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Tech expert shares the one message that actually convinces teens to reconsider their screentime

"How you spend this time will determine the quality of your life."

via Dino Ambrosi (used with permission)

Dino Ambrosi speaks at a school assembly.

In a 2023 TEDx Talk at Laguna Blanca School, Dino Ambrosi made a startling revelation that perfectly underlines the big question of the smartphone era: What is my time worth? Ambrosi is the founder of Project Reboot and an expert at guiding teens and young adults to develop more empowering relationships with technology.

Assuming the average person now lives to 90, after calculating the average time they spend sleeping, going to school, working, cooking, eating, doing chores, sleeping, and taking care of personal hygiene, today’s 18-year-olds have only 334 months of their adult lives to themselves.

"How you spend this time will determine the quality of your life,” Ambrosi says. However, given the tech habits of today’s young people, most of those months will be spent staring at screens, leaving them with just 32 months to leave their mark on the world. "Today, the average 18-year-old in the United States is on pace to spend 93% of their remaining free time looking at a screen,” Ambrosi says.


dino ambrosi, teens and technology, smartphone addictionAn 18-year-olds remaining time, in months.via TEDx

The idea that an entire generation will spend most of their free time in front of screens is chilling. However, the message has a silver lining. Sharing this information with young people can immediately impact how they spend their time.

How to get teens to reduce their screentime

Ambrosi says his work with Project Reboot through on-campus initiatives, school assemblies, and parent workshops has taught him that teens are more concerned about time wasted on their phones than the damage it may do to their mental health. Knowing the topic that resonates can open the door for an effective dialogue about a topic that’s hard for many young people to discuss. When teens realize they are giving their entire lives away for free, they are more apt to reconsider their relationship with smartphones.

“I actually don't get through to a lot of teens, as well as when I help them realize the value of their time and then highlight the fact that that time is being stolen from them,” Ambrosi told Upworthy.

A Common Sense Media study shows that the average 13 to 18-year-old, as of 2021, spent an average of 8 hours and 39 minutes a day on entertainment screentime.

“It’s important to get them to view time as their most valuable resource that they can use to invest in themselves or enjoy life and tick the boxes on their bucket list. I really want them to see that that's something they should take control of and prioritize because we're all under the impression that social media is free, but it's actually not free. We just pay for it with our time.”

dino ambrosi, project reboot, teens smartphones, screentime, tech companies, quality of lifeDino Ambrosi speaks at a school assembly.via Dino Ambrosi (used with permission)


Ambrosi believes that young people are less likely to hand their time to tech companies for free when they understand its value. “I find that kids really respond to that message because nobody wants to feel manipulated, right? And giving them that sense of being wronged, which I think they have been, by tech companies that are off operating on business models that are not aligned with their well-being, is important.”

His approach to getting teens to rethink their smartphone use is similar to that of the Truth Initiative in that it educates young people about the nefarious tactics big tobacco companies used to lure and addict young people. In a way, big tech companies are doing the same thing by luring young people to their products by connecting them to their friends and influencers while providing a product that rearranges their brain chemistry.

He also believes parents should be sympathetic and nonjudgmental when talking to young people about screentime because it’s a struggle that just about everyone faces and feels shame about. A little understanding will prevent them from shutting down the conversation altogether.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

How to reduce my screentime

Ambrosi has some suggestions to help people reduce their screentime.

The ClearSpace app

ClearSpace forces you to take a breathing delay before using a distracting app. It also asks you to set a time limit and allows you to set a number of visits to the site per day. If you eclipse the number of visits, it sends a text to a friend saying you exceeded your budget. This can help people be accountable for one another’s screentime goals.

Don’t sleep with your phone

Ambrosi says to charge your phone far away from your bedside stand when you sleep and use an alarm clock to wake up. If you do have an alarm clock on your phone, set up an automation so that as soon as you turn off the alarm, it opens up an app like Flora or Forest and starts an hour-long timer that incentivizes you to be off your phone for the first hour of the day.

“In my experience, if you can stay off screens for the last hour and the first hour of the day, the other 22 hours get a lot easier because you get the quality rest and sleep that you need to wake up fully charged, and now you're more capable of being intentional because you are at your best," Ambrosi told Upworty.

teens, smartphones, screentime, smartphones in bed, young man, mental healthA teen boy looks at his phone in bed.via Canva/photos

Keep apps in one place

Ambrosi says to keep all of your social apps and logins on one device. “I try to designate a specific use for each device as much as possible,” he told Upworthy. “I try to keep all my social media time and all my entertainment on my phone as opposed to my computer because I want my computer to be a tool for work.”

