<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11892996" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="instagram" source="Orion">Instagram</keyword> said it's trying out new ways to verify users' ages, including scanning their faces.</li><li>Alternatively, users can also have three friends vouch for their age or upload images of their IDs.</li></ul>Instagram is testing out new ways to verify users' ages, including scanning their faces.The company <a href="https://about.instagram.com/blog/announcements/new-ways-to-verify-age-on-instagram">announced</a> the trial, which began on June 23 and is currently only being rolled out in the US, in a blog post. The trial is focused on users who try to change their age on the app from under 18 to over 18. Those users have three ways to verify their age: upload a photo of their ID, ask three mutual friends verify their age, or record a video selfie.If a user selects the video selfie method, Instagram passes the videos to a London-based identity-verification startup, <keyword id="14291748" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="yoti" source="Orion">Yoti</keyword>. Yoti will scan the user's facial features in the videos to confirm their ages, the company said.Both Yoti and Instagram will delete the data once they've verified the user's age, per the announcement. The London startup's algorithm only verifies the user's age and not their identity, Instagram wrote, quoting a <a href="https://www.yoti.com/wp-content/uploads/Yoti-Age-Estimation-White-Paper-Executive-Summary-May-2022.pdf">whitepaper from Yoti</a>.Instagram said the process will allow it to offer age-appropriate content for its users."Understanding someone's age online is a complex, industry-wide challenge. We want to work with others in our industry, and with governments, to set clear standards for age verification online," the company wrote in the blog post.If a user chooses to submit a photo of their ID to confirm their age, the image will be deleted after 30 days, the company said.Instagram has come under fire from parents and critics who say the company exposes minors to harmful content. In 2019, Instagram started <a href="https://about.instagram.com/blog/announcements/making-instagram-safer-for-the-youngest-members-of-our-community">checking users' ages</a> to prevent people under the age of 13 from creating accounts. In August, it started <a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2021/08/asking-people-for-their-birthday-on-instagram/">asking existing users</a> to provide their birthdays. And in September, Facebook — which owns Instagram has since been renamed Meta — <a href="https://about.instagram.com/blog/announcements/pausing-instagram-kids">suspended the launch of Instagram Kids</a>, a version of the app it had been building for children under the age of 13.Other social media companies have also been scanning users' faces to bar minors from using their platforms. French social-networking site <a href="https://www.yubo.live/blog/yubos-new-age-verification-feature-helps-keep-you-safe">Yubo</a> said in May it was partnering with Yoti to capture images of users' faces to identify minors. China's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tencent-scans-childrens-faces-to-limit-gaming-hours-2022-1">Tencent</a> said in January that it would study users' faces when they log on in order to limit children's gaming time on its platform.

Instagram is testing out a trial in which it scans users' faces for proof they are over 18 years old

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The Uvalde, <keyword id="11896956" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="texas" source="Orion">Texas</keyword>, school shooter met several people ahead of the killings using <keyword id="14030703" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="yubo" source="Orion">Yubo</keyword>.</li><li>Yubo is a social-media app created by developers in Paris.</li></ul>The 18-year-old man who police say <a href="https://www.insider.com/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-tx-robb-elementary-2022-5">shot and killed 19 children and 2 adult staff members</a> at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, used a social-media app called Yubo to message several people ahead of the massacre. The gunman used the app and met multiple people on it, according to a report from <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/25/us/texas-gunman-text.html">The New York Times</a>, including a 15-year-old girl living in Germany. In the hours before the attack on Tuesday afternoon, the shooter sent messages to her about his plans to shoot his grandmother and "shoot up" the school.The girl, identified by The Times as Cece, said she first met the gunman on Yubo about two weeks prior to the shooting. Days after the shooter's 18th birthday, Cece said the shooter video called her from a gun store and told her he was purchasing an AR-15 rifle. He also sent her a picture of a box that he said contained ammunition, and eventually, on the day of the shooting, told her about his plans. It is unclear which platforms he used to send these messages.She told the outlet she didn't believe he would carry out the plan.The gunman also met another girl, Anita, on Yubo in March, according to <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7n8bd/who-was-the-texas-school-shooter">VICE News</a>. Anita described Yubo as "Tinder for kids" and said the gunman had asked her to be his girlfriend. Eventually, he contacted her again through Instagram on May 24 with cryptic messages suggesting he was about to take action of some kind, she told VICE <keyword id="11893589" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news" source="Orion">News</keyword>.Texas Gov. Gregg Abbot said earlier this week the shooter had posted on Facebook that he had shot his grandmother and planned to shoot at the school, though a <a href="https://twitter.com/andymstone/status/1529584345765257219">Facebook spokesperson said those were private messages</a> and not public posts.In a statement to Insider on Wednesday, a spokesperson for Yubo said the company was "deeply saddened by this unspeakable loss" and was cooperating with law enforcement. Yubo said it wasn't legally able to share information about any Yubo account but said it was "investigating an account that has since been banned from the platform." <h2>What is Yubo?</h2><div type="image" title="Yubo" height="1365" width="2731" msid="91822019" hostid="261"></div>Yubo — originally called Yellow — is a social-media app based in Paris, France, developed by the app developing company Twelve App. It has had 60 million sign-ups since it was launched in 2015, according to a Wednesday report from <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/25/gen-z-social-app-yubo-rolls-out-age-estimating-technology-to-better-identify-minors-using-its-service/">TechCrunch</a>, with 20 million of them occurring since 2020. The app does not allow users to follow other users or to like the content posted to it, unlike other social platforms like Instagram or TikTok. Instead, users can add each other as friends.The company does not share how many monthly active users it has.Yubo uses a mix of human moderators and "technical tools" to moderate the content on the platform, <a href="https://support.yubo.live/hc/en-us/articles/115003788791-Do-you-have-human-moderators-at-Yubo-">according to the company</a>. In a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll3C2cl2J3g&amp;t=78s">December 2020 interview</a> with the YouTube channel Startup Vision TV, Yubo co-founder and CEO Sacha Lazimi claimed the company was "one of the leaders in terms of real-time moderation," citing its "very strict guidelines." Lazimi said a Yubo algorithm processed everything visual and textual sent on Yubo to "automatically block any inappropriate behavior." The app also sends real-time notifications to users, he said, to tell them why something they sent was dangerous or inappropriate. The company also uses human moderators, who Lazimi called "safety specialists," to look through content that has been reported by users or by the Yubo algorithm," he said.Yubo declined to answer questions about how many moderators work at the company, but told Insider on Wednesday that it "recognizes and takes seriously our responsibility for the safety of our users." "Because of this, Yubo deploys a range of AI detection tools, human moderation and easy and accessible reporting mechanisms," a spokesperson said in a statement to Insider. "This includes implementing advanced AI filters that not only monitor chats, but also video during live streams, by taking second-by-second screenshots and flagging suspicious content to human moderators in real time." To sign up for Yubo, new users must provide the app with only their first name, birth date, gender, and a photo. Users must also provide Yubo with their cellphone numbers to verify their new account. The app does not require users to share their last name or email address.Users must be over the age of 13 to access the app. Teens between the ages of 13 and 17 are additionally supposed to obtain parental permission before signing up, and once they are on Yubo are kept separate from the adults who sign up for and use the app, according to Yubo.According to the app's community guidelines, users are required to use their real birth date and must show their face in at least one of the photos on their profiles. Yubo by the end of this year intends to roll out AI technology from the digital identity company Yoti to verify users' ages, <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/25/gen-z-social-app-yubo-rolls-out-age-estimating-technology-to-better-identify-minors-using-its-service/">TechCrunch</a> first reported. The app previously asked users it deemed potentially suspicious to show identification to verify their age, the report said.Once a new user has created their profile, they are directed to choose several topics ranging from TV shows like "The Big Bang Theory," to bands like Arctic Monkeys, to figures like former US President Donald Trump.On the app's main screen, users are prompted to join random live videos from other users across the globe. Users can also add new friends using a Tinder-esque swipe feature that allows them to swipe left or right on users to decide whether they want to add them. There is also an in-app chat feature to send messages to their friends on Yubo.Yubo doesn't have ads and its revenue partially relies on users to make in-app purchases of its own currency, which they can use to add friends en masse. Users, for example, can add up to 500 new friends at once for the price of 1,390 YuBucks. For $4.99, users can buy 500 YuBucks. The company this month began <a href="https://randos.yubo.live/">offering NFTs called "Rando NFTs,"</a> which unlock special features, including hexagon profile pictures and private live streams, according to the app.Yubo, like many mainstream <keyword id="11895013" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="social-media" source="Orion">social media</keyword> platforms, has in the past been used in connection with criminal activities. In 2019, a 26-year-old Kentucky man was arrested for trying to meet a 12-year-old girl he met online. Authorities said he met the girl using Yubo, according to a report from the <a href="https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2019/02/14/man-accused-sexually-exploiting-12-year-old-he-met-yubo-app/2868063002/">Cincinnati Enquirer</a>. Authorities in Indiana earlier this year were investigating the 2017 murders of two teenage girls, according to <a href="https://abc7chicago.com/delphi-murders-yubo-yellow-app-abby-williams-and-libby-german/11738248/">ABC7 Chicago</a>. Police asked the public to come forward if they had ever messaged a profile on Yubo they believed to be used by a suspect in the case.

