“Put that phone away!” Most parents have yelled something similar to this at their children, usually resulting in a shocked look on the child’s face.
In recent years, the spread of smartphones and social media has led us to spend more time in front of screens. Children are no exception. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a significant increase in children’s screen time due to lockdowns and school closures.
There are many frightening claims about excessive screen time for children and teens: that it harms their mental health, leading to depression, eating disorders and even suicide; that it cuts into time they could be spending on socializing and exercise, making them feel lonely and less physically fit; and more. In short, the fear is that spending too much time on digital devices is ruining our children’s lives, with the tech companies who design the apps that keep us hooked being complicit. It’s no wonder that governments around the world are considering restricting screen time for under-18s.
Yet a closer look at the evidence does not support this overwhelmingly negative view. This does not mean that the tech giants are harmless and that further regulation is not needed. But it does mean that we need to think more carefully about what healthy screen time looks like for young people, and how we can make the online world the most accessible to them. So here is your guide to what we actually know about the impact of screens and social media.
One thing is clear in this complex field: children and young people, like the rest of us, spend a lot of time in front of screens.
Bee found herself in a moment of realization when she caught herself mindlessly scrolling through the news on her phone while sitting on the toilet. This made her see the need to reconsider her phone habits.
Tired of the constant intrusion of notification sounds and the compulsive need to check her phone, the 37-year-old Londoner decided to switch to a device that would allow her to stay connected while reducing distractions. When her iPhone broke down a year ago, she opted for the Nokia 2720 Flip, a modern take on the classic flip phone.
As a mother of two young children, she made this choice after learning about the impact of screen time on kids. She realized that her own behavior contradicted the rules she set for her children and wanted to set a better example for them.
Discovering the addictive nature of smartphones and social media further fueled her decision to make a change. Feeling frustrated that tech companies were dictating her daily life, she sought a more mindful approach to using technology.
The emergence of low-tech devices in response to the dominance of smartphones has gained momentum in recent years. Switching to a “dumb phone” or a device like the BoringPhone has become a trend, driven by a desire to disconnect from excessive screen time and embrace a more offline lifestyle.
Jess Perriam, 39, turned to PostCrossing, a platform for sending and receiving postcards from strangers worldwide, to maintain a connection with others without being bombarded by aggressive advertising. She values the reading recommendations and cultural insights she has gained through this more traditional form of communication.
The resurgence of analog media, such as cassettes, vinyl records, and postcards, reflects a broader shift towards reconnecting with physical experiences. David Sacks emphasizes the importance of tactile interactions and sensory engagement in an increasingly digital world.
While this may be the first general election to be decided using TikTok, it won’t be the first election to be decided on TikTok for the simple reason that British users of the video app are already more likely to vote for Labour.
“The problem is that pretty much everyone on TikTok is already on our side,” a Labour campaign source said. “We need to reach out to the swing vote.”
TikTok’s relatively young user base, and Labour’s commanding lead among young voters, give the app a strange role in this election. There’s no doubt that tens of millions of Britons are consuming election content on the platform — a fertile ground for memes to spread, embarrassing videos to go viral, and passionate political opinions to rally support — and all political parties feel they have to be involved.
But within the Labour party, it is also seen as an unreliable way of conveying Keir Starmer’s core messages on economic and education policy to “Whitby women” and other specific undecided voters who will decide the outcome of dozens of close constituencies across the UK.
Just using TikTok is a strong indicator that someone is already inclined to vote Labour, according to Deltapol research, which found that TikTok users are 31% more likely to vote for Keir Starmer’s party than people of the same age and background who don’t use the video app.
“This allows us to conclude that people who use TikTok are more likely to vote Labour,” said Mike Joslin, a veteran digital campaigner who commissioned the research for artificial intelligence start-up Bombe. “Other channels give them more control in reaching undecided voters.”
TikTok’s cultural influence in the UK is undeniable, with 45% of UK internet users spending an average of 28 minutes a day on the app, according to the British Communications Authority. If you’ve ever seen the queues outside a TikTok-inspired restaurant or shop, you know the app can have a huge real-world impact and change behavior. While the typical user is Gen Z, its audience is actually ageing, with much of its recent growth coming from people in their 30s.
