Is social media too distracting? Well, here’s what I have to say about it...

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Sorry, I was just checking my Facebook. What was I talking about? Oh, yeah. Social media. Being distracting. And all that.

Okay, so all joking aside, yes, obviously social media is a big sucker of time and productivity. We spend so much time looking at what our friends are up to, and not what we ourselves are doing. It’s a byproduct of the infinite expanse that is the internet. It’s also so ubiquitous you probably just did it right before reading this article.

Now, the P.R. of this is an odd duck. Because you can hear all sorts of arguments fired at the average person for how they don’t “look up” from their phone enough. And yet, at the same time, we are more connected, more aware, more understanding of the human condition—or at least what friends are up to on the day-to-day.

But still, aren’t we a tad robbed of old interactions? I can’t really ask most people what they’ve been up to lately because I can see the pictures. We share our lives and thus have less to share in person.

A meeting for coffee at Starbucks on Cleveland St. loses a lot of its luster when in ten minutes I can know all the significant things you did in the last few days—before you even get there.

But, you do have people who don’t post to Facebook or other social medias, and those people are now somehow odd, and “other”. Not being able to find someone on the internet is a concerning thing, not a comforting thing.

So, we’re encouraged to post pictures of that one trip to a concert in Tampa, or the Clearwater Beach meetup from last week—less we seem like nothing is going on in our lives.

Which is not good P.R. for anyone. It’s another example of the overwhelming wave of media we all produce and consume, even if it’s not as obvious as when it comes to movies or television.

And sadly, unlike some of the other articles I’ve written, I’m not sure what to do about the situation. Pick a side, I guess. Be a Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube user to the core, or feel the subtle disconnect from the rest of humanity.

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If you liked this article, you can read more of Brandon Scott’s work over at The Hive, or on his website: www.coolerbs.com

Some of you might not like me by the end of this article. I’m willing to accept that. Though, honestly, you should know some of this already—I should not be shocking anyone here.

In this world, there are several universal facts. Two of which are these:

• People always want to improve aspects of themselves. Weight is common.
• If someone had something work for them, they will try to pass it on to others.

And thus, we have today’s topic. The fad diet. The promised land of losing weight. The easy way.

I don’t know where I found this quote, and I think I’m paraphrasing, but I find this thought to be more and more accurate:

“The only weight-loss solution we will not accept is normal diet and exercise.”

I had a bit of an epiphany when I read this, and later on in my life I found this to be the exact truth. Because it was the only way I lost weight.

Now, that doesn’t mean people won’t try the other “techniques”. I cannot tell you how many magazines I’ve seen in grocery stores like the Publix on Gulf to Bay or in Clearwater Plaza advertising how one celebrity or another lost some amount of weight in no time at all. And the internet is full of the “one food you should never eat” and the “miracle food that burns off pounds.”

Just for fun, I looked over some of the more extreme fad diets and then backed away slowly as the words “Werewolf Diet” and “The Five Bite Diet” appeared on my screen.

Now, I’m actually in favor of the more sensible dietary ideas like Paleo or Vegetarian-but that’s because those diets don’t inhibit that many food options and they don’t involve things like eating cotton, or drinking nothing but odd lemon juice mixtures for several days.

I’m sorry to say those do not work—and shouldn’t work. Losing weight is not easy. Yet again, I’m sorry. Calories in must be less than calories burned. Protein and vegetables are king and queen. It’s the only way.

And don’t trust anyone advertising to you anything else.

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If you liked this article, you can read more of Brandon Scott’s work over at The Hive, or on his website: www.coolerbs.com

Are you walking around Clearwater looking at your phone? Are you in Pinellas Park searching for Pokemon? Are you at Clearwater Beach trying to get one with a CP of 500+?

Because we all are. It’s Pokemon Go. It’s the game that in a little more than a week at the time of posting is changing the world.

Who knew Nintendo would be the ones? In hindsight, I suppose it was obvious. They always were making the products that shaped so much of the gaming landscape—so why not the real landscape? It worked for Apple.

And I could go into all the cool new things Pokémon Go is doing for the average person, but over at Buzzazz.com my cohort Paul already did an awesome article on the subject.

So, instead, I’ll do what I tend to do in these articles: show you how this has some serious marketing potential. Because, when you already have this many people playing, and a built-in fan-base like Pokémon, we all stand to have a little benefit.

Are you a business owner per chance? Well, you could be a gym, now couldn’t you?

