🐤 Playing games

🏦 Markets: Wall Street bounced back to start the week after some losses in recent days. All three major indexes increased yesterday, led by the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, which gained about 0.82%.

AI-related optimism seemed to regain steam over the weekend, pushing chipmaker Nvidia up by about 0.7% and news about a partnership between Apple and Google’s Gemini AI fueled an increase in the iPhone maker.

Investors are looking forward to the next Federal Reserve update in hopes of determining how hotter-than-expected interest rates have impacted expected plans to reduce decades-high interest rates this year.

🎰 Place your bets: Whether it’s a workplace bracket or a little competition among friends, this is the time of year that basketball fans start putting some cash down on the teams they think will fare well in the upcoming NCAA tourneys. And as in years past, analysts think March Madness will go down as America’s biggest sports betting event of the year. The American Gaming Association predicts that $2.72 billion will be wagered (counting only legal bets) this year, which is equal to about 2.2% of all sports bets placed throughout 2023.

📺 The big game: If you’re familiar with YouTuber Mr. Beast, you already know that he has a reputation for doling out some pretty incredible prizes. But his next project could take things to a new extreme. In a social media post this week, he confirmed that he has reached a deal with Amazon Prime Video to release “the largest game show in history,” which he promises will include more than 1,000 contestants and $5 million in prizes as well as “many other world records.” Look for more details about the project over the next few months.

📱 Courting controversy: There’s been an ongoing debate for some time about social media misinformation and what, if anything, the government should do to curtail its spread. Some states say the First Amendment means Uncle Sam should butt out, and they took their argument to the highest court in the land. During a hearing on Monday, however, most Supreme Court justices seemed to have some concerns about placing legal restrictions on the government’s ability to pressure private companies to remove certain content.

🚀 SpaceX spies: The current age of high-tech space exploration has opened up new challenges and opportunities for governments around the world. And SpaceX has reportedly inked a deal with the federal government to produce hundreds of satellites to be used for surveillance by intelligence officials. According to sources cited by multiple news outlets, the devices are being designed to spy on ground targets. The project appears to be part of a nearly $2 billion contract SpaceX reportedly entered into with the federal government in 2021.

When it comes to the major social media platforms, LinkedIn has always been the professional one of the bunch. But it appears to be loosening the tie a bit and embracing a more playful image by offering a slate of new games for users to play.

Chasing the Wordle trend

For pretty much any social media company, a primary goal involves convincing users to spend as much time as possible on the site. And with the popularity of social gaming consistently high, LinkedIn is rolling the dice that its otherwise buttoned-up users will enjoy playing some of the games it is already starting to develop.

But don’t expect some of the silly games available on Facebook. This is LinkedIn, after all. Reports indicate the first three options introduced — “Queens,” “Inference,” and “Crossclimb” — were created in the mold of the simple yet analytical hit game “Wordle.”

And there’s an apparent tie-in with the company’s workplace focus, according to researchers who have studied the trend. It appears that game scores will be tallied up based on where players work, meaning companies with particularly high rankings will have bragging rights on the platform.

No firm details just yet

Although the names of the first three games have been released and there’s ample speculation about what LinkedIn is planning, the company has remained tight-lipped about the scope of this project or the timeline for the introduction of this new gaming feature.

Microsoft owns the platform, and the tech giant has been investing heavily in gaming lately … but neither has confirmed how much influence the parent company will have on the direction of its subsidiary.

One LinkedIn spokesperson teased: “We’re playing with adding puzzle-based games within the LinkedIn experience to unlock a bit of fun, deepen relationships, and hopefully spark the opportunity for conversations.”

Capitalism has helped fuel a host of innovations in various sectors of the economy by presenting the opportunity to get rich. Anyone capable of creating a product or service that others are willing to pay for can cash in on that demand in the free market.

But should every industry be motivated by profits?

“Get that money”

For most purchases, consumers have several options, which gives them the freedom to choose what to buy and when. That’s typically not the case when it comes to healthcare, though.

But that hasn’t stopped some industry executives from emphasizing profits as if they were selling cars or clothing instead of dealing in life-and-death services.

That’s the takeaway from a recent report detailing the various ways that healthcare providers are encouraged to maximize revenue from patients.

It’s no secret that hospitals and clinics charge a lot — whether insurance helps foot the bill or not. But internal communications leave little doubt that the industry is largely designed to make as much money as possible.

Dr. Allison Brown, a dermatologist in Michigan, received an email from her employer a few years back instructing her to “get that money.” And she’s clearly not alone.

Private equity steps in

The driving force behind this growing profit motive seems to be the increased influence of private equity within the industry. Investors seeking financial gains, not experts pursuing more effective treatment, are now making many of the day-to-day decisions for clinics nationwide.

Private equity currently operates about:

• 40% of all hospital emergency rooms
• 11% of nursing homes in the U.S.
• Nearly 10% of all anesthesiologists

Over the past five years, about two-thirds of physician practice buyouts have been made by private equity firms.

Critics say the trend leads to overworked providers, higher patient costs, and potentially devastating health consequences.

It’s now been four years since COVID-19 was declared a worldwide pandemic. And whether that seems like yesterday or you can’t seem to remember a time before the lock downs, it’s obvious that there have been some incredible repercussions not just from the disease but also the measures taken in an effort to slow its spread.

Perhaps no group has sustained more pronounced long-term damage than students … and we’re just now starting to recognize the magnitude of those widespread school closures.

Beyond the headlines

There have been countless reports about learning loss and mental health issues associated with the abrupt shift to remote learning. But when experts dig into the data, the magnitude of the situation comes into an even starker focus.

Shutdowns were initially seen as a necessary precaution against the spread of the virus. In hindsight, however, the prevailing wisdom is that students were kept out of the classroom for longer than they should’ve been — especially since the evidence shows those shutdowns played a negligible role in slowing the spread of COVID-19.

Facing the consequences

Even schools that reopened fairly quickly have seen a significant dip in student performance, and those that stayed closed longer have experienced an even more pronounced impact.

A study found that in school districts that spent most of the 2020-21 school year in remote learning, students on average were more than half a grade behind in math. Students that learned primarily in person during that year were about one-third of a grade behind.

Evidence shows that schools in low-income communities were hit even harder.

As teachers and students work to regain what they lost, we’re all left with a clear reminder of how important in-person learning is. And experts hope officials remember that when and if another major health crisis emerges.