Pick Your Lane!

WHY so progress in our respective journeys differently?  WHY do others end up leading the pack?  WHY do some remain to be cellar dwellers in the rat race?  And WHY do others get stalled in the middle of the pack?  Taking things literally, if you're driving in the freeways and you're in any of these predicaments, it's your choice you're trapped in your own hole.  WHY is this happening to some of us?  It's because we fail to appreciate the need to Pick Your Lane!  It's your choice BTW.  Picking up a lane DOESN'T mean being trapped in one choice📗📙📘

Let's swing over to the gym.  You'll probably see a couple always there together, both matching each other in terms of being muscle heads.  And she's as equally jacked as he.  They lift together and they stalk about their macros loud enough.  And critique each others form.  It's clear they are all about fitness and bodybuilding.  And they're happy, WHAT with all their PDA💦💦💦

Oh, couples like that find a niche to fit into together, morphing into one LANE.  They build their identity as a couple.  Oh, if you love rock climbing instead, chances are a good potential match will be at the rock climbing gym.  SUCH IS LIFE.  For us to go full throttle, we got to PICK OUR LANE.  If Tom, Dick and Harry are quite famous for their lives running on a the fast LANE, you just DON'T hop on the bandwagon UNLESS and UNTIL you're cocksure that you can comfortably synchronize with Tom, Dick and Harry.  WHAT IF you can't catch up to their pace and you end up huffing and puffing?  On the other hand, is your pace in life more akin to the notorious turtles near the beaches???

WHICH reminds me of my previous years WHERE I was figuring out to PICK MY LANE.  Did I seek counsel?  Did I hop-in and hop-off erratically?  OR did I simply join the bandwagon?  NO sirrrrrrrrs, I deemed it prudent enough to face my own mirror and ask myself, WHAT'S MY PACE and from there I tasked myself to PICK MY LANE based on my pace.  That led me to reach my decision-points comfortably aligned to my pre-set pace💥💥💥

YES, BTW, you DON'T be apprehensive to get stuck in your LANE.  Remember, as in any freeway, there are lay-bays or DROP OFF LANEs but be cautioned that you'll be there purely for DROP OFF purposes.  If you're in the F1 Race with Lewis Hamilton, you can get those respites in those PIT STOPS but never lose sight that you need to get back to your LANE because you CAN'T and MUSN'T lose sight that your singular focus is to successfully finish your journey via the LANE you picked to thread on.  If you haven't made up your mind, PICK YOUR LANE, dude❗❗❗

How Far Can We Be An 'OPEN BOOK'

 

As always, we always hear that we should be an OPEN BOOK because that's spelled T-R-A-N-S-P-A-R-E-N-C-Y.  Verily true, every mobile app these days has always that 'SHARE' functionality.  NO wonder, sharing is all over the place.  And it's fine, we love to SHARE parts of our lives with others as it even indirectly helps us connect and even reinforce relationships.  BUT NOT everything needs to be said out loud, dude.  Some things are better kept to yourself, NOT because they are bad BUT because SHARING them may lead to misunderstandings, unnecessary drama OR worst, even regret [LIKE, 'MY BAD, WHY DID I CLICK THE 'SHARE'], ouch📗📙📘

Psychology experts do tell us that keeping certain thoughts, plans and personal details private can actually make us happier, and more AT PEACE.  LIKE your biggest goals.  True, we would feel proud to trumpet our goals and ambitions BUT sharing them TOO SOON might actually work against us.  Remember even as casual as it may be, if before stepping out of your home, you happily tell your neighbor [WHO'S idling around the vicinity] that you will be going to your fav clothes shop as you're eyeing a nice dress you saw in their online shop.  Trust me, on your way home, before you blurt out, it's your neighbor WHO'll ask you if you managed to buy that dress!@#$%?

