What is the latest gadget trend that has reached global proportions? If you guessed the Fidget Spinner, you got it! Love them or hate them, they are everywhere. My husband saw them being sold on the streets of Kosovo a couple weeks ago.
Fidget Spinners have been marketed with a focus on developmental benefits. A retailer on Amazon states that their fidget spinners are "A Good Choice for Killing Time, Having Fun, Helping Relieve Stress, Keep Focusing." They are "Great for Anxiety, ADHD, Autism, Quit Smoking, Staying Awake On Long Car Drives, Etc." At my kids' middle school if a child has a note from their doctor, they can bring them to school to help a child focus. My daughter has complained to me that they are distracting, and some schools have banned them for this very reason.
They have been noted as a choking hazard, but they are the gadget every young school age kid wants. They can be found for $2, so they don't break the bank. They come in all sorts of designs, including a cookie!
If you are looking to purchase a fidget spinner, I think I found the best article reviewing different styles of fidget spinners. This"Best Fidget Spinners 2017 - Buyer's Guide"includes product pros and cons, prices, age suggestions, spinning times, and some have videos of the spinners in action. In my opinion this is a great media marketing tool for selling a product. I just might be sold on the VICOTREM copper and brass spinner.
Once again there has been a development and marketing maneuver in the social media world to keep competition on its toes. Various media outlets, including Bloomberg, recently reported that the social media app, Snapchat has updated its Story feature in an effort to stay competitive in the social media business. After recent lackluster earnings, Snapchat hopes this update will bring back previous users, new users who want to contribute to friends' group stories, and increase use among current users.
So, what is the Story update? Story now has a custom feature which allows people to collaborate on video Stories and share them with their followers. Instead of having just a single user share video from an event, groups of Snapchat users can post video of the same event. Friends can thus share a more broad perspective of an group event such as a vacation, holiday party, prom, wedding, family reunion, etc.
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If you are a control freak who prefers controlling the storyline and content then this might not sound appealing, but if you are open to different perspectives being combined in one place, this might be something that interests you. What do you think? Is this feature enough to sell or resell you on Snapchat? After watching the promo video below, I realize I'm not as camera happy at events as these users are, so I doubt that I'll jump on board, but I have to admit, the marketing for this feature makes it look like a fun way to connect...
One of my favorite uses of Mass Media is the ability to be informed about local events. I have lived in New England for about 20 years and there are still plenty of things I haven't seen or done that I would love to see and do. Mass media channels such as websites like boston.com and newengland.com regularly give insight into what New England has to offer. They share information about Patriots Day activities, apple picking season, fun runs/marathons, local events like the ice cream event in Boston, 4th of July events, ski season conditions, etc.
Today, Boston.com posted an article, "You Can Peek into 10 Historic Homes and Gardens for Free this Weekend." These properties are preserved by The Trustees of Reservations which manages scores of historical sites and natural trails throughout New England. This type of advertising campaign is so smart because they will attract many people who may not otherwise have gone to one of these sites. Assuming visitors are impressed with whichever property they choose to visit, the visitor will most likely come to the conclusion that other sites are as worthwhile to visit, thus increasing membership in the preservation organization, and more revenue through increased visitors.
I'm still trying to decide which site to visit. I'm leaning toward Crane Beach. Where would you visit?
As I listened to Jimmy Kimmel's story, I was reminded of a nearly identical experience I had with my daughter 14 years ago. My daughter was born with pulmonary atresia, one of the same congenital heart defects that Kimmel's son had. She also had a belly infection and so she ended up in the hospital for 3 weeks- about a week for the heart defect (repaired by cardiac catheterization and Children's Hospital in Boston), and the rest of her hospital stay was due to her IV antibiotic regiment. She has lived 14 healthy years.
Last summer her MRI showed that her valve had weakened and would need to be repaired. She had her first open heart surgery last October and has a new pulmonary valve. She was home after 6 days of excellent care at CHB. We gratefully had health insurance for both hospitalizations, and every annual check up in between. Granted our plan last year had a $1000 deductible, so we used that to pay for the MRI she had in July, and her surgery in October was covered by insurance. We felt fortunate. That said, like Kimmel shared of Children's Hospital in Los Angeles, children are not turned away from Children's Hospital Boston. In the waiting room during my daughter's surgery we met a family from South Carolina who had exhausted the resources for their daughter there, and were told when they reached out to CHB that if they brought their daughter, she could be treated. She had a successful open heart surgery and they were well cared for at CHB. Even in the small medical group I work for, patients who struggle to afford their medical bills can set up any payment plan that works for them.
Kimmel included in his story, some of his perspectives on healthcare policy issues, namely funding for healthcare research, and his view on Obamacare (ACA). I 100% agree that funding for medical research should continue and even grow. It's been amazing to see how cardiac care has progressed since our daughter was born. Now, instead of having a follow up open heart surgery to replace her current valve when it because ineffective, she will most likely have it replaced through cardiac catheterization. That's minimally invasive, same day surgery for a new heart valve! So, yes, keep the research and development funding flowing!
Regarding Obamacare, I think there is more to the debate than Kimmel expressed. I, too, am grateful the ACA covered pre-existing conditions. That is sound, fair healthcare policy in my opinion. I do, however think that the ACA can be replaced with health care policy that retains the pre-existing condition policy and that is overall more affordable than the current ACA. I know too many people who as it stands today with the ACA, their premiums are uncomfortably high and continue to increase year after year. They are self-employed or just beyond minimum wage employees who are struggling to afford healthcare. Health insurance is costing more and covering less. We have come a long way with healthcare, but we can and ought to continue to improve on health care policy. We ought to never be complacent or satisfied with past policies that clearly have room for improvement. I don't pretend to have the answers, mostly because I believe their is no easy answer to the healthcare debate. Yet, it's an important discussion worth having.
If you were to sit in with congressmen who are crafting healthcare policy, what would you most like to see included in a healthcare bill?
What about Obamacare is working for you? What is not?
Do you think it is possible to please everyone with a healthcare bill? If not, who should benefit most from a healthcare bill? The people paying? The sick? The poverty-stricken?
What can be done beyond government policy to make healthcare more affordable?
For decades the price of healthcare has been a major issue, and one of the most controversial culprits in the rising cost of healthcare has been, and still is the cost of prescription drugs. Even though the cost of prescription drugs is one of the main reasons for the high cost of healthcare in America, beyond the frequent complaining about whether or not our elected officials can pass healthcare legislation or not, there is a lack of informative media coverage about the specific issue of prescription drug pricing. Recently I came across an article compiled by the editorial board at bloomberg.com titled, "Take the Mystery Out of Drug Pricing." The article does a good job of pointed out current legislation at state and federal levels addressing the cost of prescription drugs. Legislation aims to require pricing transparency from drug companies. The article goes a step further and questions what would be accomplished by understanding when and why drug companies are raising prices on their prescriptions. What is the point of transparency? Will this lead to price regulation? Is this the best way to curb the cost of prescription drugs? The writers of this article close by suggesting that perhaps "the transparency that’s most needed in the U.S. involves how well individual drugs work in comparison with other treatments. The U.S. should support comparative studies, as several other countries do, to get a clearer picture of each medicine’s cost-effectiveness. This information could guide all efforts by government -- and by doctors and hospitals, as well -- to lower spending on prescription drugs."
Informative, insightful articles like this help readers understand this aspect of healthcare. There is power in understanding what ideas are being thrown around in the debate of how best to curb the cost of prescription drugs. Media can empower the public with sound information that enables the public who vote to confidently contribute to the political and public policy process.