What is Yubo, the app the Uvalde school shooter used to meet strangers before his killings?

<ul class="summary-list"><li>In texts, the Texas gunman said he had shot his grandmother and planned to "shoot up" a school.</li><li>He also claimed he had received ammunition that he had ordered online.</li></ul>The 18-year-old suspect who <a href="https://www.insider.com/children-injured-dead-uvalde-texas-elementary-school-shooting-2022-5">killed at least 21 people at a Texas elementary school</a> told a teenage girl he befriended online that he shot his grandmother and ordered ammunition from the internet, according to text messages <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/25/us/texas-gunman-text.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuomT1JKd6J17Vw1cRCfTTMQmqxCdw_PIxftm3iWka3DIDmwfiPkORJSN607WIKV-Yd462XGHSc9ddr8zQfg4hsluA3tQcSj66J2VhMZCZCwvtYO4Wm5xgMuTVuFl_2CvYDDkeaIizuK1-huLOWL1UaHd1XIjJ1xvoMEzZkjqjSJTvtrNGuVx09Z_2PszVNstFXpbOn7877S_AA5-Od6Gchjb9gIxPupaUjvTltebgKkSJEQQURmVCSMivhtvrY9UK9gVP63gLhE_e8eYgr0ZCGdgLYvBFIScHYnDMvy70_MKje9uD9lD&amp;smid=url-share">obtained by The New York Times</a>."I just shot my grandma in her head," the shooting suspect said in a text message to the friend, a 15-year-old in Germany that he met on the social networking app <keyword id="14030703" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="yubo" source="Orion">Yubo</keyword>, the Times reported. "Ima go shoot up a elementary school rn," he added.The suspect then killed <a href="https://www.insider.com/texas-school-shooting-child-killed-while-calling-911-grandmother-2022-5">at least 19 young children and two teachers</a> at Robb Elementary School in <keyword id="14020623" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="uvalde" source="Orion">Uvalde</keyword>, Texas. A spokesperson for Yubo told Insider in an emailed statement that the company was "deeply saddened," and cooperating with law enforcement."We are deeply saddened by this unspeakable loss and are fully cooperating with law enforcement on their investigation," the spokesperson for Yubo said. "At this stage, we are not legally able to release any specific user information outside of direct requests from law enforcement, but can confirm that we are investigating an account that has since been banned from the platform."The text messages were shared with law enforcement after the mass shooting. According to The Times, the recipient, identified only by her nickname, "Cece," only understood the gravity of the messages after seeing the shooting on the <keyword id="11893589" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news" source="Orion">news</keyword>, at which point she asked a friend to contact US authorities.The shooting suspect also told her that <a href="https://www.insider.com/texas-elementary-school-shooting-what-we-know-about-the-suspected-shooter-2022-5">he had purchased an AR-15 on his birthday</a> and had more recently bought ammunition that would expand on impact, purchased online and delivered the night before the shooting spree.

Texas shooting suspect texted German teenager that he planned to 'shoot up a elementary school,' said he ordered ammunition online

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The gunman who killed 21 in a Texas elementary school threatened people he spoke to online.</li><li>The threats were brushed off by recipients as harmless and were not reported to parents or police.</li></ul>The gunman who <a href="https://www.insider.com/children-injured-dead-uvalde-texas-elementary-school-shooting-2022-5">killed 21 during a shooting at Robb Elementary School</a> in <keyword id="14020623" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="uvalde" source="Orion">Uvalde</keyword>, Texas, on Tuesday frequently threatened people he spoke to online, but the threats were never reported to parents or authorities, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/05/28/uvalde-texas-gunman-online-threats/">The Washington Post reported</a>.Users who interacted with the <a href="https://www.insider.com/texas-elementary-school-shooting-what-we-know-about-the-suspected-shooter-2022-5">18-year-old shooter</a> on the social networking apps Yubo and Instagram say he would post images of dead cats and joke about sexual assault in addition to making threats."I witnessed him harass girls and threaten them with sexual assault, like rape and kidnapping," a 16-year old Yubo user who interacted with the shooter <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/05/28/uvalde-texas-gunman-online-threats/">told The Washington Post</a>. "It was not like a single occurrence. It was frequent."One researcher suggested that threats sent to girls and women, who are frequently harassed online, wouldn't cause unusual alarm because it is such a common occurrence. "When someone says something violent to you or makes some sort of death threat to you, for many women that happens so often that it wouldn't even register with them," Whitney Phillips, a researcher and new faculty member of the University of Oregon <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/05/28/uvalde-texas-gunman-online-threats/">told The Washington Post</a>.At least one girl who interacted with the gunman online said he had told another Yubo user "shut up before I shoot you," but she <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/05/28/uvalde-texas-gunman-online-threats/">told The Washington Post</a> she brushed it off because "kids joke around like that."

Online threats made by Uvalde shooter went unreported to parents and were dismissed as harmless: 'kids joke around like that'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A report from <keyword id="11896956" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="texas" source="Orion">Texas</keyword> House of Representatives contained new missed warnings about the Uvalde shooter.</li><li>Several people nicknamed the man "school shooter" ahead of his horrific attack, it said.</li></ul>The gunman who attacked Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, had the nickname "school shooter", according to an official report.But, despite the widespread impression among the man's friends and contacts online that he was a risk, nobody alerted authorities or acted to intervene.The finding came in a <a href="https://house.texas.gov/_media/pdf/committees/reports/87interim/Robb-Elementary-Investigative-Committee-Report.pdf">a new interim report</a> released on Sunday by a committee in the Texas House of Representatives committee devoted to investigating the shooting on May 24, which left 21 people dead. The shooter was also killed at the scene by police.It gave a detailed account of the 18-year-old attacker's personal history in the weeks and months leading up to the shooting. The reported highlighted multiple red flags, but noted that nobody intervened. In the documents and interviews obtained by the committee, the term "school shooter" came up repeatedly:<ul><li>An ex-girlfriend, who split up with him in 2021, said friends used to tease him "constantly" and called him "school shooter." It said he told told her he wouldn't live past 18.</li><li>On <a href="https://www.insider.com/yubo-app-uvalde-school-shooter-robb-elementary-2022-5">the app Yubo</a>, the man had an undisguised fascination with school shootings, as well making multiple threats. This earned him the nickname "Yubo's school shooter" in local chat groups. </li><li>In a March 2022 Instagram group chat, a student told him: "people at school talk [expletive] about you and call you school shooter."</li><li>In late April, the attacker told a friend that he had just bought more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition, to which the friend replied: "Givin me school shooter vibes."</li></ul><h2><div type="image" title="A screenshot or facsimile of a text conversation between the gunman who attacked Robb Elementary, in Uvalde, and a friend. The conversation reads: “Just spent 1652 on ammo. And 2150 on some ar.” To which the friend responds, using a “skull” and “laughing crying” emoji: “Smhh. Givin me school shooter vibes.”" height="765" width="2000" msid="92957724" hostid="261"></div></h2><ul><li>After the shooting, a patron of the store where he bought his guns told the FBI that he "appeared odd and looked like one of those <keyword id="14487350" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="school-shooters" source="Orion">school shooters</keyword>." (The store owner gave a different account, saying he was an "average customer with no 'red flags.'")</li></ul><h2>All the signs, but no official interventions</h2>Ultimately, only "private individuals" saw most of the warning signs, the report said, rather than anyone who had a duty to respond. He received no interventions from healthcare providers, <keyword id="12136381" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="law-enforcement" source="Orion">law enforcement</keyword> or his school. It also added that it was unclear whether the social media sites he used took any action when people reported his violent threats. The report described <a href="https://www.insider.com/texas-elementary-school-shooting-what-we-know-about-the-suspected-shooter-2022-5">a "shy and quiet" individual</a> whose increasing failure to show to up to class resulted in him being withdrawn from Uvalde High School in October 2021. He also was bullied at different moments both during and outside of school, the report said. He was teased for a speech impediment, per the report.School records said that someone may have asked for speech therapy but that in the end he "received no special education services," the report said. But, it said, he was so rarely at school in the months prior that there was little chance to see or report concerns. The report also describes several instances of him making threats — to a co-worker, at his part-time job at Whataburger; and on the Yubo messaging app. He also harassed his ex-girlfriend after they broke up, the report said."None of his online behavior was ever reported to law enforcement," the report said. The gunman passed the background check to buy ammunition once he was 18, the report said. At the time of the attack, he had no criminal history and had never been arrested.While the report says it is the most complete understanding of the events of that day, it warned that new information may yet emerge that contradicts its findings.

