As headlines go, 鈥淪ocial Media is Bad鈥� doesn鈥檛 raise many eyebrows these days. TikTok and its ilk are said to be harming mental health, stifling creativity, eroding privacy, fueling disinformation, undermining national security, and so on. These are all big issues worthy of careful debate. But there鈥檚 a narrower and more tangible risk that Sweat Science readers might be concerned about. What if social media is making us slower?

A , from Carlos Freitas-Junior of the Federal University of Paraiba in Brazil and his colleagues, presents data on what happens when athletes scroll on their phones before training sessions. Surprisingly, it doesn鈥檛 just mess with that specific workout. Instead, over time, the athletes make smaller gains in performance. The findings tell us something about social media鈥攁nd they also suggest that the benefits of a workout may depend in part on the state of mind you鈥檙e in while doing it.

The Problem(s) With Social Media

Several studies over the years have examined social media use in athletes. Most famously, back in 2019 found an association between late-night tweeting (as it was then called) and next-day game performance in NBA players. If the players were tweeting after 11:00 P.M., the players tended to score fewer points, grab fewer rebounds, and shoot less accurately the next day.

You might argue鈥攃orrectly鈥攖hat the problem here is sleep deprivation rather than social media. But have found direct links between the usage of apps such as TikTok and sleep patterns in young athletes, suggesting that the root of the problem is the apps. Researchers have also linked social media use to mental well-being and even eating disorders in athletes, both of which impact performance.

These indirect impacts aren鈥檛 always straightforward: the TikTok-hurts-sleep study also found that Instagram usage was associated with greater calmness, for example. But there鈥檚 also a more immediate concern, which is that social media apps leave you mentally fatigued, which in turn directly compromises your endurance and decision-making abilities.

The Mental Fatigue Debate

The study that kicked off the modern conversation about mental fatigue in sport was a 2009 experiment from a researcher named Samuele Marcora. He showed that 90 minutes of doing a cognitively challenging computer task by about 15 percent compared to spending 90 minutes watching a documentary.

More studies followed, each investigating different types of mental fatigue and their effects on different types of athletic performance. Many of them echoed Marcora鈥檚 original results, but . One of the big unresolved questions is the extent to which the findings apply in real life. If you have to write an exam or do your taxes right before you run a marathon, that鈥檚 probably bad news. But what about the normal activities we engage in on a daily basis鈥攍ike scrolling through the social media apps on your phones? Do they induce sufficient mental fatigue to affect performance?

Back in 2021, found that 30 minutes of social media use hurt athletes鈥� times in 100- and 200-meter freestyle trials, but not in the 50 meters. found that boxers made worse decisions after using social media, but that their jumping performance was unaffected. found no effect of social media use on strength training performance. These results are consistent with the general pattern of research on mental fatigue and related stressors like sleep deprivation: with sufficient motivation, you can still exert maximal force, but your decision-making and endurance may be compromised.

What the New Data Shows

Freitas-Junior鈥檚 new study looks at volleyball players, testing their jumping performance and their 鈥渁ttack efficiency,鈥� a measure of how hard and how accurately they can hit the ball in a sequence of attacks. What鈥檚 different about the study is that it looked at long-term rather than immediate effects. Fourteen athletes spent half an hour before practice either using Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram on their phones, or watching documentaries about the history of the Olympics. After three weeks, their performance was assessed and then they switched groups and repeated the process for another three weeks.

At the end of the three-week period, jumping performance wasn鈥檛 affected under either condition, but athletes鈥� attack efficiency was worse following the three weeks of social media use. The difference was statistically significant, but to be honest the data isn鈥檛 very convincing.

For starters, take a look at the mental fatigue data. This shows how much, on average, mental fatigue (on the vertical axis) increased after watching the documentary (DOC) or using social media (SMA):

This is nice clean data. Watching the documentary increased the subjective perception of mental fatigue in almost every individual. Using social media increased it even more, again with uniform results in all the individuals. We can say with confidence that social media use increases mental fatigue compared to chilling with a doc.

Now take a look at the attack efficiency data, measured in arbitrary units where a higher number is better:

This time the individual data is all over the map. The statistical analysis tells us that, on average, the social media group got worse while the documentary group got better. This average effect may or may not be real鈥攐nly more and larger studies can confirm if it is. Based on the body of previous research, I鈥檇 guess that it鈥檚 probably real. But the pattern is so inconsistent on an individual level that I鈥檇 hesitate to use it as a basis for advice to athletes. Some athletes got better after social media use. That might be a fluke, or it might indicate that they have a healthier relationship with their apps such that a little phone time before practice gets them in a better headspace.

In the end, then, the narrative isn鈥檛 as tidy as we might like. It鈥檚 not that social media is uniformly bad, will leave you mentally fatigued, and will automatically rob you of training gains. There鈥檚 still a valuable message here, though. The things we do鈥攕ocial media, yes, but also real-world socializing, reading a book, listening to music, working, commuting, daydreaming, and so on鈥攁ffect our mental state and readiness to perform. We all respond to these things differently, so there鈥檚 no universal list of dos and don鈥檛s. But it鈥檚 worth figuring out what gets you in the right headspace and leaves you mentally energized, so that you can replicate it when it matters.

