Image by Matt Westgate, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.
Happy Saturday y'all! Below, I have rounded up some things for you to think about this weekend:
1. There are a lot of names being bandied about for what to name the generation of kids that follows the Millennials: Gen Z, iGen, Posts, Homeland Generation, ReGen, Plurals, etc. But MTV has proposed that we name the new generation the Founders, because while the Millennials have done an effective job of disrupting society, it is up to the new generation to rebuild it. Way to make me feel old, MTV. But I do hope that this is correct—now that we are aware that the systems in place are broken, we do need a group of people to muster up the energy to rebuild our global society. If any Founders want some help collaborating on a save-the-world project, let us Millennials know!
2. A new study found that quitting Facebook can make you happier and less depressed. The study essentially took a group of Facebook users and split them into two groups—the first group continued using the platform while the second group ceased activity on Facebook entirely. After one week, 88% of the group that left Facebook said they felt "happy" compared to 81% in the group still using the site. The first group "also felt less angry, less lonely, less depressed, more decisive, more enthusiastic, and enjoyed their lives more." Stress levels for the second group were reduced by as much as 55%. Now, keep in mind that this is just one study, but the results do indicate a trend—perhaps limiting or eliminating social media activity altogether would be wise if you are consistently feeling blue.
3. I don't fully understand this, but in case you are able to and might find it interesting, scientists have not found any evidence that we are living in a hologram. Apparently a machine called a Holometer was constructed to find holographic noise in the universe, but was unable to find any. Not to say that the lead physicist, Craig Hogan, isn't still hopeful: "This is just the beginning of the story. We've developed a new way of studying space and time that we didn't have before. We weren't even sure we could attain the sensitivity we did."
4. A Canadian man was arrested in an airport with 51 live turtles in his pants that he was intending to smuggle to China, where they are worth a considerable amount of money.
That's all for this week's edition of Weekend Thoughts. Until next week, keep thinking wilder.