The Uvalde attacker was nicknamed 'school shooter' online and in real life but nobody ever intervened, official report says

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Meta is cracking down on revenge porn targeting children under the age of 18 on its platforms. </li><li>It funded a new tool removing explicit images online, released by a child protection organization. </li></ul>Meta is helping to clamp down on the spread of revenge porn targeting children and teenagers on Instagram and Facebook by funding a new tool that helps users remove sexually explicit images online. The National Center for Missing &amp; Exploited Children announced the release of Take It Down on <a href="https://www.missingkids.org/content/ncmec/en/blog/2023/ncmec-launches-new-service-that-can-help-you-take-it-down.html">Monday</a> – a site that removes nude, partially nude, or sexually explicit images and videos of children under the age of 18 that have been posted online or are believed to have been posted online.The tool can also be used by those over 18 to remove explicit pictures taken when they were a minor, and it is available globally.NCMEC said in its release that Meta provided initial funding for building the infrastructure of the program.Users can select images and videos on their devices that they don't want to be posted online or that have already been posted online. Take It Down will generate a unique digital fingerprint, called a hash value, that is assigned to the specific content to help them to identify any copies, <a href="https://takeitdown.ncmec.org">according to its website</a>.The hash is added to a secure list and shared with participating companies who will then scan their public and unencrypted platforms for it. If an image or video is identified that matches the hash value, it will be taken down.Other platforms that have signed up to NCMEC include Pornhub, OnlyFans, MindGeek, and Yubo. "We created this system because many children are facing these desperate situations." Michelle DeLaune, president and CEO of NCMEC, said in the release. "Our hope is that children become aware of this service, and they feel a sense of relief that tools exist to help take the images down."But there are caveats to this tool. According to <a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-social-media-cameras-business-0f31fbd7ab814f8cdb52ca2df6a46123">The Associated Press</a>, if someone were to alter the image – by cropping it or turning it into a meme, for example – it becomes a new image and therefore needs a new hash. Moreover, images will still appear on sites that haven't signed up for this service.Meta's global head of safety, Antigone David, said in a separate release shared with Insider: "Meta has worked with NCMEC, experts, and victims to develop this platform and help young people get the resources they need when facing these horrific situations. We look forward to other tech companies joining this effort so we can collectively combat this issue across the internet."Insider reached out to NCMEC and Meta for further comment but did not immediately hear back. Meta recorded <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/child-sex-abuse-images-spike-pandemic-13-million-facebook-2021-1">more child sexual abuse material</a> on its platforms than any other tech company in 2019 and was responsible for 99% of all reports to the NCMEC at the time. It also detected over <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-instagram-report-20-million-child-sexual-abuse-images-2021-2">20 million images of child sex abuse</a> on Instagram and Facebook in 2020. Around 15,000 people globally work as moderators for Facebook and Instagram, according to a 2020 report from the <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5b6df958f8370af3217d4178/t/5ed9854bf618c710cb55be98/1591313740497/NYU+Content+Moderation+Report_June+8+2020.pdf" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">New York University Stern Center for Business and Human Rights</a>. Most of these are contracted through third-party firms. Jennifer Grygiel, a social media scholar at Syracuse University quoted in the report, said these numbers as "woefully inadequate.""To get safer social media, you need a lot more people doing moderation," she said.There have also been complaints that Facebook has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-content-moderator-quit-with-blistering-letter-citing-trauma-2021-4">treated its moderators poorly</a> in recent years.One moderator, hired through an outsourcing company in Kenya, told Insider that he had to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-content-moderator-kenya-mental-health-trauma-2022-3">sift through traumatic content</a> including beheadings, sexual exploitation of children, graphic violence, and more, and was only paid $1.50 an hour.

Meta is cracking down on revenge porn targeting children on Instagram and Facebook by funding a new tool to remove explicit images

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The 18-year-old Texas school gunman beat up a little dog, a classmate told <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/uvalde-shooting-classmate-of-salvador-ramos-jamie-arellano-says-we-saw-him-beating-a-little-dog?ref=home">the Daily Beast.</a></li><li>Neighbors and acquaintances described the gunman as reclusive and having a troubled childhood. </li></ul>The gunman, who fatally shot 19 children and two adults in an elementary school in <keyword id="14020623" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="uvalde" source="Orion">Uvalde</keyword>, Texas, was seen beating up animals, a classmate told <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/uvalde-shooting-classmate-of-salvador-ramos-jamie-arellano-says-we-saw-him-beating-a-little-dog?ref=home">the Daily Beast.</a>"He would go to the park and try to pick on people and he loved hurting animals." Jamie Arellano, who attended Uvalde High School with the gunman, said of the <a href="https://www.insider.com/texas-elementary-school-shooting-what-we-know-about-the-suspected-shooter-2022-5">gunman</a>.Arellano said the gunman would start fights with people. "I remember there was one time we saw him beating a little dog senseless," he told the Daily Beast. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/05/25/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-gunman/">The Washington Post reported</a> that relatives and neighbors said the gunman had a rough childhood. Two months before the <keyword id="11922278" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="shooting" source="Orion">shooting</keyword>, he moved in with his grandmother after an argument with his mom. On Tuesday, the 18-year-old gunman shot his grandmother in the face, before taking her car, crashing it, and entering Robb Elementary School, barricading himself in a classroom and fatally shooting 21 people. Friends and family described the gunman as reclusive and said he kept to himself. Some described violent tendencies.In the days after the shooting, several people have come forward and shared violent messages the gunman shared online. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the gunman <a href="https://www.insider.com/texas-gunman-facebook-messages-school-shooting-2022-5">shared his plans to shoot his grandmother and an elementary school right before the attack, </a> in a private Facebook message. The gunman also <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/texas-shooter-sent-text-promising-to-shoot-up-elementary-school-2022-5">shared his plans on the social media app Yubo with a German teenager.</a>The teenager said she didn't <a href="https://www.insider.com/uvalde-shooter-threats-dismissed-harmless-kids-joke-around-like-that-2022-5">realize he was serious</a>.

A classmate of the Texas school shooter said he saw him senselessly beating up a dog: report

