Latest news with #Neopets
Vox
21-05-2025
- Health
- Vox
How switching to a flip phone deepened my friendships
is a deputy editor of Future Perfect, Vox's section on the myriad challenges and efforts in making the world a better place. She oversees the Future Perfect fellowship program. On April Fools' Day, I called my mom. I told her that for a month, I was 'going flip phone' — meaning, abandoning my iPhone for one with no access to social media apps. And no, it wasn't a joke. My discontent with my screen time reached new peaks in late March after a stint in physical therapy and a string of near-constant rainy days. But first, some context: I stare at screens all day for a living, and I'm no stranger to life affixed to a computer, palm-sized or not. I grew up in the 2000s, playing Neopets and the Sims 2. I later inherited my mom's busted iPhone 3GS in 2011 as an eighth-grader, and said goodbye to my LG Lotus flip phone. I've been on Instagram since within a year of its launch. For more than a decade, I lived by the idea of 'good screen' and 'bad screen.' That is, bad screen is work/school-related, and good screen is just for the vibes, like spending an hour or so in a Wikipedia rabbit hole. Good screen felt like a reclamation of my own time. Until it didn't. Turns out, good screen is actually a farce. We didn't know it at the time in the 2010s, but increased use of smartphones and social media was probably bad for my then-developing brain. According to an October 2024 CDC report, the percentage of teenagers who had symptoms of anxiety or depression was higher among those with four hours or more of daily screen time. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention For me, the decision came about because I realized that my phone was getting in the way of doing literally anything else. Like going to a coffee shop with a friend. Or playing evening soccer and getting a drink after. Or hosting dinner parties. If there's one thing I've learned while working here alongside Even Better's Allie Volpe, the key to a good life is to get some sun early in the day, do regular movement, and socialize often. So 'dumbphone' it was. Going Barbie phone The rules, my boss said, were simple. I had a $100 budget. (Him: 'I mean, it goddamn better be under $100. It won't do anything.') And I had to go the whole way. That meant I couldn't switch back and forth between phones. The only exception was using my iPhone for two-factor authentication apps. 'I wonder if you'll have any friends left over by the end,' my boss, editorial director Bryan Walsh, slacked me. 'Or maybe more because you'll call them up on your telephone. Maybe you'll get new friends, better ones.' This story was first featured in the Future Perfect newsletter. Sign up here to explore the big, complicated problems the world faces and the most efficient ways to solve them. Sent twice a week. The strict budget ruled out fancy but still internet-free dumbphones like the Light Phone my colleague Adam Clark Estes tried out last month. So I first turned to older flip phones. My partner's parents had an old Motorola Razr chilling in a drawer, and I had always wanted one when I was a kid (or a T-Mobile Sidekick or LG Chocolate). But after hours of trying to figure out if the phone was compatible with my carrier, I learned that the infrastructure in the US for 2G connection was shut down this year. I couldn't use anything that wasn't at least 4G. I effectively had to get a new phone. Naturally, I stalked the internet's best resource for financial decision-making: Reddit. I checked out tons of posts on r/dumbphones, and finally decided to go for the (at the time) $90 HMD Barbie Phone. It had maps, texts, and a camera — but no app store. It technically does have internet, but it is so impossible to use that it might as well not be there. Social butterfly? When my friends heard about my little experiment, they were worried, thrilled, partially envious, and wondering how on earth we would plan our Formula 1 race weekend watch parties. I didn't set any intentional goal of how often to reach out to people or make plans. But in the absence of mindlessly scrolling on Instagram or TikTok, I was motivated to reach out to people. Still, my texts were very stilted because of the numeric keypad. Some of my friends were annoyed about this within a week. One texted me to ask about my thoughts on tariffs, and I replied 'Hmm hard 2 say.' A few hours later, she texted me with some personal news that warranted a swift phone call. 'I can feel yourself restraining your thoughts in your texts! But it's nice to just hear your voice right now,' she said in that call. This friend lives in a different city, so I don't get to see her as often. But because we weren't seeing what the other was up to on Instagram, we called each other a lot more often than we usually would have. Speaking of Instagram…what a double-edged sword! It's either a black hole of endless, pointless scrolling or it's how you find out about the latest party, book release event, or restaurant opening. I definitely missed out on a lot of potential hangs by not being on IG, but at the same time, would I have actually spontaneously gone to any of them? I'm not so sure. I did cheat a bit by opting to text friends via my personal computer whenever I had the chance to. This also let me participate in some group chats since the Barbie phone doesn't have that capability. And I called my mom way more. That's saying something because I talk to both of my parents essentially every other day with my normal phone. I flew to see my dad in Tennessee and visited my partner's parents in Westchester for Easter. I even planned an intergenerational return with my grandparents to Puerto Rico for May. Life after dumbphone All in all, I about doubled the number of in-person hangs, although my memory is a bit fuzzy. I'm someone who lives and dies by my Google Calendar, and I wasn't great at version control between my physical planner and the g-cal. And I don't have many photo reminders of what I did. However, I