Technology has improved my life in ways that still surprise and delight me. My TV     1     (remember) how far I got in yesterday’s show, even if I don’t! I can watch my pizza’s entire journey     2     the restaurant to my house! These are miracles. But there have been sacrifices, I have turned over memory and independence to the machines. Over the past 20 years, I     3     (become) anxious about problems that didn’t use to exist, and indecisive over choices I never used to make.

2 . If you are asked to describe your relationship with your phone, what would you say?     1     For those of us who use digital technology with regularity, we will unavoidably think we have overdone it.

But are we really addicted to our screens? For the vast majority of users, the answer is no because there’s no formal set of criteria for digital addiction.     2     This test was given to around 800 people, using criteria previously adopted in many other studies. The team found that 69% of the participants could be diagnosed with an addiction to spending time with their friends.

    3     Instead, the team was showing how easy it is to create what appears to be a data-driven measure of an addictive behavior, which actually is a normal part of everyday life. The idea of being addicted to offline friendships is ridiculous, but that is what is happening in the digital technology research literature. We are stuck with researchers combining people’s enjoyment of an activity with the idea that it has the potential to become addictive.     4    

It is true that we can develop bad relationships with the technology we use, but an emerging line of research says we need to view our relationships with digital technology in terms of habits, not in terms of problematic use.     5     Whether they have positive or negative effects on our well-being depends not just on the type of habit, but on the context in which it occurs, how frequently it occurs and what other factors might be contributing to it. Thinking about our technology use in terms of habit offers us a much wider range of options. Rather than getting rid of technology altogether, we can seek our digital experience that promote positive effects while minimizing negative impacts.

4 . We are a social animal. Indeed, it is our sociality — such as the ability to make sense of each other, to communicate, to work cooperatively and, finally, to create culture — that marks us off from other animal species.

But then why are we everywhere striving to increase our isolation and limit our contact with others? As musician David Byrn e argues in an essay published last month, it is a striking fact about the new technologies that have so come to shape our lives, that they have precisely this effect: they limit our need for human contact. Online shopping? Check. Automated checkout? Check. Ride hail apps? Check.

Efficiency is the key. We purchase efficiency by limiting the human aspect, known as “autonomous operation”. This is perhaps even more pronounced with new technologies on the horizon. Take the MOOC, the teacher-less virtual classroom. As Byrn e notes, this is meant to deliver the values of a learning environment without, well, without the environment — you get to stay at home — no teacher, but also, no fellow students.

Byrne isn’t claiming we are consciously choosing to isolate ourselves. We shop online because it is convenient. The absence of contact with others is a side-effect. Maybe even an unavoidable one, as one of the things that makes online shopping so easy is precisely the absence of contact with other people.

But Bryne’s thought is that whatever our intention, the tendency of our tech to isolate us may be a feature, not a bug. His hypothesis is that we actually, at some level, crave (渴望) the increased isolation and we are actually making technologies to satisfy impulses that, in some way, go beyond or against our social nature. But I wonder, is this really new?

Even if we are social by nature, and do everything we can to embed ourselves socially, the need to find ways to be alone is, well, nothing new. It’s also striking that the very activities that risk separating us — in the old days, books, newspapers, TV; nowadays, the latest apps also connect us. We read about each other. What we read gives us information to share with each other.

I am well aware of the data that shows the more time you spend on social media, the sadder and more isolated and envious you feel of others. But how novel is the isolating effect of social media? Being there reminds me a lot of what it was like to be social in high school — you have a vivid sense of your status and your standing in relation to others, and you have to deal with that.

This may be isolating, sure. But it’s the isolating face of the social lives we’ve always had. It is isolating because of the ways technology brings us into real contact with others, not because it removes that contact.

I wonder whether more isolation is a real option, after all.

5 . Women experience a “gender tenure gap”, lasting in CEO roles at publicly listed companies for shorter periods than men, according to new research which may support the idea that female leaders are subject to a “ glass cliff ” where they are set up to fail.

The concept of the glass cliff is that women are more likely to be appointed as leaders when an organization is in a time of crisis, so that their position is seen as more precarious than male counterparts.

