One of the positives (specifically for us) from the pandemic is that we’ve developed a little workout group with some of our friends. These are friends we’ve known for years, vacationed together, etc; (so we’re already close), but we haven’t all been on shared group threads talking about fitness (and other random topics) like this.
It turns out that sharing experiences, even if you aren’t near each other physically (we are spread out across the Eastern United States), can bring people closer:
Sharing experiences, even from afar, can bring people closer [Chicago Booth Review] – “But we also prefer to experience separate events, good or bad, at the same time, suggest University of California at Los Angeles’ Franklin Shaddy and University of Florida’s Yanping Tu, both recent graduates of the Chicago Booth PhD Program, and Booth’s Ayelet Fishbach. For example, knowing that your friend is having a root canal on the same day as you may make it feel like a shared experience—and make it a little easier to handle.”
For the month of February, we’ve been doing the same core exercises (courtesy of Matty Maggiacomo) and we’ve reveled in our shared misery together.
“Fake Famous” and the Tedium of Influencer Culture [The New Yorker] – “A new documentary follows three nobodies who are trying to become social-media famous, which involves buying followers and staging photo shoots in a kiddie pool.”
How Marketing Changed the Way We See Avocados [Scientific American] – “Once upon a time, Americans didn’t know what to do with “alligator pears.” Now we can’t get enough” Alligator pears!