By Annika Dahlgren
If you’ve heard of American Authors, Twenty-One Pilots, or even X Ambassadors, you’re bound to have heard about MisterWives, one of the latest bands to steal the ears of many young people.
Their hit “Reflections” is easily recognized, but the song “Coffins” was most people’s first introduction to the band.
Misterwives. Photo Credit: Abby Gillardi/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
Lead singer Mandy Lee is the only woman in this alternative/Indie pop band joined by percussionist Etienne Bowler, bass guitarist William Hehir, guitarist Marc Campbell, and multi-instrumentalist Jesse Blum.
Read More: Can The 1975 Change The Music Industry As We Know It?
The band formed in 2012 and began performing in a small venue called the Canal Room in New York City.
The day after their performance, Photo Finish Records signed the band, and immediately they began work on their first EP, Reflections.
Since then, MisterWives has gained recognition for opening for Twenty-One Pilots and performing for MTV, VH1, and Jimmy Kimmel Live.
On February 17, their latest single “Machine” was released as a preview for their second album that will arrive later this year.
MisterWives is definitely a band you need to check out if you haven’t already.
Their unique sounds is mesmerizing, and you’ll get hooked immediately.
This is one of the up-and-coming bands that is going to become a household name, just wait and see.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.
Cover Photo Credit: Abby Gillardi/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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Is Video Game Addiction A Real Thing?
Much like gamers themselves, instances of gaming addiction are often stigmatized.
While stories of deaths stemming from three-day gaming binges in internet cafes are hyped in media coverage, gaming addiction in the United States is more often characterized by someone sacrificing their work, school and social life in order to progress in the digital space.
Psychologists such as Douglas Gentile at Iowa State University have studied video game addiction for decades and asserts that our access to broadband internet and the spread of technology have only increased addiction numbers.
Gentile believes that the global gaming addiction rate falls somewhere between 4 and 10 percent of gamers.
Who is and isn’t addicted is often hard to determine, as researchers offer contrasting definitions of what constitutes addiction.
In an interview with CNN, Gentile says games become compelling because they satiate our basic human needs for autonomy, belonging and competence.
Games put you in control, they can offer a sense of community and most games have skill curves that allow players to feel successful while playing.
Recent additions to modern games include systems designed to keep the player engaged through unpredictable reward systems.
Games such as Destiny have been called out for their random number generator (RNG) loot systems that randomize the rewards dropped for players after completing a mission or objective.
Photo Credit: patrick janicek/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
Titles boasting millions of players such as Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Rocket League and Overwatch feature cosmetic items that are unlocked through a system that most closely resembles a slot machine.
In Call of Duty, items that bear a significant impact on gameplay are obtained through this same RNG system, giving an edge to players able to obtain higher-tier items.
Those unable to secure the best rewards are encouraged to keep playing or spend even more money on a micro-transaction system to gain an edge over others or secure coveted in-game items that hold little to no value outside of the digital game space.
Through these examples, one can assume that not only are modern games hooking players with feelings of empowerment and belonging, but the addition of systems that closely mirrors gambling has created a dual threat of addiction for gamers young and old.
But statistics and insights from psychologists only go so far in explaining the real-world impact gaming addiction can have on an individual.
Speaking from personal experience, I can recall how detrimental my teenage gaming binges were when I would sometimes spend more than 24 hours at a time playing a single game.
I would ignore school work, reject spending time with family and not leave my house for days.
The concept of these marathon sessions weren’t taboo in my friends group.
We would boast about having more than 1,000 hours logged in a game.
It wasn’t uncommon for us to lose literal days of our lives to these online experiences.
I’ve met people well into college with close to 3,000 hours played in an online multiplayer game.
They commonly have the propensity to brush off criticism about their time invested with explanations like “It’s the only game I play,” and “I still get my work done”.
But life isn’t a game, and too much time spent in the digital world can be detrimental to your health, work and social life.
This is all coming from someone who runs his own gaming website, who hosts a gaming and tech talk show at his college and has poured months, if not years of his life into video games and the culture encompassing them.
I’ve seen how gaming can foster creativity, establish connections between generations and empower the physically disabled.
But I’ve also witnessed the impact being too deeply enveloped in a particular game can have on a person.
I’ve seen friends fail classes, fracture relationships and miss out on amazing opportunities, all because they couldn’t pull themselves away from the TV or computer screen.
Although gaming addiction has no fixed definition, its credibility as a real issue in the present day should be undisputed.
The complications gaming addiction creates may originate from time spent in a digital space, but the effects are tangibly existent in reality.
There’s no reset button for the real world.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.
Cover Photo Credit: COD Newsroom/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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The Unlucky History Of Friday The 13th And Why Some Of Us Fear It
It’s that special day of the year again. This Friday will be the 3rd and final Friday the 13th of the year.
Like black cats and broken mirrors, the day has become synonymous with bad luck and dread in western culture.
According to NPR, fear of Friday the 13th is an actual clinical condition called paraskevidekatriaphobia.
People suffering from this condition fear the day so much that some actually refuse to fly, make business decisions, or even spend a lot of money on this most inauspicious of days.