Lord Cameron was filmed on a voter's Ring doorbell camera while campaigning for the Conservative party in the general election. Photo: TikTok
Joslin said the app has become “essentially television,” with users endlessly scrolling through videos without necessarily engaging. “You can reach 10 million people, but what impact does that have on their actual willingness to vote? It’s more of a tool for mobilizing voters than necessarily a tool for persuading voters.”
One of the biggest challenges is that TikTok employs an opaque recommendation algorithm that is extremely difficult for political activists and journalists to monitor, meaning that just determining which videos are popular focuses on what political parties are doing on their official accounts, even though much of the conversation is taking place elsewhere and is largely invisible.
Older social networks like X and Facebook were built on the concept of following individuals and sharing content, such as links to news articles, in a way that could be tracked and monitored. TikTok is centered around powerful algorithms that identify users who are likely to enjoy specific content and serve them appropriate video streams.
The end result is highly unpredictable and not necessarily useful for political campaigns: if an ordinary person with no followers produces a particularly compelling political video (such as the 1 million people who watched David Cameron through a Ring doorbell during an election campaign in Hampshire), it can be more effective than a carefully crafted official post by an official channel (such as the 40,000 people who watched Rishi Sunak answer a question about agriculture on the official Conservative party account).
According to one Labour campaigner, the aim of the party’s TikTok strategy is to encourage young people to watch videos (e.g. A post comparing Rishi Sunak to a Magic the Gathering card) and post it to a family WhatsApp group. This way, they say, TikTok content can actually reach swing voters. “The strategy isn’t to target young people, but to connect with friends and family by sharing outside the platform.”
Studies indicate that adolescents with internet addiction exhibit alterations in brain chemistry that can contribute to further addictive behaviors.
In a study published in PLOS Mental Health, researchers analyzed fMRI studies to explore how brain regions interact in individuals with internet addiction.
The findings revealed changes in neural network activity in the brains of young individuals, with increased activity during rest and reduced connectivity in areas involved in cognitive functions like memory and decision-making.
These alterations were linked to addictive behaviors, mental health issues, cognitive abilities, and physical coordination in adolescents.
The study reviewed 12 prior studies involving 237 young individuals diagnosed with internet addiction from 2013 to 2023.
Recent surveys show that nearly half of British teens feel addicted to social media platforms.
Lead researcher Max Zhang from the University of London emphasized the vulnerability of adolescents to internet addiction due to developmental changes during this crucial stage.
The study suggests that early intervention for internet addiction is essential to mitigate negative impacts on adolescent behavior and development.
Experts recommend targeted treatments focused on specific brain regions or therapies to combat internet addiction symptoms.
Parental education plays a crucial role in preventing internet addiction, enabling better management of screen time and impulsive online behaviors.
Lead author Eileen Li from GOS ICH emphasizes the importance of setting boundaries on internet usage and being mindful of its effects on mental and social well-being.
I I don’t usually believe in life hacks. I’d like to imagine that with one simple adjustment my life would reappear like a cracked tennis court, but as time and experience have shown, positive change usually happens slowly and gradually.
But there is one hack that I truly believe in. It’s fast, free, and will instantly change your life for the better. Just mute the annoying people on social media.
The process varies by platform. Typically, you would go to the offending poster’s profile page or one of her posts and tap “Mute,” “Snooze,” or “Unfollow.” But that’s it. Thanks to this digital dust, social media is cleaner, or at least less dirty than it used to be. They’ll disappear from your timeline, and so will the various little annoyances they caused. Also, unlike unfollowing or blocking someone, the muted party won’t know they’ve been silenced, so there’s no risk of awkwardness or drama. .
Several people are muted. Some of them are people you don’t want to unfollow. I unfollowed some people, but I muted them because others might repost and pollute my pure timeline. One is a semi-celebrity who was rude to me about work many years ago. Another person was rude to my friend. There are also ex-lovers and people who are always humble and boastful and make you want to bang your head against something hard.
