Can Anyone Start a Gambling Business? Everything You Need to Know

Reading Time: 4 minutesOnline gambling has been one of the most desirable business spheres, even for those who don’t have much experience in all that – it’s much simpler than it may seem.
But can anyone who got the idea just go and start his own casino?
We’ve analyzed the market for you and brought you answers to this question – check it out below!
Why Online Casino Business Seems So Attractive?
The online gambling industry has been exploding in recent years. It’s set to hit $124 billion in revenue by 2027, with over 233 million players globally.
But where does the fast growth come from? Accessibility plays a huge role here – online platforms let you join from your phone or laptop, anywhere in the world.
Another big factor is technology – tons of new features such as live dealer games, VR, and crypto payments are completely changing the field, making it more exciting than ever.
How to Start Your Business?
Now, let’s see what you need to do if you’re planning to start your own casino.
Start with a Strong Business Plan
A good business plan is already halfway to success. It outlines everything you need to do, helping you stay focused and organized all the time.
Start by understanding your target audience – are they more into old-school games like poker and blackjack, or do they prefer more modern options such as live games?
Take a deep look at your competitors, as well. Find out what they’re doing right and where they fall short.
Use that information to make yourself a unique selling point for your casino. For instance, you could specialize in Bitcoin roulette sites to attract all those crypto users.
Since that is the fastest-growing niche right now, it attracts a younger audience, which seems like a perfect category to target.
Get Licensed and Stay Legal
You can’t operate an online casino without a license. It’s a legal requirement that also builds trust with your players.
The type of license you need depends on where you want to operate – some jurisdictions have faster and cheaper options, while others take longer but carry more prestige.

Malta: It’s a very respected licensing hub, but approval can take up to six months or more.
Curacao: More budget-friendly and quicker but undergoing changes to tighten regulations.

Besides licensing, you’ll need a corporate bank account and payment processing agreements – all these steps ensure smooth transactions and regulatory compliance.
Build the Right Platform
Your software is the head of your casino – it needs to be reliable, fast, and safe. Choose a platform that’s easy to use, robust back-end tools, and smooth payment processes.
Focus on important things like:

Game variety and mobile optimization.
Safe payment systems for fiat and crypto.
Features for promotions, player management, and anti-fraud measures.

Picking the right software sets the tone for your casino’s overall experience, so don’t rush this step. An optimized platform keeps players happy and returning for more.
Research What Games Players Love
When it comes to games, quality matters more than quantity – most players are looking for engaging, high-quality options rather than a variety of bad games. Here’s a breakdown of the ones you must consider:

Slot Machines: Always a good solution.
Table Games: Poker, blackjack, and roulette are classics for a good reason.
Live Dealer Games: Perfect for making that real-life casino vibe online.

Focus on mobile optimization since most of the players now gamble on their phones.
Marketing Is the Most Important
Marketing is the first thing to do if you want to get noticed among all contenders. Start by building excitement even before you launch the platform. Use social media, gaming influencers, and teaser ads to spread the word.
Once live, keep players active all the time by adding certain promotions such as welcome bonuses, cashback offers, and loyalty rewards – make people at least try your platform for the beginning.
SEO and affiliate marketing are also something you can’t forget – optimize your website and partnering with affiliates and you’ll increase your visibility and attract more players organically.
Importance of Mobile Compatibility
Even though it takes more time to optimize, mobile compatibility is non-negotiable thing now. Since over 70% of online gamblers use their smartphones or tablets to play, your platform must work perfectly on smaller screens as well.
This includes ensuring quick load times, simple navigation through the platform, and HQ graphics that are optimized specially for mobile devices.
Gamers expect convenience, and optimizing for mobile keeps them active for a longer time. A casino that runs smoothly on any device attracts a bigger audience and ensures players stay connected wherever they are.
Power of Strong Customer Service
Having exceptional customer service can be a big factor sometimes. So, make it easy for players to get help by offering 24/7 support through live chat, email, or social media.
Go the extra mile by creating a detailed FAQ section and offering demo versions of your games – try to build trust and help players feel confident when on your platform.
Retention is equally important – use certain VIP programs, exclusive tournaments, and personalized rewards to make players feel valued. Happy players are loyal players, and loyalty mans long-term success.
Financial Planning – You Need to Know What You’re Doing
Running an online casino isn’t cheap at all. But before you jump in, you need a clear understanding of your costs.
Pre-launch Expenses

