The South Shore’s Morning News on 95.9 WATD-FM

Extra Stress from Social Media? It's Real - Living and Practicing by Design with Dr. John Hayes

Living and Practicing by Design is a weekly segment with Dr. John Hayes. It airs Thursday mornings at 9:22 on The South Shore’s Morning News with Rob Hakala and Beth Foster. 
It is fun to stay in touch with friends and find out information through social media, but using it TOO much may have an impact on our health, mentally and physically: 
Social Media can indeed have a significant impact on stress and anxiety levels for many people. The constant exposure to curated images, comparisons, negative news, and even cyberbullying can contribute to feelings of inadequacy, fear of missing out, and anxiety, leading to incredible stress. To many, the pull to look at Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, Pinterest, etc., over and over again is compulsive.
On this week's Living and Practicing by Design with Dr. John Hayes, he talked about the impact social media can have on us, the ways to lessen your social media use,  and how to raise your happy levels. You can read the full blog post by clicking here and listen to the segment below:

Can a Relationship Survive Without Chemistry? Let’s Be Honest…Love Bites with Lifestyle Coach Francesca Luca

Love Bites is a weekly segment on The South Shore’s Morning News with lifestyle coach Francesca Luca. You can listen for advice every Wednesday morning at 9:10. The Francesca Luca Show airs every Wednesday evening between 8 and 9pm.
Can a Relationship Survive Without Chemistry? Let’s Be Honest…
Some questions I get for Love Bites make me tilt my head and go, “Wait… what?”
Here’s one:
“I’ve been seeing ‘Sarah’ for about a year. We have fun, we get along, we even have an intimate relationship. But here’s the truth—I’m not attracted to her. I thought the spark might eventually show up, but it hasn’t. I care for her deeply, and she’s definitely attracted to me. I don’t want to break up—so please don’t tell me to. Can a relationship really work without chemistry?”
Let’s unpack this.
First things first…
You’re not attracted to her—but you’re still having sex—and she thinks you are attracted to her? That’s not just an awkward situation, that’s emotional quicksand.
But since you brought up chemistry, let’s break it down.
The Four Kinds of Chemistry
1. PhysicalThat can’t-help-myself magnetic pull. You see them, and your brain short-circuits in the best way possible. Without at least some of this, intimacy feels more like an obligation than something you look forward to.
2. EmotionalIt’s the “I can tell you anything” vibe. You feel safe, understood, and completely yourself. This is what gets couples through the tough seasons when the physical side takes a dip.
3. IntellectualYou can talk for hours without getting bored. You challenge each other, you’re curious about each other’s opinions, and you make each other think.
4. Lifestyle & ValuesYour visions for life actually align. You want the same big-picture things, which means fewer blow-ups over the “how we live” stuff.
Why Chemistry Matters
A relationship doesn’t need all four types in full force, but if you’re missing both physical and emotional chemistry? You’re looking at more of a friendship than a romance.
The healthiest relationships usually have:
Enough spark to keep the attraction alive.
Enough compatibility to keep the drama low.Think “steady campfire” instead of “fireworks that disappear after ten seconds.”
The Chemistry Trap
Sometimes, intense chemistry feels amazing—but it’s not always a good sign.
The brain trick: Dopamine, oxytocin, and all those feel-good chemicals can cloud your judgment. That adrenaline rush? Not the same thing as love.
The trauma bond: If chaos or emotional highs and lows are familiar from your past, extreme chemistry can feel like home—when really, it’s your nervous system chasing old wounds.
The crash-and-burn: Pure passion with no shared values burns hot… until life throws stress, bills, or family drama your way. Then it fizzles.
Bottom line
Can a relationship function without chemistry? Technically, yes—if you’ve got strong friendship, respect, and shared goals. But if you’re looking for a romantic, passionate connection… you’re going to need at least some spark.
And if you know there’s no spark now, after a year? It’s time to stop pretending it’s going to magically appear.
Listen: 

Meet Chat GPT-5! Tech Talk with David Snell of ACT Smart I.T. in Wareham

Tech Talk is a weekly feature all about the tech world on The South Shore’s Morning News with David Snell of ACT Smart I.T. in Wareham. Listen to David discuss the latest information you need regarding the tech and computer world on Tuesday mornings at 8:10.
Check out our Features Page here for previous episodes. 
We have said before that AI is not going away... and so David wanted to introduce the newest form of Chat GPT from OpenAI... Chat GPT-5:
OpenAI has officially launched GPT-5, the latest evolution of its flagship language model—and it’s already making waves. CEO Sam Altman calls it “a significant step along the path to AGI,” though he’s careful to note that it doesn’t quite reach artificial general intelligence. Still, GPT-5 is smarter, faster, and more capable than any model before it.So what’s new?Smarter, Faster, More HumanGPT-5 feels like a leap forward in conversational AI. Altman likened the jump from GPT-4 to GPT-5 to the iPhone’s upgrade to Retina display—suddenly, everything feels sharper. He described it as “talking to an expert in any topic, like a PhD-level expert.”The model boasts a 256,000-token context window, meaning it can handle longer conversations, documents, and code without losing track. It also hallucinates less, thanks to improved safety mechanisms and better instruction-following.
Listen to Rob, Beth, and David discuss this newer version and click here to read David's full blog post. 

