I’ve only been back in the UK a matter of hours and it’s already started. After a few days abroad, I am taking a stroll through the beauty of Wiltshire’s county town to remind myself how good it is to be back in good ol’ Blighty. And then suddenly – and without warning – my reverie is broken by a vibrating right thigh. It is the tell-tale buzz of my mobile phone, which has now awoken from its vacation slumber. A text message or twitter update perhaps? Neither, as it happens. For when I have prised my phone out from my (now slightly tighter) jeans pocket, I see that the screen is blank. No message, no twitter update and no new email – nichts, nada… nobody loves me today. And yet the sensation was unmistakably real. But, I am not going mad; for this, dear reader, is another case of the ‘phantom phone vibration’. Read more
Tag: Psychology
It’s ‘Stoptober’ – but 28 days isn’t long enough to change a habit
A month feels a very long time when you’re trying to give something up. Crikey, if you’re trying to give up cigarettes then even a weekend seems an eternity. And now that October is upon us, scores of smokers are going cold turkey on the fags for a 28 day stint. It’s all part of the NHS’s annual ‘Stoptober’ stop-smoking campaign; the logic being that if you can kick the cigs for a month then you can kick them for good. A nice idea, but does it really help?
Everyone’s heard that it takes 28 days to make or change a habit. Granted, some of us have been told that it’s 21 days; but the general ‘if you can stick it out for three-four weeks’ rule has long been accepted wisdom of counsellors, agony aunts and your mates down the pub. But just know this: the idea that it takes a month to change your ways is a load of tosh. For actual science says that changing any routine – be it smoking or otherwise usually takes much longer than 28 days. Read more
Take the smartphone addiction test! Are you hooked to your iPhone?
It’s dinner time and the log fire is burning. My wife and I sitting in a pub on a rainy day and we are eyeing the menus – the seafood looks nice. Yes, this is the stuff of an English holiday by the sea: sitting on wooden chairs near an open fire with harassed-looking bar staff in one corner and a gambling machine in the other.
A family dressed in matching waterproof coats – clearly also on their holiday – take seats next to us. That’s odd, I think, there’s none of the usual sibling squabbling between the kids. No, this family is calm and contented because two of the school age kids are on their smartphones. And so are both the parents. Meanwhile, the six year old is playing on a Gameboy.
Read more
Does hot weather make you act like an idiot?
At the height of summer, tempers fray: drivers honk their horns and couples bicker in the car park. It’s a hot day and I’m in a rage because the person in front of me has decided to walk at a pace that would embarrass a very slow snail. With a mobility impairment.
‘GET OUT OF MY WAY! Can’t you see I’m in a rush?’
Mercifully, I refrain from shouting at the slow walking woman (with child) in the middle of the street. Thank goodness for good ol’ British self-control.
Along with men’s eye-wateringly white legs (revealed for the first time this year), odd things happen when the mercury rises up the scale. But can you really blame the weather for being an irrational grump? Or do you just need a vacation? Read more
More Money makes you Bad at Work: The Myth of Performance-Related Pay.
Motivated by money? I confess I am. Well ok, not always: there are plenty of things that will trump a stack of greenbacks. However, few of us would object to a kindly benefactor plopping a million quid into our current account. Even for the least materially-minded, it would be difficult to ignore such an offer: an abundance of wealth brings great opportunities to do great things for a great many people. Just ask Bill Gates.
But would money make you work harder? Politicians have a thing for ‘performance-related pay’ – especially when it means cutting the salaries of civil servants. If you listen to the UK Chancellor and his sidekick (Education Secretary, Michael Gove) then getting paid more for doing a good job is “empowering”, “rewarding” and will “drive up quality” (read the words of what he is proposing for teachers). It’s a simple equation: more money = harder work. Who could argue with such a logical conclusion? Well, money may make you try harder, but what you do will be lousy. Read more
Online reviews and movie critics are fantastic – so why do we ignore them?
The carpet is sticky and the smell of hotdogs mingles with sweet popcorn. The trailers are rolling. Even though person’s knee from the seat behind jabs into my back, I don’t care. The summer blockbuster is about to start and I’ve heard great things about it…
But two hours, a bursting bladder and numb bottom later, I leave disappointed.
Everyone hates wasting time and money watching cinematic drivel. If I (or a friend) were to recommend a film to you, would you go and watch it? With dozens of online review websites, no longer must we ‘take a punt’ on a movie. So, it would be safe to assume that all this information makes us better at picking good movies. Oddly enough, it doesn’t. Like a flock of sheep, we ignore good advice. Like lambs to the… Read more
I can’t tweet without you: How twitter feeds our inner longing for friendship
I think I’ve started to feel what it’s like to get old. Strange ‘#’ symbols started to flash up on the TV screen a few months back. Some odd new lottery I wondered? Oblivious to the newest and most important media advancement in the last decade, my friends laughed at my ignorance. Graciously educating me in twitter-speak, they taught me what ‘followers’, @ symbols, retweets and trends were. Since 1988 when an 8-bit Commodore 64 arrived in Christmas gift wrap, I have prided myself in being up to date with tech-culture. It seemed much easier when Mario was a child.
Although I am now twitter fluent, and a regular user, try as I may, I don’t get very excited about it. Like Facebook, it feels a chore – akin to laborious Christmas-card-writing – a necessity to stay digitally ‘connected’. Surely I am in the minority: of twitter’s 140 million (and growing) users, most surely use social media for the joy of it – delighting in sharing life’s experiences day, night and through those crafty under-the-table tweets. Read more
Get fit faster: listen to music!
It’s now officially Games Over. Gone is the excuse to bunk off work to catch five minutes of of dressage or synchronised swimming. And as our love affair ends, normal life must resume. The real challenge now begins: to stay true to those keep-fit resolutions.
One of the tricks to stay motivated may be, quite literally, music to your ears. ‘Music has received very little attention among sports scholars’ wrote one author in 1993 in the Sociology of Sport Journal. Since then, much has changed. Long distance champ Paula Radcliff swears that her playlist during training – insisting it helps to keep her going. Yet Usain Bolt is denied such an indulgence.
Taking a perusal trough the latest research, we’ll explore what is known about the power of music to get you fired up and heading down the gym. Even when The X-Factor is on… Read more
Could you survive a week without emails?
Although I can rarely follow my employer’s ‘good ICT policy’ – fastidiously filing every email into a named subfolder (I never know where to put ‘Today’s Lunch Offer’), most days I click each email just long enough for it to be marked as ‘read’. Few of my colleagues manage this. I guess working part-time has some benefits.
Relentless work emails and calendar invitations that materialise from the electronic ether is the norm for many. This incessant distraction is a drain and – it doesn’t take a genius to figure out – probably drains productivity. The phone is dead: the majority of interactions are now done digitally. Could we sever our digital ties and survive at work without the emails? One group of workers did just that – for one week they went without emails. Researchers watched what they did and remotely monitored their stress levels. How did they cope? Surprisingly well… Read more
Do old people get more grumpy?
It is said that during our twenties we spend our time worrying about what other people think . In our thirties, we blame our parents for all our problems. In our forties, we finally realise that no one was really paying us that much attention and all our issues aren’t our parent’s fault after all.
Not so very long ago, a certain Sir Michael rather publically lamented today’s teachers – accusing them of being a group of whinging bums (I paraphrase). One commenter wondered whether it was just his age getting the better of him. She questioned whether there is any research about age-related ‘grumpiness’. In today’s post, you will find out whether there really is any truth to the “grumpy old codger” stereotype – and whether we are all destined to get grumpy as we get old… Read more