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Why your social life is not what it should be
It turns out many of us wear ridiculously negative anti-social filters. Research shows that most people underestimate how much they will learn from conversations with strangers.
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One of the reasons people are reluctant to talk to strangers on a train or plane is they don't think it will be enjoyable.
PHOTO: ST FILE
David Brooks
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(NYTIMES) - One day Professor Nicholas Epley was commuting by train to his office at the University of Chicago. As a behavioural scientist he's well aware that social connection makes us happier, healthier and more successful and generally contributes to the sweetness of life. Yet he looked around his train car and realised: Nobody is talking to anyone! It was just headphones and newspapers.
Questions popped into his head: What the hell are we all doing here? Why don't people do the thing that makes them the most happy?
