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[A potpourri of cultural observations, thoughts & trends] HAVE YOU GROOMED YOUR
FRIEND TODAY?
What do
apes plucking debris from their partners' fur have
to do with asking about a friend's health? Quite a lot,
according to Dr. Robin Dunbar.  After studying both primates
in the wild and humans in a bar, he concluded that grooming
and gossip (as in "checking up on the lives of others")
perform the same function: building alliances. These
alliances are useful when a predator strikes or conflict
erupts within a group. In Kenya, for example, researchers
discovered that a monkey was far more likely to respond to
another monkey's distress scream if they had been grooming
partners recently.
Gossip among humans accomplishes what
combing through matted fur does in primates. Dr. Dunbar, a
professor of psychology at the University of Liverpool,
found that "around two-thirds of our conversation is taken
up with matters of social import. Who is doing what with
whom, and whether it's a good or a bad thing; who is in and
who is out, and why."
WHO
YA GONNA CALL?
Two out of three people alive
on the earth today have never made a telephone call.
--Harper's, May 1997,
quoted in Current Thoughts & Trends, July, 1997 |
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He also compares conversations
between men and women to "lekking" -- a mating ritual in which
females pick their mates from a group of males who are
showing off for them. The researchers found a difference in
what the two sexes talk about: women spend about two-thirds
of their time talking about other people's experiences,
while men spend about two-thirds of their time talking about
themselves. While he is not quite sure why that is, he
suggests that the women may be networking, while the men are
advertising, perhaps like male peacocks looking for a mate.
[Taken from The Chronicle of Higher Education, May 16, 1997]
NO SLACKERS IN THIS BUNCH
Last fall, freshmen kicked the self-absorbed slacker image
by placing first in volunteerism in the 31-year history of
the Annual Freshman Survey.
 This year's survey results show
that a record number of students -- 71.8 percent -- have
participated in volunteer work in the past year, compared to
70.3 percent in 1995 and a low of 62 percent in 1989. A
record-high four in ten of this year's respondents spend at
least one hour a week doing volunteer work.
Linda Sax,
associate director of the survey, says, "These trends are
especially encouraging, given recent studies showing that
volunteer work has positive effects on students' personal
and academic development."
JUST DO IT!
"Too many volunteers for missionary service
are being denied the opportunity to serve
because tight-fisted Christians and churches
will not sacrifice.
"Too many missionaries return home for
illegitimate reasons_discouragement,
conflict, and unrealistic expectations. We
must commit ourselves anew to the spiritual
battle for millions of souls."
--Jim Reapsome,
Pulse, Jan 3, 1997 |
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Freshmen aren't the only volunteers out there; Sigma Pi
fraternity members from Fitchburg State College (MA) logged
6,700 volunteer hours last school year. At the same time,
about one in six Dartmouth College (NH) students joined with
faculty to create a team of 600 volunteers, sweeping into
the communities of Hanover and the Upper Valley for a
community-service day organized by Dartmouth sophomore Rex
Morey. [Taken from National On-Campus Report, February 19
and June 15, 1997]
TIRED? DON'T TAKE A NAP
What do you suppose University of Maryland time guru John P.
Robinson found when he asked thousands of people to keep a
one-day log of exactly what they do and how much time they
spend doing it? Surprisingly, he found that we are sleeping
more than we think we are and we have more leisure time than
ever. But we still report feeling stressed, rushed, crunched
for time. . . . "There are so many things out there to do,"
explains Robinson. "There is this feeling that you can't fit
them all in."
SEE WHAT?
In 1996 the Library of Congress
spent $60,000 producing a braille
edition of Playboy magazine.
--Buffalo [NY] News, March 20, 1997, quoted in Current
Thoughts & Trends, July, 1997 |
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So what's our solution? Geoffrey Godbey, Penn
State University professor of leisure studies, calls it
"time-deepening," accomplishing more in less time. "We have
gone from leisurely prepared meals to fast food to drive-
through windows to Sustacal," he says. We substitute an
activity that takes less time -- the Stairmaster for a game of
tennis. Or we do more than one thing at once -- folding the
wash while watching the news. We also do things with more
temporal precision (Godbey's classes at Penn State now begin
at exactly 2:25 p.m.) . . . "People who are rushed at work
don't suddenly become tranquil and oblivious to time when
they are at leisure." A good night's sleep doesn't seem to
help.
KNOW-NO
"Besides the noble
art of getting things done, there is the
noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life
consists in the elimination of nonessentials."
--Lin Yutang, Pulpit Digest, March/April 1997 |
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In fact, the experts say most Americans are getting as
much sleep today as they did 10, 20 and 30 years ago -- just
about eight hours. But when we live the other 16 hours at
double speed, we still feel worn out. [Taken from The
Capital Times (Madison, WI), January 6, 1997]
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