Latest news with #TheHungerGames
The Citizen
a day ago
- Business
- The Citizen
#JustMyView: Surviving the real-life Hunger Games
Many young people from disadvantaged backgrounds desperately need financial literacy. This economy? It's like The Hunger Games out here – and none of us even volunteered. We are expected to stride into adulthood with the confidence of seasoned CEOs, armed only with vibes and vague advice like, 'Save your money.' Save what, exactly? The last R50 after rent, transport and supporting half the household and extended family? Through a mix of trial, error and the occasional financial facepalm, some of us have learned how to budget, save and spend wisely. We know financial literacy matters. But knowing you should save is very different from being able to, especially when your paycheque vanishes faster than you can say, 'EFT received.' For many, supporting family is non-negotiable, even while trying to build something of our own. I've met many people who dream of starting families but feel they can't afford to. Others have shelved personal goals because they are the financial lifeline at home. It is hard to chat about compound interest when your fridge is echoing. In my circles, conversations often end with: 'How are we making it to month-end?' The honest answer? We're not. We're surviving. Borrowing. Repaying. Borrowing again. It's not financial planning – it's monthly crisis management. Some turn to loan sharks, not out of recklessness, but because desperation doesn't leave much space for sound decision-making. Others are blacklisted from past mistakes, back when 'interest rate' sounded like dating jargon. We weren't taught how debt compounds, how credit scores work or how a 'low monthly payment' can quietly snowball into a long-term regret. With proper financial education early on, many wouldn't be stuck in this loop. We'd read the fine print. We'd know that store account 'VIP treatment' isn't worth two years of repayments. Financial literacy, taught right and taught early, could mean the difference between scraping by and building something sustainable. That's where we all come in. If you've learned the hard lessons, share them. Let's normalise real money conversations. Not just flexing, complaining or comparing salaries. Let's run workshops for young people and new employees. Teach them how to manage that first paycheque, how to resist the pressure to fake a lifestyle, how to stretch an income without snapping. Live within your means. Turn that hobby into a side hustle, because an extra R1,000 can be the difference between stress and breathing room. Respect the job you have, even if it's not the dream. Stay hungry for growth, protect your integrity and be ready when opportunity knocks. Resilience is admirable, but it's not a financial strategy. Let's equip ourselves – and each other – with tools that actually work in this economy. Stay in the loop with The North Coast Courier on Facebook, X, Instagram & YouTube for the latest news. Mobile users can join our WhatsApp Broadcast Service here, or if you're on desktop, scan the QR code below.
Los Angeles Times
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Opinion: All About BookTok
Growing up, I didn't love books. Reading for fun seemed impossible. I would only read the books assigned in school, and even had to use Sparknotes to summarize the content I was reading. However, that all changed in the seventh grade when I decided to pick up The Hunger Games series. Curiously, I searched for a reading vlog video, and I've been hooked on reading ever since. As I became more interested in reading, that hobby quickly spread to my social media feed. I was getting recommendations from people on social media, especially BookTok. BookTok is a community of people where readers give their opinions and their predictions of their favorite books, authors, and genres. According to m, BookTok helped authors sell 20 million printed books in 2021 and again in 2022, with sales rising by another 50 percent afterward. Through BookTok, people connect, find new reads, and acclimate into a larger community. However, not everyone has a positive sentiment for BookTok. Critics of BookTok argue that BookTok functions as one major advertisement. Authors market their books. Readers create fan art and promote books, and even bookstores now display popular BookTok books on labeled shelves or tables. Another criticism of BookTok is the maturity level of some content. Inappropriate content can get on the feeds of young, impressionable audiences. An example of this is the book It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover. Some people found this book to be a romanticized exploration of very private, damaging themes, such as domestic abuse and toxic relationships. Even if Hoover never wanted this piece of writing to be as romanticized as it is, the misinterpretation of the audience is extremely harmful. Even though TikTok is marketed as being for ages 12+, many kids who are younger than 12 download the app and are exposed to this content. BookTok has changed the foundation of the publishing and writing industry. The sales