The post Why Social Media Might Be Making You Slower appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

As a听health writer, I鈥檝e watched wellness trends come and go, each one claiming to be as life-changing as the last.

鈥淚 read that [insert detox drink or mushroom coffee here] is really good for you,鈥� people have said to me with promising smiles, time and time again. But they didn鈥檛 actually read the information anywhere. Most likely, they watched a conventionally attractive woman in a matching athleisure set sing the elixir鈥檚 praises on Instagram while plugging a brand-affiliated discount code. Or, they watched someone hop on camera to share their personal reasons for disavowing once universally accepted, scientifically-backed health advice like wearing sunscreen or getting vaccinated from infectious diseases like COVID-19听and took the opinion as fact.

Netflix鈥檚 new original series Apple Cider Vinegar, marketed as a “true-ish story, based on a lie,”听explores just how detrimental those embellishments can be. The show is a fictional retelling of wellness influencer . As an ambitious entrepreneur, she establishes an online following, mobile app, and cookbook rooted in the lie that she healed her terminal brain cancer with food, all while omitting the fact that she was never actually ill. Meanwhile, in a secondary plot, a peer-turned-rival influencer scrambles to hide her very real, active sarcomas from an equally robust following while selling the organic juices and coffee enemas that she claims put her in remission.

The moral of the story: neither schtick is sustainable, and both lead to more harm than good.

The Allure of Social Media Wellness Trends

鈥淭he wellness space is flooded with misinformation, fear-based narratives, personal anecdotes, and quick fixes,鈥� says registered dietitian . 鈥淭his type of information spreads faster than nuanced, science-backed advice.鈥�

Such misinformation, defined by the (USDHHS) as 鈥渇alse, inaccurate, or misleading according to the best available evidence at the time,鈥� is a growing problem. There are a few reasons why.

鈥淚n an age of instant gratification, it can be incredibly tempting to try to find quick solutions to all of our problems with a swipe of an app,鈥� says , a board-certified internal medicine physician and researcher specializing in brain health. That鈥檚 especially because there is a 鈥渇undamental issue with access to healthcare in the United States,鈥� adds , a triple-board-certified endocrinologist and professor at Weill Cornell Medical College, and finding a doctor can be overwhelming, expensive, and frustrating. There is also a general, wide-reaching , Perlmutter adds, for many reasons鈥攖he main one being that with the health care system are so common. 鈥淢any people with legitimate concerns are turned away for 鈥榥ot being sick enough鈥� or 鈥榥ot motivated enough,鈥� which can scare them from seeking future care,鈥� Kumar explains.

All of this makes it tempting for people to take health matters into their own hands鈥攅specially when information is so easily accessible. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a sense of community that comes along with chatting online and being a part of the wellness movement,鈥� adds , a registered dietitian, researcher, and member of Bragg鈥檚 scientific advisory board, which can be very alluring, she says.

As for influencers鈥� part in it all, they鈥檙e paid to 鈥減ackage advice in a way that feels relatable compared to the approach that doctors may provide,鈥� explains Larson, which lands nicely with people in vulnerable states in search of validation or answers. If users听engage with that type of content鈥攎eaning they like it or comment on it鈥攖hey鈥檙e very likely to be algorithmically delivered more of the same, reinforcing the echo chamber of falsehoods, add Kumar and Perlmutter.

How to Spot Bad Wellness Advice Online

The USDHHS says that one of the most impactful ways we can throttle the spread of misinformation is by learning how to identify it and question it when we do. Here’s how to do just that.

1. Check the Source鈥檚 Credentials

If you鈥檙e learning from a person who is talking to their phone鈥檚 front camera, click on their profile and read听more about their background.

If they鈥檙e giving medical advice, do they have the certifications to do so? Look for specific letter credentials like MD, medical doctor, RD or RDN, a registered dietitian or registered-dietician nutritionist, respectively, or CPT, certified physical trainer, that go beyond vague placeholder titles. 鈥淎nyone can call themselves a nutritionist,鈥� says Cresci. Similar words that should raise red flags are 鈥渉ealth coach鈥� or an undefined, non-credentialed 鈥渆xpert.鈥�

Also, check the profile鈥檚 username and activity history to ensure you aren鈥檛 interacting with a fake or spam account. 鈥淟ast year, I came across a TikTok that impersonated me by posting my videos and asking people to Venmo or Zelle them for access to GLP-1 medications,鈥� recalls Kumar. 鈥淧eople easily fell prey to this scam because the account was using my real content.鈥�

2. Cross-Check Information Before Believing It, and Especially Before Sharing It

Getting information from a single source simply isn鈥檛 enough. Before you store something in your memory or discuss it with others, do a quick search of your own to corroborate the facts.

