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The Positive Side of Isolation: 7 Ways to Manage Your Alone Time Wisely

Although spending time in isolation is sometimes stigmatized as making an individual “lonely” or “a loner”, there are many benefits to spending some quality time alone. Oftentimes time spent in solitude provides the best moments to think and relax. However, as people we do still need to be at least a little bit social, so social needs should still be recognized and tend to during times of extended self isolation. Here is the positive side to isolation and 7 ways to manage your alone time wisely. 

 

Alone Time Isn’t Always Lonely 

The first thing that you should do before spending time in isolation is to recognize that alone time isn’t a;ways lonely. Sometimes this stigma created by society can discourage people from spending time in solitude that they could benefit from. Becoming free of this potentially toxic mentality is especially important if you are about to go through, or are currently going through, an Alcohol Detox or drug detox treatment.  

 

The Benefits of Isolation 

There are many benefits to periods of self isolation. These include but are not limited to a better quality of self reflection, improved relaxation, and an increased ability to focus. These benefits are extremely helpful if you are trying to reduce stress, focus on an important project, or are going through a period where you want to think about things on your own more objectively. 

 

Some Ideas for Activities in Isolation 

Although spending time alone has many benefits, these benefits are best brought out when you have some activities or goals that you wish to accomplish during this time of self isolation. These could include things like: 

  1. Going for Hikes 
  2. Enjoying Your Favorite Movies
  3. Enjoying a Nice Meal 
  4. Taking this opportunity to get fit and exercise
  5. Taking up a new hobby or revisiting an old one
  6. Meditating or practicing yoga 
  7. Practicing Mindful Journaling  or writing 

Although this list is a great start, you can fill your alone time with anything that you want. The main goal is to limit idle time, enjoy yourself, and relax. 

 

The Importance of a Daily Routine 

Having a daily routine is crucial for those that are new to a sober living home even during times of self isolation. This is because boredom can be a huge addiction trigger that could potentially cause a relapse in many recovering addicts. Therefore, creating a daily can prevent a lot of pain and hardship. The ideal daily routine should include elements of a healthy lifestyle, enjoyable activities, and hobbies that include short and long term goals. 

 

Conclusion 

It is important to remember that time spent alone doesn’t always have to be lonely, and that there are many benefits to time spent in isolation. These benefits include things like better self reflexion, improved relaxation, and a better ability to focus. There are many things that you can do to fill your time, but it is always suggested that you create and maintain a daily routine during this time. An ideal daily routine includes elements of a healthy lifestyle, enjoyable activities, and outlets for creating both short term and long term goals. 

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Facebook’s Oversight Board will review the decision to suspend Trump

Facebook announced Thursday that its newly established external policy review group will take on one of the company’s most consequential acts: The decision to suspend former President Trump.

On January 7, Facebook suspended Trump’s account indefinitely. That decision followed the president’s actions the day prior, when he incited a violent mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol, leaving American democracy on a razor’s edge and a nation already deep in crisis even more shaken.

Facebook VP of Global Affairs and Communications Nick Clegg called the circumstances around Trump’s suspension an “unprecedented set of events which called for unprecedented action” and explained why the Oversight Board would review the case.

“Our decision to suspend then-President Trump’s access was taken in extraordinary circumstances: A U.S. president actively fomenting a violent insurrection designed to thwart the peaceful transition of power; five people killed; legislators fleeing the seat of democracy,” Clegg said in a blog post.

“This has never happened before — and we hope it will never happen again.”

In its own statement on taking the case, the Oversight Board explained that a five-member panel will evaluate the case soon with a decision planned within 90 days. Once that smaller group reaches its conclusions on how to handle Trump’s Facebook status — and, potentially, future cases involving world leaders — the decision will require approval from the majority of the board’s members. After that, the pace picks up a bit and Facebook will have one week to implement the board’s final decision.

Facebook likes to say that the board is independent, but in spite of having the autonomy to make “binding” case-by-case decisions, the board grew out of Facebook itself. The company appointed the board’s four original co-chairs and those members went on to expand the group into a 20-member body.

As we’ve previously reported, the mechanics of the board bias its activity toward Facebook content taken down — not the stuff that stays up, which generally creates larger headaches for the company and society at large. Facebook has responded to this critique, noting that while the board may initially focus on reviewing takedowns, content still up on the platforms will be part of the project’s scope “as quickly as possible.”

Given some of the criticism around the group, the Trump case is a big moment for how impactful the board’s decisions will really wind up being. If it were to overturn Facebook’s decision, that decision would likely kick up a new firestorm of interest around Trump’s Facebook account, even as the former president recedes from the public eye.

The most interesting bit about the process is that it will allow the former president’s account admins to appeal his own case. If they do so, the board will review a “user statement” arguing why Trump’s account should be reinstated.

Facebook’s external decision-making body is meant as a kind of “supreme court” for the company’s own policy making. It doesn’t really move quickly or respond in the moment, but instead seeks to establish precedents that can lend insight to future policy cases. While the per-case decisions are binding, whether the broader precedents it creates will impact Facebook’s future policy decisions remains to be seen.

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Omnipresent raises $15.8M Series A for its platform to employ remote-workers globally

Omnipresent, which helps companies employ remote-working local teams worldwide, has closed a $15.8 million Series A funding round. The fundraise was led by an undisclosed investor with participation from existing investors, Episode 1, Playfair Capital and Truesight Ventures. The company said it closed the round five months after its July 2020 $2 million seed round.

Founders Matthew Wilson and Guenther Eisinger started the company as part of Entrepreneur First’s London cohort in 2019.

Omnipresent says it ensures the process of remote-hiring costs a fraction of what it would if the company did it on their own, by using Omnipresent’s platform to onboard employees compliantly in 150 countries. It provides employees with local contracts, tax contributions, and local and international benefits such as health insurance, pensions and equity options.

In a joint statement, Guenther Eisinger and Matthew Wilson, co-CEOs of Omnipresent said: “Even before the pandemic we recognized the revolutionary potential of breaking down legal and administrative barriers of international employment. As former business owners, we had firsthand experience of what a headache it is to navigate the complexity and bureaucracy of building global teams. Now with the pandemic and the global shift toward remote working it’s confirmed that we are on the right track.”

Wilson told me in an interview: “For instance, in Canada, we have a Canadian entity and we enter into an employment relationship with that person in Canada, on behalf of our client, so they don’t have to set up any of the legal infrastructure themselves in Canada, or any of the 149 countries that we operate in. We then manage all the ongoing administration of the employment relationship, whether that’s from an HR perspective, from an employee benefits perspective, or if they want to get health care for instance.”

The company competes with other firms like Remote.com and Boundless HQ.

Carina Namih, general partner at Episode 1 Ventures commented: “While talent is evenly distributed around the world, for too long, opportunities have not been. I have experienced firsthand the challenge of hiring globally. Omnipresent has already become a crucial piece of infrastructure for global teams working across different countries.”

Joe Thornton, general partner at Playfair Capital commented: “Remote work undoubtedly represents the future of the modern workforce. The sooner companies adapt, the sooner they will reap the massive competitive advantage associated with a globally distributed workforce, including increased workforce productivity and satisfaction and a larger and more diverse pool of talent from which to recruit workers.”

Omnipresent said its own employer surveys show that over 85% of employers will be employing remote or international employees in 2021.