 BTW, yes you can OPEN YOUR BOOK but just like in Meta's FB, you can initiate an 'ONLY ME' post, right?  I remember the jargon of experts WHO said that WHEN we announce our 'BIG PLANS', our brain gets a little dopamine boost, similar to WHAT happens WHEN we actually achieve something.  And WHERE does the problem lie?  That very fleeting satisfaction [of our brain] can quickly and easily dissipate and replace that motivation we needed all along.  Instead of telling everyone your goals, keep it to yourself and LET YOUR ACTIONS SPEAK FOR ITSELF💚💛💜

LIKE our good deeds.  Doing something kind for someone else should come from the heart [and NOT from our SELF-RECOGNITION].  YES, in an assured way, I can stand on this because my lips remain sealed with regard the good deeds I have extended to other people all through the years.  BTW, without breaching confidentiality, when my sibling was overseas at that time, I visited our hometown and without giving any clue, I advised his wife to accompany me to the supermarket.  And I drove her back only after her supermarket cart was LITERALLY overflowing with goodies to restock her small store.  Even as we speak now, I never shared this to my sibling💥💥💥

OH, how about your insecurities?  We all have things we're self-conscious about BUT sharing them with the WRONG people can do more harm than good.  There's this psychology jargon tagged "LOOKING-GLASS SELF" which means we tend to see ourselves based on HOW others react to us.   WHOAHHH!  Your finances?  Your past mistakes?  WHAT the hell, WHY do you want to switch from ONLY ME to PUBLIC???

[IMPORTANT SHARING] Commentary: Singapore has banned vaping

 

EN TOTO, allow me to share  this Channelnewsasia feed I read awhile ago.  WHY am I sharing this?  Because this piece is NOT just an opinion anymore.  NOT in Singapore [where I lived for 8 years] WHERE every formulated policy passes thoroughly through the teeth of the comb ten times before it shapes up.  NOW, I will leave up to our readers [especially smokers & vapers] to either agree OR disagree with the factual basis as to WHY VAPING IS NOW BANNED IN SINGAPORE!!!

Channelnewsasia piece starts here [excluding the pictures]:  https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/vaping-teens-youths-drugs-cannabis-ketamine-kpods-meth-overdose-deaths-4967016

Sleek, discreet devices - many designed to resemble common school items such as pens and flash drives - lured young users with flavours such as “cotton candy” and “gummy bear”, making vaping both accessible and appealing. Today, parents have even more reason to worry. With cannabis legalised in some countries, marijuana vaping has become more widespread among young people. In 2022, one in five United States students aged 16 to 18 reported vaping cannabis in the past year.

One of the more recent and deeply concerning trends is the growing popularity of “Kpod” vapes. Kpods contain etomidate, a powerful anaesthetic similar to ketamine, in a mix also called “zombie spice” or “space oil”. It can cause seizures, coma and cardiac arrest.  Despite the risks, sellers market Kpods as “safe” and “undetectable in urine tests”, often in fruity flavours such as grape, blueberry and mango. They are virtually undistinguishable from regular vapes.

In the United Kingdom, a study last year found that one in six vapes confiscated at English schools was spiked with zombie spice. Teachers described how students had collapsed in hallways and ended up in intensive care after vaping this mix.  Authorities have also seized vape devices containing THC, the main psychoactive compound in cannabis.