Look to reputable sources 鈥渓ike medical journals or government health websites,鈥� says , a registered dietitian, such as the or the . And even then, don鈥檛 be swayed by a single study鈥檚 conclusions. 鈥淥ne study doesn鈥檛 prove a trend,鈥� says Larson. Established research backed by multiple studies and credentialed professional input is the most reliable.

3. Be Wary of Quick Fixes or 鈥淢iracle鈥� Cures

Posting a dramatic before-and-after transformation, be it genuine or not, is one of the easiest ways to go viral online.

Anything that promises instant results鈥攆ad diets, workout programs, supplements鈥攊s something to be wary of right away. 鈥淎s an endocrinologist, I know about all the fad diets and quick fixes that promise to help you lose ten pounds in a week. To set the record straight once and for all: those trends never work,鈥� says Kumar. They鈥檙e 鈥渦nsustainable or misleading at best, and could put your health at risk at worst,鈥� she adds. Anything that truly sticks, health-wise, takes time and consistency.

Put differently: 鈥淚f it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,鈥� says Larson. 鈥淛ust because it worked for one influencer doesn鈥檛 mean it’s science-backed and safe for you to do.鈥�

4. Ask Yourself: “Am I Being Sold Something?”

If there鈥檚 a shopping link to click or a promo code to punch in, think twice before proceeding or taking intel to heart. 鈥淟ikely, the influencer is pushing a product or service that suits their agenda, not your well-being,鈥� says Cresci.

This is especially the case for self-help books or supplements, adds Kumar. 鈥淚t鈥檚 trendy for influencers to have supplement brands, and while most won鈥檛 harm you, you are likely falling prey to marketing tactics,鈥� she explains.

The bottom line is: question everything, and remember that no piece of guidance is one-size-fits-all. 鈥淓ven if you鈥檝e confirmed the source as legitimate, you should always speak to your doctor before taking medical advice,鈥� says Kumar. 鈥淲hat works for the majority of people might not work for you.鈥�

Want more of听国产吃瓜黑料鈥檚 Health stories?听.

The post Netflix鈥檚 鈥楢pple Cider Vinegar鈥� Shows Just How Scary Health Misinformation Can Get appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Social media is filled with people promising that returning to an earlier state of human existence will have physical and mental benefits. Whether it鈥檚 eating raw organ meat, getting into sourdough starter, or moving like primates, you don鈥檛 have to scroll around much to see what I鈥檓 talking about. Some of these influencers have been publicly discredited; while others have started movements and begun on the social media brands they鈥檝e built. Obviously, there鈥檚 no one-size-fits-all profile that could ever capture the diversity of these individual people, but I did wonder what talking to one of them might be like.

So I talked to a primal movement influencer, 35-year-old Victor Manuel Fleites Escobar, the 鈥楾arzan鈥� behind the million-follower Instagram account. If you鈥檝e seen any of Escobar鈥檚 videos, you might assume our conversation focused primarily on the ins and outs of tree climbing or the subtleties of primate locomotion. After all, individual videos on his account showing Fleites Escobar climbing trees and running on all fours have hundreds of thousands of views. One post, for example, promises his ability to teach gorilla, orangutan, and gibbon skills鈥攁ll of which have three levels鈥攆or interested participants. shows Fleites Escobar using his big and second toes to grip a rope as he propels himself forcefully upward with the caption 鈥淵es it hurts , but it can also take more than half of your body weight while going up .鈥�

 

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It鈥檚 no secret that Fleites Escobar appears to be in incredible physical shape (watch any of the aforementioned Instagram reels if you don鈥檛 believe me), but his movement and physical fitness seem to spring from a desire to live in a more a more intuitive, embodied way鈥攐ne that addresses how his body is feeling鈥攖han they do from a specific desire to see fitness gains.

Fleites Escobar joined our conversation virtually from a sunny Barcelona apartment. We ranged across topics鈥攆rom the philosophy behind Tarzan movement to his own daily habits, and I was struck by our repeated return to the themes of observation, openness, and play, which are at the core of the animal philosophy he鈥檚 been developing.

Do you want to live鈥攁nd look鈥攍ike Tarzan?

Well, according to Fleites Escobar, that鈥檚 a journey that begins within.

 

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An Interview with the Creator of the Tarzan Movement

OUTSIDE: How did this journey start for you? What brought you to primal movement?
FLEITES ESCOBAR: Earlier you mentioned that you feel like we are bringing people outside鈥� As a matter of fact, I’m doing the opposite. I’m trying to bring people inside where there’s a whole universe. For me, the fundamentals start with your own understanding with your own body. How do I deal with thing? How do I feel with myself? [When I asked myself those questions], I was able to validate the things that open my heart, the things that felt more natural to my animal background. That was my journey into the trees, into silence, into doing nothing.

Are there specific part of modern life that made you want to turn inward? Or is it just the general contradictions, stresses, and artifices that we all face everyday?
It’s not just modern life. You can trace 鈥榤odern life鈥� back a long way because even agriculture was modern for people at a different time. So I trace modernity all the way back to where humans moved away from having natural demands put on them by the environment. Animals have natural demands in their day to day that shape their lifestyles and keep their bodies in shape. It鈥檚 like kids.

