What’s In This Issue?
This Week’s Main Stories
Story 01France Bans Kids Under 15 From Using Phones In School
Story 02If You Could Pay To Extend Your Online Privacy, Would You?
Story 03The Museum of Language Makes Words Exciting
Story 04Amex Finally Stops Asking For Signatures On Credit Card Purchases
Story 05Pharrel Records Song You'll Need To Wait 100 Years To HearFrance Bans Kids Under 15 From Using Phones In School
As a parent of a teenager, this story about French schools banning kids using their phones was easy to celebrate and initially I did. But the truth is we should probably be teaching kids in school how to manage their tech addictions instead of just trying to ban them from the phone in the first place. It's questionable how effective this will be anyway, considering how attached most teenagers are to their phones. Kids, like the rest of us, deserve the chance to figure out the right balance for themselves.
If You Could Pay To Extend Your Online Privacy, Would You?
For years, people have imagined the potential for "cloaking" technology to offer a way to mask your online behavior. This piece in HBR imagines what that type of future might be like. In order to pay for privacy, platforms would need to give up their access to our data. In such a world, content would cease to be free, and personalization would no longer be possible. The real question, the article asks, is whether we will ever really be willing to give up these conveniences we have become accustomed to? For many, the clear answer is no.
The Museum of Language Makes Words Exciting
In a world where the diversity of language seems to be disappearing rapidly, this story about the Museum of Languages is significant. The destination in The Netherlands celebrates the idea that different languages can shine a spotlight on the world and give us a way to better connect with each other. It has a wall of poetry done entirely in sign language, a way of describing Chinese characters from Tintin comics, and a beautiful game based on words that museum visitors have invented which should exist but don't. I am a lover of language, and so this is one destination I'm already adding to my bucket list.
Amex Finally Stops Asking For Signatures On Credit Card Purchases
Most of us can't remember a time when a checkout clerk in any retail store ever actually looked at our signature. With chip cards and increased fraud protection, signatures for credit card purchases are a relic of the past. It's why Discover, Mastercard and now Amex have all stopped asking for them. The story is the perfect inspiration to ask yourself: what useless traditions might you or your customers be blindly following - and how can you get rid of them?
Pharrel Records Song You'll Need To Wait 100 Years To Hear
Last week cognac brand Louis XIII announced a partnership with Pharrell Williams to create a song that will release in 100 years only if we successfully mitigate climate change. The sole recording of the song is on a clay record and will be held in a safe that would destroy the track if it is submerged in water. While the effort may not directly move nations and corporations to take the steps necessary, it is still a beautiful and creative artistic statement worth sharing.