According to National Geographic, “It’s been estimated that $800 or $900 million is lost in business on this day because people will not fly or do business they normally would do.”
But this begs the question, why?
Accounts vary greatly as to the origins of the superstition of Friday the 13th. Some historians claim that the superstition surrounding the day most likely originated during the Middle Ages and may even have Biblical origins, according to the Telegraph.
One of the most popular legends surrounding the misfortune of Friday the 13th involves the events of Friday October 13th, 1307.
It was on this day that King Philip IV of France ordered the arrest and execution of all those associated with the Knights Templar to avoid having to pay back the massive financial debt he owed to the knightly order.
This legend was popularized when it was referenced in Dan Brown’s novel, The Da Vinci Code.
Prior to this; however, Friday and the number 13 were both considered to unlucky. Geoffrey Chaucer referenced the belief that it was bad luck to start a journey or a project on a Friday in the Canterbury Tales.
In Christian tradition, Good Friday is remembered as the day when Jesus was crucified. Some biblical scholars actually claim that the crucifixion of Jesus actually took place on Friday the 13th.
The number 13 has also been considered unlucky in western culture since antiquity. A Norse myth told of a dinner party for 12 gods at which Loki, 13th guest, showed up and shot the god of joy and happiness according to Livescience. A similar belief exists that Judas the betrayer, was the 13th person to arrive at the last supper.
Today, Friday the 13th is most commonly associated with the Friday the 13th movie franchise.
But whether you’re talking about dead Templars or dead camp counselors, Friday the 13th continues to capture the imagination and hold a special place in western superstition.
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Cover Photo Credit: Ed Schipul/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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Here’s Why Memorial Day Really Matters This Election Year
By Christopher Kelly
Memorial Day this year calls on all Americans with particular significance. It requires us to look backward at our past and forward to our future as our nation considers its choices for its next commander in chief.
Just last year we celebrated the seventieth anniversary of the end of World War II, the worst war in human history. Americans like Lieutenant Dick Winters of the 101st Airborne parachuted into Normandy seventy-two years ago, in 1944, in Operation Overlord.
In the spring of 1945, American soldiers discovered the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps. After Eisenhower visited Ohrdruf concentration camp, which had been liberated by American troops on April 4, he declared: “We are told that the American soldier does not know what he is fighting for. Now at least he will know what he is fighting against.”
Over the course of just under four years, over sixteen million American men and women had served in some capacity in the war. Today in 2016, fewer than one million WWII vets are still alive.
Just over 400,000 Americans, most of them young, never returned from their duties in World War II. On Memorial Day, Americans will visit cemeteries such as Arlington in Virginia, as well as many more around the nation. Many Americans who paid the ultimate price are, however, buried overseas, in twenty-four different cemeteries in eleven different countries.
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Throughout its history, Europe has been a blood-soaked continent. Two World Wars scarred the twentieth century. The Napoleonic Wars raged on and off for over fifteen years. The Hundred Years’ War between France and England actually lasted for 116 years.
After World War II ended, American servicemen and women stayed in bases across Europe. The Marshall Plan helped to rebuild the shattered economies of postwar Europe. In 1946, Winston Churchill warned of an “Iron Curtain” that had descended on Eastern Europe. NATO was founded in 1949 to confront the challenge of Communism.
In 1989, the Cold War finally ended and the Berlin Wall came down. The defeat of Fascism and Communism was due in large part to the sacrifice of the American servicemen and women that we honor on Memorial Day.
Since 1945, Europe has enjoyed a period of peace, interrupted only by the breakup of Yugoslavia, that is unprecedented in its history. America as well as Europe have benefitted from this long peace.
Simultaneously, though, Americans have been fighting a war of unprecedented duration.
On September 11, 2001, our world suddenly changed. Since the autumn of 2001, American troops have been engaged in Afghanistan fighting Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
There are soldiers serving today in Afghanistan who were toddlers when the Twin Towers in New York were struck by hijacked commercial airliners.
Americans in 2016 confront many dangers. In the Middle East, we must face the challenge posed by ruthless ISIS operatives who have waged a war against diverse people in different countries, and even against history itself.
The Syrian civil war has claimed over 100,000 lives and has created the worst refugee crisis since World War II. Recent attacks in Paris, Brussels, and San Bernardino, California, remind us that terrorism remains a threat around the world.
This year, Americans will select a new commander in chief. As we go to the polls in November, we should reflect upon the need for sound, mature judgment in all of our leaders, and particularly in our president.
Americans must consider that they are choosing an individual who controls the most powerful military in the world and who has the power to end life as we know it.
Memorial Day imposes a duty on all Americans to remember the sacrifice of our fallen heroes and to reflect prayerfully on how best we should steer a course through our dangerous and turbulent world.
Christopher Kelly is the co-author of America Invades: How We’ve Invaded or Been Militarily Involved with almost Every Country on Earth and Italy Invades: How Italians Conquered the World. For more information, visit www.americainvades.com and www.italyinvades.com.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in public affairs. You can write for us.
Cover Photo Credit: Patrick Emerson/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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