These people brought out the worst in me. When I saw their posts, I felt angry, mean, and small. I wondered how much it would cost to buy billboards along major highways with bullet points detailing just how bad it really is.
Luckily, I rarely think about these people anymore because I’ve muted them on all platforms. I usually forget these people exist unless someone brings it up in conversation. They were weeded from the lush garden of my brain.
Bailey Parnell, founder and president of the Center for Digital Wellbeing, said, “Muting accounts that repeatedly make you uncomfortable is setting up digital boundaries to create a healthier digital environment.” I am. This allows you to avoid offensive content without disconnecting. It’s a solution, she says, to the complicated situation where a relationship with someone is important to you despite their annoying online presence.
“This allows you to maintain your social and professional networks while also maintaining your mental health,” she says.
This may seem like obvious advice. Still, it can be difficult to follow. The frustration you feel when you see someone’s bad posts can be accompanied by a sense of satisfaction. It’s like, “Look!” It’s annoying!
“There can be a dopamine rush at the end of a big emotion,” says Monica Amorosi, a certified trauma therapist in New York City. We may begin to crave the adrenaline spike that comes with content that makes us feel shocked, angry, or disgusted.
“If we lead a mundane life, lack stimulation, are bored or overwhelmed, consuming this substance can be a form of entertainment or distraction,” says Amoros. says Mr.
Amorosi emphasizes the importance of not creating a “space of ignorance” in your feed by avoiding different perspectives on current events and alarming news. But this does not mean that social media should only be used to access upsetting information. Our feed can be used for “healthy, positive education, connecting with like-minded people, understanding the nuances and diversity of the world, fact-checking information, and learning new hobbies and ideas,” she says. say.
So muting is probably most effectively applied against people who annoy you in a bland, everyday way, such as an arrogant colleague. Not seeing humble braggarts pretending to be ashamed of their professional successes does not limit my worldview. Instead, I get back the 5-10 minutes I might have wasted taking screenshots of posts and complaining to friends about them.
Frankly, I haven’t done anything with the time I’ve gained by not badmouthing the people I’ve muted. But how nice that at least he has days when he’s comfortable for even five minutes.
So feel free to mute yourself and often. And what if you disagree with me? Please mute. You never know!
Data from a study by Gwynyay Maske and colleagues at University College Dublin in Ireland shows that spectator sports are good for kids – good for them.
The data covers major American football, association football (soccer), and rugby union tournaments in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America.
The researchers found that, “with a few exceptions,” these popularity contests “continue to increase in number of births and/or fertility 9 (±1) months after notable team wins and/or tournaments.” “It was associated with an increase in the ratio.” .
Sporting events at this level seem to work that way for the winners, but not for the losers, says a study published in the journal Peer J. No joke, the downsides are significant. “Unexpected losses by Premier Soccer League teams were associated with fewer births nine months later.”
celebratory sex
The study of sports viewing begins with the following fascinating sentence: “Major sports tournaments may be associated with increased birth rates nine months later, possibly due to celebratory sex.”
The quartet candidly write about their observations:[Some people] For birthdays, holidays, graduations, proms, new car “run-in” sessions, we planned days and weeks in advance to have “celebratory” sex in a slow, long park… Parking Sex during men and women was primarily a positive sexual and romantic experience for both parties. “
The abstract climax of this study ends with the simple idea that “future research on sex in parked cars in urban settings is recommended.”
Timeliness of time
The eternal question, “What is time?'' staggered onto the stage. The first was the Finnish report on Russia's time zone, and the second was the varied actions of the Kazakh state.
Russia has 11 time zones. Piattyeva and Vasileva tell us that “the existence of multiple time zones indicates the lack of a unified spatiotemporal nature.” And they express ideas that no one has ever been able to articulate clearly. “Bureaucratically, the desire for simultaneity and synchronicity takes the form of meticulously ordering sequences of actions through normative documents.” They argue that there is a hinge to everything. is revealed. “In our analysis, we repeatedly returned to the most difficult question: What is time?”