While drug-infused vapes pose immediate and unpredictable risks, cannabis vaping is also on the rise, under the misconception that it is harmless. This is a dangerous assumption. Not only is cannabis addictive, but it can also cause memory loss, psychosis and respiratory issues.  Additionally, many cannabis vapes contain additives that pose severe health threats. One of the most notorious is vitamin E acetate, which has been implicated as the primary cause of EVALI (e-cigarette or vaping associated lung injury), a fatal condition that killed 68 people and hospitalised over 2,800 in the US between 2019 and 2020.  Despite these risks, the cannabis vaping trend is proving difficult to curb. The tobacco industry, which has aggressively invested in the vaping market, is now extending its reach into the cannabis market.  For example, in 2023, it was reported that Philip Morris International (PMI), was acquiring Israeli medical cannabis inhaler company Syqe Medical for US$650 million. In January this year, PMI also entered a partnership with Avicanna, a Canadian firm specialising in cannabinoid-based medicine.  Meanwhile, Marlboro-maker Altria Group is the largest shareholder of Canadian medical marijuana company Cronos Group, while British American Tobacco (BAT) has a major stake in Canada-based cannabis producer OrganiGram.  Cigarettes are the only legal consumer product that, when used exactly as intended by the manufacturer, kills about half of its users - a staggering figure considering there are an estimated 1.3 billion smokers globally.  Even when vapes were limited to nicotine, they posed enough of a health threat, with studies linking them to lung injuries, heart disease and cancer.  Now, there is a new generation of illegal and dangerous drugs being sold to children under the guise of harmless fruit-flavoured vape pens and tech gadgets.  These drugs, as well as vaping products, are illegal in Singapore and their use comes with strict penalties. Countries such as China are also cracking down on drug-laced vapes amid their rising popularity in youths.  It is also important to educate young people on what is inside vaping products and on the dangers of using novel synthetic drugs such as etomidate. This is especially important as drug-infused vapes are difficult to distinguish from standard ones, and the ingredients in vape liquids are, more than often, neither disclosed nor labelled correctly.  Parents and teachers must also be equipped to recognise the signs of vaping and substance use, and at-risk youth should be given access to counselling and support services to prevent addiction before it takes hold.  END of Channelnewsasia piece authored by Yvette Van Der Eijk 03.05.2025 

WHY Constantly Searching For HAPPINESS 'MAY' Lead To UNHAPPINESS

WHY Constantly Searching For HAPPINESS 'MAY' Lead To UNHAPPINESS.  Is this worth our time for today?  Me thinks this topic may NOT be the hottest one we can pick BUT it's HOT enough, at least for today.  So, is this true, WHY Constantly Searching For HAPPINESS Can Lead To UNHAPPINESS?  OR are we into a play of words here?  NO sirrrrrrrs.  This is serious stuff.  Many [and likely everyone] of us did hit these rough patches along the away📘📙📗

YES, we all agree that HAPPINESS is a key ingredient of our well-being.  It is thus reasonable to expect that valuing HAPPINESS will lead us to beneficial outcomes.  We would tend to argue that this may NOT always be the case.  Instead, valuing HAPPINESS could also be self-defeating in the sense that WHEN the more people value HAPPINESS, the more likely they will feel disappointed💥💥💥

Psychologists shared that this could commonly apply to positive situations in which people have every reason to be happy.  NOT being an American, I do note that even in their U.S. Declaration of Independence, they included the provision that HAPPINESS is an 'inalienable right'.  But, setting that aside, let's face it that there is substantial variation in the extent to which people value HAPPINESS.  WHEREAS some view it as a nice thing to have every now and then, others see it the other way around.  True, at first glance, valuing HAPPINESS should lead to POSITIVE outcomes because it has always been [safely] assumed that the more one values HAPPINESS, the happier one will be.  BUT at a closer glance, however, a particular feature of our human pursuit may lead to POSITIVE-NEGATIVE outcomes of valuing HAPPINESS.  There's an interesting twist in this though😀😀😀

Looking back, I do realize that people's values determine NOT only WHAT they want to achieve BUT it even creeps through our own pre-set of standards against WHICH we would tend to evaluate our own achievements.  And the person WHO highly values academic achievement and wants to achieve high grades is bound to be disappointed at times WHEN he falls short of his own high standards.  BUT in the case of academic achievements, though, this may NOT matter for the goal at hand❌❌❌

Our takeaway:  The mother of all ironies here is that people WHO highly value HAPPINESS set HAPPINESS standards so high to an extend that it becomes difficult to achieve OR obtain, leading them to disappointment along the way.  Analogously, the paradoxical effect of valuing HAPPINESS should depend on the emotional context at hand.  LIKE people are unlikely to get disappointed WHEN they do NOT if they fail to be happy after hearing a close friend had an accident.  For now, can we pause to filter those pursuits of HAPPINESS that will [ironically] lead us to UNHAPPINESS❗❗❗

We're NOT In the Business Of "NEXT TIME"!