How so? Your website mentions the value of play a lot. Is that where being kid-like comes in?
I feel like for many kids they are just constantly learning. In the park, if you allow them to run free, they take their shoes off, then they run and find some friend, and eventually they play with whatever they have. They have trees, they go up in the tree. They have balls, they play with balls. It doesn’t matter. What is constant is the way they are learning. The learning process there is not targeting a certain goal.

OK, so being present, open, and playful are as important as looking inward. How do you recommend a person cultivates this practice amid the hustle and bustle of everyday life?
I don’t think you can grab so much. You鈥檙e going to grab the perfume of the flower. You鈥檙e going to see it closely. You’re going to remember this smell, and it’s going to have an impact of your life. But it鈥檚 not going to be enough because we have to go to the root of the tree, the root of the problem. People should begin by looking beyond the physical aspect of this primal movement practice by being courageous enough to observe every single day, to recognize the things that they don’t really resonate with inside themselves, and take action. They need to ask themselves: what are these things that are fundamentally important for me because they keep the balance of the animal and the human together?

Introspect, observe, play, I鈥檓 getting it. What does a typical day look like for you?
I don鈥檛 think there is a routine. I wake up with some coffee. I like to read. I go for a walk to the beach. And then I do some work. I see my friend who manages the social media. We talk a little bit about work. Then we go for breakfast. Then at some point lunch, and then we go to do something outside like going to the park and hanging around with people or going to the forest and spending a few hours climbing trees. I can also go many days without doing any climbing and just feel like being quiet. When I feel inspired, when I feel motivated, I go out and I do things.

I have the feeling like I live for the day more than for the week or the year. But there are certain things that really take more than just following the flow, and I do take care of them. You have to pay your bills.

Is there anything else you鈥檇 want readers to know?
Fear is something that limits most humans. I feel we are all exist in houses. The perception of the human with fear is that the ceiling doesn’t move. That鈥檚 all. So they move around in the house horizontally all the time. Once in a while, when you have the courage to check the ceiling and observe it, it actually moves and you discover another floor.

I鈥檓 not going to lie. I went into my conversation with Fleites Escobar somewhat cynical. As a student of history, I know that our species tends to be drawn to ways of being that seem or feel more natural or simple just because they鈥檙e something from the past. I鈥檓 skeptical of ideas that fall prey to the naturalistic fallacy, which is the idea that just because something occurs in nature, that means it鈥檚 better or right.

Even though I carried my skepticism with me as I chatted with Fleites Escobar, I had a recurrent thought as he walked me through his way of being: naturalistic fallacy or not, this person is taking the time to scrutinize their interiority and the way they interface with the world, and they鈥檙e not afraid to be outside-the-box in their approach to feeling good and helping others do the same. I like the idea that openness, play, and directly addressing fear can help us unlimit our potentials. I don鈥檛 know if I鈥檒l be scaling any trees soon, but I can certainly question the things I鈥檓 holding onto that aren鈥檛 serving me and try to experience more daily joy.

The post The Founder of the Viral Tarzan Movement Instagram Account Wants You to Embrace Play appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Update: January 17, 2025: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled to , which will go into effect on January 19 if the social media’s parent company does not sell the platform.

In 2023, Tatiana O鈥橦ara, a content creator in Atlanta, Georgia, began to document her running journey on TikTok. She , and soon attracted a dedicated following of other beginner听runners. By the end of 2024, she had . “When people are looking for a run club for slower runners, they find me,”听O’Hara said.

Now, what she has built is in jeopardy as a ban on the app goes into effect on January 19, 2025, unless the Supreme Court intervenes. “I don鈥檛 know if I鈥檒l be able to get that same searchability on other apps,” O’Hara said.

O’Hara is just one of thousands of creators and small business owners grappling with the impending TikTok ban.

In April, Congress passed a law banning the app beginning on January 19 of this year. The government says that TikTok . Outrage by many lawmakers and users of the app over followed. TikTok鈥檚 parent company, ByteDance, a Chinese technology company, challenged the law, and the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on January 10, to determine its constitutionality.

As of now, TikTok continues to operate in the U.S., pending the Supreme Court’s decision, which will decide whether the ban will proceed. President-elect Donald Trump, who had previously sought to ban the app in 2020, has reversed his position and is now . Last month, he filed a brief with the Supreme Court requesting a delay in the ban to allow his incoming administration to negotiate a resolution.

Social media professionals and creator economy analysts have called the ban an “” for creators, and many users fear that the communities they’ve participated in will disappear overnight with no replacement.

TikTok’s Impact on Outdoor Access

The ban is set to have unanticipated ripple effects in the outdoors community. Though TikTok is seen as a hyper-online platform, built to maximize screen time, the app actually does more than other major social platforms to encourage people to get outside and explore nature, some users said. “TikTok lowers the barrier of entry to outdoorsy activities because the information is so accessible,” O’Hara said.