Licensing: 10–30% of your budget.
Software: 25–35%.
Marketing: 15–20%.

Expenses After the Launch
Once live, allocate about half of your budget to marketing. Consistent promotions and advertising are crucial for bringing in new players and keeping existing ones active all the time.
Plan your finances for at least the first year, focusing on profit margins and potential risks.
Innovation is a Key
The online casino industry lives out of innovation. To stay ahead, consider adding some special features such as:

Crypto Payments: Bitcoin and Ethereum bring you a big audience.
Sports Betting: Combining casino games with sports betting can improve your chances.
Virtual Reality Games: VR is still a small niche but is growing quickly and can become a big thing.

How Long Does It Take to Launch?
The time that takes you to launch an online casino can vary depending on your planning and the software provider you choose. On average, it takes about three months to set up your platform, design the website, and add all the games and bonus settings.
You can speed up the whole process by giving clear feedback and being there for your business. Efficient collaboration with your software team can make a big difference in getting your casino live faster.
The Takeaway
Starting an online casino is no easy task at all, but if you give it the right preparation, it’s not impossible.
If you keep your focus on market research, licensing, software, and marketing strategies, you can build a competitive platform that has its own community.
Whether you specialize in roulette, live games, or sports betting, the key is to keep your players active all the time – so, stay innovative, plan carefully, and keep learning about your audience so you can meet their needs.

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Happy holidays to all our Technology Record readers!

Amber Hickman |

24 December 2024

From releasing new artificial intelligence innovations to showcasing new solutions and customer wins at Microsoft Ignite in Chicago, USA, in November, it’s been an exciting year for Microsoft and the wider technology world. The Technology Record team has worked hard to deliver the latest on these developments across the website, social media and in the magazine, and will now be taking a short break for the holidays. Our normal coverage will resume in the first week of January 2024. 

Until then, why not check out some of our highlights from 2024? Here’s a handpicked selection of some of the most popular stories that have been featured online and in our magazines this year. 

You can’t spell acceleration without AI 

AI is playing a transformative role across the manufacturing and mobility industries, as showcased at Hannover Messe, which took place in Hanover, Germany, in April. In our Spring 2024 issue, Dominik Wee, corporate vice president for manufacturing and mobility at Microsoft, stated that “we are experiencing one of the most exciting and technologically advanced eras in the industry with the explosion of AI,” and shared recent developments and the support available for organisations looking to begin their AI-adoption journey. 

Joining forces to break the glass ceiling 

According to McKinsey & Company, diverse organisations are more likely to generate increased profit than their less diverse peers, but how can technology companies attract and retain more women? According to Christine Bongard, CEO of the Women in Technology Network, “Company leadership must set the tone in order for other levels of management to ‘buy-in’ and provide additional levels of support to women.” 

Bongard is joined by Anna Radulovski, CEO and founder of WomenTech Network and Gavriella Schuster, former Microsoft executive, in our Summer 2024 women in technology roundtable. 

Powering business growth 

“Generative AI is helping to enhance productivity, giving people the superpower to achieve so much more,” said Satish Thomas, corporate vice president of Microsoft Industry Clouds, when discussing the wealth of benefits the technology is delivering for organisations across every industry. 

Thomas covers the new business opportunities that AI brings and how Microsoft is working with its partner ecosystem to help customers solve unique business challenges in our Autumn 2024 cover story. 