Even though there are significant challenges ahead for young people as they try to navigate a screen-based world while keeping them at a healthy distance, Ambrosi is optimistic about the future.

“I'm really optimistic because I have seen in the last year, in particular, that the receptiveness of student audiences has increased by almost an order of magnitude. Kids are waking up to the fact that this is the problem. They want to have this conversation,” he told Upworthy. “Some clubs are starting to address this problem at several schools right now; from the talks I've given this semester alone, kids want to be involved in this conversation. They're creating phone-free spaces on college and high school campuses by their own accord. I just think we have a huge potential to leverage this moment to move things in the right direction.”

For more information on Ambrosi’s programs, visit ProjectReboot.School.

This article originally appeared last year.

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1980s cultural icon Michael Winslow made an emotional comeback on 'America's Got Talent'

He walked away at the height of his fame to raise his children after his wife's sudden death.

via The Nerd Patrol / Flickr

Actor, comedian, and self-proclaimed "voicetramentalist," Michael Winslow was just about everywhere in the '80s. His incredible ability to make sound effects with his voice and uncanny beatboxing skills landed him the role of officer Larvell Jones in all seven "Police Academy" movies.

He also did voiceover work in "Gremlins" and appeared in Mel Brooks' "Spaceballs."

But Winslow was forced to scale back his career in 1993 after the death of his first wife Belinda Church. As a single father, he had to stop appearing in films so he could spend more time with his children.

He continued to star in the occasional commercial, perform stand-up comedy, and make guest appearances, but he didn't have the profile he once had.

Back in July of 2021, Winslow stepped back in the spotlight with a performance on "America's Got Talent." After some prodding from his son, he decided it would be the perfect venue to relaunch his career on television.

In the '80s, he was known as "The Man of 10,000 Sound Effects," but things have changed since then, he now claims to have "hundreds of thousands."

"Now, after raising my two kids, I'm in a different phase. I think this is my time," Winslow, 62, said on the episode. "And America's Got Talent is the place for me to show the world I still have something to offer, I still have some sounds to make. There's still room for a little more."

Judge Simon Cowell was excited to see Winslow when he took the stage. "We know you!" Cowell exclaimed. "I cannot tell you how thrilled I am that you are here!"

Winslow then gave a stunning performance where he impersonated the chimes on an airplane, beatboxed to Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust," and performed Jimi Hendrix's version of "The Star Spangled Banner." His performance was proof that after five decades in show business Winslow hasn't lost a step and, in fact, he may be at his peak.

After his performance, Winslow won a standing ovation from the audience and four "gigantic yeses" from the panel.

"My life has changed again for the better, and I've gotten another blessing," Winslow told Terry Crews after leaving the stage. America's Got Talent is the place for me to show I still have something to offer. I've still got some sounds to make, and there's still room for a little more."

Winslow is a great reminder that sometimes when celebrities seem to fade away, it isn't necessarily because they're washed up or past their prime. They are humans with real challenges just like the rest of us and real-world events can affect their career trajectories. It's great to see such a wonderful performer get another shot at the big time.

This article originally appeared on 07.14.21

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Tom Cruise's much-needed advice for making movies look normal on TV is going viral again

He explains how to fix the "soap opera effect" that makes movies feel all wrong because it's not intuitive at all.

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore (left), Canva (right)

You don't have to suffer with the soap opera effect.

Have you ever gotten a new TV and tried to watch a movie, only to find that your fancy, high-definition television makes movies look like soap operas? Or maybe you've been at a friends house and noticed that their television makes movies look weird—somehow less real and yet more real at the same time—totally ruining the movie-watching experience?

Those of us who are fans of cinema-quality film can find ourselves driven mad trying to figure out what settings to change to make movies look normal. We're not the problem, though. Television manufacturers have made it notoriously hard and completely unintuitive to figure out how to change the default setting that creates the "soap opera effect."

Actor Tom Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie created a PSA in 2018 explaining what causes movies to look so strange on newer TVs and how to change the settings to fix it. It comes down to "video interpolation" and "motion smoothing," but that doesn't mean much when you're looking through the settings of your TV to try make movies look like movies.

They offer a simple solution: Just Google "Turn off motion smoothing [insert your TV brand here]."

The reason they can't just give a blanket solution is because every TV manufacturer—Samsung, LG, Vizio, Sony, etc.—has a different name for the setting (TruMotion, Auto Motion Plus and so on), and the setting is found under different menus on different TVs. Splendid.

Why no one who manufactures and tests televisions noticed that the feature made movies look weird and why no one realized that turning the feature on as the default and then making it hard to find and change would be a problem are questions for the ages. The default settings might be great for sports viewing but for TV shows and movies, yuck.