We're NOT In the Business Of "NEXT TIME"!

In that Netflix movie "SNIPER: GHOST SHOOTER", a fellow soldier confronts his colleague WHO hesitated to take the shot needed:  We're NOT In the Business Of "NEXT TIME"!  That's HOW close it can get insofar as its relevance to our one-time life.  Everything in our life is on a ONE-OFF basis.  And WHO says that there is a second time around?  NO SENOR.  NADA MAS.  NEVER buy that baloney of a second chance because this is HOW all our lives have been plotted to progress.  Each one of us is given a one-time chance in practically any opportunity OR chance given at hand.  WHEN hesitation creeps in [for WHATEVER reason like fear?], you will lose things by default and the worst part in losing is NOT by taking action at that very moment in time📗📙📘

To quote English Playwright Alan Bennett:  SOMETIMES THERE IS NO NEXT TIME, NO TIME-OUTS, NO SECOND CHANCES.  SOMETIMES IT'S NOW OR NEVER.  Let's go back memory lane, back during our school days.  Did our teacher/lecturer give us second chances after taking a major exams and flunking it?  How was it WHEN you were grilled in those job interviews, was there a second chance?  WHEN a troubled couple in a very troubled marriage finally, was there a pre-agreed second time around???

Same script did run in that Netflix SNIPER GHOST SHOOTER, they missed out killing the marked terrorist, all because the other sniper did NOT have that gumption to pull the trigger.  And the implications were far-reaching because the whole covert project had to go back to the drawing board.  That's the ramification WHEN we do have that opportunity BUT miss it out for WHATEVER reason.  Serious ramifications we CAN'T ignore💧💧💧

Sadly, the reality is murkier than WHAT it seems to be.  WHEN we discuss those 'NEXT TIME' chances in relationships, that terrain looks trickier.  Choosing to accept someone back into your life after they offended OR harmed you is anything else but simple, no matter if it's a family member WHO has grown distant, a dissolved friendship OR an 'old flame' that HASN'T quite burned out completely.  Questions starting in our face for relationships are:

• ARE THEY ACTING AS IF NOTHING HAPPENED?
• ARE THEY BLAMING YOU & YOU CAN'T ACCEPT IT?
• ARE THEY GENUINELY REMORSEFUL, IF AT ALL?

Our takeaway:  This life cycle we're in, WHETHER we're running damn slow OR speeding as fast as Japan's Shinkanzen trains, we just CAN'T afford to miss every single chance and opportunity every step of the way.  WHEN hesitation creeps in, you're stalled.  WHEN fear pulls you back, you're 'dead on the water' [by default].  WHEN you think you're NOT ready to take on that chance at that point in time [because you were NOT ready], WHEN will you be ready?  WHAT guarantee do you have that next time around you are much readier than ready?  If there are unresolved conflicts within families, and you think it will die a natural death over time, damn it, it WON'T because lingering NEGATIVITIES will hover and prevail even over time.  In short, in this life gifted upon us, WE'RE NOT IN THE BUSINESS OF 'NEXT TIME', no sirrrrrrrrs❗❗❗

Any Unfinished Business Yet?

Any Unfinished Business Yet?

The worst thing in life is for us to inherit Any UNFINISHED BUSINESS .  WHY?  Because UNFINISHED BUSINESS means an issue has not been resolved.  In short, there is NO closure to it.  You would hear someone saying, "I NEED TO TALK TO THOSE FOLKS BUT I CAN'T".  WHY?  All because of that UNFINISHED BUSINESS.  That's WHEN things are left hanging and/or open up in the air.  Time can lapse through and that  UNFINISHED BUSINESS  will hardly die its natural death, so to speak.  Instead, it will thread out and thread out.  Of course, the worst part are life's tragedies that are way beyond our control.  LIKE the sudden and unexpected death of a family member.  That throws everything in shambles.  Nevertheless, UNFINISHED BUSINESS creates a gaping hole📗📙📘