Partnering for progress 

More than 500,000 companies are now part of the global Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program, led by Nicole Dezen, chief partner officer and corporate vice president of global partner solutions at Microsoft.  

“Our focus on AI and its transformative potential has been a key driver of our mission to empower every customer and every organisation on the planet to achieve more,” said Dezen in our Winter 2024 executive interview, where she discussed Microsoft’s journey with AI over recent years, success stories from the partner ecosystem and its customers, the significance of events such as Microsoft Ignite and more. 

We have barely scratched the surface of some of the incredible insights we received this year from Microsoft executives and industry leaders across all sectors. You can find the four issues of Technology Record that were published this year here:  

Spring 2024, Summer 2024, Autumn 2024, Winter 2024.  

Many thanks to all our readers and partners who have contributed to and supported Technology Record in 2024, and here’s to another year of innovation and transformation starting with our Spring 2025 issue. Subscribe to receive your copy.  

Happy holidays to all, see you next year! 

We Already Run the Post Office Like a Business

The Revolving Door Project, a Prospect partner, scrutinizes the executive branch and presidential power. Follow them at therevolvingdoorproject.org.

With America having been Made Great Again Again, President-elect Donald Trump is back at his old playbook of looting the nation while casually tossing out earthshaking proposals to distract us all from said looting. At least one of these proposals has a real chance of success with a Congress and media both scrambling hard to the right: privatizing the United States Postal Service.

The Washington Post first reported Trump’s enthusiasm for postal privatization on December 14. The paper’s editorial board—which infamously kowtowed to its billionaire owner, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, earlier this year—rushed to praise the idea. I am ethically obligated to report that the board technically wrote, “we are agnostic on privatization,” in the second paragraph of its piece. I am even more ethically obligated to point out that they spent the remaining nine paragraphs castigating USPS and raging against the very concept of public options. “With or without privatization, the risk for the U.S. Postal Service is not radical reform; it’s reform that’s not radical enough,” the board concluded. Doesn’t sound too agnostic to me!

Postal privatization has been a glittering conservative prize—the Heritage Foundation has called for it consistently for 20 years. Centrist neoliberals have hemmed and hawed—Matthew Yglesias wanted to privatize in 2012, then wanted to punt on the issue in 2020, and is now “all for postal privatization” again. But the actual public adores USPS. It had a +51 net favorability rating and the second-highest affirmative favorables in this year’s annual Pew poll of well-known federal agencies, just behind the National Park Service.

USPS is America’s most visible example of a government-owned commercial enterprise, so its continuing existence shows that there is, in fact, an alternative to the private market. And it turns out the public likes it when the government does nice things for them. What a concept.

Read more from the Revolving Door Project

The charge against the post office is always the same: It doesn’t turn a profit, while private shipping companies do. WaPo’s editorial board grumbled that “the Postal Service spent $89.5 billion last year, more than three-quarters of which went to personnel costs.” Asked about this expense at a press conference, Trump invoked “Amazon and UPS and FedEx and all the things that you didn’t have [before the 1970s].”

Slight problem: Amazon, UPS, and FedEx are all USPS customers. They contract with the post office for last-mile delivery to rural and far-flung areas where it’s unprofitable to maintain a robust delivery network. Amazon has a deal with USPS, in place since 2006, to use the public post to deliver 1.5 billion packages a year.

This is the key flaw in the postal privatization argument: No one, public or private, can be sure they’ll make money operating a truly nationwide delivery network in the long run. The reason we have a publicly owned postal service with a universal service mandate to every mailbox in the country is because that’s the only way to offset the cost of maintaining what is, even in the digital age, an indispensable public good. If everyone deserves to be able to ship and receive letters and parcels in America (and yes, everyone does), then we need the power of government to do that.