On its own, the Kazakh government added clarification, surprise, and perhaps confusion to the general timeliness. On March 1, Kazakhstan changed its two time zones to a single time zone nationwide.
period of central asia reported two weeks before the big day that “not all citizens are happy about this, and some claim it will affect their health.” times In an interview with Sultan Turekhanov of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, he warned: In particular, it is a change in the temporal structure parameters of human biological rhythms. ”
The feedback is, above all, a tribute to the audacity of those who dare to play with the temporal structural parameters of the biological rhythms of human tissues.
unread, non-existent
How many studies are there that no one reads…and eventually disappear? And how many studies disappear that no one reads even before they disappear? Both? Rough answer to the question – it's not exactly the same question. – Now it exists.
The first question was answered almost 20 years ago when Lockman I. Mejo of Indiana University Bloomington published a paper (which has not disappeared) called “.The rise of citation analysis”.
Meho writes: “It is a solemn fact that approximately 90% of papers published in academic journals are not cited at all. In fact, 50% of his papers are never read by anyone other than the authors, reviewers, and journal editors. not.”
Martin Paul Eve from Birkbeck, University of London got the second question right. His new research (also not extinct yet) is called “.Poor preservation of digital academic journals: A study of 7 million articles”. The study “evaluated” 7,438,037 academic citations with unique identification codes called DOIs. Now, in the research, we attempted to evaluate. According to Eve's report, 2,056,492 (27.64%) of them appear to be missing.
Eve also said that 32.9 percent of organizations responsible for digitally preserving documents “do not appear to be doing adequate digital preservation.”
Feedback: old ideals: The study should raise more questions than answers.
Mark Abrahams hosted the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony and co-founded the magazine Annals of Improbable Research. Previously, he was working on unusual uses of computers.his website is impossible.com.
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More than 1 billion people around the world, or approximately 1 in 8 people, are obese, making it the most common form of malnutrition in nearly every country.
Francesco Branca Researchers from the World Health Organization (WHO) compiled data from more than 3,600 studies published over the past 35 years to understand how obesity rates have changed between 1990 and 2022. The study included approximately 230 million people in 197 countries. The researchers then calculated participants’ BMI (a score based on height and weight) to estimate how obesity rates changed over time.
During the study period, global obesity prevalence more than doubled in adults aged 20 years and older and quadrupled in children and adolescents aged 5 to 19 years. By 2022, obesity rates among women and girls have increased in approximately 93% of countries. The same was true for boys in all but five countries. France was the only country where obesity rates among men did not increase.
Adult obesity rates rose the most in countries in the Caribbean, the Middle East, and North Africa. Meanwhile, the biggest increases in child and adolescent obesity were in Brunei, Chile, Polynesia, Micronesia, and Caribbean island states.
Obesity increases your risk of heart disease, diabetes, certain cancers, and a variety of other health problems. “It is very worrying that the obesity epidemic that was evident among adults in many parts of the world in 1990 is now being reflected in school-age children and adolescents,” he said. Majid Ezati researchers from Imperial College London, one of the study’s senior authors, said in a press release.
Researchers believe that calorie- and sugar-rich processed foods, which have become more widely available around the world in recent decades, are partly to blame for the skyrocketing obesity rates. However, researchers note that focusing on individual behaviors such as diet and exercise has had, and will continue to have, little impact on the prevalence of obesity. To truly prevent and manage obesity, governments around the world need to implement policies that make healthy food and physical activity more accessible and affordable, Branca said in a press release.
The members of the WhatsApp group ‘Smartphone Free Childhood’ advocate for banning under-14s from owning smartphones and preventing under-16s from accessing social media to protect them from the dangers of the internet. However, believing this is the solution is unrealistic. Announcement (“Crazy: Thousands of UK parents join in quest for smartphone-free childhood”, February 17).