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Young Chinese people are protesting unattainable life goals and hustle culture by "letting it rot."</li><li>It's an evolution of 2021's "lying flat" trend, but with more nihilist overtones.</li></ul>If you remember the 2021 trend of Chinese millennials "<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.insider.com/disenchanted-chinese-youth-join-a-mass-movement-to-lie-flat-2021-6">lying flat</a>" in protest of hyper-competition and in defense of rest and relaxation, you've been prepped for its cousin — the slightly darker trend of "letting it rot.""Let it rot," or bailan (摆烂) in Mandarin, is being used by disaffected young Chinese Gen Z-ers and millennials to describe the mindset of leaning into self-indulgence and open decay and away from life expectations that seem neither meaningful nor attainable.This new term, dually playful and nihilistic, describes giving up and giving into a hopeless situation and reportedly comes from a passive strategy in basketball. Bailan refers to when a losing team stops trying to win in order to more rapidly bring a game to its end.<div type="image" title="A photo of a person with their head so low it's almost on their desk who looks tired, touching their desktop screen lightly" height="1238" width="920" msid="94668181" hostid="261" sizebytes="50648"></div>To express their commitment to the bailan lifestyle, many are sharing photos to Xiaohongshu, China's Instagram-like platform, depicting rest, fatigue, and sadness with the bailan hashtag alongside #tired and #f—- it, and encouraging "everyday decadence" and rotting together. The hashtag has more than 2.3 million results on the platform.<div type="image" title="someone laying on a chair in a dejected, fatigued way" height="1230" width="1241" msid="94668182" hostid="261" sizebytes="49870"></div>China's young people are facing overwhelming and disheartening headwinds — including an <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1244339/surveyed-monthly-youth-unemployment-rate-in-china/">18.7% youth unemployment rate in August</a>, housing prices that can cost <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-housing-market-explainer-cost-debt-wealth-evergrande-impact-2021-9#:~:text=In%20China's%20tier%2Done%20cities,average%20salary%2C%20the%20report%20shows.">14 times the average salary</a>, a <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/27/technology/dating-apps-china.html">complex dating environment</a>, and the prospect of <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7982951/">caring for their elderly parents</a> while potentially also childrearing.When "lying flat" participants pushed for pared-back goals — ideologically similar to <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/quiet-quitting-marginalized-backgrounds-minorities-diversity-2022-9#:~:text=The%20phrase%20%22quiet%20quitting%22%20gained,among%20workers%20of%20all%20backgrounds.">"quiet quitting"</a> — people who '"let it rock" are fast-tracking entropy.In 2021, Yubo Li, a freelance designer, digital artist, and "lying flat" practitioner, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.insider.com/disenchanted-chinese-youth-join-a-mass-movement-to-lie-flat-2021-6">told Insider</a> he knew taking a corporate job would mean more money and better housing and food. But the trade-off — sleeping three hours a day and negligible free time — wasn't worth it. "Now my simple bowls of noodles taste good, and my bed is soft enough. I see no reason to try harder."<div type="image" title="A photo of someone with a black and white striped cone over their head" height="1223" width="1241" msid="94668183" hostid="261" sizebytes="33382"></div>Bailan responds to many of the same fundamental issues — it's a protest against hyper-competition and watching friends <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.insider.com/disenchanted-chinese-youth-join-a-mass-movement-to-lie-flat-2021-6">work themselves to death in a "9-9-6" work culture</a> exasperated by a <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3139470/china-population-workforce-drop-35-million-over-next-five">shrinking labor market</a>. But where "lying flat" aims to restructure the present, bailan seems to be a feeling of paralysis in the face of an unchangeable and unsatisfactory future.Economists have expressed concern that the trend could hurt an <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/commodities/china-economic-slowdown-europe-us-global-markets-inflation-recession-exports-2022-9">already slowing economy</a> and further <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-birth-rate-demographic-crisis-global-economy-inflation-belt-road-2021-12#:~:text=China's%20birth%20rate%20hit%20a%20record%20low%20last%20year%2C%20according,the%20lowest%20since%20the%201940s.">impact an already record-low birthrate. </a>"Maybe there is just a small group of people who are truly 'letting it rot'' but when a buzz phrase is exaggerated on social media, it creates a social atmosphere, and that could be enough to make an impact," Fudan University professor Shi Lei told the outlet.Nevertheless, the phrase continues to resonate with many.Yan Jie, a Shanghai-based IT worker, told the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3194180/lying-flat-no-more-new-evolution-disillusionment?utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=cm&amp;utm_campaign=enlz-today_international&amp;utm_content=20221004&amp;tpcc=enlz-today_international&amp;UUID=508c8bb1-78cd-4a70-abc9-5d03390787af&amp;next_article_id=3194762&amp;article_id_list=3194180,3194762,3194773,3194771,3194764,3194790,3194778,3194756&amp;tc=4&amp;CMCampaignID=800039ab831569e27f7a2be666b041d9">South China Morning Post</a>, said the phrase perfectly encapsulates his waning work ethic."When I am given an assignment at work, I try to avoid it," he told the outlet. "If I am forced to do the work, I will do it but inadequately."

Chinese millennials have replaced 'lying flat' with simply 'letting it rot' — a darkly funny, laissez-faire rejection of competition and the work force

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Business Insider exclusively teamed up with the social networking app <a href="https://yubo.live/en">Yubo</a> and the online learning platform <a href="https://www.studocu.com/en-us">StuDocu</a> to see how Gen Zers and students are responding to the current racial tensions in the US.</li><li>Yubo found that 88% of Gen Zers feel that Black Americans are treated differently than others, and 78% have used social media to express support for the equality of Black Americans.</li><li>Meanwhile, StuDocu found that 60% of their student respondents said the racial tensions have impacted their mental health, while 44% of them have started to educate themselves on how to support anti-racism and racial justice causes.</li></ul>Gen Zers have been at the forefront of some of the nation's most recent protests. Now, they're at the helm of a new important demonstration: The anti-racism and anti-police-brutality movement sparked by the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/black-ceos-fortune-500-companies-responses-to-george-floyd-death-2020-6">death of George Floyd</a> last month in Minneapolis after a white police officer violently restrained him.To see exactly how <keyword id="159493" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Gen-Z">Gen Z</keyword> feels about this latest protest, Business Insider teamed up with the social networking app <a href="https://yubo.live/en">Yubo</a> and the online learning platform <a href="https://www.studocu.com/en-us">StuDocu</a> to poll students and young adults throughout the nation on subjects ranging from the <keyword id="2771111" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="black-lives-matter">Black Lives Matter</keyword> movement, how colleges are responding to the events, and their own mental health. The numbers paint a powerful picture of how a generation defined by conflict is reacting to, internalizing, and most importantly, leading the latest historic event.<h2>Most young people support Black Lives Matter</h2>Between June 5 and June 7, <a href="https://yubo.live/en">Yubo</a> polled 38,919 US-based Gen Zers (those ages 13 to 25) and found that 88% of respondents believe Black Americans are treated differently than others. Thirty-six percent of those who participated in the Yubo poll identified as white, while 19% identified as Black/African American, 18% as Hispanic/Latinx, 12% as Mixed Race, 4% as Asian, and 1% as Native American.Nearly 90% of those who responded to the Yubo poll said that they support <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/black-lives-matter-history-social-media-movement-growth-2020-6">Black Lives Matter</a>, an organization that fights against systemic racism and police brutality against Black Americans. Eighty-three percent of Yubo respondents felt that the police use too much force in the United States. Seventy-seven percent of respondents have already attended a protest to support equality for Black Americans, and 62% said they were willing to get arrested during a peaceful protest to support this equality. Furthermore, 86% felt that peaceful protests and political demonstrations are necessary to create a significant change. However, only 43% felt protests must be violent in order to create that change; 40% were either unsure or didn't believe that a change will come from the current protests.The poll also found that Gen Zers are extensively using social media to express their support for Black Lives Matter. Seventy-three percent of Yubo respondents said they are using Instagram to express their support for the equality of Black Americans, while 26% are using TikTok, 25% are using Twitter, and only 13% are using Facebook. <h2>The racial tensions have also impacted the mental health of students</h2>The online learning platform <a href="https://www.studocu.com/en-us">StuDocu</a> also conducted a survey with Business Insider between June 5 and June 8, to see how the recent racial tensions in the United States have impacted the health of 108 currently enrolled US students between the ages of 18 and 32.Sixty percent of those who responded to StuDocu said that the recent racial tensions have impacted their overall mental health. However, 64% were hopeful about the future because of the widespread support the Black Lives Matter movement has received.Furthermore, recent events have made 44% more interested in educating themselves on actions they can take to support <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-anti-racism-how-to-be-anti-racist-2020-6">anti-racism </a>and racial justice. As Georgetown African-American studies professor Robert J. Patterson <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-anti-racism-how-to-be-anti-racist-2020-6">previously told Business Insider</a>, "Anti-racism is an active and conscious effort to work against [the] multi-dimensional aspects of racism."StuDocu also revealed that students are paying close attention to how their colleges and universities are responding to the current civil unrest. Fifty-nine percent of respondents told StuDocu that if their university remains silent about racial inequality and the ongoing protests, this would impact their perception of the school. At the same time, 57% revealed there are currently no extracurricular groups at their school dedicated to addressing racial tensions and violence against Black Americans. To fix this, 72% expect their schools to address these issues.Here are other facts about campus <keyword id="6360041" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="life">life</keyword> and education that StuDocu found in regards to the protests: <ul><li>44% of students didn't feel comfortable discussing racial inequality with others on campus. </li><li>45% of students were concerned that the current political and social landscape, including the coronavirus pandemic, will inhibit their ability to continue their education in the fall.</li><li>68% wanted to see more inclusive topics included in their college curriculum </li></ul>Business Insider had <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-gen-z-republicans-differ-from-older-republicans-pew-research-2020-5">previously reported</a> that Gen Zers are more progressive than past generations, citing a recent <a href="https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/essay/on-the-cusp-of-adulthood-and-facing-an-uncertain-future-what-we-know-about-gen-z-so-far/">Pew Research study</a> that was published in May.Notably, Generation Z were the ones that led the <a href="https://marchforourlives.com">March for Our Lives</a> anti-gun protests, created in response to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018, which saw <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/3/26/17160646/march-for-our-lives-crowd-size-count">over 1.2 million</a> people marching in support of gun-control legislation.And there was also the School Strike for Climate, led by now-17-year-old <a href="https://time.com/person-of-the-year-2019-greta-thunberg/">Greta Thunberg</a>, where students throughout the world left school early to demand action from political leaders to prevent climate change.Pew Research found that even Gen Z Republicans are <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-gen-z-republicans-differ-from-older-republicans-pew-research-2020-5">more progressive and more pro-government</a> than their older Republicans counterparts. For example, 43% of Gen Z Republicans believed Black people are not treated as fairly as white people in the United States, compared to 30% of millennial Republicans, 23% of Gen Xers, and just 20% each of Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation.