Privatization advocates like to point to European countries with private posts, but those nations are all geographically smaller, and more densely populated in urban centers. The United States is the length of a continent plus several island territories. We know that maintaining that carriage network is costly from U.S. history: Congress criminalized long-distance private letter carriage in 1845, then intracity carriage in 1872, because private “cream-skimming” was eating up the profitable shipping routes, leaving the public post office with massive liabilities.

The post office is required by law to maintain both prompt delivery and low prices nationwide, a dual mandate that used to be known as the “post office principle.”

Even a statutory monopoly didn’t make the post office profitable, because doing so would mean throwing out what makes the post valuable in the first place. The post office is required by law to maintain both prompt delivery and low prices nationwide, a dual mandate that used to be known as the “post office principle.”

Enshrining high overhead and low prices in law guarantees deficits in the long run, especially once there were viable alternatives like telephones and later email for peer-to-peer communication. Congress was fine with that. The Postal Policy Act of 1958 reads: “The postal establishment was created to unite more closely the American people, to promote the general welfare, and to advance the national economy … It clearly is not a business enterprise conducted for profit or for raising general funds.”

Privatizing the post office would probably mean eliminating the post office principle, which in turn would mean far higher prices, lower-quality service, or both. Amazon, UPS, and FedEx may follow suit without a public competitor setting a floor for their rates or picking up the gaps in their coverage. Rural consumers would suffer the most, especially those reliant on the mail for prescription drug delivery or baby chicks (really).

In nations that have tried it, postal privatization has also generally led to massive workforce cuts. USPS is heavily unionized, and heavily Black—it offers the highest median annual and hourly wages of the ten occupations with the highest share of the Black workforce.

Maybe you think a public-private hybrid might offer the best of both worlds, keeping the universal mandates but executing them with an efficient, corporate-like organizational structure. Well, congratulations, you’ve just reinvented USPS.

The Postal Reorganization Act of 1970 reformulated the post office not as a cabinet department but “an independent establishment of the executive branch.” Functionally speaking, USPS is a government-owned corporation. The Postal Board of Governors is basically a board of directors, the postmaster general whom they select is basically a CEO, and the Postal Regulatory Commission is, as the name implies, a regulator. The 1970 law also prohibited USPS from taking general funding appropriations from Congress, so like a business, it has to fund itself through the revenue it generates.

After a rocky first few years, USPS did just that. It turned a modest profit for about half a decade thanks to a sudden surge in letters in the ’80s and ’90s, along with postage rate hikes, new sorting machines, and ancillary products.

But in 2006, Congress set USPS up to fail. Most infamously, it required the post to fully prefund retirement benefits for its employees, essentially mandating heavy financial losses. Congress thankfully repealed that mandate in 2022. But the 2006 law also prohibited USPS from entering any new markets besides physical delivery. With letter volume steadily dropping with the dawn of email, USPS’s financials have tumbled downhill ever since.

It’s important to emphasize that the post office’s financial problems have artificial causes. Generations of politicians, Democratic and Republican, have statutorily forced the agency into impossible binds, then sighed that government just can’t seem to do what the private sector is never asked to do in the first place.

Why, in the age of fiat money, are we demanding that a noninflationary function like the post fully fund itself at all? This fiscal year’s postal deficit is $9.5 billion. We’re paying a third of that every year to one arms contractor that had already defrauded the Pentagon multiple times when it won the contract. If Congress and the president are looking for inefficiencies, they ought to start with the war machine.

Moreover, why are we still forcing the Postal Service to do nothing besides physical package delivery? It’s not like there’s some shortage of useful things for a national public-information network to do.

Silicon Valley lobbied hard to restrict the Postal Service to physical mail at the dawn of the internet age, correctly recognizing that USPS’s demonstrated interest in email posed an existential threat to the nascent business model of surveillance capitalism. The result is an internet that’s an endless spying machine optimized to track us, serve us ads, and formulate pricing from our demonstrated behaviors. What if the post office offered free or low-cost surveillance-free, highly encrypted email services? To be clear, the U.S. post’s own record on privacy is seriously flawed. But with proper legislation and oversight, a real public need could easily be addressed.