UNIFINISHED BUSINESS lingers for all of us.  Especially WHEN tragedy strikes, we DON'T get that chance to SAY ENOUGH.  For the worst part, UNFINISHED BUSINESS can leave a hole in a relationship with someone else.  Even beyond and outside those immediate family members, I've witnessed friends WHO were like 'blood brothers' or 'blood sisters' BUT all because of a one-off snafu in the past, they cut off the umbilical cord that did bind them through all the years.  Sad, indeed sad.  As an analogy, ISN'T it an eye sore to see buildings whose constructions are unfinished.  AREN'T they an eye sore, cluttering up the horizon.  BUT going back to relationships, what counsellors do advise us is writing letters.  It's amazing HOW many people resist spending the time to actually follow through.  I would surmise they DON'T imagine that that measure could be helpful💧💧💧

Sometimes, people WHO resort to writing letters end up finishing those letters BUT oblivious of WHAT  their purpose was.  YES, they wanted to hear an apology, they wanted a clearer understanding for their own point of view and they want their truth known WHETHER OR NOT it makes a difference OR they want to be heard more.  In the end, NOT every letter written gets sent.  Some letters get revised and sent.  BUT the truth is the sender of that letter CAN'T expect, hope OR want any response❎❎❎

Often, it is more useful to write the letter to your own self.  WHAT matters is that you learn with greater clarity WHAT is that will help you feel 'FINISHED' OR 'CLOSED' so you can move on more wholeheartedly.  In concrete BUT simpler terms, UNFISHINED BUSINESS is always dubbed as those unnecessary clutter in life.  That old cliche 'OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND' are all hollowed words, nothing more than that because dissecting it, there is NOT substance beyond those words😉😉😉

Our takeaway:  Deep down into our personal lives, we MUST and NEED to account for UNFINISHED BUSINESS, period.   Otherwise, they will continue to be lingering in your life, and they WON'T taper off from weighing down on you.  You might NOT be consciously aware of this because you may seem so used to that 

energetic weight, UNTIL you start taking care of UNFINISHED BUSINESS one by one and all of a sudden, you will feel how a weight is being lifted off your shoulders. Think about it, dude, that UNFINISHED BUSINESS, if at all💥💥💥

How Often Your 'FUN MAX' Turns To 'STRESS MAX'?

How Often Your 'FUN MAX' Turns To 'STRESS MAX'?

Surely, for a bigger chunk of our lives, everyone had more 'FUN MAX' than 'STRESS MAX'.  Those FUN MAX moments are those times WHEN we fire up all our cylinders and we go full throttle YET with all the FUN all over us.  After so many years in the rat race, however, WHO can blame us if those FUN MAX moments would eventually turn into those STRESS MAX?  So, the lingering [and pestering] question to me now is How Often Your 'FUN MAX' Turns To 'STRESS MAX'?  And digging into this quagmire, my curious self pushes me to ask the troubling question:  WHAT triggers those FUN MAX times to turn to STRESS MAX?  Luckily, the psychologists have a ready answer to it, all pointing to STRESS📗📙📘

Avoiding all the gobbledygook and jargon, we're told that STRESS is the normal culprit to the pressures in our every day life.  Worry, fear, anger, sadness and other emotions, name it, they are all seemingly normal emotional responses to situations and yes, they are part and parcel of our daily life.  However, if the STRESS that underlies these emotions will interfere with our ability to do the things we want OR need to do, that STRESS can become unhealthy.  As always, we are counselled to NIP THINGS IN THE BUD but that is easier said than done though💥💥💥

BTW, experts tell us that STRESS can either be either physical, mental OR behavioral OR a combination thereof.  Unfortunately, there's a huge plethora of symptoms for either of these kinds of STRESS:

PHYSICAL - Heaviness in your chest, increased heart rate, chest pain, headaches, grinding of teeth, etc

MENTAL/BEHAVIORAL - Being more emotional than usual, feeling edgy or overwhelmed, resorting to drugs OR alcohol, struggling solving problems, etc