THE ACTION GENERATION: How Gen Z really feels about race, equality, and its role in the historic George Floyd protests, based on a survey of 39,000 young Americans

Welcome to <keyword id="11937554" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="10-things" source="Orion">10 Things</keyword> Before the Opening Bell.If this was forwarded to you, <a href="https://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/10-things-opening-bell">sign up here.</a> Plus, download Insider's app for news on the go – <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id554260576?pt=385758&amp;ct=06292021_newsletters&amp;mt=8">click here for iOS</a> and<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.freerange360.mpp.businessinsider"> here for Android</a>.Let's get into it. <hr />1. Wall Street is still keeping tabs on retail traders. It's been a year since the GameStop fiasco that kicked off the year of meme stocks, and <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/gamestop-year-retail-trading-wall-street-hedge-funds-sentifi-ubs-2022-1">institutional investors remain wary of the power of retail traders.</a> Hedge fund Melvin Capital still hasn't recovered from the ordeal — <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-30/hedge-funds-salvage-2021-gains-as-private-investments-shine">it finished 2021 down 42%</a> after trying to short Gamestop.Everyday investors used to be alone in organizing across <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/reddit-day-traders-wallstreetbets-gamestop-gme-rally-upending-stock-market-2021-1-1030009280?utm_medium=ingest%3Futm_source%3Dmarkets&amp;utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets&amp;utm_source=markets">online forums like Reddit's WallStreetBets</a>. But some trading desks have begun to track Twitter and Reddit sentiment in an effort to stay abreast of trends, with some pros even copying the moves of amateurs.But not star stock-picker Cathie Wood — she said meme stocks aren't Ark Invest's thing, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/cathie-wood-meme-stocks-retail-traders-ark-invest-gamestop-amc-2022-1">though she doesn't fault retail traders for going after them.</a> Wood's focus lies elsewhere. She advocates for democratizing investment in innovation and restoring confidence in <keyword id="11893875" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="markets" source="Orion">markets</keyword>. By keeping its strategy transparent, Wood explained, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/cathie-wood-ark-investing-strategy-change-retail-investors-innovation-open-2022-1">Ark aims to keep regular investors "on the right side of change."</a>Meanwhile, despite all of Ark's bullishness on new-age tech companies, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-outlook-dont-buy-the-dip-ark-stocks-datatrek-2022-1">DataTrek is seeing signs of another dot-com bubble</a>. The firm warned investors against buying the dip in disruptive innovation stocks: "The narrative has changed to old-school cyclicals."<hr />2. Stocks look set to dive at the opening bell. Dow futures plunged in European trade earlier, as rising bond yields and oil at seven-year highs fan fears of inflation.<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-today-us-tech-futures-bond-yields-oil-prices-2022-1">Take a look at what's happening today.</a>3. This is how to invest $10,000 right now, according to six financial experts. Wall Street pros expect it to be tougher to make money in this year's market. From stocks and crypto to ETFs, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-invest-10000-stocks-crypto-altcoins-etf-to-buy-2022-1">experts shared where they would put their money for 2022.</a>4. Big earnings on the docket: Bank of America, Charles Schwab, and Goldman Sachs, all <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/earnings-calendar">reporting.</a>5. The recent bitcoin slump could be the start of a "crypto winter," according to UBS. The firm isn't alone in thinking <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/bitcoin-price-crypto-winter-crash-slump-interest-rates-regulation-ubs-2022-1">prices could crash</a> as the crypto bubble pops. <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/bitcoin-price-outlook-btc-bubble-crash-winter-invesco-ubs-investing-2022-1">Invesco said bitcoin could tumble below $30,000 this year.</a>6. Warren Buffett missed out on $10 billion in gains by dumping Wells Fargo stock. Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway also left $5 billion on the table by exiting JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs back in 2020. But the billionaire's been critical of Wells Fargo's management — <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-wells-fargo-stock-sales-missed-gain-2022-1">so he's unlikely to regret shedding the stock.</a>7. Investor Bill Ackman said the Federal Reserve needs a "shock and awe" rate hike. The Fed is losing its battle against inflation, and investors expect at least four rate hikes this year. <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/bill-ackman-federal-reserve-inflation-rate-hikes-shock-awe-markets-2022-1">To Ackman, a bigger rate hike will restore its credibility with markets.</a>8. This sportswear startup's line of luxury jacket NFTs sold out in minutes. ASRV released digital tokens as part of a new clothing line and its CEO is betting big on Web3 —<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/sportswear-nft-asrv-metaverse-virtual-land-retail-luxury-clothing-web3-2022-1"> he's already scouted out virtual land in the metaverse for a virtual store.</a>9. A 25-year-old crypto founder who bought tons of solana at around $0.33 is trying to build the "Apple of finance." Yubo Ruan also invested in polkadot when it was priced below $1. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-find-100x-altcoins-early-investor-solana-parallel-finance-2022-1">He broke down his three-part strategy for how he identifies winning altcoins early. </a>10. The CEO of an $800 property investing platform expects double-digit growth in five specific markets this year. Among her favorite picks for 2022, RealtyMogul's Jilliene Helman likes Nashville and Miami. See her full list here — <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/real-estate-investing-strategy-inflation-hedge-tech-job-gains-pandemic-2022-1">and how investors can get started with $5,000 to hedge against inflation. </a><hr />Compiled by Phil Rosen. Feedback? Email <a href="mailto:prosen@insider.com">prosen@insider.com</a> or tweet <a href="https://twitter.com/philrosenn">@philrosenn</a>.Sign up for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter">more Insider newsletters here</a>.