Is It Empathy? Or Anxiety? More Comfort Monday with Diane Jordan of Natural Body Works in Kingston

We’re so glad to have Diane Jordan ‘realign’ us at the start of the work week with  More Comfort Monday, which airs every Monday morning at 7:45 on The South Shore’s Morning News.
Diane Jordan is the owner of Natural Body Works in Kingston and she specializes in all things bodily and metaphysical, and this week, we're talking about a topic that can manifest both physically and mentally: Empathy.
Empathy has become a 'trendy' word recently, but some people may not fully understand what empathy actually means:
The term Empath is very popular now, very widely used. An Empath is a defined as a person with a heightened ability to sense and feel the emotions of others, sometimes to the point of taking those emotions on as their own.
 A balanced Empath is an alchemist of energy. As they feel the low-vibration emotional and/or physical energy of others, they incorporate their method (whatever that is) to guide the other through diffusing and releasing those low-vibration energies, while transmuting that energy into Love, Peace, Joy and other High-vibe energies, and then grounding the other within those High-vibe energies – which will naturally spread from the other, to everyone else.
 When the Empath doesn’t have the skills or knowledge to clearly differentiate between their own energy and other peoples’, they can’t achieve that alchemy. Because as they pick-up low-vibe energy from others, they hold onto it. They feel it to increasingly intense degrees. And that causes anxiety symptoms.
 But, Empath or not, we all feel one another’s emotional energy to a degree, anyway.
Listen in for great advice about this topic from Diane Jordan:

The South Shore's Morning News Week in Review -- Friday, August 8th, 2025

Welcome to another edition of "The South Shore's Morning News" week in review with Rob and Beth. This week we start with a fun conversation with Alex Tainsh, the General Manager of the Brockton Rox baseball team. Then, it's our South Shore Chamber of Commerce segment with Tim Cahill and special guests Sarah and Michael Quatrale, owners of Baya Bar in South Weymouth. Finally, Dr. John Hayes from Marshfield stops by with a serious talk about why laughing is so good for you. 

Laughter IS the Best Medicine, Living and Practicing by Design with Dr. John Hayes

Living and Practicing by Design is a weekly segment with Dr. John Hayes. It airs Thursday mornings at 9:22 on The South Shore’s Morning News with Rob Hakala and Beth Foster. 
There is a reason for the common saying "laughter is the best medicine" and Dr. John Hayes wanted to explain why on our weekly "check-up" today:
Laughter may be the best medicine for stress and your heart because it makes the body release endorphins, which are hormones that reduce stress and inflammation and that help the blood vessels relax.
Dr. John Hayes also wants to 'stress' the importance of...minimizing stress levels:
Sustained stress causes the release of hormones like adrenaline and cortisol, which can temporarily elevate blood pressure. Over time, chronic stress can lead to sustained high blood pressure (hypertension, which is a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke, and other cardiovascular problems.
The best remedy? Having a chuckle, giggle, laugh, however you want to call it - get those "ha-ha's" out and good health in. Listen to our conversation below and you can read Dr. John Hayes' full blog post by clicking here. 

Love Bites Question: What If the Person You Are with Rarely Texts? Lifestyle Coach Francesca Luca Advises

