Today's Show Transcript
COY WIRE, CNN 10 ANCHOR: What's up, sunshine? We finally made it to the best day of the week, Fri-yay. I'm Coy Wire, this is CNN 10, your 10 minutes of news with no opinion, no slant. I just tell you the what, letting you decide what to think.
Thank you for choosing to spend part of your day with me. Let's get to it.
Lots of talk these days about the negative impact social media could be having on our mental health. Mindless scrolling, leading to poor sleeping habits, potential online harassment, the list goes on.
One app, TikTok, has more than 1.5 billion monthly users, and the company has repeatedly insisted that its app is safe for young people. But in a newly released video, TikTok employees are seemingly acknowledging that they believe the app can be addictive while voicing several other concerns as well. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICHOLAS CHNG, ISSUES PROGRAM MANAGER: Unfortunately, some of the stuff that people find interesting are not always the most healthy. So, I think we do have, we do, in a way, encourage some of this content being put up, just because of the way the platform is designed. And sometimes I worry about that.
ALLY MANN, CREATOR LEAD MARKETING: We obviously wanted people to spend as much time as possible on TikTok, which can be in contrast to what is best for your mental health.
ALEXANDRA EVANS, HEAD OF SAFETY PUBLIC POLICY: I mean, the product is, in itself, has baked into it compulsive use.
BRETT PETERS, EDUCATION & PHILANTHROPY LEAD: We have these expectations and goals, and they don't necessarily, they're not necessarily congruent with, like, good mental health.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: It's unclear when those meetings took place, but the video was part of some newly unsealed evidence in an ongoing lawsuit brought against TikTok by the state of North Carolina, one of more than a dozen states suing TikTok for allegedly misleading parents and children about the app's potential safety risks. A TikTok spokesperson tells CNN that the video is, quote, "misleading," and the company has previously called the lawsuit inaccurate. TikTok, for their part, has also rolled out a series of safety features in recent years.
All of this is happening just weeks before TikTok could be banned in the United States if Chinese parent company ByteDance does not sell the app to an American company by September 17th. U.S. President Donald Trump has already pushed that deadline back three times.
Hit pause. Take a moment to think or discuss with friends. Do you think apps like TikTok can be harmful to your mental health? If so, how? Should the government intervene? If you ran one of these apps, how would you make it safer for everyone?
In weather news, an update on Hurricane Erin churning in the Atlantic as a Category 2 hurricane making its way up the east coast of the United States. Despite not making landfall, the sprawling storm's sheer size has had a big impact.
This is the scene in North Carolina where rough surf and flooding have hammered coastal communities. Evacuations have been ordered for its Outer Banks region where roads have been covered in water and sand.
The storm is expected to make its way back out to sea, but officials say life-threatening conditions are likely to last at least through the weekend. So, for our viewers anywhere near this thing, especially near beach towns, please stay safe and smart.
Pop quiz, hot shot.
What is the longest duration of Alaska's dark season? Seven days, 12 days, 65 or 100? If you said 65 days, ding, ding, you are correct.
It takes about two months for the sun to rise above the horizon in Alaska's northernmost town Utqiagvik. This occurs from mid-November to late January.
Quick question, have you ever had the chance to stare up at the nighttime sky far away from city lights and notice just how dark it can get and how many more stars you can see?
What did you know that these dark skies are essential? Ecosystems around the world, many plants, animals, insects, et cetera depend on dark skies just as they do the sun, but growing light pollution caused by artificial lights shining at night is making very dark skies less common.
In this month's Call to Earth, we're hearing from one organization trying to change that by leading a global charge to restore this vital part of the night.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AARON CHERRIE, ASTROPHOTOGRAPHER: As an astrophotographer, I come to places like this all the time and seek out dark skies, but that's becoming a rarer and harder thing to find nowadays. The saddest thing is that people don't get to witness things like this. This shouldn't have to be so hard to get to.
My name is Aaron Cherrie. I'm a bar owner in Redruth and I'm a part-time astrophotographer. This is Saint Michael's Mount. It's one of the most beautiful locations, I think, in Cornwall.
Right now at this location, we couldn't shoot much astrophotography here because the light pollution is too much in the background from the villages, from the town, from the street lighting. Places like this really affects the natural world. Insects, moths, birds, it all has a knock-on effect.
KEVIN GASTON, PROFESSOR OF BIODIVERSITY & CONSERVATION, UNIVERSITY OF EXETER: Light has been used throughout much of evolutionary time as a measure of timing. And so lots and lots of organisms have used that and now what we're doing is changing those natural cycles of light through the introduction of artificial light. Organisms are using it to determine when they might flower, when are they going to reproduce, when are they going to migrate, when are they going to feed.
So, we're fundamentally eroding, distorting those light cycles on an enormous scale. Dark Sky International is the leading organization internationally protecting dark skies, restoring dark skies where we've already lost them because of the introduction of artificial light.
CHERRIE: Let's bring up the light pollution map. This is the West Penwith dark sky location, which is a national dark sky site. And this is where I'll be going tonight to take our pictures of the Milky Way.
This is probably the darkest sky that we've got in the U.K. We've all got to appreciate the night sky, even if it just means turning off your security light and going outside and standing out there for 10 minutes, you'd be surprised what you might see.
And now we're ready to start shooting. So, this would be a 15 second exposure at f2.8, ISO 6400. Now, that shows you how much light pollution is now coming from Penzance, a local town here.
GASTON: Lighting is one of those things that we can do something quite quickly about, both individually and corporately. Many of us have control over at least some forms of nighttime lighting, so reducing the spill of lighting outdoors. I think everybody can do their part in this.
CHERRIE: You see the Starlink trains. We have the auroras going off at the minute with the solar cycle being at its peak. But these things are missed by light pollution.
By doing what we do here with astrophotography and stuff, it's trying to recapture that and then spread that with the world and seeing what nature really has to offer.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: Today's story, getting a 10 out of 10, the Transportation Security Administration, or TSA. No, not a story about them taking stuff from someone's carry-on because their liquids exceeded 3.4 ounces. They're holding the 2025 Cutest Canine Contest this month.
Meet the two finalists. Alex, a nine-year-old lab from Denver whose favorite treat is green beans. Never heard of a dog digging green beans. The other is Steeler, a two-year-old from Pittsburgh, of course, born on Super Bowl Sunday and loves to chow down on hot dogs from 7-Eleven. A dog eating dogs? Is that considered cannibalism?
Both pups are elite explosive detection dogs keeping travelers safe. Voters can cast votes on TSA's social media sites. The wagging winner will be announced next Tuesday and will then be featured on TSA's canine calendar.
Two shout-outs for our YouTube subscribers today. First, because it's Fri-yay, what's up Mr. Fry at Northwood High School in Saltville, Virginia? Go Panthers!
And this one goes to Mrs. Hargis at Cookeville High School in Cookeville, Tennessee. Heard you have your first home football game tonight, so let's cook, Cavaliers. Play that Friday music, Nader.
Hope you have an awesome weekend, everyone. Go out and make someone smile. You never know when or how, but you just might be the spark of joy someone needs.
Rise up. I'm Coy Wire. You are more powerful than you know. It's been a blessing to spend this week with you.
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