John Facey, a web and graphic designer in Queens, New York, credits TikTok with helping him discover a love of horticulture and environmentalism. Through his page on TikTok, he said, he met a lot of people who were interested in environmental science, local ecology, and issues affecting the environment. Facey even got tips for identifying plants along his hikes.

Andy Neal, an outdoor content creator who posts under the handle @andyfilmsandhikes, said that, “TikTok has played a significant role in democratizing the outdoors.”

While traditional media often depicts those hiking, biking and engaging in other outdoor sports as young, fit, and conventionally attractive, Neal said that TikTok, more than any other platform, has helped change those perceptions. “TikTok has given visibility to people of all body types, genders, and backgrounds who love spending time outside,” he said. “Compared to other platforms, TikTok has done a better job of making the outdoors feel inclusive鈥鈥檝e learned more about outdoor gear and education听on TikTok than anywhere else because the platform encourages real conversations and storytelling, rather than focusing solely on aesthetics.”

Activism at Risk

TikTok’s hyper-curated algorithm and community-first approach have inspired millions to explore the natural world and to develop a deeper appreciation for nature. The app remains a hub for Gen Z climate activism, with creators like Elise Joshi and sound the alarm on climate change.

Jessie Dickson, a TikTok creator with 215,000 followers in Sacramento, California, said that TikTok’s capacity to mobilize people to action is unmatched. “Think of all the campaigns to or that only succeeded because of young people on TikTok,”听Dickson said. “Think of all the young people who on hikes is important.”

Dickson said that as an environmentalist and scientist, the ban terrifies him. “We are muting millions of young voices鈥� so many areas of conservation are going to suffer without TikTok.”

TikTok’s short-form video format has also made information about outdoor adventures more accessible and appealing, especially to younger generations. Creators share , , and , lowering the barrier to entry for those looking to spend more time outside.

This content has translated into real-world action. Thousands of users have they discovered through the app. The platform has been credited with motivating people to take up hiking and nature walks, with users and the mental health benefits of spending time outside. Without the platform’s influence, some users will be pushed toward more solitary apps that are less about community and more about consumption. Creators said that people would have a harder time discovering outdoors activities and meetups around them.

The Business Repercussions

The ban will also affect thousands of small businesses, including many sellers of outdoor and sports equipment. “If I was interested in taking up kayaking, it is so easy to go on TikTok, follow ten people posting about kayaking, and see their Amazon storefronts,” O’Hara said. This seamless integration of content and commerce has been a boon for small businesses looking to tap into niche outdoor activity related markets.

Creators face financial peril as a major source of their听income may dry up with no real alternative. “The money I made on TikTok helped pay for my son鈥檚 daycare,” O’Hara said.

The platform has enabled influencers to monetize content through brand deals, live streams, and affiliate marketing. These income streams will disappear if the ban is enacted. “TikTok isn鈥檛 just another social media platform, it鈥檚 a launchpad for creators,” said Jasmine Enberg, vice president and principal analyst at eMarketer.

While other platforms feature their own versions of live streaming and business opportunitites, Instagram and YouTube, TikTok’s primary competitors, just don’t offer the same ecommerce integration, monetization options, and discovery systems as TikTok, creators said. “One unique aspect of TikTok that I鈥檒l miss is the live-streaming feature,” Neal said. “I鈥檝e had incredible live streams while out on hikes, showing people beautiful spaces and having meaningful conversations in real-time. Other platforms don鈥檛 foster that same kind of live engagement.”

In response to the fast-approaching ban, some TikTok users which translates loosely into “little red book,” named after a propaganda book written by . 听The app is lifestyle-centric and more similar to Instagram than TikTok. However, it shot to the top of Apple’s app store on January 14 as TikTok users desperately searched for alternatives to the platform.

“Do the great people of China like nature?” one new Xiaohongshu alongside a video of the view from a mountain top. “I’m an American TikTok refugee that posts simple nature content that highlights the greatness of the outdoors,” he .

Within hours of posting, he had gotten a reply from another Xiaohongshu user, who posts videos of their hikes. “Deep love of nature,” they replied.

Taylor Lorenz has reported on the content creator industry for 15 years. She has covered TikTok for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic. She has also amassed over 542,000 followers on the app.

The post What the TikTok Ban Means for Outdoor Communities and Creators appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Whump! My face plant is sudden, a cartwheel of flying ski poles and curse words into powder. The sting of snow on bare skin jolts my eyes open, and I hear a chorus of woo! erupt lower on the slope.

