Are you superstitious? I'm usually not, but there were all sorts of strange things happening to me last Friday, including being accidentally locked in a store while its owner went away for several minutes.
And the next day was our wedding anniversary, so congratulations to me and my husband;) And my parents gave us a treadmill as a present. It just arrived today. I'm so excited, can't wait to try it!
Someone asked me a question about it. Yes, these darn things are very addictive, I know from personal experience, unfortunately. And the big companies want it this way. In fact, there are several lawsuits running about this very topic right now:
Instagram's parent company Meta and Google's YouTube face claims that their platforms deliberately addict and harm children. TikTok and Snap, which were originally named in the lawsuit, settled for undisclosed sums...
Mark Lanier delivered the opening statement for the plaintiffs first, in a lively display where he said the case is as "easy as ABC," which he said stands for "addicting the brains of children." He called Meta and Google "two of the richest corporations in history" that have "engineered addiction in children's brains."
... He emphasized the findings of a study Meta conducted called "Project Myst" in which they surveyed 1,000 teens and their parents about their social media use. The two major findings, Lanier said, were that the company knew children who experienced "adverse events" like trauma and stress were particularly vulnerable for addiction; and that parental supervision and controls made little impact...
He also showed internal Google documents that likened YouTube to a casino, and internal communication between Meta employees in which one person said Instagram is "like a drug" and that employees are "basically pushers."
You can read the whole article over here. And here is another one on the same topic from CNN.
So yes, it's not all in your mind. The only advice I can give (and it doesn't work perfectly) is to acquire a laptop (you can buy them quite cheap second-hand, at least where I live), install it in a permanent place (connect the printer and speakers to it so that you don't face temptation to take it everywhere with you) and use it for browsing. Use your phone for phone stuff and may be sending messages/WhatsApp. If it's possible for you, use WiFi at home while on your phone and disconnect it from 4G so that you can't surf the net while outside. You still can use it for emergency situations. I know it's easier said than done though but it might help;)
Several years ago, when it became known that Melinda Gates decided to divorce her husband, I distinctly remember how many men's activists blogs were all talking about "frivolous divorce'', how women are "never haaappy'' "tingles", "even rich men can't have a lasting marriage nowadays, so never marry, guys" and similar stuff. Because if the wife files for divorce, she never really can have a valid reason, right?
Well, I don't know, may be their divorce had something to do with this:
Bill Gates has issued a forceful denial of allegations made by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein claiming the Microsoft co-founder contracted a sexually transmitted disease from Russian women and secretly provided antibiotics to his then-wife Melinda. The claims surfaced Thursday (January 30) as part of a massive document release by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The allegations appear in draft emails Epstein sent to himself in July 2013, which appear to be written from the perspective of Boris Nikolic, Gates' longtime science adviser at the time. According to the Daily Mail, the emails claim Nikolic helped Gates "get drugs, in order to deal with consequences of sex with russian girls" and was asked to provide antibiotics that Gates could "surreptitiously give to Melinda."
Funny, it appears that Melinda did give a reason for the marital split
at that time, which you wouldn't know about from reading the Manosphere
(I didn't):
Gates and Melinda divorced in 2021 after 27 years of marriage. Melinda has cited her ex-husband's relationship with Epstein as one factor in the split. Melinda hired divorce lawyers in 2019 after learning about Gates' repeated meetings with the convicted pedophile.
Not-so-frivolous after all, eh? Many of these activists are just as toxic as feminists and probably sponsored and encouraged by the same people, with one objective: to prevent family formation and further suppress the birth rates. And if you are at all social media savvy, you should have figured out by now who is really behind it.I recently read a discussion online between a Catholic and an Evangelical. The Catholic guy was talking about some friend of his who had previously led a sinful life but then converted, repented of his sins and was going to be baptised, and how his decision to become a Catholic would influence his life (no more dalliances with women, either marriage or celibacy). The Evangelical guy basically told him that is all nonsense and ''works salvation" since believing in Jesus is enough, you don't need to repent and, apparently, you don't need to change your lifestyle, either.
There is the whole Evangelical movement online which will basically tell you the same. But is it really Biblical? Can a person be truly saved if he says that he is a believer now but continues to lead the same sinful life he did before? Repentance is not optional, it is the command of God. The Gospel Coalition agrees:
While the apostle Paul was preaching in Athens, he said, “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31).
In other words, repentance is not optional. God will hold everyone accountable for their words and deeds (2 Corinthians 5:10).
Read the whole article over here.