Researchers at the University of Exeter found in 2005 that women were more likely to be appointed as board members after a company’s share price had performed badly. Professor Ryan told the Observer that the Russell Reynolds analysis was “ robust and added to the body of work in this area”.

“If women are more likely to take on leadership roles in times of crisis, then it follows that their time in office is likely to be stressful, more heavily scrutinised and shorter in tenure. This reduced tenure could be for a number of reasons — because there is often higher turnover in times of crisis, because they are judged as not performing well, even though poor performance was in train before their appointment, or because when things start to turn around, men come back into leadership roles.” she said.

Chief executive roles have a very low turnover, she said, which makes progress harder. “I think men can enjoy a greater followership — support within the organization. They can suffer big setbacks and rise again. Women who have been CEOs tend to go off to an alternative career.

However, she said that there was cause for optimism. The number of women on FTSE 350 boards is now 41%, up from 9.5% in 2011, and appointing women is “now the norm”. Russell Reynolds also found in a survey of 1,500 leaders worldwide that there were no significant differences in how women and men were perceived by the people who worked for them, showing that they were equally effective as leaders, although women were seen as being better at coaching and development.

8 . In this age of social media, everyone has followed the review trend. Nearly every business or website persuades customers to leave reviews as they can drive traffic to the site or business. The online business directory Yelp, which gets 178 million monthly visitors, invites anyone with a cellphone to leave a review of a business or restaurant. But by no means are negative reviews always honest. Some people threaten to give a bad review to extort (敲诈) discounted or free food from a restaurant. Some then follow through when their demands are not met.

But there are two sides to every story. One Denver chef decided to respond to bad reviews at his restaurant. As it turned out, some customers who left bad review s deserved bad reviews themselves. One customer’s terrible review claimed that the food at the restaurant was so awful that he didn’t eat a single bite. The chef looked through the monitor and found clear evidence that he had eaten every bite! In response, the chef called out the dissatisfied customer in his own negative review. Since the chef started responding to all his negative reviews, business at his restaurant has nearly doubled.

Telling people what you think of them as the result of a bad review can backfire on you, especially when a bad review is justified. Reviews are important because 94 percent of diners read online review s before they decide where to eat.

But bad reviews appear for many reasons. The reviewer may be having a bad day, or the chef may be sick and the substitute (代替者) couldn’t fill his shoes, so the cuisine suffered. Or perhaps the service wasn’t as good as usual. The worst-case scene is that the reviewer wants to punish the restaurant on purpose for some slight, real or imagined. So one or two bad reviews need to be taken with a grain of salt. Many negative reviews, however, indicate a problem.

So what is a restauranteur to do? First give an honest assessment of any negative reviews. Take a step back and ask if the writer has made any valid points. Are there areas for improvement? If the answer is yes, make adjustments. Reviewers themselves need to be honest and constructive. The goal should be to improve the situation, not just blow off steam.

9 . Being sensitive means that you are observant, careful, and thoughtful. It can also mean you sometimes overinterpret or overreact to perceived criticism or judgment. If you tend to be a highly sensitive person, you are more likely to misread signals from others, sense social threats, and struggle to adapt to new circumstances.     1    

The power of insensitivity can be interpreted as “sluggish (迟钝的) power” .    2     For example, those working on complex research projects with “sluggish power” persist with focus and determination in the face of challenges such as tight deadlines and limited resources. Their resilience facilitates effective problem-solving, ensuring the successful completion of tasks despite obstacles.

    3     That is one of the important reasons why insensitivity allows a person to better survive and adapt in a competitive environment. Knowing oneself is difficult, but knowing oneself correctly is undoubtedly an excellent ability — a trait shared by many successful people, who all clearly know where their strengths are, what they can do, what they want, and what direction to go.

Practicing insensitivity involves several key strategies. Firstly, be assertive. Express our needs and opinions positively and with confidence. Secondly, adopt a forward-looking mindset.     4     Additionally, detach from external influences. Avoid excessive concern over others’ opinions and speculation on others’ thoughts. Lastly, manage relationships. Recognize our personal responsibilities while respecting others’ boundaries. Don’t interfere with other people’s subjects and don’t let others interfere with ours either.

    5     Once you become a bit “blunt” and slow down the pace, you will feel more comfortable.