1 . As new data from Famileo reveals the loneliness issue in the UK, its founder looks at the reality of social isolation in today’s digital age.

A consumer survey conducted by Famileo has revealed that nearly half of British adults feel disconnected from their loved ones nowadays. The past few years have been unquestionably tough. The isolation of the pandemic has led to many of us experiencing prolonged feelings of loneliness and seclusion (隐居), even long after any restrictions were lifted. Pair this with the ongoing cost of living crisis, and people are socializing with others far less than before. The way we interact with others has become dominated by digital channels, social media exactly. While social media have proven an incredibly useful tool, most of Brits believe that our growing reliance on technology to interact has impacted the frequency of in-person social interaction, leading to increased isolation.

Another contributing factor to social isolation is physical distance. Combined with the demands of our increasingly busy lives, the physical distance between family members often prevents us from keeping in contact with our loved ones as often as we would like.

Talking of social isolation, our minds often spring straight to the older generations who regularly find themselves left out, owing to their declining physical capacity and a gap in digital literacy. Interestingly though, despite effortlessly navigating the digital landscape, it is younger generations who report feeling the most isolated, 41 per cent of people aged from 16 to 24 feeling the rise of social media causing increased isolation.

While digital platforms like Facebook serve as a means to send photos and life updates quickly and easily, the majority of Brits still love the tangible (可触摸的、可感知的) experience of receiving personal post. Considered a dying art, it is clear snail mail, still has its place. Whether it be a letter, birthday card, or family newsletter, I have seen how enriching the touchable experience of sending and receiving personal post can be, to people of all ages. Nurturing relationships and fostering a profound sense of being loved and better connected to loved ones, it is a vital tool that we should employ as a means to not only relieve the effects of social isolation, but simply brighten someone else’s day.

2 . On January 14, 2006, Ben Keene received an email that changed his life. He had just taken a sip of hot tea when the message popped up, and Keene did a double-take at the subject line: “A TRIBE IS WANTED”.

From there, Ben co-founded Tribewanted, an eco-friendly sustainable community existing in the virtual world of the internet and on an actual desert island at the same time.

With huge media interest, the courageous and bold idea could have had enormous consequences for tourism. The idea behind Tribewanted was to recruit (招募) a group of similar people online before heading to the Fijian Island of Vorovoro to build a sustainable community alongside the local native tribe.

The idea was swept along with a flood of interest, with the island lease (租约) was secured, the virtual community sprung to life. All major decisions on the island were voted on by an online tribe that anyone around the world could join. The idea was so exciting that the journey was turned into a 5 part BBC series “Paradise or Bust” and a book, Tribewanted.

Ben spent 10 years building and expanding Tribewanted beyond the crowdfunded sustainable-tourism villages on an island in Fiji, to a beach in Sierra Leone and a farm in Umbria. He faced challenges including a fire sweeping through the island in the first week of the project, a military coup (政变), and a hurricane that threatened to destroy the emerging village. Online disagreements also made decision making hard and pushed the project to the edge.

The project survived, and for a while, thrived. From there Ben joined Escape the City, a global community with the mission to help one million people to do work that matters to them and the world, inspiring thousands of talented career changers and ambitious businessmen to take the leap and launch their ideas into the world. Ben led the Escape school team for 5 years, and became a business advisor and guider at Virgin Startup, and Zinc. Ben has supported and guided thousands of people to set up impactful businesses on a limited budget.

3 . When faced with change, most people go down one of two roads: They either respond or react.     1     Reacting, on the other hand, literally means to meet one action with another. It’s instant. Responding creates more space between an event and what you do about it. In that space, you give immediate emotions room to breathe and you gain a better understanding of what is happening. Consequently, you rarely regret responding.     2    

There is plenty you can do internally to cultivate responsiveness. For instance, “affect labeling”, or naming your emotions, helps create space between you and a difficult situation. Meditation (冥想) is also beneficial.     3     You can do all the affect labeling and meditation in the world. Yet if you regularly inhabit reactive environments, it’s hard not to become more reactive.

