1 . If you’ve ever discovered unexpected online shopping activity on your accounts- worth of See ’n Says, for example-you know the risks of handing your cellphone to a restless preschooler. But children’s impulse (冲动) buys just uncover the surface of potential risks when children and technology meet. With smartphones and the Internet so accessible, children are leaving their digital fingerprints at increasingly early ages, often without guidance on the importance of privacy or security.

For the past eight years, Michigan State University professors Jessica Vitak and Tamara Clegg have talked to parents, teachers and kids about the challenges of surfing the Internet. Their current project, Connecting Contexts, offers a variety of learning opportunities to help kids safely and smartly interact with the ever-progressing technology they encounter. “Having these conversations early,” said Vitak, “will build awareness and habits around privacy they can take into adulthood. ”

“Many of the parents we interviewed didn’t feel they needed to talk about privacy with their kids before middle or high school,” said Vitak. “But if you’re willing to hand your child a smartphone or a tablet, then they are old enough to learn how to use them safely. ”

In December, the Federal Trade Commission proposed massive changes to existing federal rules around how online platforms collect children’s data and make money from it. It grilled (责问) Meta, Discord and other social media companies last month on their efforts to protect children on their platforms. It also carried out six bills before the Congress would tighten online security and safety for kids.

Extending from elementary to middle school, their work offers tested tools and resources for parents, teachers and children-including conversation starters at home, practical tips for building a better password or using social media, choosing learning apps for the classroom and age-appropriate “micro-lessons” that can be integrated into the courses.

2 . Recent studies suggest four out of 10 persons feel lonely at least one or two days per week, with younger persons (Millennials and Gen Z) exhibiting signs of extreme alienation (疏远) and disconnection more than other generations. Even older people, who are frequently regarded as lonely with few persons to speak to and objectively have lost many family members and friends, report less loneliness than Millennials. Why do Millennials report being the most lonely, and what can be done to address it?

Thirty percent of people between 23 and 38 said they often “feel lonely. ”“But wait,” you may say. “Aren’t they connected through technology, social media platforms, and various apps?” Yes, but one of the challenges of extensive smartphone and app use today is that we are being trained to stare at screens rather than meet and have face-to-face conversations with people. Still, at the same time, people who spend more than 8 hours a day on screens per day tend to report other issues: depression, anxiety and other serious challenges to their well-being.

A meeting of minds used to happen via religious gatherings and school. So a possible solution is to create spaces and locations where one (and not just Millennials) can meet folks who share additional common interests. One possibility is through regular exercise outside the home. Going to a YMCA or a gym to a Zumba, yoga, or cycling class presents an opportunity to enjoy physical activity and have brief conversations with them before and after the session.

In addition to the obvious positive physical effects of the exercise, it can be surprising how beneficial a quick conversation can be with someone you may have just met. The boost in mood is palpable and can lead to better workouts due to increased available energy and motivation.

In conclusion, spending a little less time on the phone and a little more time walking in the neighborhood, in a park, or going early and staying late at the gym can work wonders for one’s mood and health.

4 . If you’ve been on BookTok, an online community where readers recommend, review and theorize about their favorite books, authors and genres, you’ve probably heard of Rebecca Yarros’ Fourth Wing. On BookTok, the release of Fourth Wing came with hype (炒作) around a mix between romance and fantasy. The novel was published last May and its sequel (续集) followed just six months later.

But questions came: Are publishers and authors publishing books too quickly, and does this affect the quality of writing?

On the day of the sequel’s release, Yarros and her publisher, Red Tower Books, were met with much criticism about her misuse of a language’s grammar in the novel. Many argued that the mistakes could have been avoided if the publishers had hired someone to proofread (校对) the language.

So what does BookTok have to do with this? It was one of the reasons why within the first week of Fourth Wing being published, the book quickly shot up to the top of the New York Times Best Sellers list despite criticism.

With the rising readers, it isn’t uncommon for both publishers and authors to use that hype to their advantage. This was likely a reason why the series, originally including three books, was dragged into a five-book series.

