August 2019

www.theasianindependent.co.uk
TECH
August 2019
19
The next US President
could also be in 70s: Study
NEW YORK : When Donald
Trump took charge as the US
President in 2016, he became the oldest
American to be elected president
at the age of 70, now chances are high
that the next US President could be
even older, says a study. The research
also suggests that with
more people living
longer and healthier
lives than before,
there is no such thing
as being "too old to be
president".
The researchers
found that age is not a
relevant factor in
judging the fitness of
presidential candidates
to hold the
nation's highest office
as "age is just a number".
"This research for
the first time provides
science-based calculations
that show that the age of a candidate
should not be considered at
all," said study author S. Jay
Olshansky from the University of
Illinois in the US.
According to the researchers, four
of the leading contenders for the 2020
US Presidential elections from both
the Democratic and Republican parties
are in their 70s: US senators Joe
Biden (76), Bernie Sanders (77) and
Elizabeth Warren (70) on the
Democratic side and Republican
incumbent Donald Trump (73).
Overall, seven of the 27 candidates
currently in the race would be aged
70 and older on inauguration day in
January 2021, increasing the odds
that the oldest person ever elected
president could be sworn into office
that day. The study suggests that nearly
all of the candidates meet the criteria
to live healthy and without disability
not only through a first term
but through a second term as well.
Previously, almost four in 10 people
surveyed in a June 2019
Economist/YouGov poll said they
considered anyone
in their 70s "too old
to be president".
But according to
the study, "chronological
age itself
should not be used
as a sole disqualifier
to run for or become
president". In the
paper titled
"Longevity and
Health of US
Presidential
Candidates for the
2020 Election" and
published in AFAR,
the research team
used data from
national vital statistics to estimate
lifespan, healthspan, disabled lifespan
and four- and eight-year survival
probabilities for US citizens with
attributes matching those of all 27
current candidates for the next two
election cycles.
VIDEOS with kids
get 3 times more
views on YouTube
San Francisco : At a time when
YouTube is facing flak for not being careful
with issues concerning children, a new
study shows that videos featuring kids
under 13 years gather three times more
traction on the platform.
US-based Pew Research Centre assembled
a list of popular YouTube channels
that existed through late 2018, and it
analysed all of the
videos that those
channels produced
during the first week
of January 2019.
While only a small
number of English
language videos were
targeted at children,
they still received
more views on average
than other videos
that were not targeted at children, The
Verge reported on Thursday, citing the
report. However, according to a YouTube
spokesperson, the top categories on the app
do not include kids specifically. Comedy,
music, sports and 'how to' remain the most
popular categories. Still, including kids in
videos to increase views is a facet of
YouTube that many creators have picked
up on, the report said. One of the largest
family vlogging channels on YouTube --
The Ace Family -- amassed more than 16
million subscribers in around three years.
Jake Paul, a famed vlogger known for
his pranks, invited a family to live in his
house so he could vlog with their fouryear-old-son
Tydus.
As of now,
YouTube's current terms
of service state that its
platform is not intended
for children under the
age of 13.
Earlier this week,
YouTube came under
the scanner for promoting
white supremacy by
letting a kids' channel
show racist content by
portraying "beauty" and "ugly" looks in
fair and dark skin shades, and failing to
remove it despite reports.
Last week, Google reached a multimillion-dollar
settlement with the US Federal
Trade Commission (FTC) over alleged
violations of children's data privacy laws
on YouTube.