It is a parent’s responsibility to provide a safe environment for their children and teach them how to safely navigate the internet. Just like roads can be dangerous but we don’t ban cars, teaching children internet safety is crucial. Building open and honest relationships and setting boundaries at home will help young people understand internet dangers better than blanket bans. Making social media “adults only” may backfire and make it more tempting for children. They may also be less likely to seek help if they encounter inappropriate content. stuart harrington Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset
As seen in cases like Brianna Gee’s, giving children smartphones can have negative consequences. However, we should consider the benefits and drawbacks of smartphone access. I personally benefitted from having a smartphone in school for various tasks like using apps for transportation, news, and communication. While parental controls and monitoring are essential, smartphones have many positive uses. It is important to adapt to the changing online threats and promote more parental supervision. oscar acton Merton, County Durham
Google has temporarily blocked a new artificial intelligence model that generates images of people after it depicted World War II German soldiers and Vikings as people of color.
The company announced that its Gemini model would be used to create images of people after social media users posted examples of images generated by the tool depicting historical figures of different ethnicities and genders, such as the Pope and the Founding Fathers of the United States. announced that it would cease production.
“We are already working to address recent issues with Gemini's image generation functionality. While we do this, we will pause human image generation and re-release an improved version soon. “We plan to do so,” Google said in a statement.
Google did not mention specific images in its statement, but examples of Gemini's image results are widely available on X, along with commentary on issues surrounding AI accuracy and bias. 1 former Google employee “It was difficult to get Google Gemini to acknowledge the existence of white people,” he said.
1943 illustration of German soldier Gemini. Photo: Gemini AI/Google
Jack Krawczyk, a senior director on Google's Gemini team, acknowledged Wednesday that the model's image generator (not available in the UK and Europe) needs tweaking.
“We are working to improve this type of depiction immediately,” he said. “His AI image generation in Gemini generates a variety of people, which is generally a good thing since people all over the world are using it. But here it misses the point.”
We are already working to address recent issues with Gemini's image generation capabilities. While we do this, we will pause human image generation and plan to re-release an improved version soon. https://t.co/SLxYPGoqOZ
In a statement on X, Krawczyk added that Google's AI principles ensure that its image generation tools “reflect our global user base.” He added that Google would continue to do so for “open-ended” image requests such as “dog walker,” but added that response prompts have a historical trend. He acknowledged that efforts are needed.
“There's more nuance in the historical context, and we'll make further adjustments to accommodate that,” he said.
We are aware that Gemini introduces inaccuracies in the depiction of some historical image generation and are working to correct this immediately.
As part of the AI principles https://t.co/BK786xbkeywe design our image generation capabilities to reflect our global user base and…
Reports on AI bias are filled with examples of negative impacts on people of color.a Last year's Washington Post investigation I showed multiple examples of image generators show prejudice Not just against people of color, but also against sexism. Although 63% of U.S. food stamp recipients are white, the image generation tool Stable Diffusion XL shows that food stamp recipients are primarily non-white or dark-skinned. It turned out that there was. Requesting images of people “participating in social work” yielded similar results.
Andrew Rogoiski, from the University of Surrey's Institute for Human-Centered AI, said this is “a difficult problem to reduce bias in most areas of deep learning and generative AI”, and as a result there is a high likelihood of mistakes. said.
“There is a lot of research and different approaches to eliminating bias, from curating training datasets to introducing guardrails for trained models,” he said. “AI and LLM are probably [large language models] There will still be mistakes, but it is also likely that they will improve over time. ”
Remains of dog and baby girl buried in Seminario Vescoville near Verona, Italy
Laffranchi et al. (CC-BY 4.0)
Late Iron Age people in northern Italy were sometimes buried with dogs and horses. Probably because they loved dogs and horses.
Archaeologists often suspect that the ancient worldwide custom of placing animals in human graves is associated with higher socio-economic status, beliefs about the afterlife, or certain family traditions. I was there. However, after thorough investigation, researchers say they are now beginning to suspect that such “community burials” may have simply been expressions of love for devoted non-human family members. Marco Mirella At the University of Bern, Switzerland.
He and his colleagues reexamined bones excavated from the 2,200-year-old Seminario Vescoville cemetery just east of Verona, Italy. There, the Cenomani lived in metal-making communities before and during the Roman conquest.
Most of the 161 graves discovered at the site contained only human remains, but 16 graves also contained whole or partial animal remains. Twelve of the items were pork or beef products, apparently food offerings to the deceased. Zita Laffranchialso at the University of Bern.