鈥淵eah, Fred!鈥� a voice bellows. 鈥淵ou were a little too far forward鈥攔emember to keep your weight back.鈥�

I brush myself off and schuss down the powdery hillside to my two companions, wondering how my 38 years of skiing experience seemingly evaporated in an instant. But I have little time to nurse my bruised pride鈥攎y new friends are already making their way up the slope for another run. I struggle to keep pace as we trudge toward the summit of this wooded hillside in Genesee, an upscale neighborhood in Denver鈥檚 western suburbs. I look to an adjacent hilltop and see the familiar elliptical sides of the Sculptured House, the mansion built by architect Charles Deaton featured in the 1973 film Sleeper.听

The guy in front of me, Wade Wilson, is a wiry real estate agent from nearby Golden. In front of him is Alex Kaufman, also from Golden, who dishes out rapid-fire advice as we climb. Keep your weight over your arches, not the balls of your feet. You don鈥檛 edge the turns like on a normal ski, you just kind of waggle your knees. Don鈥檛 worry if you hit a rock, just let the skis do their job.

鈥淵ou鈥檒l get the hang of it, I promise,鈥� Kaufman says. 鈥淓veryone sucks their first time.鈥� Kaufman, 45, is a father of two, a youth soccer coach, and the chief operating officer of Kaufman Asset Management, a company that invests in affordable housing. But I鈥檓 here because Kaufman is also a budding social media celebrity in the U.S. skiing world, where fans know him as the Weird Foothill Guy.

The Weird Foothill Guy only boasts about 11,000 followers across his channels, but his audience includes ski-industry heads of state, outdoor journalists, and even a few official resort accounts. I started following him in 2023 and quickly became obsessed with his online musings. Like many snow-sports aficionados, he regularly posts about the shoddy state of American skiing: massive lift lines, $48 cheeseburgers, and miles-long traffic jams on Interstate 70, the main artery connecting Denver with the resorts. 鈥淓conomic vitality!鈥� he once tweeted next to a video of a January traffic jam that stranded some motorists for ten hours on the freeway.

But most Weird Foothill Guy content promotes Kaufman鈥檚 highly unorthodox style of backcountry skiing鈥攐ne that seems to defy logic. He skis up and down slopes that are just a few miles from downtown Denver鈥攈illsides with so little snowpack (and so many rocks and stumps) that your daredevil nephew wouldn鈥檛 sled down them, let alone tackle them on skis. Yet Kaufman navigates this terrain three or four days a week during the winter, often on his lunch break or before work. He floods social media with photos from these micro-adventures, alongside captions that express his radical view on the sport. Basically: Resort skiing sucks and I鈥檝e discovered an amazing alternative.听

Kaufman鈥檚 brand of skiing鈥攚hich he calls Simple Skiing鈥攔elies on a bizarre plastic ski called the Marquette Backcountry, which looks like a cross between a child鈥檚 toy and a float pontoon. He did not invent these strange skis, but he has become their strongest evangelist. He keeps a small fleet of them in his garage, and lends them out to anyone who wants to try them, including me. Descending on them presents an ample learning curve, as I have just discovered. Ascending is similarly challenging. You don鈥檛 use climbing skins. The skis have fish-scale-like divots on the bottoms that grip the snow, similar to the ones on some cross-country skis.

Wilson and Kaufman speed ahead. Kaufman is wearing a pair of basketball shorts over tights and a flannel shirt. An orange handkerchief flutters from his back pocket. 鈥淚 have the bandana in case hunters spot me,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 never wear ski pants鈥攜ou get too hot.鈥�

I soon learn this lesson, as my core temperature spikes under my preferred backcountry outfit. Snowmelt from my crash drips down my back and soaks my long underwear, and I wonder: Is this really better than a day at the resort?

I find my answer at the summit. Wilson and Kaufman have waited for me, and as I reach the top, I look down from our perch. Below us is I-70, packed with cars; a serpentine line of red brake lights stretching to the horizon. The traffic is barely inching along, and the nearest resort is still 45 miles up the road. I shift my gaze to the snowy slope below my skis. We鈥檙e completely alone, shredding untracked powder just 25 minutes from downtown Denver.

鈥淲e鈥檒l be home eating breakfast before they鈥檙e in the parking lot,鈥� Kaufman says. 鈥淐鈥檓on, let鈥檚 hit another run.鈥�

The post The Weird Foothill Guy Believes His Style of Skiing Is Better than a Day at the Resort. We Tried It Out. appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Emojis are silly. But sometimes something silly gets lodged in your brain and you can鈥檛 stop thinking about it. Recently, reporter Meg Duff noticed that her phone was mis-classifying a handful of animal emojis, and an internet rabbit hole turned into a headphones smiley face.

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I was thinking about going to India with Hannah, or Bali with Ashlyn, maybe Morocco with Emily Rose. But then I came across Yosemite with Haleigh. Haleigh looked so happy. So carefree. Her arms open wide, embracing the wilderness. I, too, wanted to clasp my coffee mug while watching the sunrise and swing in a hammock slung between pines. It had been too long since I鈥檇 gone backpacking! I didn鈥檛 know Haleigh鈥檚 last name or anything about her. No matter. Haleigh made life outdoors look so easy. So perfect. On Instagram, at least.