WHERE do we go next?  It's a no-brainer dude.  We got to figure out how to COPE with STRESS, period.  Without misrepresenting myself as an SME [Subject Matter Expert] here, allow me to share my 2-cents.  Taking a leaf as to HOW I had to extricate myself from STRESS.  First off, I had to take some time off for myself.  Even if that meant just 5 to 15 minutes a few times a day, I would take a BREAK FROM REALITY❗❗❗

Our takeaway:  How often do we hear that that DISTRACTION is bad?  Ironically, allow me to ride on its coat tails and encourage ourselves to DISTRACT our mind WHENEVER we see the tell-tale signs of STRESS.  Instead, let's try to focus our mind on something other than WHAT's causing that STRESS.  Maybe, do something FUN, watch a light OR FUN movie. Maybe, we can flip back STRESS MAX back to FUN MAX 😀😀😀

When We Hesitate, Do We Choke Next?

When We Hesitate, Do We Choke Next?

For us laymen, HESITATION is just one of the nuances in our daily life.  BUT this is a BIG gaping hole psychologists have been deciphering because to them, HESITATION can have the NEGATIVE consequences such as worry, pressure and even procrastination.  And worse, it might even result in missed opportunities or even poor decisions.  So, is it true When We Hesitate, Do We Choke Next???

According to the psychology experts, in their field, HESITATION is extensively investigated as part of decision-making and motivation.  Moreover, these experts continue to dig deep into the underlying causes primarily because of the psychological dynamics.  Various researches also show that they are unable to pinpoint the very precise moment when HESITATION kicks in.  And from a psychology perspective, experts tell us that it seems our brain tries to defend us from committing mistakes, hence that leads to that HESITATION point💥💥💥

Apparently, to piggy-back on what we hear from the experts, several parts of our brain play an important role in the decision-making.  And our AMYGDALA is responsible for emotional reactions, particularly fear.  And that can influence our threat aversion in the fact of ambiguity.  Somehow, experts advise us that we need to have a deeper understanding of psychology to understand HESITATION😊😊😊

Surprisingly, most of us laymen hear about EGO over and over again BUT WHO amongst us ever heard of our 'SUPEREGO'?  According to experts, WHILE the EGO attempts to meet our desires in response to the external stimuli while the "SUPEREGO' serves as the 'inner censor', protecting us from things that are either harmful OR unsuitable to us.  So, these two mechanisms can trigger that influence in our decision-making❌❌❌

Our takeaway:  Those threads of FEAR, FULFILLMENT and UNCERTAINTY certainly have its bearings [and tentacles?] in HESITATION.  And it seems the most prevalent is the fear of the unknown WHEN we humans end up as 'habitual beings', WHERE we choose those that are familiar and predictable to us.  To compound matters, when that FEAR of FAILURE creeps in, our HESITATION sometimes would lead us to choke next!@#$%

Life Is What We Make It

 Life Is What We Make It

As we grow older [and more mature], let's face it, life will only get HARDER.  Please DON'T get me wrong, I'm NOT trying to unduly raise alarms.  BUT once we accept that reality, we can embark in our journey with an open mind.  And deep inside me, I always believed that having a POSITIVE outlook on life will help us to get through many hard times.  I've witnessed families WHO lost their loved ones in a tragic way.  I did witness people crying and let sorrow fill their lives BUT at the end of the day, we always need to maintain an optimistic attitude in life WHILE at the same time, we are cautioned NEVER to take anything so seriously because our  Life Is What We Make It.  The only thing that is permanent is the way we react📗📙📘

LIKE WHEN we are going up a crowded stairs and we trip and fall right on our face, true it might seem embarrassing BUT can we just laugh it off?  it might seem to be a huge deal at the time BUT pouting about it will NOT make anything better at all.  Instead, we need to keep our head up and laugh it off.  I always remember that NONE of the little things are permanent OR define WHO I am.  The only thing that is permanent is the way we react to these situations❎❎❎