However, the remaining four were buried with dogs and/or horses, which were not used for food by the group. Among them were a middle-aged man with a small dog, a young man with part of a horse, a 9-month-old baby girl alongside the dog, and, most unexpectedly, a pony. She was a middle-aged woman. She had a dog’s head placed above her and a dog’s head placed above her head.
“At first, the excavators were surprised to find human legs under the horses, and their first idea was that there were horsemen here, there were warriors.” LaFranch says. However, the woman was buried unarmed, suggesting that her association with the 1.3 meter tall pony had nothing to do with the war.
The researchers found no particular trends in the age of the people buried with the animals, and DNA analysis suggested they were not genetically related to each other. Chemical analysis of these corpses Dietary differences related to socio-economic status were also not revealed compared to human-only graves.
The findings suggest that ancient people may have felt a strong connection to their animals and therefore chose to bury their loved ones with them, the researchers said. “And why not?” says Mirella. “You can never rule that out.”
Still, the animals in the graves appear to have benefited from careful human care, rather than as disposable livestock. The dog in particular appears to have been fed human food and is showing signs of wound treatment and healing.
So it’s also possible that people were buried with animals for both symbolic and affectionate reasons, Mirella said.
Consider the happiest country in the world. Are you thinking of somewhere in Scandinavia? Well, a new study has brought to light something that may have been overlooked. They are actually the happiest people in the world, but they are often not included in rankings.
In global happiness rankings, such as the World Happiness Report (WHR), researchers typically note a correlation between high levels of life satisfaction and high incomes. However, these rankings often fail to differentiate between small indigenous groups and the overall population of a nation. In some of these communities, money has a minimal impact on daily life and livelihoods.
A new paper suggests that not all happiness is tied to money. In fact, it turns out that some low-income societies, particularly those that rely on nature rather than money, exhibit significantly higher life satisfaction and may even be some of the happiest people in the world.
“The frequently observed strong correlation between income and life satisfaction is not universal and proves that the wealth generated by developed economies is not fundamentally necessary for humans to live happy lives.” – Professor Victoria Reyes Garcia, senior author of the study
Who is the happiest person in the world?
Although not conducted by the same research institute as WHR, this new study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and measured happiness in a similar way. The WHR asks respondents to imagine a ladder with 10 being the best life and 0 being the worst, and then evaluate their life on that scale.
In this study, researchers translated the question into local languages: “Taking all aspects into consideration, how satisfied are you with your life on a scale of 0 to 10?”
The research team collected responses from 2,966 people from 19 indigenous and local communities around the world. Only 64 percent of households surveyed in these communities had any cash income.
These 19 communities had an average score of 6.8, with the lowest score being 5.1. However, four of these communities scored above 8/10 and, if included in the WHR, these small societies would be among the happiest people in the world. In 2023, WHR found that the countries with the highest scores were Finland (7.8), Denmark (7.6), and Iceland (7.5).
The highest scores were reported in Latin America, despite many of these societies having suffered from histories of marginalization and oppression, according to the authors.
Researchers say the findings are positive news for sustainability in the face of climate change, as this research suggests that people can achieve high levels of happiness without the need for resource-intensive economic growth.
They encourage future research to examine specific factors that influence well-being in societies where money is not central, such as family and social support, spirituality, and connection to the natural world.
you know that person. People who use train delays as an excuse to get absorbed in good books. Someone who can crack a joke 10 seconds after breaking his ankle. He loves presentations and is never afraid of pressure. They seem to float through life, unperturbed by the stresses that can overwhelm us. What is their secret?
Are they blessed with stress-resistant genes? Did their upbringing make them exceptionally resilient? Are they learning specific ways to deal with life's challenges, or do they just know how to avoid stress altogether? To answer these questions, researchers have investigated how humans and animals respond and adapt to adversity, identifying which animals are particularly resistant to stress and elucidating the factors that contribute to this ability. Ta.it's the journey that took them Romanian orphanage From an interrogation room in North Carolina to a fire station in Indianapolis to a humor classroom in Austria.
