【推荐1】Would you go mad after two hours without TV, friend requests, exciting online games or your mobile, or would you easily survive?

Recently, university students around the world were asked to volunteer in a global experiment called “Unplugged”. It was designed to see how young people would react if they were asked to observe a total media ban by unplugging all forms of media devices for 24 hours.

Unplugged is being run by Dr. Roman Gerodimos, a lecturer in Communication and Journalism at Bournemouth University. The experiment is now over but he doesn’t yet know the full findings. However, during the experiment, Dr. Gerodimos said there were already signs of how much the experiment affected volunteers. He said, “They’re reporting withdrawal symptoms (脱瘾综合征), overeating, and feeling nervous, isolated and disconnected.”

During their 24-hour painful experience, three of the experiment’s guinea pigs had to endure one intrusion (侵扰) from the media: a reporter plus cameraman who followed them around for the day. They were asked to write down 100 lines about their day offline, but of course, they all waited until the next day when they had access to their laptops.

Elliot wrote, “Today, my whole morning routine was thrown up into the air. Despite being aware of the social importance of the media, I was surprised by how empty I felt without the radio or newspapers.”

And Charlotte wrote, “I have to say the most difficult item for me to be without has been my mobile; not only is it a social tool, but it’s my main access point of communication.”

Earlier in the year, a UK government study found that in the UK young people spend about half of their waking hours using the media. And a recent study found that on average, US teenagers send and receive over 3,000 texts per month -- that’s about six texts per waking hour.

So, with technology continuing to develop at an alarming rate, how much time will you set aside for sleep in the future?

【推荐1】Imagine this scene: it’s blowing outside, and you snuggle (蜷伏) up on the sofa under a warm quilt, chatting and recalling with your closest friends.

That content, cosy feeling has a name in Danish —hygge. And, as Denmark recently won the title of “the happiest country in the world”, the concept of hygge is known to more and more people interested in finding ways to understand this concept.

Hygge —originally from a Norwegian word meaning well-being — doesn’t have an exact equivalent (等同物) in English. It’s often translated as coziness, or as blogger Anna West told the BBC, “coziness of the soul”. But, as professor Maren Spark explains, “Hygge was never meant to be translated. It was meant to be felt.”

Basically, hygge involves creating a warm, cosy atmosphere and enjoying it with your loved ones. Danish winters are long and dark and so achieving hygge is particularly relevant during this season. A typical Hygge activity during winter could be enjoying delicious homemade food and light-hearted conversation with friends —preferably in the warm glow of candlelight, or maybe sipping a glass of wine in the hot tub after a day spent skiing.

However, hygge isn’t only limited to the cold winter months —it can also describe that warm, fuzzy feeling you get after a walk through a forest with friends on summer’s day or a family barbecue in the park. Hygge is meant to be shared.

【推荐2】The well-known Tsinghua University and Peking University held graduation ceremonies (典礼) on the same day this year. The presidents of the two universities delivered excellent speeches at the ceremonies as they used words, phrases or ways of expression that are very popular on the Internet currently. At the same time, graduation speeches by other university presidents were also under the spotlight for the same reason. Their speeches were warmly welcomed by students as they contained many fashionable words today, such as “floating clouds” (meaning “too small and of little importance to mention”) and “gelivable”   (meaning ”very helpful”) . In the speeches , these university presidents recalled campus life together with students and finally moved all the audiences. They were very different from the usual run of lectures.

Many university presidents have changed their regular manner of making speeches at graduation ceremonies from an advising and preaching (说教)mode to a more fashionable and funny way. They try to use those words popular among young people in their speeches.

In the past, university presidents’ speeches were criticized for being too standard and lacking emotion. Now, they use fashionable words in their speeches, reflecting they are starting to adopt more everyday attitudes to students. The use of these new expressions has triggered a heated discussion. It focuses on the question of whether university presidents should speak in an informal way at graduation ceremonies.

Supporters who are in favor of the university presidents, new manner of making speeches consider it good to build close ties with students by using the youth’s own words even during the formal ceremonies. Opponents argue the new ways have no practical value or significance for education but are merely to please those leaving university.

【推荐3】The philosopher，Martin Buber，is most known for his work on ”I-Thou/You" relationships in which people are open，direct，mutually interested in each other. In contrast，“I-It" relationships are those in which we use the other，like an object，to solve our problems and fulfill our needs and purposes.

It is not our fault that many of our relationships are or become "It" relationships because most of what we feel，think and do is motivated by unconscious memories of how to survive the environment. Thus，one of the reasons we use other people to help us feel better about ourselves and cope in the world is that using people was once necessary and it worked.When we were small and helpless，“It"came and-fed us，and held us，and set us on our way.We didn't have to reciprocate and care for“It". Even when the care and attention of "it" was minimal or unpredictable，if we got out of childhood alive，somewhere along the way "it" was involved.

When we are very young，other people are always "it"s whom we use to fulfill our needs. Freud called this stage of early life "primary narcissism",which is our instinct for self-preservation and is a normal part of our development.While most of us grow out of it，we still hold a survival fear，which motivates us to escape danger and to stay alive，and we all need this fear in healthy measure.

The problem is that too many of us，too much of the time，are in a constant state of threat--and we often don't know it. We imagine people are talking about us behind our backs，that we have cancer，that we are inadequate，and vulnerable to more than our share of bad luck.As our brains have grown in size and complexity，so has our ability to scare ourselves.

This causes many problems. For example，our stress levels increase，our digestion is impaired and our thinking becomes restricted. Our threat response stops any bodily function，feeling，thought and behavior that might"waste'"energy and detract from fighting or escaping danger. Thus，when in threat，our emotional，cognitive and behavioral range is significantly reduced.

And in this reduced state, one of our solutions is to find someone who can save and comfort us. Instead of enabling us to be open，direct and mutual，fear and anxiety lead us towards conversations and choices in our relations with others that are orientated towards surviving--not thriving. Threat-motivated relationships are characterized by need，dependency，control，demand，dishonesty，and self-interest.

We cannot form the "I-Thou"relationships that Buber speaks of until we have learned to notice, comfort，and understand the emotions and patterns of our threat brain.When in threat，we tend to use other people as objects who can save and protect us，or who we can blame for our problems.