10 things before the opening bell

<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5e4556812dae5c168365a0cc-800/headshot.jpeg" alt="Yubo Ruan, founder and general partner of 8 Decimal Capital" />Yubo RuanYubo Ruan.<ul class="summary-list"><li>Yubo Ruan is the founder and general partner of <a href="http://www.8dcapital.com/">8 Decimal Capital</a>.</li><li>Ruan says although most of the founders he backs are from referrals, he considers candidates who send good cold emails, pinpoint a big issue, and demonstrate how they plan to fix it succinctly.</li><li>He says it's more important for nascent startups to find a good investor who can help them overcome hurdles than it is to get a lot more capital.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime">Click here for more BI Prime stories.</a></li></ul>Though venture capitalists are investing almost <a href="https://2utfff4d3dkt3biit53nsvep-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/DollarStack_VC-Report_Q1-2019-f.png">$75 billion a quarter</a> into startups, most founders still have a rough time raising money, particularly if they don't belong to the right communities.So what if you're a talented first-time founder who didn't graduate from a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ultimate-guides-top-mba-business-school-harvard-stanford">top-tier university</a> or work at <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lessons-learned-google-employee-running-a-company">Google</a> or <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/former-facebook-employee-shares-why-dont-need-mba-tech">Facebook</a> before starting your company? Can you still raise a solid round from world-class investors? Absolutely, but you need to play your cards right.I'm the founder and general partner of <a href="http://www.8dcapital.com/">8 Decimal Capital</a>, a venture firm that currently manages over $60 million. Though our firm primarily meets with founders introduced to us by our portfolio companies, we do occasionally chat with founders who get in touch through cold email. Being successful in such a scenario generally relies on two critical steps: nailing the initial outreach and then establishing credibility in that meeting - all in an incredibly short timespan.After sitting down and thinking about some of the best cold emails I've received over the years and the best pitches that followed, I want to share three ways founders have stood out in the past.<h1>1. Craft a short, engaging email that addresses 7 key points</h1>The best cold emails I've received, in the shortest way possible, leave a strong impression that the sender is articulate and has a standout team that's the perfect fit to solve a given problem. They also leave me wanting to learn more.Most cold emails I respond to are around five to 10 lines long and include the following:<ol><li>A common touchpoint: Did we go to the same event? Did we attend the same undergrad program? Did we work at the same company? Is there anything we have in common that could boost your chances of instantly grabbing my attention?</li><li>Your expertise: Have you started other companies before? Are you a researcher that has domain expertise that nobody else does? What makes you uniquely qualified to run this venture?</li><li>Your team: Who's working with you? What is their expertise? Why are they uniquely qualified to be a part of and grow your company?</li><li>What your company is: What's your one-line pitch for what you're doing and why it's important?</li><li>Why you're a unique solution: Why are you the best company to tackle the problem?</li><li>Traction in numbers: Talk about the numbers that matter the most, like user growth, retention/churn, customer acquisition cost/life-time value, or time spent on your app. Leave out stuff like "culture" and other metrics that aren't easily measurable.</li><li>Flexibility: Don't ask for a meeting right away. Be flexible: Let the investor ask you questions if they'd like to. If they want to meet you right away, that's awesome.</li></ol>For instance, I was recently approached by an undergraduate venture capital group's sourcing team. Here's what made their email compelling to me:<ol><li>A common touchpoint: The representative talked about its early-stage focus and specifically connected it with 8 Decimal's early-stage focus. This quickly made clear to me that their due diligence work could actually benefit our firm.</li><li>Their expertise: The email specifically mentioned that the venture capital group works with about 30 venture firms and angels, described three deals it sourced that match 8 Decimal's thesis, and said it had sourced over 100 companies for investors.</li><li>Their team: The email mentioned that the group is managed by students at a single world-renowned university - and lists testimonials given by two venture capitalists that endorse the team.</li><li>What their company is: "Our sourcing team finds promising early-stage startups at [prestigious school 1] and [prestigious school 2], and connects them with compatible investors from our exclusive partner network," they wrote.</li><li>Why they're unique: It was heavily implied that this undergraduate venture firm is the only one at this particular school.</li><li>Traction in numbers: The venture capital group has sourced over 100 deals for about 30 investors.</li><li>Flexibility: The last line of the email was, "If you may be interested in partnering with us as an investor, I'd enjoy providing additional information about the programs and [organization]'s mission," which is pretty open-ended and not demanding.</li></ol><h1>2. Spend more time proving the problem before moving on to your solution</h1>The vast majority of pitches tend to involve founders starting with a short explanation of a problem, usually less than 5% of the pitch, and then going on to explain how their companies hope to solve it. The issue is that these pitches often don't focus enough on explaining why it matters to solve said problem. We haven't been convinced that it matters to solve the problem before founders go on to their solutions; consequently, the rest of the conversation ends up building on faulty groundwork. Instead, the best pitches I've heard tend to follow this kind of format:<ol><li>Open with what the problem is and spend a fair amount of time (closer to 15 to 20% of your pitch) explaining what the consequences would be of not solving the problem.</li><li>Follow up with a hypothetical solution to solve that problem.</li><li>Explain why your company is positioned to be that solution. </li></ol>Here's an example: When one of our most successful fintech investments pitched us, the founders spent a significant portion at the start of their pitch going into the nitty-gritty of all the hoops banking customers needed to go through while sending money internationally. They talked specifically about the number of business days these transfers generally took, fees, and more - all of which were helpful in getting my partners and I interested in the space before we had even heard anything about the team's product.We even felt some level of frustration having faced this very problem ourselves and experiencing how tough it was to use other solutions in this market.The company then went on to talk about a couple of existing solutions, but went particularly deep into the idea that it could be a great use case of blockchain technology. (Again, they spent a considerable amount of time convincing us this was true before introducing their solution).Once the founders proved the problem and the hypothetical solution, they shared their product features, growth metrics, team track record, and more than convinced me and my partners that this was the right team and company to tackle the problem.<h1>3. Explain why the investor you're pitching is a good strategic fit</h1>Particularly at the earliest stages, a lot of founders tend to feel like if they raise a round that the capital will help them overcome their most critical challenges. In my experience, however, capital can only actually solve a minority of early-stage challenges. What founders usually need more than venture capital in the early days is the right investor to help them overcome hurdles like acquiring the first enterprise customers or hiring top talent. However, founders often neglect to explain why the partner or firm they're pitching is a good strategic fit, which, from an investor's point of view, is actually incredibly important.At 8 Decimal, some of the deals we got the most excited about touched these three areas of a strategic fit in their pitches:<ol><li>The investor has previously built a company in your space. His or her experience would help you "look around the corner."</li><li>The firm is well connected with certain types of talent - maybe engineers or marketers currently working at top companies, perhaps formerly in their portfolio - that you might not otherwise be able to hire.</li><li>Your offering can help a large portion of the fund's portfolio companies cut costs, increase revenue, or improve productivity. (This strategy can be especially helpful if the fund has a very specific investment thesis; their portfolio companies can likely become your first customers and you'll be solving a portfolio-wide problem.)</li></ol>So before every pitch, ask yourself: "Every firm has money. Why this one?" And utilize your answer to guide the conversation. <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-make-submit-your-own-emoji-start-finish-2019-8">62 new emoji and emoji variations were just finalized, including a bubble tea emoji and a transgender flag. Here's how everyday people submit their own emoji.</a></h3> <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/rgp1Hveg-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;"></iframe>