Of course, the clearest expansion USPS could make would be postal financial services, as the agency itself and a litany of onlookers have been begging for years. The Prospect reported that USPS tried a “pilot program” in 2021 … which operated in just four locations, none of which were actually in underbanked neighborhoods, according to Take On Wall Street’s Porter McConnell. Moreover, the program only cashed checks and sold reloadable, low-limit debit cards, not exactly a robust suite of financial services. That’s because USPS had to cram the pilot program into its heavily limited existing financial products, most of which relate to money orders. True postal banking requires congressional authorization.

It’s especially eerie that Trump floated privatizing the Postal Service one day and then liquidating the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation the next. The original Postal Savings System was created in part to stave off calls for nationwide deposit insurance after the financial panic of 1907, and closed up shop because politicians and finance industry lobbyists thought it was redundant after the FDIC. If Trump successfully eliminated both agencies (unlikely, but not impossible), U.S. consumers of mail and money would be worse off than in 1911.

I doubt that Trump thinks or cares enough about the Postal Service or the FDIC to commit much personal energy to either project. But unelected co-president Elon Musk certainly sees the value in being the private monopolist of crucial networks, and is unsurprisingly eager to slash the post as much as possible. He and his allies will make the same foolish argument about profits, and the media will lap it up as an opportunity to perform nonpartisanship and fete the thought processes of wealthy businessmen. It’s up to the rest of us to see through the act; they wouldn’t want to kill the Postal Service so badly if it didn’t represent something they fear.

Local counsellor pens children’s book

Sit in My Puddle is Erin Legault’s first book, but she’s been working on the concept behind it for years.

Legault is a counsellor in Whitehorse, and recently published her first book: a children’s book about a wolf pup named Arrow, who is going through a difficult time, and his friends and family, who are trying to help him. While the book is aimed at children, Legault said she does believe adults can benefit from reading the story, too.

“I want it to be for the adults who are reading the book with their kids. I think it’s a very simple concept,” she told the News in an interview on Dec. 20. “I don’t think it’s intuitive.”

The book begins with Arrow the wolf pup in a glum mood: there is a literal storm cloud over his head, showering rain onto the pup’s head and forming a puddle at his feet.

A succession of Northern friends and family make attempts to cheer up Arrow: a game of hide and seek with Arctic fox, shiny items from Raven, advice from Auntie Caribou and snacks from Bison. It’s all to no avail, only making Arrow more and more frustrated. It’s not until Arrow’s mother comes and sits with him underneath the storm cloud, in the puddle, that he finally starts to feel better.

The concept of the puddle comes from Legault’s own attempts to communicate her feelings with her loved ones, she said. She said when she had been venting to her partner, he tried to offer her solutions to her issues, which only made her more frustrated.

“I was trying in my head to come up with a way to help him understand what I needed in that moment. And honestly, this analogy, this idea, was what popped into my head, of just sit in my puddle,” said Legault.

“Stop trying to solve it, stop trying to fix it. Just come and be with me in my grumpy, in my whatever I need to be.”

As a certified counsellor, Legault said she’s done seminars for Yukon University’s Northern Institute for Social Justice. The initial training she offered were regarding suicide intervention, but during the pandemic, Legault was asked to prepare some free webinars. One of the ones she prepared was about the concept of the puddle. She said the concept went over well, and she has continued to present that seminar each semester at Yukon University. She’s also provided the seminar to other organizations across the territory.

The concept became a children’s book when she did a “discovery session” with Mammoth, a Whitehorse design agency, in 2022. However, by 2023, she was feeling frustrated that the concept was still just that — a concept.

Having returned from putting her son to bed, Legault began to talk to her partner about it.

He “was just sick of listening to me, sick of sitting in my puddle, about the puddle,” said Legault. “So he just started firing questions at me.”