Let me break this down in case you haven’t already played. In Pokemon Go, there are locations called “gyms” and us Pokémon trainers are in a constant contest for ownership of them. Red team, blue team, and yellow team all seeking domination.

And to fight in these gyms, you have to get close to them. And it appears this was part of Nintendo’s plan all along. More foot traffic can equal more sales.

It’s augmented reality, geotagging marketing. And Nintendo seems like it will be offering it to businesses soon. But even if you can’t get it personally, there’s still perks.

PokeStops and gyms are locations players are incentivized to go toward, and if you happen to set up...I don’t know...a food stand or something in that area, well, Pokémon trainers have to eat, now don’t they?

In fact, I think people are already doing this. Like I said, it changed the world in like a week. So maybe you should get in on it too.

Collect all the marketing potential. Catch all the customers.

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If you liked this article, you can read more of Brandon Scott’s work over at The Hive, or on his website: www.coolerbs.com

Saki is somehow the busiest hard to find restaurant I’ve come across. It’s in Clearwater Mall but hidden away. A gem deep in the rock.

And I’ve had a lot of Americanized Asian cuisine in my life, and I’d like to think I am a decent judge of it. So when I say that Saki was quite enjoyable, I mean it. I mean it with experience.

Here’s the idea, the premise. Saki is a buffet...without the buffet. You sit down, pay a reasonable flat rate, and then you can order off their menu as many times as you want—with the only rule being you have to finish your plate or receive a fee. They can be a tad slow to bring you things, but it’s well worth it.

The menu is large and full of the usual things you’d expect, and some more interesting others. They are not just the standard orange chicken, Mongolian beef arrangement. They also do things like Hibachi and sushi and all the standard soups. And, at a quality miles ahead of a random takeout place.

During the extent of my meal there, I got to have a wide variety of choices and could switch gears on how I wanted the meal to go.

It’s a unique experience, a fun alternative for those of you who may not be interested in going to P.F. Chang’s again for the fiftieth time. For those of you that want a more relaxed dining experience.

Plus...they have seaweed salad. Which is a food I adore.

So, you know, I might be a tad biased.

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If you liked this article, you can read more of Brandon Scott’s work over at The Hive, or on his website: www.coolerbs.com

Let me say, up front, I do support efforts towards body positivity. It is a real and observable fact that the way you are in the weight department has an effect on the humans around you. People really are biased on this. Some won’t admit it, but if you are heavier set, people judge you for it.

And that sucks.

But it’s also not the main point I will broach today. No. Because I am not here necessarily to point fingers at the restaurants, or the drug companies, or even the parents, and blame them for the problems of weight. But not just weight--health in general. Being overweight is just a more visible symptom of a much bigger problem.

And I think it’s a combination of things that got us the way we are. I think it’s everyone’s fault. Mine, yours, everyone’s. Sure, the restaurants and stores advertise food that’s bad for you. Sure, we worked out the exact ways to build an addiction to certain products. Sure, the economy is so messed up it costs me more to get a fresh vegetable in a decent amount than it takes to get a McDonald’s burger.

But it’s also us. We talk about how we could go to these places. We talk about cheating on diets. And if everyone knows stores like Checkers is bad for them, then why are there so many?

Someone is buying. And that is us. A free market means we decide who gets to stay in business.

And then we turn around and chastise the people who grew unhealthy off this. Belittling for lack of “willpower”.

But let me tell you something interesting. The things almost no one is advertising. The things we all should be advertising. Because I started living healthier a while back, and when you cut out most bread, sugar, dairy, corn, fruit, soy, black beans, and white rice: you learn that the way we eat is flawed.

I am not a fad diet person. This is not a fad diet. This is a lifestyle. And let me tell you what happens when you pair it with exercise. Sugar feels like acid in your stomach.

Bread feels like a sleeping pill. Just sucks the energy out of you.

You become frighteningly aware of just how much the world pushes its food on you. How much the world wants you to eat the line-up of junk food places like on Gulf to Bay.

Because they know they can’t survive without you.

But you don’t need them.

I don’t think it could ever be easy. But if you want to make people healthier, it’s got to start with you. With us.

We all, together, have to take responsibility for this. We need to make advertising that promotes health and isn’t judgmental about it.  And, we need to make a planet where they have the right choices readily—and cheaply--available.

And then maybe we can get somewhere.

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If you liked this article, you can read more of Brandon Scott’s work over at The Hive, or on his website: www.coolerbs.com