Kids who have smartphones by age 12 have higher risk of depression, obesity: Study

Or hear me out, maybe it’s not having the smartphone itself. Maybe it’s the fact that parents aren’t having the conversations needed to prepare them for having the smartphone. But then that’s easy for me to say from the parenting cheap seats

Why doing good also makes us feel good, during the holidays and beyond

Go out and do something nice for someone today. Maybe do it in July too, not just Christmas

More Stories Below, but first some new content in the News Sidequest Podcast Universe…

Auditory Anthology

SCI-FI SHORT STORIES - NARRATED BY DARREN MARLAR & PRODUCED BY KEITH CONRAD

Tales From the Blue Line – The Midnight Janitor - The exhausted staff of a hospital’s chaotic night shift comes to depend on an unsettlingly silent, unscheduled janitor nicknamed “Saint Squeegee,” who materializes exactly when and where messes, accidents, and minor crises erupt, leading the nurses to believe he is either a guardian angel or a cleaning ghost.

Tales From the Blue Line - The Midnight Janitor Keith Conrad / Darren Marlar Episode

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Also Worth A Look…

• IRS Agents to Review OnlyFans Content to Determine if It’s ‘Pornographic’ - Gig alert: You’ll be part of the most universally hated branch of the government, but you’ll get paid to watch porn

• GameStop customer’s $30,494.70 Pokemon card trade-in sets record - That turned out to be a pretty good investment

• Ancient DNA Reveals That a Teenage Girl Chewed on This Wad of ‘Gum’ 10,500 Years Ago - So teens have basically been the same for at least 10,500 years

• Cats have learned to meow louder at men to get their attention - So men basically don’t pay attention to anyone or anything. That tracks

• Pope Leo to US students: Don’t let AI do your homework - Solid advice from the Pope

• Why singing is surprisingly good for your health - If I’m the one singing it definitely won’t be good for your ears

• A Pile of Puppies Treatment Cheers Up Seriously Ill Kids with Bundles of Cozy Joy - A pile of puppies will make anyone’s day better. It’s science

• Amazon’s giant anacondas reached their peak size 12 million years ago, study shows - There simply aren’t enough nopes

• Humpback Whales Rebound to 80,000 by Adapting Diet - Admiral, there be whales everywhere

• An anonymous $50M gift will cover some tuition for medical lab students at University of Washington - My America was always great