did not last an entire month. I fell two days short, thanks to that sporadic trip to Puerto Rico. I had to order Ubers, consult spreadsheets, figure out access codes, find restaurants that everyone actually wanted to eat at, and keep in touch with people we were hanging out with. If you're a caretaker or if your work demands that you be online 24/7, I'm not sure if a smartphone detox is right for you. And honestly, there were some things I missed from my regular iPhone. Having no music during runs made me dread jogging, so I didn't run for an entire month. I couldn't scan QR code menus at restaurants. If I didn't have directions written down somewhere, I was constantly anxious about getting lost since Google Maps on the Barbie phone wasn't all that. I also took fewer photos. (Sorry, Bad Bunny, I know I should take more.) Still, my life felt more full because of the burst of spontaneity encouraging deeper connections with my friends and family. My attention span also no longer seemed like it's the size of a small pea. And while I didn't start this experiment out of concern for my mental health, it did help me feel more socially connected, something that puts people at less risk for depression. I'm now much more deliberate in valuing off-the-cuff hangs. Just last week, I went to a bar to watch the Knicks game, and called a friend who I haven't seen in a few months. And yes, it was on the Barbie phone. A version of this story originally appeared in the Future Perfect newsletter. Sign up here! You've read 1 article in the last month Here at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you — threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country. Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change. We rely on readers like you — join us. Swati Sharma Vox Editor-in-Chief Membership Monthly Annual One-time $5/month $10/month $25/month $50/month Other $50/year $100/year $150/year $200/year Other $25 $50 $100 $250 Other Join for $10/month We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.
Buzz Feed
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
Millennial Experiences That Defined A Generation
Times have changed significantly, and if you're a millennial, then you've likely witnessed how our society has shifted toward being entirely technology-based. We grew up in a time when cell phones were a privilege, not a necessity; in an era when dial-up internet forced you to choose between making phone calls or surfing the web. It sounds prehistoric, but frankly, it was an interesting time when kids were just as ecstatic about discovering the evolution of technology as they were about being outside. A recent r/AskReddit post asked millennials, "What is something that other generations forget that we actually experienced?" The responses felt like a blast from the past, reminiscing over the days when Google wasn't readily available with information at our fingertips, and physical maps were the only way to get directions if you got lost on a road trip. Below are 23 truly millennial experiences that other generations have seemingly forgotten: Note: Some responses have been edited and condensed for clarity. "I miss going to the computer lab and knowing more about the computers than the teacher and admin. I remember setting the auto correct on Microsoft Word to change 'and' into 'chickens' and nobody could figure out how to change it back, so they just said you can't use that computer for Microsoft Word anymore." –u/RichardBottom "Whoever took you to the airport could go through security and watch you board the plane." –u/Neckrolls4life "Sweet, sweet internet. AOL chat rooms, Neopets, RuneScape, Halo 2, and other things." –u/Rawrin23 "Omegle, ChatRoulette, Habbo Hotel, setting your MSN messenger status to display what you were currently listening to (which had all been downloaded from Limewire)." –u/ComorbidlyAtPeace "A true millennial can spot the real download link on a software sharing website." "Not only the internet, but computers. We had computers before the internet was widespread, so we couldn't just Google how to do stuff, or check online guides. No one in your family knew how to use one either. We basically learned how to use computers by trial and error. If you encountered a bug, well, good luck, there won't ever be a fix for it, because online updates did not exist either. One thing I realized about Gen Z is how bad they are at using computers for anything that cannot be accessed by a single click." –u/Tripod1404 "Kazaa taught me so much that I, even to this day, did not need to learn." "Being home alone after school. We weren't called latchkey kids because it was just normal. Everyone I knew got left at home alone after school." –u/First-Expression2823 "I've seen a lot of people say things like 'you probably don't know what this is' with respect to things like landline phones, VHS tapes, cassette tapes, etc. Not only were all those things core millennial technologies that we all grew up with, but I have memories of growing up with technology even older than that. My grandparents' houses still had rotary phones, typewriters, and gramophones." –u/badgersprite "It took until eighth grade for us to get broadband Internet at home, and for any of us to start using it for things other than work. Eventually, I got my own computer for my room, but it was not connected to the internet and I used it mainly for homework and some basic games — the first thing I ever bought on eBay (via the family computer, on my 1-hour-per-day allotted Internet time) was my own copy of The Oregon Trail." "I listened to my cassettes and CDs all through high school. I had a boombox in my room that could play either, and I would use it to play music as I did my homework each night.I didn't get my first cell phone (a very basic flip phone, to be used only in emergencies) until high were the last generation to experience the idyllic childhood older generations love to reminisce on. Leave the house after breakfast, be back for dinner. No supervision, no Internet, no phone."