3 . You really can make free phone calls using the Internet.

Google Meet

Google Meet is an app-to-app calling service that works across desktop and mobile platforms. Video meetings are encrypted (加密), it also supports audio calls, and you can form massive group calls with up to 100 people. What’s more appealing is that Google Meet display s real-time captions (字幕) as the other person is speaking.

Signal

Signal lets you send and receive texts, make voice and video calls (including group calls), and share your location and files. It was developed with a focus on privacy and security; it uses end-to-end encryption to protect your messages and calls, so only you and the recipient can see or hear what you’re exchanging.

Google Voice

Google Voice is one of the best ways to make a call over the Internet. You get a real phone number, so you can make free calls to an actual phone number. Free calls you make with Google Voice must be to numbers in the United States or Canada, and they’re limited to three hours. However, you can continue to make a free call to the same number over and over again.

WhatsApp

Meta-owned WhatsApp is a popular texting app with hundreds of millions of users. However, you can also call your WhatsApp friends right from the app using only your Internet connection. You just need to confirm your phone number to get started. Once you’re using the app, you can start a new conversation to clearly see which of your contacts are also using WhatsApp, and then you can call them for free no matter where in the world they’re located. Group calls can include as many as 32 people.

4 . Like working out or eating healthily, being happy is something you have to work on.     1     The good news is that a growing body of research shows there are simple things you can do to help you learn how to be happy at work, and they don’t require huge changes.

    2     It affects how you feel at work for the rest of the day. In one study, researchers analyzed the moods and performance of customer service representatives. Those who were in a good mood in the morning were more productive during the day and reported having more positive interactions with customers.     3     You can take a few minutes to enjoy your morning coffee and you can get some fresh air.

One of the hardest aspects of your job is making dozens of decisions daily, often with little or incomplete information. So how can you make fewer decisions? You can do something of your day without thinking about it. For example, have the same thing for lunch or breakfast for a week. Then you can change it up the following week.     4     Steve Jobs said that he wore the same clothes daily so that he wouldn’t have to spend energy deciding what to wear.

Helping others makes you happier.     5     Helping your co-workers seems to create a virtuous (良性的) cycle. Another study says happier workers are 33% more likely to help their colleagues than those who aren’t happy.

5 . The argument over video games has been ongoing for decades. While some argue that e-sports require skill, there is disagreement over whether they meet the standards of a traditional sport. According to the dictionary, a sport is a physical activity for pleasure. While playing video games requires skill and coordination (协调), it lacks the physicality associated with traditional sports. Strategy is also present in board games like chess or card games like solitaire, but these activities are not classified as sports. Similarly, playing a musical instrument requires practice and training, yet it is not considered a sport.

Sports require full-body movements and coordination while video games mainly involve finger and hand movements. Although it is possible to include physical movement while playing, it is not a requirement for success. Many e-sports enthusiasts sit in front of their screens, filling themselves with snacks while controlling the game. This lack of physicality not only sets video games apart from sports but can also have negative effects on health. Unlike traditional sports, which have been shown to improve well-being, too much video gaming can lead to headaches and anger.

While e-sports and competitive gaming may be comparable to activities like chess in terms of competition, they do not possess the physical effort and health benefits associated with traditional sports. However, as the industry continues to develop, the idea of e-sports is evolving. Studies have stressed the demanding motor skills and reaction times required in e-sports. Professor Ingo Frobose conducted a study that demonstrated the impressive motor skills of e-sports “athletes”, with up to 400 movements per minute on the keyboard and mouse. The strategic aspect of e-sports, including team planning, is also often ignored. Games such as League of Legends, Dota 2, and Honor of Kings have attracted large audiences and showed the skills of players.

While some argue against the classification (分类) of e-sports as real sports, evidence suggests that they possess unique skills and abilities. As the industry grows, the understanding and recognition of e-sports as a lawful competitive activity are gradually changing.

6 . Making a to-do list is a powerful way to reduce your stress at work.     1     There are a few steps that will make your to-do list much more effective.

• Don’t randomly (随机地) date tasks.

Some people usually add a date to every task they write. They end up with a list of tasks that do not need to be done on the day. You will break the schedule.     2     Instead, only put a date on the task which you intend to do on that day.

• Keep your daily list to no more than ten tasks.

    3     They believe they are much busier than that and must have at least twenty tasks on their lists. In fact they are not going to get them done. They will get frustrated at the end of the day. So pick the ten most important tasks on your list.

• Group similar tasks together.

Call your customers, for example. If you have two or three such tasks on your daily list, put these together and do them at the same time.     4     Then do them one after another.

•     5    

It puts you in complete control. It allows you to stay on top of your work and decide what needs to be done next and what can be postponed to a later time. It’s the best way of starting the week with a plan and a direction. It is a way to make sure you are doing the right things.

8 . Generative AI must seem like a superweapon to people who aim to cause disagreement and argument online. Deep-fake videos imitate public figures. Crowds of conversational chatbots worsen conflict, and efforts to detect and relieve such campaigns remain in their early period.

But can Generative AI also negotiate confict? Chris Bail, a leading expert on artificial intelligence and human behavior, and his colleagues have conducted research indicating that Large Language Models such as ChatGPT can make online conversations more productive, reduce incivility, and increase willingness to have difficult conversations across social disagreements. What’s more, they’re already seeing practical applications. Inspired by such research, Nextdoor, a community-based social-media platform that has struggled to boycott online poison, recently launched a successful, large-scale (大规模的) effort to reduce incivility.

In a study recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Chris Bail and his team examined whether Large Language Models can teach people conflict-negotiation techniques on a large scale. They enlisted a large group of people with different opinions about gun control and paired them to discuss this topic with someone who does not share their view on an online chat platform the team built.

After exchanging several messages on their platform, half of the research participants began to receive pop-up messages suggesting alternative phrasings for the messages they were about to send to their chat partner. These pop-ups employed GPT-3 to rephrase each post using conflict negotiation principles — without changing the opinion expressed within them. Participants had the option to send these rephrased versions of their message or ignore them.

The researchers found that GPT-3 is surprisingly good at processing difficult conversations. People whose partner used the AI-generated re-phrasings described the conversations as more productive, less stressful, and expressed greater willingness to consider alternative viewpoints.