I'm the founder of a $60 million VC fund. Here are 3 important steps you need to take to cold pitch an investor to fund your startup.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A gunman fatally shot <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/05/24/us/shooting-robb-elementary-uvalde?smid=url-share#shooting-robb-elementary-uvalde">at least 19 students and two adults</a> at an elementary school in <keyword id="14020623" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="uvalde" source="Orion">Uvalde</keyword>, <keyword id="11896956" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="texas" source="Orion">Texas</keyword>.</li><li>Authorities identified him as an 18-year-old living in Uvalde and said he was killed at the scene.</li></ul>Texas authorities identified an 18-year-old named Salvador Ramos as the gunman who <a href="https://www.insider.com/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-tx-robb-elementary-2022-5">killed at least 19 students and two adults at an elementary school</a> in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday.Details are still emerging about the shooter, described by friends and family as reclusive and at times violent. He lived with his grandmother after his relationship with his mother soured, and reached out to strangers online with increasingly alarming messages. Then, on Tuesday, just days after buying an arsenal of weapons, he drove to Robb Elementary School and carried out his attack, opening fire just before noon local time, according to authorities. Immediately after the shooting on Tuesday, Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas said during a press conference that the gunman, who was a US citizen and attended Uvalde High School, was later shot dead by officers at the scene. The <a href="https://www.insider.com/texas-uvalde-robb-elementary-school-shooting-victims-identified-so-far-2022-5">victims included children between the ages of 8 and 10 years old, as well as two fourth-grade teachers</a>.<h2>He shared his plans with strangers online</h2>Several individuals have come forward over the week, saying the gunman shared disturbing hints of the violence to come. In private messanges on Facebook, he wrote that he would shoot his grandmother and attack an elementary school just moments before the attack, <a href="https://www.insider.com/texas-gunman-facebook-messages-school-shooting-2022-5">Abbot said Wednesday</a>. A message sent less than 15 minutes before arriving at the school said "I'm going to shoot an elementary school," according to Abbott.Andy Stone, a communications director at Facebook's parent company Meta, later clarified that the messages sent by the shooter were private and were discovered only after the "tragedy" occurred. Stone said Meta was cooperating with law enforcement as they investigate the shooting.On the social networking app Yubo, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/texas-shooter-sent-text-promising-to-shoot-up-elementary-school-2022-5">the gunman shared details of his plans</a> with a German teenager, who didn't realize he was serious until she saw the <keyword id="11893589" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news" source="Orion">news</keyword> later and alerted authorities through a friend in the states.And, three days before the massacre, he shared on Instagram two pictures of the rifles he had just purchased, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/05/27/us/texas-school-shooting#the-texas-gunmans-behavior-made-a-classmate-fear-that-he-would-shoot-something-up">according to The New York Times</a>.<h2>Authorities say he shot his grandmother before going to the school</h2>Immediately before the school rampage — the deadliest US school shooting in a decade — the gunman shot his grandmother and fled the scene, Lt. Christopher Olivarez, a spokesperson for the Texas Department for Public Safety said on Wednesday. "What we do know is that the shooter was involved in a domestic disturbance with his grandmother," Olivarez <a href="https://www.today.com/video/texas-school-shooting-official-shares-timeline-potential-motive-140782149572">said on NBC's "Today" show</a>, adding, "Prior to the shooting at the school, he did shoot his grandmother."According to DPS, his grandmother reported him to the police after she was able to run across the street to a neighbor and get help. The grandmother was hospitalized in critical condition and is alive, Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Erick Estrada <a href="https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/texas-elementary-school-shooting-05-24-22/h_eb5dadd1ef3601f5e870ea99c41a720e">told CNN</a>. She is now in stable condition following the incident, authorities <a href="https://twitter.com/KCStar/status/1529964074603274255">said</a> Tuesday.<h2>The gunman then drove to Robb Elementary School</h2>After shooting his grandmother, the gunman crashed his car outside of Robb Elementary School at about 11:30 a.m. and then made his way into the building, Olivarez said. An eyewitness to the aftermath of the crash outside the school, Eduardo Trinidad, <a href="https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2022/05/24/suspect-info-heres-what-we-know-about-the-18-year-old-shooter-who-officials-say-killed-his-grandmother-14-students-and-1-teacher/">told the local outlet KPRC-2</a> that the vehicle went through a barricade and into a concrete ditch.Olivarez said the Uvalde Police Department then "received a call of a crashed vehicle and an individual armed with a weapon making his way into the school."Police said Thursday that he "walked in unobstructed initially," as a school police officer <a href="https://www.insider.com/cops-say-school-officer-confronted-teacher-not-texas-gunman-2022-5">accidentally confronted a teacher instead of the gunman</a>."At that point we had local law enforcement, school officers, as well as state troopers who were first on scene and who were able to hear the actual gunshots inside the classroom," Olivarez said. Olivarez said officers then began "breaking windows around the school trying to evacuate children, teachers, anybody that they could trying to get them out of that building, out of that school."The shooter — who officials say acted alone — used a long rifle in the attack and was wearing a tactical vest, Olivarez said Wednesday. <h2>All victims of the school shooting were in the same classroom</h2>The gunman "barricaded" himself <a href="https://www.insider.com/texas-school-shooting-child-killed-while-calling-911-grandmother-2022-5">inside a single classroom</a> in the school where he carried out the carnage, said Olivarez. "The shooter was able to make entry into a classroom, barricaded himself inside that classroom and again just began shooting numerous children and teachers that were in that classroom, having no regard for human life," Olivarez said during an interview on the "Today" show. The Texas law enforcement official called the gunman "just a complete evil person by not having any regard for children, anyone that was inside that classroom."The gunman "just began shooting anyone that was in his way," Olivarez said.Texas police said during a press conference Thursday that the gunman <a href="https://www.insider.com/texas-police-now-say-uvalde-school-district-officer-didnt-confront-gunman-2022-5">was not confronted</a> by a school district police officer prior to the shooting, disputing previous reports."It was reported that a school district police officer confronted the suspect. That's not accurate," Victor Escalon, the South Texas regional director for the state Department of Public Safety, said. "[The gunman] walked in unobstructed initially."Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw said during a press conference Wednesday that roughly <a href="https://www.insider.com/onlookers-urged-police-to-charge-into-texas-school-2022-5">40 minutes to an hour</a> passed between the time the shooter entered the premises and when he was shot and killed by a US Border Patrol agent.All of the victims were inside the same fourth-grade classroom, <a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Gunmankills19children2teachersinTexasschoolrampage/44a7cfb990feaa6ffe482483df6e4683/text?hpSectionId=b1a31fac82e344e1a676d23a6893d1d6&amp;st=hpsection&amp;mediaType=text&amp;dateRange=Anytime&amp;totalCount=8&amp;currentItemNo=1">Olivarez told CNN</a>. "At that point, we had a tactical law enforcement team arrive made up of multiple federal officers, local officers as well as state troopers, that were able to make forcible entry into that classroom," Olivarez said on the "Today" show. "They were met with gunfire as well, but they were able to shoot and kill that suspect," he said. "And without hesitation tried to make entry into that school, but at that point, they were at a point of disadvantage because the suspect, the shooter, had barricaded himself inside that classroom."On Friday, <a href="https://www.insider.com/federal-agents-entered-school-30-minutes-after-arriving-uvalde-nbc-2022-5">federal law enforcement officials said</a> federal agents eventually disregarded local law enforcement directives and entered the school to kill the gunman.<h2>Shooter bought weapons shortly after turning 18</h2>Officials said they recovered two AR-15-style rifles from the scene at the elementary school, <a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/texas/article/uvalde-school-shooting-guns-17196715.php">The Houston Chronicle reported</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/RobElgasABC7/status/1529284422402547714">Rob Elgas</a>, a reporter with ABC7 Chicago, also tweeted that authorities recovered an "AR-15 style rifle" and "numerous magazines" at the scene.Authorities said the gunman <a href="https://www.insider.com/texas-school-gunman-bought-guns-right-after-18th-birthday-authorities-2022-5">bought two weapons shortly after turning 18</a>.Authorities and state Sen. John Whitmire said the gunman had purchased one of the rifles recovered from the shooting from a licensed gun store on May 17, the day after his 18th birthday, The Chronicle reported.The following day, May 18, the gunman purchased 375 rounds of ammunition, and two days later, on May 20, he purchased a second rifle, the Chronicle reported.State Sen. Roland Gutierrez also said the shooter had earlier hinted on social media about a forthcoming attack, <a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Gunmankills19childreninTexasschoolrampage/44a7cfb990feaa6ffe482483df6e4683/text?hpSectionId=b1a31fac82e344e1a676d23a6893d1d6&amp;st=hpsection&amp;mediaType=text&amp;sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&amp;dateRange=Anytime&amp;totalCount=6&amp;currentItemNo=0">The Associated Press reported</a>. He "suggested the kids should watch out," Gutierrez said, according to the AP.<h2>Shooter is said to have troubled childhood</h2><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/05/25/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-gunman/">The Washington Post reported</a> that the gunman was described as having a troubled childhood and home life and had moved in with his grandmother.Before that, he had "a pretty rough life with his mom," a former neighbor, Ruben Flores, told the paper.An 18-year-old former friend of the shooter, Santos Valdez Jr., told The Post that they had exchanged brief messages about high school roughly two hours before the shooting.Juan Alvarez, who is the gunman's mother's partner, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/texas-gunman-left-home-fight-mom-wi-fi-mothers-boyfriend-says-rcna30495">told NBC News</a> that the teen had moved out of his mother's home after his mother disconnected his Wi-Fi. The pair got into a heated argument, Alvarez said, and then the gunman moved in with his grandmother. "I don't know what he was thinking. He had his reasons for doing what he did and please don't judge him. I only want the innocent children who died to forgive me," the gunman's mother, Adriana Martinez, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2022/05/27/uvalde-texas-shooting-gunman-mother-newday-sot-vpx.cnn">told CNN</a>.His father, Salvador Ramos, 42, told <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/father-of-uvalde-shooter-salvador-ramos-says-he-shouldve-just-killed-me?via=twitter_page">The Daily Beast</a> that he "never expected" his son to commit such a <keyword id="11893298" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="crime" source="Orion">crime</keyword>, and did not know how his son turned violent. He added that he had not seen his son for a month when the younger man cut off contact with him. He described their difficult relationship. "My mom (the gunman's grandmother) tells me he probably would have shot me too, because he would always say I didn't love him," he told The Daily Beast.

