Need A Happiness Boost? Spend Your Money To Buy Time, Not More Stuff
A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that when people spend money on time-saving services such as a house cleaner, lawn care or grocery delivery, it can make them feel a little happier. By comparison, money spent on material purchases — aka things — does not boost positive emotions the way we might expect.
Your Brain Can Only Take So Much Focus
In keeping with recent research, both focus and unfocus are vital. The brain operates optimally when it toggles between focus and unfocus, allowing you to develop resilience, enhance creativity, and make better decisions too.
Blackfishing: ‘Black Is Cool, Unless You’re Actually Black’
From Kim Kardashian to Selena Gomez, the perceived trend for wanting to appear black shows no sign of slowing down. “It’s about picking and choosing common black traits and characteristics for one’s benefit, while we continue to face discrimination on a day to day basis.”
Why Perfect Grades Don’t Matter
Research shows that chasing after perfect grades discourages creativity and reduces academic risk-taking. The constant quest for perfect grades can lead to high stress and mental health problems. Here’s why good grades don’t always translate into success in life.
Scraping By In The Gig Economy As A Guy Without A Bank Account
In 2017, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) found that 8.4 million households in the U.S. were without bank accounts. Nearly 53 percent of these households listed “not having enough money” to put into an account as the reason why, while another 30 percent cited not trusting banks.
An Adult’s Guide To Social Skills, For Those Who Were Never Taught
Unlike topics like math or science, social skills are more of a “learn on the job” kind of skill. When you’re a child, you can learn how to manage conflict, make friends and navigate groups by doing it. But not everyone learns the same lessons the same way.
What We Get Wrong About Time
“Time” is the most frequently used noun in the English language. Most of us tend to think of time as linear, absolute and constantly “running out” – but is that really true? And how can we change our perceptions to feel better about its passing?
The Completely Correct Guide To Reclining On An Airplane
One of the touchiest subjects in all of air travel is the seat recline. To some, leaning your seat back on a flight is a no-brainer. Why wouldn’t you take that precious spare space for relief? For others, the sight of the seat in front barreling toward them is a living nightmare.
Welcome To Retirement: Lindsey Vonn Confronts Life After Skiing
Vonn is a three-time Olympic medalist with 82 World Cup golds, an internationally renowned comeback artist, and one of the most dominant American athletes of a generation. She is also no longer skiing. So what will she do next?
The New Generation Of Self-Created Utopias
The United States has been a laboratory for experiments in alternative living since its founding. As so-called intentional communities proliferate across the country, a subset of Americans is discovering the value of opting out of contemporary society.
This Company Hired Anyone Who Applied. Now It’s Starting A Movement
Greyston Bakery uses a practice of open hiring: filling positions on a first-come, first-served basis, no questions asked. Now it wants to teach other companies how to do the same. Open hiring creates a pipeline for careers on the bakery’s manufacturing floor and throughout the rest of the company’s operations.
How Exercise Shapes You, Far Beyond The Gym
Physical activity boosts short-term brain function and heightens awareness. And even on days they don’t train — which rules out fatigue as a factor — those who habitually push their bodies tend to confront daily stressors with a stoic demeanor.
I Could Never Understand My Grandmother’s Sadness – Until I Learned Her Tragic Story
My French grandmother came to the US to escape the Nazis. Although she had made a life for herself in America, she never stopped seeming sad to me, and her sadness never stopped unnerving me. What did a box of letters and photographs reveal about the sacrifice she made?
Can Ageing Be Delayed, Stopped Or Even Reversed?
This is the pursuit of a much longer, healthier life span using science and genetics to achieve it. Who hasn’t dreamed of staying young but how far will you be prepared to go to achieve that dream? BBC’s Gabriela Torres meets the self-experimenters and scientists who are trying to dramatically extend our lives.
Revisiting An American Town Where Black People Weren’t Welcome After Dark
Anna is a city of a little more than 4,000 people located in the middle of Union County, where soybean fields and flatlands to the north give way to the forests and sandstone canyons of southern Illinois. Most people I met, wish the racist lore behind the city’s name would go away. So why hasn’t it?
Sunday Night Is the New Monday Morning, and Workers Are Miserable
Like many bosses, Chris Mullen found the final hours of the weekend ideal for decluttering an unruly inbox, sharing stray thoughts with staff on projects and requesting status updates to prep for the week. His colleagues felt otherwise.
Need Help With Your Dating Profile? These ‘Doctors’ Are In
Meet the consultants who help clients find love online — and, sometimes, assume their identities to chat with potential matches. Through one-on-one sessions and monthly retainers, Steve Dean helps clients reach their romantic goals, dispensing what is often brutally honest advice.
Learn Anything In Four Steps With The Feynman Technique
With the Feynman Technique, you learn by teaching someone else a topic in simple terms so you can quickly pinpoint the holes in your knowledge. After four steps, you’re able to understand concepts more deeply and better retain the information.
Ring And Nest Helped Normalize American Surveillance And Turned Us Into A Nation Of Voyeurs
The allure of monitoring people silently from afar has also proved more tempting than many expected. Customers who bought the cameras in hopes of not becoming victims joke that instead they’ve become voyeurs.
Inside The Dark, Lucrative World Of Debt Collection
A dizzying array of variables affects a portfolio of debt’s true potential — the age of the debt, how many agencies have tried to collect on it, the size of the balances, the type of credit card, where the debtors live and the current economic climate.
Retiring Retirement
We’re going to see something we’ve never seen before—people in their 60s, 70s and 80s functioning at an exceptionally high level who want to continue working and remain connected. The question is whether society will adapt to make the most of this new labor pool.