The book began to take shape, and within a few months, she was seeking her friends’ feedback on a draft.

She was quickly confronted with another hurdle, though: finding a publisher. The draft sat dormant for half a year until Legault attended a workshop on self-publishing – hosted by the News’ Yukonomist columnist Keith Halliday. She learned authors can self-publish via Amazon, and she then quickly got to work to find an illustrator. She landed on Kim Soderberg, an illustrator living in Cleveland, Ohio.

Sitting in someone else’s puddle is a practice of empathy, according to Legault.

“People often already know how to solve the problem, how to fix it. They just might not be ready to go there yet,” she said.

“It’s about how to sit and be with people in their hard, uncomfortable, confusing kind of feelings and places.”

However, Legault said, one can still have boundaries when sitting in someone else’s puddle.

Sometimes you may not have the time available to sit with someone in their puddle for as long as they need, and sometimes you may not be the right person to sit in someone’s puddle, said Legault.

“This is by no means that as soon as somebody’s having a problem, you just always have to sit there and listen and be patient for as long as they want. Like I said, there gets to be boundaries, parameters. Your needs have to be considered as well,” she said.

She gives the example of her young son, Sawyer. She said she tries to take a few minutes to sit with him when he’s having a temper tantrum. She said it is important to validate his feelings in that moment, and not shut him down.

“There are definitely times that I’ve tried the sit in my puddle approach, and it’s still me carrying him out to the car, not wearing his winter boots, because he wanted to have a 20-minute puddle session, and I only had time to have a three-minute puddle session,” said Legault.

Sawyer is the inspiration for the book’s main character, Arrow. Legault said she has read the book with Sawyer a few times, which has showed her the power of the story’s message.

During the part when Arrow’s mother comes to sit in the puddle with Arrow, Legault said Sawyer got a quivery lip.

“I was actually like, ‘Oh my God.’ I can’t believe that I could write something that could connect with a four-and-a-half-year-old that’s making him feel things and making him emote,” said Legault.

Legault said while she has toyed with ideas for future books, she’s not sure she will write more. That said, she said she’d like to see the idea of the puddle “go further.”

Sit in My Puddle is available at Mac’s Fireweed Books in Whitehorse, at local Coles/Indigo stores, on Legault’s website, mypuddle.ca. It is also available for purchase on Amazon.

Contact Talar Stockton at [email protected]

I traveled the world while taking online classes because it was cheaper than room and board at my college. I don’t regret it.

Education

I traveled the world while taking online classes because it was cheaper than room and board at my college. I don’t regret it.

Essay by

Kelly Burch

2024-12-24T14:37:01Z

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Kelsea Myers didn’t want to pay for room and board, so she traveled instead.

Courtesy of Kelsea Myers

Kelsea Myers, 20, traveled throughout North America during her freshman year of college.She took online classes while staying in hostels.Eventually, she wanted to have a more typical college experience.This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kelsea Myers. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I blocked social media apps from 9-5 – I wrote a book in the time I got back

