All posts by Alexandra Caruso

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Creeping on Students in the Library

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The poster I selected to comment on and review ended up winning the “Judge’s Choice” award for the same reasons I chose it.

It almost became one of the posters of the “Tl;dr and Walk Away” category, but one of the extremely enthusiastic co-creators of it roped me in.

The title:“How Your Phone is Ruining Your Study Habits”

The gist:The poster creators did a correlational study between phone/laptop/phone & laptop use and procrastination.

The methods:This is the best part. These two guys just creeped on and stared at people in the City College library for hours, noting if the selected targets were phone only, laptop only, or phone & laptop users, and counted the amount of times they deviated from assignment-looking type things. Facebook? Strike one. Text messages? Strike two. Tinder? Dear Lord, strike three, and they were out.

The conclusions:Turns out, our worst fears are confirmed. Phone only, laptop only, and phone & laptop use all proved to have strong correlations with procrastination and distraction from work.

Great poster, but…

Looks like the nomophobes will have to give the phones a rest. As for those Macaulay laptops, maybe a little Self Control will suffice.

Nah, Leslie. We’ll siriously be alright.

Sorry to Candy Crush your dreams,

Alex

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Home Plastic Audits: Can You Spot the Difference?

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If you’re a person with a uterus, you’ll know that menstruation is an absolute mess.

I know I don’t need to go into the amount of struggles that we uterians endure: inhaling chocolate like the Noo Noo from Teletubbies,crying over pictures of Tom Hiddleston, and becoming an erupting volcano every time you sneeze.

noonoo
Dear Lord Noo Noo, how similar we are

My period came right on time for the Home Plastic Audit and added nearly 30 pieces of plastic to my week’s total. Both tampons and pads produce two pieces of plastic per tampon and pad. Three women synced up at one time (it happens) in one household could produce up to 100 pieces of plastic within a week.

In light of these issues, some forward-thinking (and most likely exasperated) women have created the underwear of the future!

They’re called Thinx.These pieces of underwear (which come in four different styles and levels of absorbency) were created to replace pads, tampons, and any other disposable period apparatus. They’re meant to be worn throughout an entire day and washed. Sound gross? Thinx has already anticipated an understandable level of revulsion, and makes a fairly convincing sanitary argument: each pair has four layers that absorb, fight bacteria, and maintain dryness (so no, you won’t be swimming in your own blood for 12 or more hours). As of now, they come in two colors–beige and black, and sizes from XS to XXXL.

Me when I receive my order

Giving up the changeable extra layer of plastic waste seems weird at first, but after you…thinx…about it, this really seems like an awesomely sustainable way to transform the experience of menstruation.

Do you appreciate the title now

Semper ubi sub ubi guys,

Alex