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posted by mrpg on Monday February 25 2019, @09:31PM   Printer-friendly
from the I-am-happy dept.

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/02/25/697052006/anger-can-be-contagious-heres-how-to-stop-the-spread

In this era of "incite outrage-at-the-moment-to-get-that-click" clickbait news and postings pushed to us by mainstream media and social networks, is it a wonder that society is in the current state that its in..?

This article at NPR states that even if you're not aware of it, it's likely that your emotions will influence someone around you today. This can happen during our most basic exchanges, say on your commute to work. "If someone smiles at you, you smile back at them," says sociologist Nicholas Christakis of Yale University. "That's a very fleeting contagion of emotion from one person to another."

But it doesn't stop there. Emotions can spread through social networks almost like the flu or a cold. And, the extent to which emotions can cascade is eye-opening.

For instance, Christakis' research has shown that if you start to become happier with your life, a friend living close by has a 25 percent higher chance of becoming happy too. And your partner is more likely to feel better as well. The happiness can even spread to people to whom you're indirectly connected.

To document this, Christakis and his colleagues mapped out the face-to-face interactions of about 5,000 people living in one town, over the course of 32 years. Their emotional ups and downs were documented with periodic surveys. "We were able to show that as one person became happy or sad, it rippled through the network," Christakis says.

It's not just happiness that spreads, unhappiness and anger can be contagious, too. Should negative-clickbait be banned as a social threat?


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  • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday February 25 2019, @10:13PM (17 children)

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Monday February 25 2019, @10:13PM (#806615) Homepage Journal

    Fish more and she'll think you've reached nirvana.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
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  • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Monday February 25 2019, @10:22PM

    by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Monday February 25 2019, @10:22PM (#806622)

    Fish more...

    This is good advice. I wish I had the time to follow it.

  • (Score: 0, Funny) by fakefuck39 on Tuesday February 26 2019, @12:24AM (15 children)

    by fakefuck39 (6620) on Tuesday February 26 2019, @12:24AM (#806700)

    Finally he gives me something to work with. Finally! HERE WeGo.

    Classic buzztard. You know what makes her happy, especially if she's not a hairy fat hippie? When you're in bed going to sleep and she says she wants to go to a fine French restaurant tomorrow, take her to France in the morning. That way she'll think you're not a loser. But yeah, bringing her a dirty fish and clothes smelling like shit to wash will do it too. If she is white trash with no class or ambitions, or any level of attractiveness reaching the first integer.

    Reaching nirvana entails actually reaching it, not redefining your shit life as nirvana. It's like listening to an annoying high-pitched squeal and pretending you're enjoying Bob Dylan.

    • (Score: 2) by driverless on Tuesday February 26 2019, @12:50AM (3 children)

      by driverless (4770) on Tuesday February 26 2019, @12:50AM (#806708)

      You know what makes her happy, especially if she's not a hairy fat hippie? When you're in bed going to sleep and she says

      she's horny and you go somewhere fishy and she reaches nirvana.

      • (Score: 0) by fakefuck39 on Tuesday February 26 2019, @02:11AM (2 children)

        by fakefuck39 (6620) on Tuesday February 26 2019, @02:11AM (#806723)

        Has your wife tried washing her pussy? If she's successful, try talking to her about the bed smelling like shit - that also can be fixed with a little warm water.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 26 2019, @03:28AM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 26 2019, @03:28AM (#806751)

          You could use a name change. Miserable fuck might do it. Or disgusting fuck. But, I'm sure you're happy with your fake fuck, and all your worthless fuck family.

          • (Score: 0) by fakefuck39 on Wednesday February 27 2019, @07:51PM

            by fakefuck39 (6620) on Wednesday February 27 2019, @07:51PM (#807780)

            do disgusting is me shitting in your open mouth, or you constantly swallowing that shit?

            how about you learn some other languages and you'll be smart enough to figure out what my login name means.

    • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday February 26 2019, @05:57AM (3 children)

      by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Tuesday February 26 2019, @05:57AM (#806815) Journal

      From hearing him spout off in IRC, I believe he is currently single, living in a roommate situation, and may have a problem with excessive porn and masturbation. And likes it this way. So no woman's getting stuck washing his clothes but that's because there's no woman, period. Now maybe he thinks "no woman, no cry," but I'm inclined to believe you nailed his situation with your last sentence :)

      --
      I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
    • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday February 26 2019, @04:03PM (6 children)

      by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Tuesday February 26 2019, @04:03PM (#806994) Homepage Journal

      You need to read up on the concept of nirvana. It doesn't mean what you think it means.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.
      • (Score: 0) by fakefuck39 on Wednesday February 27 2019, @08:09PM (5 children)

        by fakefuck39 (6620) on Wednesday February 27 2019, @08:09PM (#807788)

        For my wife, it's being able to go to France when she wants french food. For me, it's being able to do whatever I want. In your case, it's sitting in one place and dying before being able to see the wonders of the world. The question is, if you had a million of disposable cash magically appear in your bank account, would you really be living exactly how you are living now, or would you be doing something else. You can pretend and convince yourself all you want. From the outside of your little world, your world does not look happy. Have you read the story of the frog in the well?

        • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday February 28 2019, @12:50PM (4 children)

          by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Thursday February 28 2019, @12:50PM (#808079) Homepage Journal

          Nope. I'd have a small truck instead of a small car, a slightly larger boat, and a heavier tackle box. See, unlike seeing some amazing thing in foreign parts that would give me approximately ten minutes of pleasure then I'd be like "Well, now I've seen that. Is the fishing any good around here?", sitting on a bank with fishing poles can manage that for the entire day. For as many days as you care to keep fishing. Even if the fish aren't biting. I'd probably buy really excellent coffee a little more often too.

          I genuinely pity people who don't allow themselves to enjoy the simple pleasures in life. There's peace and beauty all around you pretty much no matter where you are, you just have to pull your head out of your ass and look.

          --
          My rights don't end where your fear begins.
          • (Score: 0) by fakefuck39 on Friday March 01 2019, @09:11PM (3 children)

            by fakefuck39 (6620) on Friday March 01 2019, @09:11PM (#808933)

            Peace is great for 2 hours per day. Saying "I've seen that" when "that" means the diverse parts of the entire earth, and the billions of people with completely different cultures is self-delusion. You haven't seen that, and there is not enough time in life to see it. Seeing amazing things does not disturb your peace. It's interesting, it's mind-blowing, and it helps you grow as a person. You are a frog living in a well.

            • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday March 02 2019, @02:51AM (2 children)

              by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Saturday March 02 2019, @02:51AM (#809047) Homepage Journal

              If you need to fly a thousand miles to see amazing things, that's your failing. There are beautiful and terrible things happening less than a hundred feet from you right this moment. You're just too much a fool to notice them.

              --
              My rights don't end where your fear begins.
              • (Score: 1) by fakefuck39 on Saturday March 09 2019, @07:26AM (1 child)

                by fakefuck39 (6620) on Saturday March 09 2019, @07:26AM (#811959)

                Yeah, sleeping an a plane instead of in a bed is definitely not worth seeing the world's most modern city from the top of the world's tallest building, or a wedding with 200 people, some on camels, on an air-conditioned beach where you stay cool despite the 120 degree weather. Or a bunch of man-made islands with beautiful palaces on them. Or literally dancing with 20 fashionTV models for a night out (now that's beauty!). I've been to 47 states (lots of work travel) - plenty to see on shorter flights too. How about climbing inside a tunnel in a huge million year old glacier? Standing where the treaty to end WW1 was signed? Yeah, it's definitely a failing to have to sleep 1 night on a plane to see those things.

                Your life. It's short. And it has been completely wasted looking at the same "beautiful" fish and tree. Ever see a father sell his 12 year old daughter at a market, next to the fruit? Ever talk to a guy like that and have him tell his life story? Which btw was the family is starving, other daughter dead from malnutrition, selling the daughter to get repeatedly raped is better than her dying because he is disabled and literally cannot do anything to feed her. Terrible things. Beautiful things. They open up your mind.

                Since you're into fish. When I lived in Tokyo, we'd go to the fish auction in the morning. The restaurant owner picked up a huge tuna for $10k. I had some for breakfast, along with soup that had a live frog dying in it. Then hopped on a train and saw where the first atomic bomb exploded. Definitely not worth it to do any of that. Easier to sit on a boat, look at the pretty waves on the lake for the 2000's time, and slowly die. We got a winner here!

                • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday March 09 2019, @02:43PM

                  by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Saturday March 09 2019, @02:43PM (#812018) Homepage Journal

                  And what do you gain by seeing the world's most modern city from the top of the tallest building besides being able to say you've done it? It's a one minute experience that you spent a lot of money and miserable travel time to achieve. Fishing is a five minute drive and a day out in beautiful scenery with some combination of good conversation, catching fish, and/or taking a nap.

                  Oh, I get it, you're one of those Apple iDipshits. You're never satisfied no matter what. You always have to be chasing shiny and new even if it's worse than what you already have and costs ten times what it's worth.

                  --
                  My rights don't end where your fear begins.