This is kind of what fast fashion is all about. Fast fashion refers to the process of clothing manufacturing that moves from production/design to stores quickly to keep up with current trends. These pieces are often cheap and low-quality and sent to stores with the hope of selling out quickly. The same approach used in the publishing world, thanks to BookTok to some degree, could lead to decreasing book quality when writing and editing aren’t able to reach their maximum potential.

This isn’t to say that books like Fourth Wing are bad just because they’re hyped. But abandoning developed work for crowd-pleasers doesn’t do all readers justice. These worries about the quick turnover in the publishing industry aren’t directed towards independent authors who carefully write, edit and publish themselves, but rather towards those who overlook the importance of everything that goes into the writing process.

5 . The number of universities has grown very fast in recent decades. Higher-education institutions across the world now employ 15 million researchers, up from 4 million in 1980. Governments are also happy to spend on higher education because it is supposed to produce scientific breakthroughs that can be available to all. In theory, therefore, universities should be an excellent source of productivity growth.

In practice, however, the productivity has slowed down during the last decades. In the 1950s and 1960s, workers’ output per hour across the rich world rose by 4% a year. But in the last decade, 1% a year was the norm. Even with the wave of innovation in artificial intelligence (AI), productivity growth remains weak — less than 1% a year, which is bad news for economic growth.

A new paper by Ashish Arora and his team suggests that universities’ rapid growth and the rich world’s slowdown productivity could be two sides of the same coin. The paper suggests that scientific breakthroughs from public institutions “caused little or no response from businesses” over a number of years. A scientist in a university lab might publish brilliant paper after brilliant paper. Often, however, this has no impact on corporations’ own patents, with life sciences being the exception. And this, in turn, points to a small impact on the overall productivity.

Why do companies struggle to use ideas produced by universities?

The paper says that, free from the demands of the market, researchers in university labs focus more on satisfying their curiosity than finding breakthroughs that will change the world or make money. “To some degree, such kind of research is not a bad thing; some breakthrough technologies, such as penicillin, were discovered almost by accident,” it writes, “But if everyone is doing that, the economy suffers.”

Perhaps, with time, universities and the business world will work together more tightly. Tougher competition could force businesses to beef up their internal research. In fact, researchers in companies’ labs, rather than universities, are driving the current AI innovations. At some point, governments will need to ask themselves hard questions. In a world of weak economic growth, huge spending on universities may come to seem an unjustifiable luxury.

6 . Keith Payne realized he was poor for the first time when he was in the fourth grade. The awareness came to him when a new lunch lady in the cafeteria asked him to pay for his lunch.

“Previously, the lunch lady had just waved me on because I’d always been on free lunch,” he says. “But this new lady didn’t know how things worked, and it was the first time that I had been asked to pay for my lunch.”

It was an agonizing moment and all of a sudden, he realized why he got free lunch while many of his classmates were paying for their meals every day.

“It’s not like I was poorer the day after that than I was before. Nothing objective had changed. But because of that subjective awareness, I began constantly comparing myself with my classmates and felt really unhappy,” he says.

Keith Payne is now a social psychologist at the University of North Carolina and shares how the awareness of inequality affects the way that both our minds and our bodies respond.

“As we walk through the world, it is very natural for us to compare our lives with those of others. We think about ourselves in terms of being on a certain ladder (梯子) with some people above us and it can cause serious psychological consequences,” he says.

One is that it makes us more willing to seek out risks and engage in high-risk, high-reward sort of behaviors. It affects us in ways that are similar to physical threats.

“But I think there are wiser and less wise ways to make those social comparisons,” he says. “Upward social comparisons feel terrible, but they can be motivating. Downward social comparisons feel great, and yet they can be demotivating. So one of the things I recommend is that we can be more strategic in making upward and download social comparisons, Neither one is good in itself. It just depends on what your goal is.”

8 . My colleagues and I, who have been teaching powerful communication skills, talk about the power of words all the time. We think the words we use are at the heart of _________.