    4     When I spend too much time on social media, I’m more likely to roar at my children, feel restless, and my competence in thinking deeply worsens significantly. Yet I’m becoming increasingly concerned that it’s not just me, but our entire culture that is making us more reactive at a time when we need our humanity more than ever.

    5     But distinctly naming the problem is an important first step. We can also reduce reactivity by intentionally creating more responsive environments. We can read print books instead of digital versions. We can go to the gym or take walks without phones. If we desire to navigate our challenging times, we must find ways to preserve the space between stimulus (刺激) and response, which is to say we must find ways to preserve our humanity.

4 . The lunch in the back room of a dull Moscow restaurant consisted of small bites of food and large shots of vodka. Musk had arrived that morning with Adeo Ressi and Jim Cantrell on their search to buy a used Russian rocket for their mission to Mars. After many toasts to friendship, the Russians gave the Americans gifts of vodka bottles with labels that had each person’s image. Musk, who was holding his head up with his hand, passed out, and his head slammed into the table.

That evening, slightly recovered, Musk and his companions met with another group in Moscow selling used missiles. That encounter turned out to be equally odd. The Russian in charge was missing a front tooth, so whenever he spoke loudly, which was often, spit would fly out in Musk’s direction. At one point, when Musk started his talk about the need to make humans multiplanetary (多行星), Cantrell recalls, the Russian spit at them. “Did he just spit on us?” Musk asked, eyes wide open. “Yeah, he did,” Cantrell answered. “I think it’s a sign of disrespect.”

Despite the clown show, Musk and Cantrell decided to return to Russia in early 2002. Ressi didn’t come, but Justine did. This time Musk focused on buying two Dnepr rockets, which were old missiles. The more he negotiated, the higher the price went. He finally thought he had a deal to pay $18 million for two Dneprs. But then they said no, it was $18 million for each. “That’s insane!” he says. The Russians then suggested maybe it would be $21 million each. “They taunted him,” Cantrell recalls. “They said, ‘Oh, little boy, you don’t have the money?’”

It was fortunate that the meetings went badly. It drove Musk to think bigger. Rather than merely using a secondhand rocket to put a demonstration greenhouse on Mars, he would attempt one of the most audacious (大胆的) projects of our times: privately building rockets that could launch satellites and then humans into orbit and eventually send them to Mars and beyond.

5 . Best U. S. National Parks for 2023

Today, 63 national parks in the U. S. draw millions of visitors a year to witness jaw-dropping natural wonders. To determine the best national parks, we considered the opinions of both travel experts and recent visitors. Do you have a favorite park? Cast your vote below.

Glacier National Park is called the “Crown of the Continent” for its breathtaking beauty. A favorite spot among hikers, it features a variety of trails for all levels, ranging from the easy Trail of the Cedars to the challenging Grinnell Glacier. Besides, the park boasts numerous lakes and two mountain ranges, sheltering a variety of wildlife.

Measuring approximately 277 river miles in length, up to 18 miles wide and a mile deep, this canyon is truly a natural wonder. As a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Grand Canyon always leaves its visitors impressed. But if you’re seeking an escape to Mother Nature, be prepared: The Grand Canyon can be very crowded.

With dramatic peaks and pure lakes, Yellowstone National Park is an outdoor enthusiast’s paradise. Multicolored pools, hot springs, stretching meadows, and steaming geysers (间歇泉). While you cross its 3,000-plus square miles of mountains, geysers and waterfalls, be prepared to share the trails with residents like buffalo (水牛).

Enjoying extraordinary landscapes, Yosemite National Park features towering waterfalls, millennia-old sequoia trees (红杉树), striking cliffs and unique rock formations. Most tourist activities take place within the Yosemite Valley. Here you’ll find the park’s most famous landmarks—Half Dome and El Capitan—as well as excellent hiking trails.

8 . In the early part of his life, Seiichi Sano was a busy business owner. Later in life, he took on other difficult activities. At the age of 80, he climbed Mount Fuji, Japan’s highest mountain. Soon after, he started surfing.

