Why a social media detox may not be as good for you as you think - new research

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Why a social media detox may not be as good for you as you think - new research     Whether you’re an influencer, an occasional poster, or just a lurker, you likely spend more time than you’d like on social media. Globally, working-age people with internet access now spend more than 2.5 hours per day on social platforms like Instagram, Facebook or X (Twitter).Social media use can become excessive and problematic when it interferes with school or work, causes conflict in your relationships or harms your mental health. While not formally recognised as mental health disorder, some scientists even argue that problematic social media use is an “addiction”. Continued here

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Necessary Losses: The Life-Shaping Art of Letting Go     “We cannot deeply love anything without becoming vulnerable to loss. And we cannot become separate people, responsible people, connected people, reflective people without some losing and leav… Continued here

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How AI Will Transform Project Management     Only 35% of projects today are completed successfully. One reason for this disappointing rate is the low level of maturity of technologies available for project management. This is about to change. Researchers, startups, and innovating organizations, are beginning to apply AI, machine learning, and other advanced technologies to project management, and by 2030 the field will undergo major shifts. Technology will soon improve project selection and prioritization, monitor progress, speed up reporting, and facilitate testing. Project managers, aided by virtual project assistants, will find their roles more focused on coaching and stakeholder management than on administration and manual tasks. The author show how organizations that want to reap the benefits of project management technologies should begin today by gathering and cleaning project data, preparing their people, and dedicating the resources necessary to drive this transformation. Continued here

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Why Conflicting Ideas Can Make Your Strategy Stronger     In a volatile, uncertain world, successful strategies are those conceived as portfolios of options rather than as roadmaps. But to successfully create and communicate such strategies, managers must embrace incompatible and misaligned ideas, communicate multiple and conflicting narratives, and share ideas as they think of them as opposed to the traditional sequence of thinking then sharing. To enable this, leaders need to foster a culture in which people can disagree without being punished for it. Continued here

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Ask Sanyin: How Can I Convince Myself I Belong in Leadership?     Our special report on innovation systems will help leaders guide teams that rely on virtual collaboration, explores the potential of new developments, and provides insights on how to manage customer-led innovation.Our special report on innovation systems will help leaders guide teams that rely on virtual collaboration, explores the potential of new developments, and provides insights on how to manage customer-led innovation.I have just moved up to an executive job, and while I know I’m ready, I don’t feel very confident in front of my team. I was the first in my family to go to college and still carry the feeling of having to prove I belong, even though I have a track record of accomplishments at this company. How do I tamp down the impostor syndrome and feel like a leader? Continued here

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Eight of the best smorrebrod restaurants in Copenhagen     The open-faced sandwich, or smørrebrød, is as Danish as a block of LEGO. It is a mini design marvel in its own way too: a delicately balanced dance of textures, flavours and colours piled in a tower built on a buttered rye bread base. Classic varieties include pickled herring topped with onions and capers; prawn, boiled egg and aioli; chicken salad with mushrooms and bacon; and warm liver paté with beetroot.The dish dates to the 19th Century when agricultural workers would pack rye bread and leftovers from the previous night’s dinner to eat for lunch. In Copenhagen, today’s top restaurants have evolved this hearty worker’s food, keeping the heavy rye bread but adding international ingredients like yuzu and kefir to create a fresh take on an old tradition. These modern iterations takes certainly look as good as they taste, focusing heavily on visuals with perhaps an extravagant cloud of micro herbs, a vermillion-bright accent of beetroot and a perfectly sliced, perfectly positioned pickle. Continued here

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Bataring Daudo: A centuries-old recipe for apricot soup     During harsh Himalayan winters, at the roadside kiosk of chef and restaurateur Lal Shahzadi, a heavenly scent of woody apricots tinged with molasses hangs heavy in the air. She is making a centuries-old recipe passed down generations: Bataring Daudo, or apricot soup.Shahzadi (whose full name means "Red Princess" in Urdu) is part of the hardy Burusho community in Hunza, Pakistan – known as much for its hospitality as its antiquity. She runs a food kiosk named Hunza Food Pavilion in the district's capital, Karimabad, and is viscerally connected to her land, championing organic ingredients and indigenous practices. Continued here