What we know about the gunman in the Robb Elementary School shooting

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The movement of the moment in <keyword id="1334" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="China">China</keyword> is "lying flat," which advocates for lying down instead of working hard.</li><li>More Chinese <keyword id="6356126" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="youth">youth</keyword> appear to be rejecting a life and <keyword id="6355058" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="work">work</keyword> culture of constant competition.</li><li>"Lying flat" rejects the "9-9-6" culture that encourages people to work 12 hour days six days a week.</li><li>"Only by lying down can humans become the measure of all things," argues the "lying flat" manifesto.</li></ul>It is 8 a.m. in Shanghai. Scores of office workers are pouring into the dizzying network of the city's metro lines, toting heavy briefcases and steaming cups of coffee. Meanwhile, Zhiyuan Zhang, 27, is tucking himself into bed. "8 a.m. means it's time to lie down," Zhang told Insider. "Though I don't have a job to go to, so I can lie down anytime. It's great." Zhang is a Chinese millennial who has joined the ranks of a social movement called 躺平主义 - the "lying flat movement." It's <a href="https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3134633/chinas-gen-z-are-laying-flat-does-new-work-life-attitude-pose">a mindset, a lifestyle, and a personal choice</a> for some disillusioned Chinese youth who have given up on the rat race and are staging a quiet rebellion against the trials of <a href="https://fortune.com/2021/01/04/china-996-work-culture-pinduoduo-death/">9-9-6 work culture.</a><h2>Why are some Chinese youths "lying flat"? </h2><div type="image" title="tsinghua, neijuan" height="441" width="589" msid="83335604" hostid="261"></div>The idea of "lying flat" is widely acknowledged as a mass societal response to <a href="https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-12-04/-Involution-The-anxieties-of-our-time-summed-up-in-one-word-VWNlDOVdjW/index.html">"neijuan" (or involution). </a>"Neijuan" became a term commonly used to describe the hyper-competitive lifestyle in China, where life is likened to a zero-sum game.According to Chinese <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news">news</keyword> outlet <a href="https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-12-04/-Involution-The-anxieties-of-our-time-summed-up-in-one-word-VWNlDOVdjW/index.html">CGTN</a>, a viral photo of a student at the prestigious Tsinghua University studying on his laptop while riding a bike best encompassed "neijuan." The pressure to succeed renders the mere minutes spent on a short bike commute a waste of time. "One big question for the middle class is how to remain in the middle class and ensure that their children do the same and even better," Yan Fei, a professor of sociology at Tsinghua University, told CGTN.Neijuan goes hand in hand with China's "9-9-6" culture. The term refers <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/29/technology/china-996-jack-ma.html">to China's "hustle" culture,</a> where people <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rebeccafannin/2019/05/05/why-chinas-996-work-culture-makes-sense-right-now/?sh=7fe683627802">work 12 hours a day from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week.</a> The 9-9-6 lifestyle was strongly <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/15/business/jack-ma-996-china/index.html">championed by Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba,</a> who once in 2019 <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/alibabas-jack-ma-calls-the-996-chinas-72-hour-work-week-a-huge-blessing-2019-04-15">called the 72-hour workweek a "blessing."</a> Long workdays are not only common but <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/long-days-a-staple-at-chinese-tech-firms-1487787775">"expected" of staff,</a> despite <a href="http://www.gov.cn/banshi/2005-05/25/content_905.htm">China's labor policy</a> mandating that employees not work more than eight hours a day.Poor enforcement of labor laws has led to rampant cases of overwork. Stories of people dying at their desks or suffering from depression and exhaustion are not uncommon. <div type="image" title="sang culture pepe the frog" height="3772" width="5029" msid="83335607" hostid="261"></div>Earlier this year, for example, the e-commerce company <a href="https://fortune.com/2021/01/11/pinduoduo-employee-death-suicide-china-996/">Pinduoduo</a> was rocked by two employee deaths believed to be tied to overwork. One worker collapsed and died after staying at the office until 1:30 a.m. Two weeks later, a second employee died by suicide, prompting a third employee to release a viral video claiming that employees at the company were expected to work more than 12 hours a day. <h2>Rebelling against the status quo by doing nothing - the origins of "lying flat"</h2>There are many ways to "lie flat," per <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/china-lying-flat-stress/2021/06/04/cef36902-c42f-11eb-89a4-b7ae22aa193e_story.html">The Washington Post</a>, including not getting married and starting a family, and rejecting overtime work and desk jobs.Per a <a href="https://pic4.zhimg.com/80/v2-ed519d2a524f29c5490074fc757b79bb_1440w.jpg">now-deleted post outlining the "lying flat" manifesto</a> posted this April on Chinese social media Tieba, the movement advocates for "lying down" - both literally and metaphorically. "Since there has never been an ideological trend exalting human subjectivity in our land, I shall create one for myself. Lying down is my wise man's movement. Only by lying down can humans become the measure of all things," the anonymous author of the "Lying Flat Manifesto" wrote. The movement gained momentum on the Douban social media site (akin to the Chinese version of Facebook), which resulted in huge online communities forming, like the "lying flat group," where users would post photos of animals and other creatures in a prone position. Per The Washington Post, the 9,000-member-strong "lying flat" community on Douban was removed by censors.<div type="image" title="man, city, shanghai" height="2321" width="3095" msid="83335611" hostid="261"></div>Zhang, the 27-year-old night owl, told Insider that he did not start out wanting to join the "lying flat" movement, but his struggles to conform to expectations made him one of its most ardent followers. "Since I made a permanent move to Shanghai four years ago, I've sent out more than 2,000 job applications and been to hundreds of interviews," Zhang said. "I got a job at an accounting firm after my second year of job-hunting, but I resigned after four months. That lifestyle just wasn't for me." It was a staggering disappointment to Zhang's parents, who run a small business in his hometown. They had high expectations of him after he graduated from the Shanghai Jiao Tong University, one of the <a href="http://en.people.cn/203691/7822275.html">nine elite C9 League colleges</a> in the country, with an acceptance rate equivalent to an Ivy League school in the US.But it was precisely his experiences at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Zhang said, that made him think "lying flat" was the way to go. He referred to his <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2015-10-01/children-of-the-yuan-percent-everyone-hates-china-s-rich-kids">富二代</a> ("fuerdai," a slang term for "rich second generation") classmates who got jobs within weeks of graduating off recommendations from family members and other inroads, and people in his cohort who started businesses using seed funding from their parents."Sons of businessmen and daughters of officials got a head start that was equivalent to an entire lap or two around the track. I think it is inevitable that people like me would lose the race. So that made me think, why do I even try?" Zhang now receives an allowance of $800 a month from his parents, and they also pay his rent. He finds work occasionally to supplement that allowance, taking up part-time shifts at nearby convenience stores for month-long stretches. Most days, however, he plays computer games through the night, then sleeps through the day.<h2>Some 'lie flat' for a while but eventually stand back up again</h2><div type="image" title="freelance work" height="2236" width="2982" msid="83335615" hostid="261"></div>Not everyone goes to Zhang's extremes."'Lying flat' doesn't mean lying down all day or being jobless. It means going at your own pace and doing what you like," said Yubo Li, 31, who works as a freelance designer and digital artist from his rented room in Shanghai. Li works around four to five hours a day on projects that make enough money to live simply without pushing himself to the point of overwork."I resent the idea of having to work myself to death just to move up the corporate ladder," Li told Insider."Of course, I know that if I were to join a corporate design firm, I would very likely make more money and be able to afford more tasty food and better accommodation. But I would only sleep three hours a day and have no time to enjoy life. Now my simple bowls of noodles taste good and my bed is soft enough. I see no reason to try harder," Li added.For others, like Beijing-born Shihui Lin, 25, "lying flat" is a temporary state of affairs. Lin quit her job in banking a month ago because she felt like she was on the "verge of imploding." She wants to "lie flat" for a few months before "standing up again.""I felt like I was losing my mind. After not sleeping for five days while working on a major project, I thought: 'If I don't quit now, I'm going to kill myself,'" Lin told Insider. Lin is prepared to take a pay cut if it means she can take the time and space she needs to manage her mental health."There was no meaning to my life in that 9-9-6 job. It became a 24/7 job over the three years I worked there. Now I want to learn how to truly live," she said. <h2>Is "lying flat" something only the privileged can afford?</h2><div type="image" title="chinese office workers" height="3996" width="5328" msid="83335618" hostid="261"></div>Some Chinese youths say the idea of "lying flat" is a "middle-class ideal" that only people above a certain income level can practice."The idea of lying flat is ridiculous to me," said Yixiang Zhou, 27, who works in the legal sector in Guangzhou. "I don't have the right to 'lie flat' because my parents are aging. One day, they will get too old to work. So who supports them, then? Who pays for their living and healthcare expenses if I'm wasting my youth away?" Zhou told Insider. College student Li-li Fang, 21, told Insider that even thinking of "lying flat" is symptomatic of having a "bad attitude.""The way I see it, 'lying flat' can only be done by two kinds of people: Someone rich enough to be able to afford it and cruise through life, or losers who don't mind being poor forever," she said. "Don't sugarcoat being lazy or not wanting to work with this honorable idea of defying societal norms. Get a job, and stop eating into your family's savings. Make yourself useful." <div type="image" title="Xi Jinping" height="1164" width="1552" msid="83335619" hostid="261"></div>The Chinese government remains in opposition to the "lying flat" movement. It promotes working hard - as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFo7X83-rRQ">Chinese President Xi Jinping said during a 2018 televised address</a> - as the "most honorable, noblest, greatest, and most beautiful virtue." "I feel the millions of ordinary Chinese are the greatest, and I also feel that happiness is achieved through hard work," Xi continued.The Chinese Communist Party's Youth Wing has also disavowed the movement, making a post on the social media platform Weibo (the Chinese version of Twitter) advocating for hard work."The Chinese youth have never opted to lie flat," the group wrote in a <a href="https://m.weibo.cn/3937348351/4641543677805188">post</a> on Weibo in May. "We have beliefs, dreams, ambition, and the ability to contribute to our nation." There are also perhaps concerns that "lying flat" could affect China's flagging birth rate if more young Chinese people lean into the ideals and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-delivers-three-child-policy-but-its-too-late-for-many-11622547144">delay starting their careers, getting married, and having children</a>. The country last month <a href="https://www.insider.com/china-3-child-policy-combat-aging-population-2021-5">reversed its two-child policy in favor of a three-child quota</a>, but <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-05/china-three-child-policy-younger-generation-lie-flat/100190514">fears remain</a> that the policy change <a href="https://www.insider.com/chinas-3-child-policy-wont-work-heres-why-2021-6">will do little to reverse the country's population woes.</a>But Zhang, and many others who ascribe to "lying flat," will continue to push against the grain, unconcerned with jobs or families."I 'lie flat' because this is the way my life is meant to be," he said. "If people think I'm a loser, then so be it."

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