When Adele Walton blocked Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and LinkedIn every day, her productivity flourished in surprising and positive ways
I never thought I had a social media addiction. I’d never stayed up scrolling all night; my sleep always took priority. I could detach from my phone when on holiday. I never flicked through my “explore” page hoping to find something else to spark my interest – my own feeds were enough to satisfy me. Sure, I’d check my phone impulsively throughout the day without even realising, but didn’t we all?Last year, all of that changed, upending my understanding of social media addiction completely. I was working three days a week as a press officer while freelancing and trying to maintain some semblance of a social life at the time, and I knew I would only be able to meet my deadline if I got rid of as many pointless distractions as possible. Social media had to be one. So I downloaded an app called Opal, which allows you to block apps between certain times of day. To fit in my writing hours, I blocked Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and LinkedIn from 8:30-5:30pm daily.Within weeks, the behavioural conditioning that I’d unconsciously consented to since getting my first smartphone aged 13 was clear. I couldn’t go 15 minutes without reaching for my phone, and the disappointment would surge each time I realised I couldn’t get that instant dopamine hit. I had to remind myself that these social media platforms had invested unimaginable amounts of money and research in order to get us hooked in the first place. It wasn’t my fault that I was addicted, it was by design. Notifications like banners, alerts, vibrations and red dots trigger dopamine releases, with the constant scroll and refresh of our feeds acting like slot machines.Over the next few months, however, the disappointment of picking up a boring phone eased. What was left was a subtle feeling of comfort, knowing that I had taken a small step towards reclaiming my own attention.It felt good knowing I wasn’t just writing more words, I was regaining agency and control over my own mind. My writing flowed from a steady place of calm, rather than a place of urgent panic. Instead of unconsciously scrolling in my spare time, I could finally read that book I’d been waiting to have time for. It was as if I was returning to my childhood – a life before social media existed, where my time wasn’t defined in what I shared online.Reducing my time on social media didn’t only have a mental impact, it had a physical one too. As I spent less of my daily life scrolling, I freed up time for new hobbies. I fell in love with aerial yoga and hula-hooping and even started meditating.Having previously walked around with my face down looking at my phone, I started to actually pay attention to my surroundings. I noticed the seasons changing. I took pleasure in walking somewhere without needing a source of digital media to keep my mind busy. I ditched my noise-cancelling headphones, and now I can tell the difference between the birdsongs of a chiffchaff and a greenfinch.No longer glued to her phone, Adele fell in love with aerial yogaI finally found time to commit to things I’ve previously thought I didn’t have the time for outside of work. Since the loss of my sister two years ago, I’ve been campaigning with Bereaved Families for Online Safety, attending meetings with MPs and activists in my spare time. It feels deeply rewarding to know I’m spending my time offline pouring efforts into something I care so much about, instead of consuming content I never chose to see.Logging off for large parts of my day has rekindled my appreciation for the little things that make life so much more fulfilling. Spontaneous conversations with strangers on the bus or in a cafe, which used to be rare occurrences, now happen whenever I leave the house. I’ve read more books in the past year than I have since childhood, because I’m no longer spending all my spare time consuming rage battles on X. I used to care way too much about what strangers online thought about me. I’m a people person who loves sharing my thoughts and connecting with others, so posting on social media has felt natural since I first did as a 10 year old on Facebook. But the reality is that I wasn’t just posting to express myself and connect to others – I was posting for validation, with likes and comments feeling like a virtual pat on the back. You only really notice this dependency on external validation when it doesn’t come.Since my mind’s less occupied with overthinking about how strangers perceive me, I pay more attention to how I can show up for the people I care most about. When I’m sitting opposite someone I love, I no longer itch to take a photo of the catch-up for my Instagram story. Instead, I’m present for the conversation (revolutionary, I know!). And while I’ve seen the changes in me, I’ve also noticed the same in my friends, as if by osmosis. Chatting over Whatsapp or iMessage is no longer a priority. Instead we make time to see each other in person, even if it only happens every month or so. Being more intentional with my screentime has changed my social life for the better and research backs this; a study this year found passive social media use is linked to loneliness.The girls’ holidays I’ve discussed with friends that were previously hypothetical dreams romanticised over text conversations and TikTok exchanges have actually happened. I’ve realised that while a FaceTime chat is nice, it’ll never be more than a supplement to the quality time that you get when you’re sitting next to a friend. The connections I’ve spent years making online have now started to become a real-life community, and I now host Logging Off Club events where phones are ditched at the door and people can make new friends.I managed to finish writing my book in just under a year and did not switch social media back on. I’ve kept it at its new low, because it’s genuinely changed my life for the better. Now, I find social media a lot less interesting. In the evenings when my Opal time slot ends and I’m free to scroll, I find I’m bored within minutes. It’s rare for me to lose hours scrolling in a mindless trance. I’ve started a Logging Off Club with my friend, where we’ll host events to bring people together in person and off our screens, and to spread that feeling of empowerment that comes with reclaiming our lives.As a 25-year-old Gen Zer, it’s easy to think we’re destined to be inseparable from our digital devices and the butt end of our boomer relatives’ jokes about social media addiction. But we didn’t ask for this either. Bringing back the intention that characterised the early days of the internet, when screentime was reserved to a corner of our family room, and ended when you powered off, can help us reclaim not only our attention, but our lives too.Logging Off: The Human Cost of Our Digital World publishes in June with Trapeze and is available to pre-order now