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Madhur Jaffrey: The woman who gave the world Indian food     At a spirited 90 years of age, Madhur Jaffrey takes centre stage on the streaming platform MasterClass, her screen presence marked by a shiny bob, smoky-lined eyes, vivid red lips and a trove of lively, endearing anecdotes from her rich life. A true polymath, Madhur is more than a versatile actress whose cinematic impact has spanned several decades, she's a culinary chronicler and food icon. With over 30 cookbooks to her name, spanning the flavours of India, Asia and global vegetarian cuisine, as well as many television cookery shows (including on the BBC), Madhur Jaffrey is a household name for anyone with a taste for South Asian cuisine.As Indian-born Nobel Laureate and cookbook author Abhijit Banerjee shared during this year's annual HC Mahindra Lecture at Harvard University, "While I could cook many Western dishes, I did not know how to cook Indian food. My first step was smart – to buy her [cookbook], An Invitation to Indian Cooking, and follow it with a certain amount of diligence. And that's how I learned to cook Indian food." Continued here

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Doctor Who: The Star Beast first look review - the first 60th anniversary special is a 'whimsical' affair     As the long-running UK science-fiction show about the eponymous Doctor, a Time Lord who travels through space and time, celebrates its 60th anniversary, writer Russell T Davies is back for another stint in charge. It is effectively the third new beginning for the show, following the original run, from 1963 to 1989, and the revival, which began in 2005. A huge fan of the original series, Davies was largely responsible for its Noughties return, presiding over the Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant eras. His comeback has been greeted with jubilation by those fans who felt that recent seasons had not been among the best.More like this:– Why Doctor Who is the ultimate British show – The most stylish Doctors through the decades – A beginner's guide to Doctor Who Continued here

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Lizards, fish and other species are evolving with climate change, but not fast enough     Climate change is threatening the survival of plants and animals around the globe as temperatures rise and habitats change.Some species have been able to meet the challenge with rapid evolutionary adaptation and other changes in behavior or physiology. Dark-colored dragonflies are getting paler in order to reduce the amount of heat they absorb from the sun. Mustard plants are flowering earlier to take advantage of earlier snowmelt. Lizards are becoming more cold-tolerant to handle the extreme variability of our new climate. Continued here

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New Argentinian president Javier Milei promises to 'take a chainsaw' to country's crippled economy     When Javier Milei’s opponent in the 2023 Argentinian elections conceded victory on Sunday night it was obvious that the maverick libertarian economist was going to win big. And he did: once counting finished on Monday, Milei had taken 56% compared to 44% for his opponent, former finance minister Sergio Massa – in doing so he won the most votes in any election in Argentine history.In the middle of a savage economic crisis in Argentina, with inflation running at 143% (with forecasts it will rise above 200% by the end of the year) Latin America’s third-largest economy is in “intensive care”. Continued here

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A free messaging app seemed useful for disadvantaged South African students: why they didn't agree     University of Western Cape provides support as a hosting partner of The Conversation AFRICA.South African higher education is plagued by inequalities due to the social and economic legacies of apartheid. Continued here

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Ghana: Akosombo Dam disaster reveals a history of negligence that continues to this day     Recent heavy downpours in the Lower Volta area of Ghana led to the worst flooding in the region’s history. The flooding was caused by a spillage (a deliberate release of water) from the Akosombo Dam, the country’s biggest hydroelectric dam. Over 26,000 people were displaced. No deaths have been officially announced. The last recorded spillage was in 2010.The Volta River Authority, the state agency that manages the Akosombo Dam, opened the flood gates to release pressure on the dam after unusually high rainfall. By September, Volta Lake, the vast, 400km-long reservoir behind Akosombo Dam, had been filled to capacity. A month after the spillage started, communities along the Volta River were severely affected by the excess water. Continued here

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AI makes Silicon Valley's philosophy of 'move fast and break things' untenable     The unofficial motto of Silicon Valley has long been “move fast and break things”. It relies on the assumption that in order to create cutting edge technology and to be ahead of the competition, companies need to accept that things will get damaged in the process.However, this approach can have implications beyond just economics. It can endanger people and be unethical. As we mark the first anniversary of the release of AI chatbot ChatGPT, it’s worth considering whether the big tech companies could do with moving slowly and taking care not to break anything. Continued here

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High-street regeneration has to start with community trust and care     When British discount retailer Wilko shut its remaining 68 stores in October 2023, people mourned what they took these closures to signal: the demise of the high street. The potential or actual decline of England’s town and city centres has long preoccupied community groups, government officials and even artist collectives. Continued here

