collected $1,800 from his family for being able to abstain from social media for six years. He celebrated the occasion by opening up an Instagram account, but he has a lot of catching up to do.

“It’s hilarious. I feel like I’m like 80. I can’t seem to figure out social media. It’s pretty embarrassing. I’ll be with my friends, and they are like, ‘what are you doing?'” Sivert laughed.

Sivert is happy he took on the challenge and won because it allowed him to spend more time focusing on his academics and sports. “On the whole, I would say totally worth it. I mean, I would do it again,” Sivert says. He’s currently sifting through offers from colleges to play football next year.

Looking to help your kids develop healthy social media habits? Anne Marie Albano, Ph.D., director of the Columbia University Clinic for Anxiety and Related Disorders, said that it’s best to set time aside every day where the phones are always off.

“Mealtimes are a great time to put the phones away. Another healthy habit is to set a time each night when you’ll put all the screens away to give yourself enough time to wind down and prepare the body for sleep,” she told Columbia University.

She also says that you can improve a child’s social media habits by implementing the “grandma’s rule” we all abided by as kids. You’ve got to eat your veggies before you have dessert. First, kids have to exercise and do their homework before they earn their social media time.

When A Black Lady Sketch Show alum Quinta Brunson created Abbott Elementary, she told Vanity Fair she wanted to buck the trend of “dark” sitcoms. Instead, she wanted to make a “firmly family-friendly show, designed to tap into every audience quadrant.” And so she has: The mockumentary show, about a second grade teacher played by Brunson herself, isn’t just a hit. It’s a hit that’s pulling in Modern Family numbers.

As per Deadline, the show’s first episode of 2022 and its first since its pilot, which aired a month prior, pulled in a total of 9 million viewers after 35 days across linear and digital platforms. The rating among the 18-49 demographic is 2.93, making it the strongest ABC show since Modern Family ended in 2020.

That’s not all:

Overall, after 35 days of multi-platform viewing, Abbott Elementary‘s second episode grew by +5.6 million total viewers over its and soared by +358% among adults 18-49 over its initial rating (2.93 rating vs. 0.64 rating).

Abbott Elementary debuted in early December of last year, but its next batch of episodes were held until the new year. Brunson’s show, which she also sometimes writes, has been said to have a Parks and Recreation vibe — not just the mock-doc format, but a general air of good vibes as nice characters struggle, not always successfully, to make others’ lives better. While Brunson has said she has nothing wrong with shows that remind people that life can get quite unpleasant, her show’s ratings prove that sometimes people need a break.

(Via Deadline)

In today’s Pete Davidson news, we are saddened to report that his Instagram has, once again, gone dark. The circumstances surrounding the deactivation are a little murky, so here is a very important timeline of events.

Davidson was pretty active on Instagram pre-2018, when he would post various SNL clips and pictures of sunsets, you know, normal Instagram stuff. Then, when he became “official” with Ariana Grande, Davidson soon became an internet celebrity, which he famously did not like. He deleted the app after their very public breakup.

Fast forward to February 2022, when Davidson reactivated his account, shocking the internet once again. Instead of posting anything, he instead linked a YouTube video in his bio, to a 10-second clip of Rupert Pupkin’s stand-up. In the clip, Pupkin says, “Better to be king for a night than schmuck for a lifetime.”

This isn’t the first time Davidson has referred to himself as a king. But, the seemingly harmless clip was interpreted as a dig at Kanye West, who has been publically mocking Davidson for the past few months. West also followed the comedian last week on the app, but Davidson didn’t follow back, only following two users: his girlfriend Kim Kardashian and Sebastian Stan, for some reason.

The comedian then began posting a clip to his story, seemingly of his latest horror movie The Home with director James DiMonaco, director of The Purge.

Then, mere hours later, the clip was gone, as was Davidson’s whole account, like a comet burning bright for a night, then deactivating itself. Fan update accounts everywhere were left distraught. Comedy is dead, once again.

While this doesn’t confirm much (maybe the director simply didn’t want behind-the-scenes footage online) the timing is interesting, as Kanye has been doubling down on his Instagram posts over the last few days.

Keeping Up With The Kardashians ended on E! (after a whopping 20 seasons) in June 2021, and people didn’t have a chance to miss them for too long because Kim and fam are (like Ben Affleck’s upcoming erotic thriller) coming to Hulu. Their new show, which is simply titled The Kardashians will (of course) follow the six principal ladies of the family through their personal and professional crusades and beyond. Will it be pretty much like the E! series, simply with a shinier Hulu set of backdrops? Perhaps. The Kardashians are coming, though, so prepare to hear Kanye West start beefing with Hulu for any given reason at all.

Actually, one of the bigger questions about this show (going in, at least, and speaking of beefs) is whether we’ll be seeing Pete Davidson on the series or if Kim will keep that relationship under wraps. She’s already taped two weddings for TV, so watch out, Pete. You may just get married on The Kardashians! I kid, mostly. But really, the family empire is returning for more glamour and maybe a few more babies along the way.