Sano turned 90 this year. After being recognized by Guinness World Records as the oldest male to surf, he’s considering trying other activities. “Maybe I’ll try bouldering,” he said, suggesting he might do it first in a gym. “Outside it might be a bit dangerous.”

But maybe he will just stick with what he knows. “I think it would be interesting to surf until I’m 100,” Sano said. “I think I can take better care of myself when I have goals like this. Even now, I take better care of myself than I did before.”

Sano said he got the idea to try surfing from a worker at his local bank. The man’s skin was always dark but healthy. He did not look like a usual banker. His secret, he said, was surfing. So Sano found a teacher.

“I don’t consider myself an old man,” he said in his wet suit, board standing next to him. “I have never thought of myself as an old persona. I always feel that I can still move forward. I can still do it. I can still enjoy it.”

Sano joined hundreds of other surfers recently at Enoshima. All the surfers were younger, of course. Several young students who also worked with Sano’s surf teacher, 46-year-old Kazuto Shimizu, talked about Sano.

“To be honest, I was surprised by his age,” said Shimizu. “I was most worried that he would get injured. I did not know how fit he was, physically.”

Sano still runs a business that supplies wood to building companies. He works 9-to-5 at the job. Surfing reduces tension for him.

9 . Traveling is a great way to experience new cultures and landscapes, learn about different ways of life, and simply have an adventure. It can also help you open your mind to new ideas and perspectives.     1     They provide insight, tips, and inspiration for people looking to explore the world around them. From detailed guides to personal stories, these books offer readers a way to experience the world without ever leaving their homes.

One book that perfectly captures (描述) the spirit of travel is The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande.     2     Through her moving writing style, Grande paints a vivid picture of the struggles and joys of crossing a physical and cultural border.

Her book has a great impact on readers.     3     By sharing her own experiences, Grande offers hope and inspiration to anyone looking to take the leap and explore the world around them.

One of the greatest benefits of traveling to places inspired by books for students is the opportunity to explore and learn about many different cultures. Immersing (使沉浸) yourself in unfamiliar surroundings can help open your eyes to different ways of life.     4    

Being able to communicate effectively with those from different backgrounds is essential for any student, especially in today’s international society.     5     It can further improve conversation and fluency (流畅).

Lastly, by traveling to places inspired by books, students will gain a deeper understanding of the works that inspired them to take the journey in the first place.

10 . More than 170,000 people in California are unhoused. Even as the state has poured resources into fighting against the problem, the number of people without homes has ticked upward in recent years. On the surface, the state has one key advantage for people without a reliable roof over their heads: relatively consistent and livable weather. So one of my first thoughts when I heard news of a horricane attacking Los Angeles was just “What will happen to the city’s homeless population?”

City agencies quickly took action. As it became clear that the Los Angeles region could experience an extreme downpour and subsequent flooding, outreach teams fanned out across the river bank and dam areas across the city that have become home to a significant unhoused population, offering support to move them into shelters and motels (汽车旅馆).

Despite that, it’s obvious that the effects of climate change will hit the most vulnerable (脆弱的) hardest. We see this globally as extreme weather events hit countries that have contributed the least to the problem.

The most notable connection between climate change and the US housing crisis is the threat extreme weather poses to unhoused people. More unhoused people are affected as climate change drives increasingly unpredictable weather. People without homes know how to respond to expected seasonal events. But events like a near-hurricane in Los Angeles or a wildfire in ‘Maui can catch populations with limited access to information off guard.

Another link worth considering is the way in which climate change creates more homelessness and further stresses on housing systems. Hurricane Katrina, for example, displaced 800, 000 people. Four years later, 12,000 people remained without shelter.

Housing has been — and will continue to be — a key issue in Maui too as it recovers from the wildfire that killed more than 100 people. Maui has already had a housing crisis, the result of a high cost of living driven in large part by the tourism industry. And, now, many more are left looking for places to stay. Ashley Kelly, the chief operating officer at Hawaii’s Family Life Center, said: “Finding housing for any new clients is just not possible right now.”