If at all, another reason we need to keep that cheerful attitude is because life is short.  Without sounding alarms,  we NEVER know WHEN our last moments on earth will be.  SHOULDN'T we all be seizing the opportunity to be happy?  Every old person I encounter tells me that teenage years are the best days of our life that we will remember for a long time.  And I DON'T believe that we should waste dwelling on the NEGATIVE.  Yes, we want to remember those days as bright, hopeful days and NOT stressful days.  YES, let's endeavor to remain as POSITIVE as possible throughout our life as I firmly believe that we need to remember our days as bright and hopeful ones💧💧💧

Traversing our daily lives, if we limit our choices only to WHAT seems possible OR reasonable, there is a high probability that we will end up disconnecting ourselves from WHAT we truly want, and all that is left is compromise.  Without casting premature calls of judgements, our present life is the result of all the choices we have made up until this moment.  And we are the only one responsible for WHERE we are right now, for HOW our life looks, for HOW we get treated by those around us💦💦💦

Our takeaway:  Even WHEN it boils down to the quality of our life, if we want to change the quality of relationships we have, we have to start by taking responsibility for everything.  Indeed, for everything! And if we keep doing the same things over and over again, we will end up with the same results [TRUST ME on that!] .  And our life will LIKELY change the moment we decide that it's TIME TO CHANGE, it's as simple as that, all starting with a thought, an idea and based on that, actions will follow suit.  YES dude, LIFE IS WHAT WE MAKE IT!!!

Be Xtra wary of 2FA [Two-Factor Authentication]

 

Be Xtra wary of 2FA [Two-Factor Authentication].  Ooops, I'm not saying we should ditch 2FA's because that's way beyond our purview.  If 2FA is WHAT your banker offers, WHAT can we do then?  Let's spell it as V-I-G-I-L-A-N-C-E no less.  NOT to speak like those doomsayers, 2FA is NOT the end-of-the-world BUT alas, good for us, things are evolving.  Breaking news today, Google is ditching 2FA and replace it with QR codes.  HOW and WHY QR code is a thousand miles much better than 2FA, let's take that on💥💥💥

So, WHAT are the perils of 2FA?  It's that surprisingly easy to get hold of an SMS code.  If someone steals your smartphone, for example, those scammers will be able to access ALL [as in ALL] of the SMS codes it receives.  BUT take note that scammers DON'T need physical access to intercept your SMS codes.  In fact, they can do this while sitting in another part of the globe!@#$%?

Scammers can trick your telco carrier into 'TAKING OVER' your phone's SIM card.  From here they can disable your SIM card and transfer all the services over to their own so they can remotely access all SMS codes sent to your SMS number.  If your bank account is protected by SMS-based 2FA, for instance, they will receive the code on their own device, then authenticate themselves and voila, break into your account, ouch.  Some scammers are even engaging in a practice known as TRAFFIC PUMPING❎❎❎

So WHAT'S TRAFFIC PUMPING?  These scammers will fool organizations [and BANKS!] into sending large number of SMS messages to a set numbers [they earlier 'HOSTAGED'] which these scammers "NOW OWN".  They make a profit from those messages while the rest of us deal with a deluge of spam.  By moving away from SMS-based 2FA, Google hopes to limit these incessant scams around us😊😊😊

Our takeaway:  Just to share a bit of authentication options, I have had the chance wherein instead of relying on SMS-based authentication, the organization uses a dedicated 'AUTHENTICATOR APP' [a.k.a. password-less Passkeys System] that Google itself is pushing quite a bit.  WHEN using an authenticator app, the code generates every 30 seconds on a secure service that is controlled only by YOU and NOT by those telco carriers.  Authenticator apps themselves require biometric authentication and can be password protected as well and that adds an Xtra layer of security.  Meanwhile, until your banker's authentication does migrate to true-blue 'AUTHENTICATOR APPs', please be Xtra Xtra Xtra cautious by NOT getting tricked with all the 'modus operandi' hovering all over us❗❗❗