This research helps the military recruit applicants for high-stress jobs. It also led to the first human trial of a “stress vaccine” that has the potential to prevent the devastating effects of conditions ranging from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to depression. But there are greater benefits to understanding the secret to a stress-free life. Knowing why some people cope with stress better than others and what we can all do to increase our resilience can only help us all cope better with the challenges of everyday life. But it may also teach you how to use stress to your advantage.
One thing you can be sure of is whether or not you're going to be late.
Article amended on February 27, 2020
We found out when people are negatively affected by stress.
Licking: Cats are obsessed with licking. Research shows that adult felines can spend up to 8% of your waking hours grooming themselves. Licking also serves an important social role in felines, and adult cats often lick each other just before mating. But what about humans? Why do cats lick people? There is no evidence that your cat considers this part of a pre-mating ritual.
Scientists and cat behavior experts aren’t entirely sure why cats lick your face or hands with their little tongues. However, while there is no comprehensive and definitive explanation for this behavior, there are several theories as to why domestic cats lick humans. Your cat might not like all of them.
Why do cats lick people?
There is no single reason why a cat might lick you. However, there are three main theories as to why domestic cats behave this way:
It shows they trust you.
They are accessing biochemical information from your skin.
They are marking you as their property.
trust theory
Cats may lick you to show that they trust you or to show that they don’t consider you a serious competitor.
“This type of licking is similar to the cat-to-cat behavior known as allogrooming, which is essentially mutual grooming. When cats are young kittens who are blind and deaf, “They learn this from their mothers. It’s basically cleaning the kittens and strengthening their social bond.” doctor dEnthusiastic, Sands is an expert in animal psychology with over 25 years of clinical experience.
Read more about cats:
“Due to this maternal influence, adult cats will only lick other cats that they trust and are not in competition with. And this trusting grooming behavior may be transmitted to humans.
“At the end of the day, cats don’t sit there saying, ‘I’m a cat and you’re a human.’ To them, the animal is either in competition with them or not. And licking. That shows you’re not competing.”
In other words, if your cat licks you, it’s not a positive sign of affection. That’s not a negative thing at all (it’s as good as a cat).
Helpful note: Always think about where your cat last licked before allowing this. Photo credit: Getty
If in doubt, consider the cleverly titled Lincoln University study. Domestic cats show no signs of being attached to their owners.
Researchers swapped human owners with 20 felines and discovered they were felines. He seemed to be deepening his bonds with strangers. than in the actual owner (shown through behaviors such as play and mirroring).
The researchers wrote: “These results are consistent with the view that adult cats are also typically very autonomous in their social relationships and are not necessarily dependent on others to provide a sense of security and security.”’ “We are doing it,” he concluded.
biochemical theory
This sounds complicated, but essentially it’s a very simple idea: cats like you because they’re interested in the smell on your hands.
“Cats’ taste buds are so sensitive that they can detect the smell of our skin, which can contain pheromone secretions from other animals,” says Sands. “There could also be salt, moisturizer, or something else you’ve eaten on your hands. To cats, these are all interesting scents, and they can detect it by licking. It could just be that.”
possession play theory
As Sands says, cats are “head-to-tail sniffing machines.” And what’s their favorite smell? Themselves. In fact, they love their unique scent (which acts as a fingerprint suspended in the air) so much that they think it should replace other scents.
Sands explains that this is why cats lick themselves after petting you. “It’s purely to get rid of your smell!” he says.
Many other cat behaviors come down to ownership and territory. Everything they do is very territorial,” Sands added. “When cats groom other cats or humans, they may remove scents and replace them with their own. It’s their way of marking and saying, ‘This is mine.’ I’m yours!”
About our expert Dr. David Sands
Sands, who holds a PhD in animal behavior (animal psychology) from the University of Liverpool, has over 25 years’ experience in animal behavior clinics. He is a Fellow of the Dog and Cat Behavior Association (CFBA) and the Society for the Study of Animal Behavior (ASAB).
Sands is also the author of the following books: Cats 500 questions answered (Hamlin, £4).