of books have increased thanks to BookTok. According to The Universe , 'Young Adult Fiction genre saw a dramatic increase after 2020, and sales for Adult Fiction novels increased by 26% in 2021. Most notable was the increase in sales for romance novels, which was a staggering 52% from 2022 to 2023. Overall, the US print book market has grown by 9% as a result of BookTok's popularity.' The other pros of BookTok are that it gives lesser-known authors more credit and more of a platform to excel. These authors use TikTok as a form of advertising for their books, and can gain income on the side. Another aspect of BookTok is the community of people surrounding you. It truly feels like a huge book club. People are exposed to a diverse selection of creators, genres, and books. The diversity of BookTok allows people to find their next favorite read. While BookTok has its pros and cons, it has made a significant impact on the world of literature. It created a generation of readers who are more into, more curious, and more prepared to explore stories outside of their norms. Yes, there are valid apprehensions: the advertisements, content readiness, and exaggeration. However, that doesn't eliminate the fact that BookTok has helped many people discover a passion for reading they never knew existed. Personally, it transformed reading from an annoyance into a pleasure, and I'm not the only one. In a world where time on our phones often usurps reading time, anything that gets people happy about books again is worth it. Whether your taste is fantasy, romance, thrillers, or nonfiction, there's a spot for you on BookTok, no matter what. Related
Sydney Morning Herald
3 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Should you trust that five-star rating on Airbnb? How to win the game of online reviews
It's summer in the northern hemisphere. And as holidaymakers travel to unfamiliar places, that means demand for online customer reviews. Want to find a restaurant that won't give everyone food poisoning, or the perfect accommodation for a city break, or a mosquito repellent that actually works? Whether you are looking on Tripadvisor, Airbnb or Amazon, you will almost certainly be guided by reviews from other people. Should you be? The short answer is yes: better to have some information than none. But the flaws of online reviews are evident. For products with some objective measures of quality, there is a big gap between the views of punters and experts. A study in 2016 by Bart de Langhe of Vlerick Business School, in Belgium, and his co-authors found that user ratings for 1272 items listed on bore little relation to either the verdict of Consumer Reports, a US product-testing organisation, or to their resale value. That might be because consumers place greater value on more subjective things like a product's brand. But if ratings are based on subjective criteria, then another problem arises: what if your tastes differ from other people's? The best book ever, according to members of GoodReads, an online community of bibliophiles, is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. You may agree, but plenty of people do not. Another problem is that the people who bother to leave reviews and ratings may not be representative of consumers as a whole. In a study published in 2020, Verena Schoenmueller of Esade, a business school in Spain, and her co-authors examined the distribution of ratings left in around 280 million reviews of more than two million products and services on 25 different platforms. They broadly confirm a familiar pattern: a polar distribution of ratings. More of them were at the extremes of the scale than in the middle, and there was a skew towards more positive ratings. Loading There are lots of theories as to why online reviews follow this pattern. People who have chosen to buy something are already more likely to be satisfied with it. Extreme experiences, good and bad, are more likely to prompt reviews. Some write-ups are not real: estimates of the prevalence of fake reviews vary but they are certainly a problem, and one that generative AI may make worse. The type of platform matters, too. Sharing-economy markets have a different feel. You could leave a four-star review for your Airbnb stay, but now that you have established a relationship with the hosts, and since they are also rating you, it's much easier to just award five. A paper by Georgios Zervas of Boston University and his co-authors, last updated in 2020, found that average ratings for Airbnb properties are consistently higher than those for hotels on Tripadvisor. In theory, businesses have an interest in soliciting as representative a sample of reviews as possible. Honest customer feedback is the best way to spot and fix problems, after all. In practice, the importance of good ratings, particularly for firms that are struggling for visibility, is an incentive for jiggery-pokery. A study from 2013 by Dina Mayzlin of the University of Southern California and her co-authors suggested, for example, that small, independently owned hotels generated more positive fake reviews on Tripadvisor than branded hotel chains.