Premiere day is officially April 14. The show will officially feature matriarch Kris, along with Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, Kendall, and Kylie, all allowing people to view “a rivetingly honest story of love & life in the spotlight.” There’s gotta be some hefty editing and selective admissions onboard, of course, but we do know that this is par for the course on reality TV.

Will the The Kardashians carry forward with another 20 seasons on Hulu? God only knows. Once Pam & Tommy ends, we shall undoubtedly need more scandal in the streaming world. Watch the Hulu teaser below.

Kemba Walker’s time with the New York Knicks appears to have come to an end. After the team decided to hold onto him at the trade deadline, a report from Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN indicated that New York will keep him on the sidelines for the remainder of the season with an eye on figuring out what to do with him this coming offseason.

According to Wojnarowski’s report, the idea is to let Walker focus on getting to 100 percent ahead of next offseason, when he’ll be on an expiring contract. Eventually, the Knicks confirmed the report via a statement in which they indicated that this decision was made by Walker.

“We fully support Kemba’s decision to shut it down for the remainder of the season and to use this time to prepare for next season,” the Knicks said. “His long-term success on the court remains our priority.”

A New York native, Walker was viewed as backcourt reinforcements for a Knicks team that looked to build on a successful 2020-21 campaign. Instead, Walker’s tenure in New York has been marred by inconsistency, as he’s experienced some on-court highs but has seen head coach Tom Thibodeau drop him from the rotation on several occasions.

Walker is averaging 11.6 points and 3.5 assists in 25.6 minutes per game this season.

Call of Duty has, for 17 years, been one of the most anticipated parts of the video game calendar. Since Call of Duty 2 released in 2005, a new game in the franchise has dropped every year. Even when the series saw its lowest lows and highest highs, it never missed a year without some kind of new title. To put that into perspective, Call of Duty has been released annually through three console generations, four United States presidents, and the rise of an entirely different internet.

If a report from Bloomberg is correct, though, this streak of games is going to come to an end in 2023. Jason Schreier is reporting that the Call of Duty game originally scheduled for 2023 has been delayed due to the poor performance and response to a recent title. The belief is that games are being released too quickly and it’s impacting the quality of the series.

Activision Blizzard Inc. will delay a Call of Duty game that had been planned for next year, the first time the franchise will be without an annual mainline release in nearly two decades, according to people familiar with the plan.

The company is pushing off the release after a recent entry in the series failed to meet expectations, leading some executives to believe that they’re introducing new versions too rapidly, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to discuss the deliberations. The decision was not related to Activision’s agreement to sell itself to Microsoft Corp. for $69 billion, the people said.

It is true that the two most recent Call of Duty games were not received favorably, but it’s still very surprising to see Activision consider this path considering how important Call of Duty has always been to its calendar. We know from previous reports that one of the upcoming Call of Duty games is expected to be a sequel of some kind to Warzone and that the 2022 release will be a sequel to 2019’s Modern Warfare, so it seems like they already have the next few games planned out, and its possible that seeing the scope of these games has made it clear that a delay is already necessary.

It takes a lot to get banned from Saturday Night Live. Sinead O’Connor ripped up a photo of the Pope. Kanye West ranted pro-Trump nonsense. Martin Lawrence ranted about feminine hygiene. The Replacements got too drunk. The hardcore band Fear destroyed the stage. Elvis Costello played the wrong song (then later got un-banned, because he’s Elvis Costello).

Cypress Hill also got banned — or so they claim. Their crime? On a 1993 episode alongside host Shannen Doherty, one member of the legendary hip-hop group, DJ Muggs, smoked a joint onstage. According to The Wrap, the group talked about the incident at a TCA panel for the forthcoming doc Cypress Hill: Insane in the Brain.

“I kind of like the fact that we’re banned,” said member Sen Dog. “The whole thing about being banned, it’s punk rock in itself. I would like to leave it like that. If the guys wanted to do it, then that’d be something we could talk about or whatever, but I kind of like that idea of being the outlaws that are not allowed around town.”

B Real, another bandmate, agreed. “I don’t mind the ban aspect of it,” he said, “because, you know, we’re in the company of some greats that have been banned, and that’s OK with us.”

Thing is, they might be banned. An SNL insider told The Wrap that there’s actually no ban on any act, including Cypress Hill (or, for that matter, Kanye).

Still, if Cypress Hill — who, in the ‘90s, became the first hip-hop act sell multi-platinum albums — know what they’ll do if they ever return to 30 Rock.

“We had a plan that we were going to do that would have just blown their goddamn minds if we had done it,” said B Real. “But it turned out the way it turned out. So, if we were to get unbanned and do it again, probably the plan we had set in the first place will initially take off and we’ll get banned again.”