Recently, the algorithm has been inundating me with women like Haleigh鈥攑retty, approachable, adventurous, always on a trip somewhere lovely. And suddenly all of them seemed to be inviting me to join them. Trekking in Peru. Strutting through Parisian streets. Leaping into turquoise waters in Tahiti. 鈥淭ravel with me!鈥� their painstakingly curated feeds read, leading to links where all you had to do was click and pay, then pack a bag.

I wanted to go. Follow the followers. See what traveling with a travel influencer was all about. But India with Hannah sounded鈥� far. Better, I thought, to stick a little closer to my home in San Francisco; drive my own getaway car. So I clicked Haleigh鈥檚 book-now button, put down a $600 deposit, and, when summer came, headed east to Yosemite, to meet up with a bunch of women I鈥檇 never met before.

Most of the dozen others had flown in. Strangers all, waiting at the airport for the sort-of stranger who鈥檇 lured them there. And then there she was, in the flesh at SFO: @, a lithe 32-year-old with a waist-length dirty-blond braid, wearing Stio pants and Chacos, walking toward a van full of her followers. And everyone was quietly freaking out.

鈥淭here was this fangirl moment,鈥� Jeanne, a restaurateur from North Carolina, mother of four, and at 51 the eldest of our group, told me later. 鈥淣o one said it out loud or anything, but you could feel it. This nervous energy. It was like: Oh, my God! There she is! She鈥檚 real.鈥�

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A few months back, I posted on Instagram a short video of myself hand-writing something on my iPad, and someone commented, 鈥淵ou mean you actually write that stuff out by hand?鈥� And I realized, I’ve never really explained how I make these handwritten and illustrated stories, so I thought I’d take a minute to do that in this video. (OK, it’s actually 3 minutes and 29 seconds)

And of course, here’s a handwritten and illustrated version of the above video:

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Every week I read a new story about tourists doing something stupid on their phone in a national park. It’s hard not to come away from the endless onslaught of touron news with the idea that social media is ruining our public land. But is there any empirical evidence for that? And isn’t visitation good for paying to keep our national parks in pristine condition?

A study published by the draws a significant link between social media exposure and visitation at individual national parks. It鈥檚 not a surprise that parks with ample shared photographs, videos, and geotags are more popular than parks without, but the study is able to demonstrate that even the most popular parks can still feel the effects of popularity on X/Twitter and Instagram. It provides a statistical model to suggest that the connection between social media and visitation offers lessons the NPS and its stakeholders could use to help address core issues like overcrowding and easing its enormous deferred maintenance backlog.

What Did the Study Find?

Between 2010 and 2020, total visitors to national parks increased from 70 to 90 million annual people. Much of this use has been concentrated in a handful of the most famous parks like Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon, and increases elsewhere are less predictable.

Visitation to California鈥檚 Joshua Tree National Park, for example, has increased by 2.5 times since 2000, but in that same time, the number people making a trip to Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas or Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota has remained flat.

It鈥檚 tempting to try and attribute that to geography, seasonal weather, proximity to major metropolitan centers or ease of visitation. But remember we鈥檙e talking about rates of visitation, not the听outright number. As more and more people visit parks, why are they concentrating their use in the same areas?

What Can This Tell Us About Overcrowding?

鈥淎 lot of that can be explained by a sort of positive feedback loop,鈥� explained听Casey Wichman, the economist who authored the study. 鈥淭he parks you鈥檇 expect to be popular are also popular online.鈥�

Wichman said听some of that popularity is down to certain easily photographed, 鈥渁esthetically appealing鈥� locations. Think Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park, with its iconic view of Half Dome. And he says that popularity can also be explained by name recognition.

鈥淚t鈥檚 like a checklist,鈥� he said. People want to show off to their social media followers the fact that they visited that exciting and popular听park.

鈥淧arks with greater exposure saw dramatic increases in recreational visitation over the last decade,鈥� wrote Wichman in the study.听 鈥淥n average, parks with greater exposure exhibit 16 to 22 percent increases in recreational visits, whereas parks with weaker exposure exhibit no change, or decreases, in visitation.鈥�

And that鈥檚 a problem, not only because the most popular parks and their most well known photo locations听are now overrun with selfie seekers, but also because the park service as a whole faces a massive shortfall in its maintenance budget, and the money visitors bring to less popular parks could help those address their own backlogs.

Nationwide, the NPS last tabulated that backlog at $22 billion. The park service鈥檚 annual budget, in comparison, is under . There is no existing plan to close that gap, but in the parks themselves, entrance fees and other money visitors bring听can help.

鈥淣PS sites can retain 80 percent of the revenue generated from entrance fees and other recreational fees,鈥� Wichman explained.听鈥淪ocial media has poorly targeted revenue increases to parks that need it most.鈥�

What kind of social media exposure is effective? Wichman found that it鈥檚 not posts made by the parks or their official affiliates themselves, but rather organic content created by visitors, then re-shared by their followers that draws the most eyeballs, and subsequently the most visits.

It comes as no surprise that photos and videos perform better than plain text.