Mauricio Umansky leaves Aspen movie date with Kyle Richards and kids ‘in the middle’ of ‘Wicked’

Kyle Richards and Mauricio Umansky’s daughter Sophia Umansky called out her dad for abruptly leaving a family movie date in Aspen, Colo.

Sophia, 24, posted a TikTok video Sunday documenting a trip to the theater to see “Wicked” with her parents, who separated last year, and her sisters Alexia and Portia Umansky.

While Sophia and Alexia, 28, shared in the clip that they had already seen the movie starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, Richards, 55, Mauricio, 54, and Portia, 16, were going for the first time.

Mauricio Umansky went to the movies with Kyle Richards and their daughters Sunday. alexiaumansky/Instagram

The “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star joined her estranged husband and their three kids to watch “Wicked” at an Aspen, Colo., theater. sophiakylieee/Tiktok

Alexia, Sophia and Portia Umansky were in tears in a TikTok video after seeing the film. sophiakylieee/Tiktok

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The video then cut to the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star and her daughters in tears while watching the film and sharing their thoughts.

They then sang “For Good” and “What Is This Feeling?” from the soundtrack while driving home.

Once the family returned to their vacation house, Sophia showed Mauricio waiting for them on the couch.

Mauricio admitted he left “in the middle” of the movie to go home. sophiakylieee/Tiktok

The family appeared to be in high spirits and getting along despite Mauricio’s separation from Richards. Instagram

“This is me after ‘Wicked,’” he said.

When Sophia asked her dad why he was home before them, he replied that he had plans. However, Sophia clarified that Mauricio had actually “left in the middle” of the movie.

“‘Cause I left in the middle,” he confirmed.

The “Buying Beverly Hills” star was recently spotted on a date with model Klaudia K. TheImageDirect.com

A source said Mauricio, seen here on Dec. 23, and Klaudia are just casually dating. GC Images

Sophia posted the video one day after her parents were photographed gleefully shopping with their dog in Aspen.

The former couple was seen laughing and chatting while carrying shopping bags as they tried to dodge paparazzi.

Richards and Mauricio put on the cordial display after he was spotted enjoying a PDA-filled date with a model in Aspen last week.

The family is spending the holiday season together despite the breakup. Instagram

Richards previously shared that Mauricio was invited to spend the holidays with them. Instagram

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The “Buying Beverly Hills” star was photographed kissing blond beauty Klaudia K after dining on sushi at the hip eatery Matsuhisa.

However, a source later claimed the pair’s romance is “not serious” and that Mauricio is “dating around and is having fun.”

Page Six confirmed in July 2023 that Richards and Mauricio had split after 27 years of marriage.

The duo announced their separation in 2023 after 27 years of marriage. mumansky18/Instagram

They have yet to discus divorce despite Mauricio moving out of their marital home. mumansky18/Instagram

The Bravolebrity subsequently sparked dating rumors with country singer Morgan Wade, though both women have denied they were romantic and maintained they are just “very close” friends.

Richards admitted in a recent episode of “RHOBH” that she and Mauricio have not yet discussed divorce despite the former Netflix personality moving out of their marital home earlier this year.

The “Halloween” actress is also mom to daughter Farrah Brittany Aldjufrie, 36, whom she shares with her ex-husband, Guraish Aldjufrie.