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Why are so many graduates shunning teaching? Pay - but not bonuses - could be the answer     There is a persistent shortage of teachers in England. Numbers of new recruits fail to meet targets, and too many teachers are leaving their jobs. It’s clear that more new teachers are needed – but apparently not enough people are choosing the profession. Much of the existing evidence about why people become teachers is based only on the views of existing or prospective trainee teachers. This is interesting, but says nothing about why other people do not become teachers. And if we need to increase the number of applications to teacher training, it is the people who decide against teaching that matter. Continued here

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Israel and Palestine in the therapist's office: how counsellors support people without taking sides     War and politics can cause serious mental anguish and trauma, even for people thousands of miles away from a conflict. Counsellors who specialise in loss and grief may well meet clients who have lost relatives in conflicts such as those in Ukraine and the Middle East. Counselling should be a safe and confidential space for clients to express their true feelings, particularly about complex topics. For counsellors to create this space, they must be both politically aware and self-aware, and have a healthy relationship with their own clinical supervisors. Continued here

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SAD lamps: do they work? Experts explain how they help the winter blues     Have you ever noted that you sleep more in the winter months? Or eat more carbs or have low energy? If you do, then you might be one of the around 6% of the higher latitude populations with seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Before we examine the evidence for light therapy it’s important to understand why mood might be affected by sunlight. Vitamin D is produced when your skin is exposed to sunlight and some scientists believe there is a link between depression and low vitamin D levels. Continued here

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Sails and satellite navigation could cut shipping industry's emissions by up to a third     The international shipping sector, made up of thousands of massive cargo ships laden with many of the goods we buy, emits carbon dioxide (CO₂) roughly equivalent to the entire country of Germany.Enter a new solution with ancient origins: sails. Not the billowing canvases of centuries past but high-tech systems capable of harnessing renewable wind energy to supplement the propulsion from a ship’s engine. Continued here

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Tropical forest loss from growing rubber trade is more substantial than previously thought - new research     Over 4 million hectares of tree cover – an area equivalent to the size of Switzerland – may have been cleared to make space for rubber plantations since the 1990s. Out of all the rubber planted, 1 million hectares may have been established in key biodiversity areas – sites that contribute significantly to biodiversity in terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems.Most natural rubber is made by extracting latex – the liquid sap – from the Hevea brasiliensis tree in a process called “tapping”. As a tropical species, the places suitable for Hevea brasiliensis cultivation coincide with some of the world’s most biodiverse regions. Thailand and Indonesia, for example, are the world’s leading rubber producers. Continued here

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Italy's far-right claim The Lord of the Rings - but they've misread Tolkien's message     Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni and I have precious little in common. But one important thing we share is The Lord of the Rings. Both she and I regard the J.R.R. Tolkien trilogy as a personal “sacred text” which has profoundly shaped our values and our political commitments. Speaking as a queer, leftist theologian, however, the tricky thing about sacred texts is this: when you come to them searching for echoes of your own beliefs, with a little digging you can usually find something. Continued here

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Professor Sir Eric Thomas played a critical role in establishing The Conversation in the UK     "We first worked together as Deans [at Southampton] in the 1990s and as VCs in the years that followed and I will remember him as a truly influential figure in UK higher education, as a joint Patron of The Conversation and of course, as a friend.”"He remained a friend and Patron of The Conversation. He also had a warm and wicked sense of humour, and was very a generous and engaging friend.” Continued here

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Health and education are closely linked - NZ needs to integrate them more in primary schools     Given the health and education challenges many New Zealand children face, it is surprising (and even depressing) how little crossover and collaboration there is between these two vital sectors.The inequities in health and education are both cause and symptom of the lasting socioeconomic disadvantage experienced by so many young New Zealanders. And yet the known interconnection between health and education rarely translates into policy or action, despite extensive evidence of the reciprocal benefits. Continued here

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Canada-EU summit: Will Canada push for an end to cultural violence against seal hunters?     Canada is about to host European Union leaders Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen at a summit in Newfoundland and Labrador aimed at emphasizing and strengthening Canadian and EU ties. But it seems a discussion about the EU’s ban on seal product imports, implemented in 1983 and 2009 respectively due to animal welfare concerns, is not on the agenda. Continued here