Love Bites is a weekly segment on The South Shore’s Morning News with lifestyle coach Francesca Luca. You can listen for advice every Wednesday morning at 9:10. The Francesca Luca Show airs every Wednesday evening between 8 and 9pm.
Here is the listener question we are answering today:
What if the person you are with rarely texts? When you are together it is great just not a lot in between the weekly date
Don’t Confuse Breadcrumbs for a Meal
I see way too many women settling for crumbs and calling it a connection.
Here’s the truth: You’re not a pigeon, so stop pecking at breadcrumbs like it’s a five-course meal.If a man is into you, you’ll know. Why? Because he’ll make it clear without you needing to guess or read between the very dry lines of his last two-word text.
A Man Who Wants to Talk to You... Will.
He won’t need nudging. He won’t ghost, breadcrumb, or drop one-word replies like it’s some kind of effort trophy.
LOVE BITES TIP:
When a man’s words are few and far between, listen closely, not to what he says, but to what he’s not saying.
Because here’s what’s real: Men make time for what they value.No matter how busy or distracted he is, if he cares, you’ll feel it. Period.
Silence and Inconsistency Are Communication
Read that again.
When his texts slow down, when he gets weirdly quiet, when you're left on read for the third time this week, that’s not an accident. It’s communication. And it’s telling you something important: his level of investment.
Love Bites Move: Step back. Just a little. Then watch.Does he notice? Does he reach out? Or does the silence stretch on?
So What Could Else Be Going On With Him?
Let’s break down some of the usual suspects:
He’s Not Sure What He Wants Classic. When men are unsure of their feelings, they often pull back. Hence the inconsistent texting. But here’s the kicker:That’s his struggle, not yours. Don’t carry emotional labor that doesn’t belong to you.
 He’s Genuinely Busy or Distracted
Work, stress, family issues, mental health, life happens. But if he's into you, he’ll still find a way to communicate. A quick check-in isn’t hard. 
He’s Testing You
Some guys will intentionally pull back to see if you’ll chase them.That’s not romance. That’s a power game. And trust me you don’t want play it. If you start chasing, you’re already losing.

No Boundaries For ME, Says Perplexity AI - Tech Talk with David Snell of ACT Smart I.T. in Wareham

Tech Talk is a weekly feature all about the tech world on The South Shore’s Morning News with David Snell of ACT Smart I.T. in Wareham. Listen to David discuss the latest information you need regarding the tech and computer world on Tuesday mornings at 8:10.
Check out our Features Page here for previous episodes. 
AI is here to stay - and evolve. The way it evolves? Getting as much data as possible. Or perhaps we're paraphrasing for all the non-techies out there. Thankfully, we have David Snell of ACT Smart I.T. in Wareham to explain:
AI startup Perplexity has been accused of scraping content from websites which is the same way other AI tools have built their LLM (Large Language Models) data bases.
According to internet infrastructure provider Cloudflare, the problem is that Perplexity is apparently scraping data from websites that have explicitly opted out of such activity.
Rob, Beth, and David all discussed the implications of AI just doing...whatever it wants... in a certain way...
Listen below and click here to read David's full blog post

We Gotta GO Through it to GET Through it...More Comfort Monday with Diane Jordan of Natural Body Works in Kingston

This is part III of a series on More Comfort Monday with Diane Jordan of Natural Body Works in Kingston. You can listen to part 1 by clicking here and Part 2 by clicking here. More Comfort Monday airs every Monday morning at 7:45 on the South Shore’s Morning News.
For part 3 of this important series, Diane wanted to further elaborate on the societal transition we're all going through right now and how we're all connected in it:
I’ve explained how we are all connected to one another and the earth.
A simple analogy to illustrate our connection is:
Think of an index finger. It has its’ own individual power to act, but it is part of a group of fingers, which is part of the hand, which is connected to the arm which is an extension of the body as a whole.
Humans’ beings are like that. We are individuals, acting as separate, but affecting and affected within the actions of all humans, reliant on all humans to be whole and all an integral part of the same larger system – the body of planet earth.
So, as we go through this intense evolutionary process and we see the low-vibration aspects of humanity surfacing and we see the earth physically changing, our emotions take a huge hit, our fears rise up to the surface, our thoughts get caught up in worst case scenarios. As this happens our energy is shared with one another, it all intensifies and can create a huge spiral of fear, anger and outrage.
There are ways we can help ourselves and each other. Diane goes over them during More Comfort Monday. Listen and learn:
If you are struggling with anxiety, hopelessness, or feeling triggered in at this time, Diane can help you. Call her for a free consult at 781-585-5130. For notice of the opening of Diane’s Ascension Activators page and to receive those healing techniques, you can sign-up for her mailing list on the website, naturalbodyworkskingston.com. And please tune in next week for another More Comfort Monday

The South Shore's Morning News Week in Review -- Friday, August 1st, 2025

Welcome to another episode. This week, Rob and Beth talk with local author and historian John Galluzzo about the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution and what role the North River played in it. Then, we talk with Jane Cournan and Maria Allen, co-founders of South Shore Home, Life, and Style Magazine about the upcoming Best of the South Shore BOSS Bash 2025. Later, we check in with our tech guy, David Snell from ACT Smart I.T. in Wareham. Finally, listen Joanne from Randolph joins us in-studio with memories of television from her childhood.