–u/Finetales "Yeah I grew up out in the sticks and at my first job, I had to use MS DOS, 3.5' and 5.5' floppy disks, a fax machine, a dot matrix printer with carbon copy continuous feed paper, a blue line machine that used ammonia and photo sensitive paper, a plotter where you had to load it with the specific pens you wanted technology had left that office behind and the boss was stuck in 1985 basically, so people are always surprised that somebody my age has experience working with all that junk lol. But if you didn't live in a wealthy household in an urban or suburban area, odds are you (like me) didn't get the new tech stuff coming out until much later and made do with the old junk." "I still remember having to ask for a non-smoking table at a restaurant." –u/Defiant-Day-8377 "Learning to drive without a GPS. Using a paper map in the car." –u/blue-opuntia "Ebaumsworld!!!" "Millennials (I am one) are funny in that we were raised at the crossing between the old era and the new one, when the internet and computers took hold. We've been part of both generational sides. Old-style flip phones and landlines, portable CD players for music, VHS tapes, and Blockbuster Video. There was probably only one computer in the house, and you shared it with the family. You were allowed to roam outside wherever you wanted without your parents thinking you'd be kidnapped. The existence of Furbies." –u/Rubysage3 "Researching with books. I still remember diving into the stacks and archives to review books that have been out of print for decades to research an extremely niche topic, then having to wait weeks or months for an inter-library loan for a different book that may or may not be relevant to my topic to cross reference and check for biases." –u/nekosaigai "9/11, for some reason. An older Gen X'er told me that if I'm a millennial, there's no way I remember 9/11 because her kids are millennials and they were toddlers when it happened. I was 12. I remember it vividly. And it turns out, her kids are Gen Z. Idk why older Gen X'ers and Boomers think millennial just means 'someone younger.'" –u/xbad_wolfxi "Spending hours on the perfect city in SimCity 2000 and then it gets destroyed by disaster." –u/iamcode101 "My Gen Z friend didn't believe we used to have to pay a few cents per text message." –u/workfastdiehard "Tons of places didn't accept cards and were cash only, and more people carried loose cash on them. Now the reverse seems to be true, where many places are card only, and fewer people seem to carry cash on them." "I remember using pay phones…like a lot." –u/TheDukeofArgyll "Having to ask for a job or a job application at the place you want to apply. And then the transition to online-only applications." "That transition was so painful. My dad didn't believe most places went to online-only (besides some small mom and pop restaurants I'd already applied to) and insisted that I had to ask the manager to ask them to apply. The most humiliating thing in my life was him accompanying me to apply to places, and when I'd walk out and tell him they said to do it online, he walked back in with me only to get told the same thing. Took three tries for him to silently just drive us back home."–u/slothdonki "To type 'LOL' on our phones, it took nine key presses." If you're a millennial, what's something you think our generation got to experience that others haven't? Share it in the comments!
Time of India
23-04-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Who is Lucy Guo, Scale AI founder with $1.25 billion fortune to replace Taylor Swift as world's youngest self-made woman billionaire
Lucy Guo , founder of Passe , has overtaken Taylor Swift to become the youngest self-made woman billionaire. Guo, 30, features on Forbes list of self-made women billionaires. According to Forbes, she is also one of only six self-made women billionaires in the world under the age of 40. Notably, Guo is the only one on that list who built most of her wealth from a company she no longer works at. Her former startup Scale AI is set for a tender offer valued at $25 billion. Guo recently shared a post on Instagram with the caption 'Discipline > Sleep. 3000 classes complete 🥳'. Here's everything you need to know about Lucy Guo Who is Lucy Guo Born on October 14, 1994, Guo was raised in Fremont, California by Chinese immigrant parents who were both electrical engineers. Despite their technical backgrounds, her parents were hesitant about her pursuing a career in technology, believing it would be challenging for a woman to succeed in the field. Guo's interest in technology began early; she started coding in second grade and, as a teenager, developed bots for online games like Neopets, selling in-game assets for profit. She enrolled at Carnegie Mellon University to study computer science but later dropped out in 2014 after receiving the Thiel Fellowship , a $100,000 grant encouraging young entrepreneurs to pursue their ventures. After Carnegie Mellon, Guo interned at Facebook and later joined Snapchat as the company's first female designer, contributing to the development of Snap Maps. She then worked at Quora, where she met Alexandr Wang with whom she went on to co-found Scale AI in 2016. How ScaleAI laid the foundation for Guo's billion-dollar fortune Guo left ScaleAI just two years after starting it. Based in San Francisco, Scale AI is now valued at $14 billion, and a new tender offer could push that to $25 billion. Guo still holds about 5% of the company, giving her a stake worth around $1.2 billion. After her exit from ScaleAI, Guo launched Backend Capital, a venture firm that backs talented engineers. But she didn't stay away from building for long. In 2022, she founded Passes, a platform designed to empower content creators by providing them with tools to monetize their work. The platform quickly gained traction, raising $40 million in a Series A funding round by 2024. citeturn0search4 As of April 2025, Guo's estimated net worth is $1.25 billion, making her the world's youngest self-made woman billionaire at age 30.