After all, Wichman states in the study, “The notion that shared media influences visitation to National Parks is not new. In 1951, Time Magazine published Ansel Adams鈥� photographs of Capitol Reef and Yosemite National Park with the following description: “No artist has pictured the magnificence of the western states more eloquently than photographer Ansel Adams. This summer thousands upon thousands of tourists will follow Adam鈥檚 well-beaten trail up and down the National Parks fixing the cold eyes of their cameras on the same splendors he has photographed鈥揳nd hoping, somehow, to match his art.””

Wichman听also went to great lengths to control for variables. Could marketing campaigns run by non-profits connected to the parks, or local governments hoping to cash in on tourist dollars impact the results? Wichman created an algorithm that removed data chronologically adjacent to those. He did the same for factors like seasonal weather, and whether or not a park has significant name recognition.

Could Social Media Help Fund Our National Parks?

While Wichman鈥檚 study stops short of making any actual policy recommendations to the park service, its affiliated non-profits, or state and local governments, he says some of its takeaways are implicit.

鈥淭hink of social media as a form of advertising,鈥� he says. 鈥淧eer influence matters when we make consumptive life choices. Encouraging people to share their positive experiences will inspire others to visit.鈥�

How does this phenomenon affect less-visited (and perhaps less-photogenic) parks and monuments?听Wichman referenced the Okefenokee Swamp, a National Wildlife Refuge that straddles the Florida-Georgia border (Wichman teaches at Georgia Tech, I was born in Kennesaw).

鈥淚t鈥檚 just swamp,鈥� he says, but goes on to explain that creating better photo opportunities for visitors, or amplifying their posts, could increase engagement, and with that, visitation and revenue, which could ultimately foster more widespread efforts at ecosystem preservation.

If managers of public land, or the non-profits and state and local governments that often fund marketing campaigns around those lands want to draw visitors to new areas, or distribute them away from only a few popular areas, they simply need to provide the selfie bait necessary.

Wichman says he was inspired to to put the study together after reading an 国产吃瓜黑料 article in 2019 about the impacts of social media on recreation in national parks, and on other public lands. In that piece, I detailed the injuries and deaths attributed to social media in those places, along with their subsequent costs, while arguing that social media still created a net positive for national parks and other public lands.

鈥淚 wondered how much I could explain with data,鈥� said听Wichman, of the study鈥檚 genesis.

Wichman told me that he chose national parks as the subject for the simple reason that that NPS tracks and publishes a lot more data than the United States Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, or state agencies do. Most visitors to most national parks enter through gates and interact with services while there. That鈥檚 not necessarily the case elsewhere, but Wichman says his findings can be extrapolated to other forms of public lands.

The economist also explains that there are lessons to be learned from what鈥檚 not in the study. While parks provide an easily checked box for tourists at popular national parks and iconic views, other forms of public land are, by their nature, less likely to foster social media engagement. That may be an argument for skipping a geotag on your next outdoor selfie, or choosing to add one听could be a best practice for tourist boards, or state or local governments hoping to increase revenue from visitors.

Wichman sees benefits with the latter practice鈥攁 perspective that I share. Public lands are, he听said, an 鈥渋conic public good that we all have access to.鈥� And, 鈥淭he more people we can get to visit these places, the better.鈥�

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If you鈥檝e never heard the legend of Blowhole, I can tell you all about it, because I was there from the start.

My husband and I are dogsledders. , though we travel; when your life revolves around sled dogs, you鈥檙e always chasing snow. We met Blowhole in April 2018. I had entered the , an unsupported, 440-mile race between seven remote villages in the Alaskan Arctic, and I鈥檇 borrowed dogs from a few friends to fill out my team. One of them was a shaggy black and white two-year-old owned by Inupiaq musher Ryan Redington. Like most modern sled dogs, he was an Alaskan husky: a thick-furred, super-athletic mutt. He was named for the vicious wind tunnels that form on the Bering coast, the ones that threaten to throw you out to sea and, heck, halfway to Siberia. Blowhole.

The race started on ice. Blowhole pulled hard, muscles rippling under fur, as we crossed the wind-carved surface of Kotzebue Sound. No sooner had we reached land than he stepped into a moose hole鈥攁 deep, tube-shaped footprint left by the antlered beast. He charged on, but his gait was off; he鈥檇 tweaked a wrist. I unhooked his harness and made him ride with me in the sled.

It feels heartless, carrying a dog that wants to run, but not as heartless as what I did next鈥攖hough I acted with genuine concern. In the village of Selawik, I left Blowhole with race volunteers so his wrist could rest and heal. He was given warm food, a straw bed, attention, and massages. I knew we鈥檇 see each other again when the race was over. But he was distraught. All he wanted was to keep going. He howled desperately as the other dogs and I continued down the trail without him.

Days later, after the race, my husband and I brought Blowhole back to Ryan鈥檚 place in Knik. Immediately after we left, we discovered that the brakes on our truck were barely working. We white-knuckled it to a repair shop, where a mechanic diagnosed the problem and scrawled it on our $1,200 bill: Brake lines chewed by dog.

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