Over the last twenty years, I have _________ thousands of people. I have heard some _________ of the following many times: “How can I get my boss/colleague to _________ me like I am part of the team?” I have met young people who are made to feel like _________ by their older colleagues, often because the experiences that are shared around the table are about something that happened long ago. I have talked with older people who feel out of touch because their younger and more culturally-current colleagues _________ refer to new developments in technology that an older colleague is _________ to know.

There are lots of ways we can make someone feel excluded and _________. But often, in my experience, the words we use are a main _________. The words have the power to make people feel included, but they also can make people feel __________.

So, the next time you are in a __________ of some kind, be __________. If you are in a meeting of engineers and there is someone who doesn’t “speak engineering” the way the rest of you do, __________ using fewer technical terms. If you are in a party and are not __________ whether everyone “speaks football”, think about talking about another __________ of your weekend.

9 . As you shop online, you may be drawn to digital ads with curvy(圆角)designs without even realizing it. According to a new study from the University of South Florida, consumers click on curvy call-to-action buttons, such as “Shop Now” or “Add to Cart”, at a significantly higher rate than those with sharp angles.

“It’s actually rooted in natural instincts(本能),” says Dipayan Biswas, professor of marketing. “According to research from different disciplines, our natural instincts send us signals that sharp angles usually indicate danger and that we’re more likely to get hurt. In contrast, curvy designs are perceived as friendlier and more approachable.”

This feeling leads people to subconsciously prefer things, including digital ad designs, which are soft-edged and curvy. As published in the Journal of Consumer Research, Biswas tested this concept through click rates and eye movement studies in the Muma College of Business Customer Experience Lab. The novel findings reveal how the shapes of virtual elements can subconsciously influence click-through rates.

“We studied a hotel search button and we consistently found the click rate was higher when the elements were curved,” Biswas says. “It translated to an increase of nearly 15percent in total revenue(收入).” According to Biswas, this means companies can potentially manipulate consumers as they will unconsciously click and spend more through the use of curved call-to-action buttons. For companies that put little thought or reasoning behind their design element choices, this study could be eye-opening for them.

For shoppers, this means when they’re surfing the web around a holiday shopping season, they are subject to the marketing practice, such as design elements, which can lead to more unplanned purchases. Biswas encourages online shoppers to set a budget to balance such digital influence. “Having a budget will give you a benchmark to keep things more conscious-oriented and you’re less likely to be influenced by variables like these.”

10 . How much of your monthly grocery list ends up in the garbage? A new study reveals the average American spends nearly $1,500 per year on food they’ll never eat.

A recent survey of 2,000 Americans reveals the average shopper wastes $1,493.93 on food per year. That’s almost a fifth of their grocery bill after every shopping trip. One tenth of respondents claim they “never” purchase food they don’t end up eating, while three in 10 say this is something they “always” do.

Half of respondents prefer to head to the grocery store alone, and when they do, half are more likely to stick to their list and 36% are less likely to buy food they don’t want or need.

Keeping the list in mind is important, as 38 percent are more likely to let food be wasted if it wasn’t originally on their shopping list. Seven in 10 add that when they go to the store on an empty stomach, they’re more likely to buy foods they won’t eat. So they don’t do that that way. Some respondents appear to be in a wasteful cycle when it comes to food waste. Nearly half usually buy and end up wasting the same food every month because they think they’ll get around to eating it.

“We can all do better to limit food waste by sticking to grocery lists and, when we get home, prioritizing eating our foods that are perishable, like fruits, vegetables, and dairy products” says Avocado Co-Founder and CMO Mark Abrials in a statement.

Three-quarters feel guilty about throwing away uneaten food because it’s a waste of money — and 48 percent feel the same, due to the harm food waste causes to the environment. “When it comes to food waste, nobody is perfect,” Abrials adds. “But in order to consider our environmental impact, not to mention wasted money, we think it’s essential to be thoughtful about everything we purchase — whether that’s food, mattresses or other goods.”