Sources: http://brainmail.nowandnext.com/; Signal Media
As many as 48 million of Twitter’s active users — nearly 15 percent of the Twitterverse— are automated accounts designed to simulate real people. The company claims that number is far lower, but the point remains: social media has become a decisive platform for commerce and politics – and its increasingly defined by people who aren’t even people.
By 2025, 1.8 billion people will live in regions that face
"absolute water scarcity".
Ref: United Nations (Switzerland)
In 2016, 19,000 children were admitted to UK hospitals
after self-harming. This represented a rise of 14 per cent
on the previous year.
Ref: Financial Times (UK)
Obesity killed 3 million people globally in 2010.
Malnutrition killed 1 million.
Ref: Financial Times (UK)
A single room in London is now worth more than a whole
house in the north-east of England.
Ref: Office for National Statistics (UK)
About 45 per cent of children in the UK have no siblings.
Ref: The Times (UK)
By 2050, more than 5 million people in Australia will
require access to aged care resources. The housing needs
of this generation will cost around $33 billion.
Ref: Sydney Morning Herald (Aus)
It has been claimed that, by 2040, petrol- and
diesel-driven cars will be illegal in France and the UK,
although no legislation has been tabled to this effect.
Ref: The Economist (UK)
63 per cent of secondary school children wouldn't care if
social media ceased to exist. 58 per cent reported that
they are on the cusp of addiction and 71 per cent say they
have been on a digital detox.
Ref: The Guardian (UK)
Google has revealed that, between 2007 and 2016, one of
the leaders of its self-driving car division was paid $120
million in incentives prior to leaving for Uber.
Ref: San Francisco Chronicle (US)
In 2017, the combined value of all Bitcoins in circulation
was $200 billion - about $5 billion more than the market
capitalisation of Royal Dutch Shell.
Ref: The Times (UK)
Cases of dementia will triple around the world within a
generation.
Ref: World Health Authority (Switzerland)
In 2002, 51 per cent of residents of Hackney, an inner
London borough, said they were satisfied with the area. In
2017 this figure had risen to 89 per cent.
Ref: The Observer (UK)
The distance people walk in the UK has fallen by a third
over the last 30 years. The average Brit now walks for
just 10 minutes a day.
Ref: NHS (UK)