The blue and pink areas indicate vast habitable areas that were once connected to northwestern Australia, but are now underwater.
Kasi Norman
As many as 500,000 people may have once lived on land in what is now northern Australia, which was submerged by rising sea levels at the end of the last ice age.
Kasi Norman Professors at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, have reconstructed the topography of the approximately 400,000 square kilometers of land currently covered by the Indian Ocean, known as the North-West Shelf. The researchers say this is not an uninhabitable place as previously thought, but rather a place where people have thrived for tens of thousands of years.
The study revealed features such as inland seas as large as the Sea of Marmara in Turkey and vast freshwater lakes with gorges, rivers and cliffs, such as those currently found in Kakadu National Park in Australia's Northern Territory. became.
Mr Norman said this large area of flooded land had long been known from oil and gas exploration, but the Australian Institute of Geosciences recently released detailed sonar data with pixels down to 30 x 30 metres. It is said that he did. “This is high enough resolution to tell us about landscape features that are important to people,” she says.
Research has revealed that the inland sea existed in a stable form from 27,000 to 17,000 years ago. A nearby 2,000 square kilometer freshwater lake remained stable from 30,000 to 14,000 years ago. The lake is thought to have been an important refuge for people fleeing south from the arid Australian continent during the Ice Age.
By modeling these geographic features, the researchers estimate that the area could have supported a population of 50,000 to 500,000 people.
“This vast landscape that no longer exists would have been very different from what we see in Australia today,” Norman said. “It's incredible to have a freshwater lake of this size next to an inland sea, and people would have lived on the other side of that lake. This is a lost landscape that people were using. is.”
However, at the end of the last ice age, sea levels began to rise dramatically. Initially, sea levels rose at about 1 meter per 100 years, Norman said, but from 14,500 to 14,100 years ago, the rate increased to 400 to 500 meters per 100 years.
If things had continued, people would have seen sea levels rise and be forced to move inland to escape flooding.
He said the region had never before modeled how many people it supported. peter bess The research, from the University of Western Australia, was made possible thanks to new detailed paleogeographical data available to the team.
Those who still think of Fortnite as a colorful, cartoonish battle royale game may be surprised to learn the true scope of Epic’s ambitions.
Fortnite’s large-scale, chaotic fight-to-the-death matches may still command the highest payouts, but Epic continues to steadily expand the scope of its flagship game into more of a game. platform More than just a simple standalone game.Fortnite’s psychedelic live event, monster Ariana Grande concert, and its infinity User-generated sandbox world All were hints about the final destination.
X may never be the be-all and end-all app, but Fortnite is already the be-all and end-all game. And it got even bigger.
Over the last week, Epic has released three new games within the game, starting with survival title Lego Fortnite on Thursday. Fortnite Festival, a rhythm game from the Rock Band development studio, and Rocket Racing, a fast-paced racing game from the makers of Rocket League, soon followed.
While Fortnite’s regular modes like Zero Build and the classic Battle Royale saw decent numbers over the weekend, and people also ventured into the other two new games, Lego Fortnite is on a whole different level. I made my debut.
Epic and Lego’s new Minecraft/Animal Crossing hybrid (more on this later in the review) peaks at 2.45 million concurrent players Immediately after launch. Over the weekend, it consistently hovered around the same high peak, sitting at about 1.1 million players by Monday. This in itself is an epic number that puts many hits on the Steam charts to shame. The live “Big Bang” event that introduced his three new games a little more than a week ago drew 11.6 million concurrent players and featured live Fortnite shows from artists like Marshmello and Travis Scott. Ta.
LEGO Fortnite is just one corner of Epic’s multiverse, but it’s clearly the one that’s getting the most attention right now. Fortnite’s total number of concurrent online players is much higher than that (all of Fortnite’s creative modes, ranked play, battle royale, etc. combined), but this is a completely different genre of family games. It is especially noteworthy that it has generated so much buzz. If LEGO Fortnite can maintain its momentum with a steady drip of engaging content that deepens the game, the free-to-play, multiplayer experience for the whole family may only get better.
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