The Age
3 days ago
- The Age
Should you trust that five-star rating on Airbnb? How to win the game of online reviews
It's summer in the northern hemisphere. And as holidaymakers travel to unfamiliar places, that means demand for online customer reviews. Want to find a restaurant that won't give everyone food poisoning, or the perfect accommodation for a city break, or a mosquito repellent that actually works? Whether you are looking on Tripadvisor, Airbnb or Amazon, you will almost certainly be guided by reviews from other people. Should you be? The short answer is yes: better to have some information than none. But the flaws of online reviews are evident. For products with some objective measures of quality, there is a big gap between the views of punters and experts. A study in 2016 by Bart de Langhe of Vlerick Business School, in Belgium, and his co-authors found that user ratings for 1272 items listed on bore little relation to either the verdict of Consumer Reports, a US product-testing organisation, or to their resale value. That might be because consumers place greater value on more subjective things like a product's brand. But if ratings are based on subjective criteria, then another problem arises: what if your tastes differ from other people's? The best book ever, according to members of GoodReads, an online community of bibliophiles, is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. You may agree, but plenty of people do not. Another problem is that the people who bother to leave reviews and ratings may not be representative of consumers as a whole. In a study published in 2020, Verena Schoenmueller of Esade, a business school in Spain, and her co-authors examined the distribution of ratings left in around 280 million reviews of more than two million products and services on 25 different platforms. They broadly confirm a familiar pattern: a polar distribution of ratings. More of them were at the extremes of the scale than in the middle, and there was a skew towards more positive ratings. Loading There are lots of theories as to why online reviews follow this pattern. People who have chosen to buy something are already more likely to be satisfied with it. Extreme experiences, good and bad, are more likely to prompt reviews. Some write-ups are not real: estimates of the prevalence of fake reviews vary but they are certainly a problem, and one that generative AI may make worse. The type of platform matters, too. Sharing-economy markets have a different feel. You could leave a four-star review for your Airbnb stay, but now that you have established a relationship with the hosts, and since they are also rating you, it's much easier to just award five. A paper by Georgios Zervas of Boston University and his co-authors, last updated in 2020, found that average ratings for Airbnb properties are consistently higher than those for hotels on Tripadvisor. In theory, businesses have an interest in soliciting as representative a sample of reviews as possible. Honest customer feedback is the best way to spot and fix problems, after all. In practice, the importance of good ratings, particularly for firms that are struggling for visibility, is an incentive for jiggery-pokery. A study from 2013 by Dina Mayzlin of the University of Southern California and her co-authors suggested, for example, that small, independently owned hotels generated more positive fake reviews on Tripadvisor than branded hotel chains.
Daily Mirror
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
'I booked holiday with best mate but one hotel room feature made things awkward'
A woman who booked a trip away in Amsterdam with her best friend was excited to explore the city, but when they checked into their hotel, they noticed one big problem Heading on holiday with your mates can be a lot of fun, but making sure you've booked the right accommodation for your trip can be vital. The last thing you want is to end up in a hotel or holiday home that doesn't have enough beds for your group, or that doesn't give you the facilities you need to enjoy your holiday. One woman was left horrified when she checked into a hotel alongside her childhood best friend for a holiday in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, only to find there was one glaring problem. While the pair were excited to explore the city, they were left confused about how they would use one key part of their room. In a post on TikTok, Yazmin asked her friend to show her where the shower was in their room, to which the other woman walked over to the end of the bed. The camera then panned to follow her, revealing a large glass column in the middle of their room that housed the shower. This meant that if either of them wanted to shower while on their trip, they would have to strip off and do it in view of their friend, as the glass column offered no privacy. Yazmin captioned her video: "Just two childhood besties having to watch each other shower." Commenters on the post were left equally baffled by the bizarre placement of the shower. Even as some reasoned that the hotel room might have been made for couples, others said that they would still find it weird to watch their partner in the shower, let alone their friend. One person wrote: "Even as wife and husband, I feel it's weird to just look. Sharing is okay, but watching is a little weird." Another added: "Okay, but I wouldn't even want my partner to have a full 360 view of me when I'm showering every time." While a third said: "I would feel awkward even being alone." Others joked the glass tube looked similar to the tubes that the main characters enter in The Hunger Games, with people asking if the shower would "take them to the arena" once they were finished washing. More commenters were simply confused by the shower's placement in the middle of the room, as it not only made things awkward for the two friends, but was also very much in the way. In a follow-up video, Yazmin showed off the rest of the room, which included all the basics you'd expect from a room, complete with a large double bed, some chairs and a table, a sink - which was also not tucked away in its own bathroom - and a toilet, which was the only part of the room shut behind a door for privacy reasons. The room also had a television that was mounted bizarrely on a white ornament that was designed to look like a tree branch and was attached to the floor and the ceiling.