At least they didn’t get banned from The Simpsons.

(Via The Wrap)

WARNING: Spoilers for The Righteous Gemstones Season 2 below.

In its penultimate Season 2 episode, The Righteous Gemstones delivered a truly wild and unexpected cameo that only a show this inspired and chaotic can pull off. In fact, Walton Goggins couldn’t believe it was happening, and he was in the scene. As fans of the megachurch comedy already know, Goggins’ character, the almost-literal snake-oil-shilling evangelist Baby Billy Freeman, finally works up the courage to see his son Harmon, who he abandoned 30 years earlier at a pet store in a mall. What no one could’ve ever predicted in a million years — do not lie to us about this — is that, a few episodes later, Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin would pop up as the now-adult Harmon.

Going into the episode, there was no publicity for Culkin’s cameo, so it was an absolute surprise for viewers. In a new interview, Goggins reveals what it was like filming the scene with Culkin who he calls a “national treasure.” Via Alan Siegel at The Ringer:

“He’s a national treasure, man,” says Goggins, who plays Baby Billy Freeman, the show’s singing, grifting, white-haired preacher. Until they filmed together, he had no clue Culkin had been cast as his character’s estranged child. “When I found out,” Goggins adds, “I was like, ’Are you f*cking kidding me right now?’”

The reunion of Baby Billy and Harmon, the son he walked out on almost 30 years prior, is patently and purposefully outrageous—you don’t cast the star of Home Alone for a run-of-the-mill role. But the scene is also a microcosm of the incredible balance between hilarity and heart that Gemstones pulls off. “I’ve played a father and I’ve played a son in a number of things,” Goggins says. “I’ve never read a scene between a father and a son that’s more honest, ever. That’s more ridiculous.”

When The Ringer attempted to reach Culkin for comment, his publicist responded, “His preference here is to let the work speak for itself. Judging by your own enthusiasm as well as the overall press and audience reactions, that strategy is working.”

Yup, we’ll agree with that. Check out the reactions that started pouring in once Culkin’s cameo aired:

The Righteous Gemstones airs Sundays on HBO. It is a very good show.

(Via The Ringer)

As the build-up for the full release of Kanye West’s Donda 2 album continues, the first four tracks from it have been officially released. Out now exclusively on Ye’s stem player streaming platform/device, the first four songs are entitled “Pablo” featuring Travis Scott and Future, “We Did It Kid” featuring Baby Keem and Migos, “Broken Road” featuring Don Tolliver, and “Security.”

This past weekend, West posted on his Instagram page that Donda 2 would only be available via the stem player, saying that: “Donda 2 will only be streaming on my own platform, the stem player. You can download new music from stemplayer.com. You can play 4 different elements of the track: vocals, drums, bass, and music. It also has an MP3 player available. We currently have 67,000 available and are making 3,000 a day. Go click the link in my bio to purchase.”

According to Music Business Worldwide, the $200 midi controller style player has reportedly clocked in over $2 million in sales since the Donda 2 streaming announcement, which amounts to more than 10,000 units sold and counting. Before the tracks were released on the Stem Player today, fans were none too pleased that the whole album didn’t arrive in full on the 02/22 stated release date. This seems par for the course for West, who held a livestreamed listening event yesterday from a Miami Stadium.

Whether she’s accidentally proving that she knows bupkis about the U.S. Constitution, or complaining about voting rights, or using her gun-filled Christmas card as some kind of political statement, it’s clear that Lauren Boebert (R-CO) is full of crap. Alex Walker, one of the 11 Democrats who’s running against her in Colorado, took that expression literally and filmed a campaign ad showing pieces of poop falling from the sky.

“Don’t you ever wonder where it’s all coming from?” Walker says in the video above following a Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs-like sequence of “real Coloradans” who “deserve a living wage, small government that actually works, and freedom of choice” getting crushed by huge turds. “Colorado needs a bull, not a bullshitter. I’m Alex Walker, and I approve the sh*t out of this message.” The ad also shows a fake Boebert spraying poop from a hose over a map of Colorado and her computer.

Walker is openly gay, raised by Republican parents in Littleton and Eagle, according to his campaign announcement. He is an entrepreneur and has worked as an engineer. The announcement cites Walker’s business experience and the loss of his brother to suicide as reasons for his campaign.

“Part of why I’m running is to honor my brother and everyone left behind by elected officials who don’t do their jobs,” the announcement said. “I’m 100 percent committed to stopping Boebert from continuing her endless cycle of attacking people because of who they are or what they look like.”

The Denver Post reports that the 11 Democratic candidates “combined have less than 13 percent of the more than $2 million that Boebert has on hand, according to the most recent set of campaign finance reports. Some have yet to report any cash on hand at all.” If only Walker hadn’t spent $5 million on the poop visual effects. Live and learn.

(Via the Denver Post)