If you're confused or curious about what exactly is happening to create the soap opera effect, Vulture has a brief but excellent explainer video:

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

As the video explains, it has to do with frames per second and the way televisions process the images at various frame rates. The motion smoothing feature is actually inserting extra frames in order to "smooth" the way motion looks on the screen, but the effect on movies just feels "wrong."

Having an example can help, but even in a side-by-side of a normal movie-watching experience vs. one with motion smoothing, the difference is hard to see, especially if you're on a mobile or computer screen. It's when you're experiencing the full larger screen movie experience that the difference is obvious, but here's a side-by-side comparison:

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Oddly enough, people might assume that because the motion-smoothing effect seems to have a better "quality" and higher resolution that it's somehow better. For movies, it's really not. The way movies are created, they are designed to be viewed without that feature. Some people might prefer it, but for some of us watching a movie with motion smoothing is like the visual equivalent of fingernails across a chalkboard.

Thank you, Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie for verifying that new TVs make movies look weird and attempting to save us from the abomination of it all.

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18 months shy of 100, Dick Van Dyke has big plans that don’t include retirement

The unstoppable legend is still excited about what’s next.

Gage Skidmore

Dick Van Dyke is the epitome of aging goals.

If there's any Hollywood star that embodies agelessness, positivity and good old-fashioned fun, it's Dick Van Dyke. The legendary comedic actor has had a 70-year long career in film, television and stage productions and he shows no signs of stopping.

In fact, at 98-years-old, he says he'd love to take a one-man show on the road.

“Cary Grant did it,” Van Dyke told Deadline. “And Gregory Peck. Went on the road and talked about their careers. I think it’d be fun.”

The man behind the iconic dance scenes in “Mary Poppins” and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” has always shown off his seemingly endless energy in his physical performances, but the fact that he’s still going strong at 18 months shy of 100 is genuinely impressive.

His secret? “Genuinely enjoying myself,” he said. He insists his success isn’t due to any particular ambition or drive, but rather that he sees his work as play. “I always loved what I was doing. If it had felt like work, I probably would have stopped it a long time ago, but I just loved it."

And it wasn’t that he was specifically trained for the work. He started at 17 as a radio announcer and then joined a comedy troupe, in fact, he’d never even had a dance lesson before he landed some of his most well-known roles.

“I was always pretty light footed,” Van Dyke told Entertainment Weekly. “When I auditioned for Bye Bye Birdie, [director] Gower Champion said, ‘You have the part.’ And I said, ‘Mr. Champion, I don't dance.’ He said, ‘I'll show you.’ And he did. He saw that I had the physical ability to do it, and it was like learning to fly.”

As is typical for his age, Van Dyke’s long-term memories are sharp while he forgets things like what he ate for breakfast. But his wife, Arlene, whom he’s been married to for 12 years, helps keep him going.

“She keeps me in shape, feeds me and I love her more everyday,” he told Forbes. “We’re just getting closer and closer.”

Arlene (52) also shared with Forbes how Van Dyke has made her a better person, reinforcing that his loveable, jolly demeanor is just who he is.

“I was very cynical, I think, when I first met him,” she said. “He’s such a great human being and he’s so pure in his thoughts and his heart, that it’s rubbed off on me. Just all the wholesome things of life—that’s what he has and he’s just made me a better person.”

Van Dyke doesn't see himself the way the rest of us do, as a legend and an icon. “It’s a little hard for me to get my brain around that,” he told Deadline. “I don’t see myself that way and I can’t comprehend myself as that."

However, the recent CBS television special that showcased his life and career in a variety show, "Dick Van Dyke 98 Years of Magic" made it clear that his legendary status is solidly understood. Between the joy his performances have brought to children and adults alike, the positivity he exudes on screen and off, the longevity and vitality he displays on every level, he's proven himself to be entertainment and aging goals personified.

With age comes a lot of loss, however, and Van Dyke admits there's a bit of sadness in seeing his career being showcased, as most of the people he's worked with have passed. He told Deadline that Carl Reiner's death hit him particularly hard.

"“I think I learned more from Carl Reiner than anyone else,” he said. “He understood comedy. He understood drama. He had a sense of timing like nobody else. And he was just so sharp and bright and a philosopher on top of it. He was the finest human being I ever knew.”

But regardless of age, Van Dyke has no plans to retire, ever. He just did his first soap opera spot on "Days of Our Lives," and he delights in seeing how his work—his "play"—continues to make an impact.

“I’m on my third generation now of kids who are writing to me," he told Deadline. "And I’m getting wonderful mail from their parents thanking me for providing good entertainment for their kids. They’re so kind about it. That I really appreciate. I’m so lucky.”

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