Time of India
23-04-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Who is Lucy Go, Scale AI founder with $1.25 billion fortune to replace Taylor Swift as world's youngest self-made woman billionaire
Lucy Guo , founder of Passe , has overtaken Taylor Swift to become the youngest self-made woman billionaire. Guo, 30, features on Forbes list of self-made women billionaires. According to Forbes, she is also one of only six self-made women billionaires in the world under the age of 40. Notably, Guo is the only one on that list who built most of her wealth from a company she no longer works at. Her former startup Scale AI is set for a tender offer valued at $25 billion. Guo recently shared a post on Instagram with the caption 'Discipline > Sleep. 3000 classes complete 🥳'. Here's everything you need to know about Lucy Guo Who is Lucy Go Born on October 14, 1994, Guo was raised in Fremont, California by Chinese immigrant parents who were both electrical engineers. Despite their technical backgrounds, her parents were hesitant about her pursuing a career in technology, believing it would be challenging for a woman to succeed in the field. Guo's interest in technology began early; she started coding in second grade and, as a teenager, developed bots for online games like Neopets, selling in-game assets for profit. She enrolled at Carnegie Mellon University to study computer science but later dropped out in 2014 after receiving the Thiel Fellowship , a $100,000 grant encouraging young entrepreneurs to pursue their ventures. After Carnegie Mellon, Guo interned at Facebook and later joined Snapchat as the company's first female designer, contributing to the development of Snap Maps. She then worked at Quora, where she met Alexandr Wang with whom she went on to co-found Scale AI in 2016. How ScaleAI laid the foundation for Guo's billion-dollar fortune Guo left ScaleAI just two years after starting it. Based in San Francisco, Scale AI is now valued at $14 billion, and a new tender offer could push that to $25 billion. Guo still holds about 5% of the company, giving her a stake worth around $1.2 billion. After her exit from ScaleAI, Guo launched Backend Capital, a venture firm that backs talented engineers. But she didn't stay away from building for long. In 2022, she founded Passes, a platform designed to empower content creators by providing them with tools to monetize their work. The platform quickly gained traction, raising $40 million in a Series A funding round by 2024. citeturn0search4 As of April 2025, Guo's estimated net worth is $1.25 billion, making her the world's youngest self-made woman billionaire at age 30.
Indian Express
23-04-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
AI star Lucy Guo replaces Taylor Swift as youngest self-made female billionaire: Who is she?
Lucy Guo, a tech entrepreneur, has claimed the title of the youngest self-made woman billionaire, overtaking global pop icon Taylor Swift. At just 30 years old, Guo has secured the coveted spot on Forbes' list of self-made women billionaires, joining only six under the age of 40. Swift, 35, remains one of the world's richest entertainers with a reported net worth of $1.6 billion, according to Forbes. Guo's fortune stems primarily from Scale AI, a company she co-founded in 2016. The San Francisco-based startup specialises in labelling data used to train artificial intelligence systems. Though Guo stepped away from the company in 2018, she retained an estimated 5 per cent equity stake, one that has grown significantly in value. After leaving Scale AI, Guo went on to co-found Backend Capital, a venture capital firm that backs up-and-coming engineering talent. Later, she launched Passes, a creator-focused platform offering monetisation tools, positioning it as a modern alternative to platforms like Patreon and OnlyFans. Today, she serves as CEO of the growing venture. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lucy Guo (@guoforit) According to the Entrepreneur, Guo grew up in Fremont, California, the daughter of Chinese immigrants who both worked as electrical engineers. From a young age, she had a knack for building and hustling. Whether it was selling Pokémon cards or creating mock streaming websites packed with strategically placed ads, Guo spent her early years creating opportunities. By second grade, she started earning money online through PayPal by leveraging browser-based games like Neopets and RuneScape. By the time she entered middle school, she had self-trained in coding. Guo then enrolled at Carnegie Mellon University, majoring in computer science and human-computer. Later, she dropped out after being accepted into the prestigious Thiel Fellowship, a program that offers $100,000 (Rs 83.5 lakh) to young students to pursue innovation outside of college. Her journey then took her through high-profile internships at Facebook and Snapchat, before landing a role at Quora. It was there that she met Alexandr Wang, and together they co-founded Scale AI in 2016, the report said.
