Are You Lonely?” by: Vicki Glembocki (Research/Penn State, Vol. 14, no. 3 (September, 1993))
“Is it hard to get kids at school to like you? Are there kids you can go to when you need help in school? Are you lonely at school?”
When kindergarten and first graders were asked these questions as part of a psychological study of loneliness and peer relations, approximately 10 percent of the children admitted to feeling lonely — “When no one’s gonna play with you,” as one child answered, “And you feel kinda sad, an’ no one will play with you, and you start feeling lonely.”
“These are little people, this high.” Jude Cassidy, assistant professor of psychology at Penn State, raised her palm to the height of her desk. “That’s a chunk of kids, and so little, to just feel really alone.”
In 1987, Cassidy came across a theory published in a book in 1973 by psychologist Robert S. Weiss that deemed young children incapable of feeling lonely, of “being alone and feeling sad about it,” because their parents maintained such an involved and central position in their lives. The theory had never been disputed; but Cassidy realized her observations of children today didn’t match Weiss’ 20 year-old study. With Steve Asher of the University of Illinois, Cassidy developed a questionnaire that four University of Illinois graduate students used to interview 440 children from seven kindergarten and 15 first-grade public- school classrooms in a Midwestern community.
When she and Asher analyzed their results, they found that a significant number of the children exhibited considerable loneliness: 13.4 percent responded no, they didn’t have a lot of friends at school; 10.5 percent said that there were no kids to go to when they needed help; and 11.8 percent answered yes, they felt lonely at school.
“They really have an idea in their minds that ‘Yeah, I’m lonely’ or ‘No, I’m not so lonely,’” Cassidy explained. “No matter how you ask the question, how many different ways and times, it looks like they do have a sense of themselves in that way and that they can talk about it.”
The study also revealed that lonely children behaved differently: they were less friendly, more aggressive, more shy, and more disruptive. This observation, as Cassidy noted, is convergent with the literature describing loneliness and behavior in adults. Over the past 10 years, she explained, psychologists have grown more interested in peer relations, specifically in research focusing on young children and the connection between peer relations and later functioning. “The way kids get along with other children, as early as elementary school,” Cassidy said, “is useful in predicting juvenile delinquency, drop-out, aggression, and even social functioning in adulthood.”
Having shown that young children were capable of feeling lonely, Cassidy turned her attention to finding other factors possibly related to childhood loneliness. With graduate student Lisa J. Berlin and professor Jay Belsky of Penn State’s department of human development and family studies, these researchers are examining the parents’ role in a lonely child’s life. Combining the observations from a standard laboratory procedure in which a mother and her year-old child are briefly separated and then reunited, with the questionnaire from the first study administered to the same child five years later, Cassidy and her colleagues are testing their prediction that one precursor of early childhood loneliness may be insecure parental attachment.
“The theory is that children who are securely attached early on, that is, who have warm relationships with parents who are loving and accepting of them, come to trust that that’s the way people are going to be,” Cassidy explains. “So, when they start going to school and meeting other children, they are trusting of others, and they treat other people the way they have been treated — kindly, respectfully. They have good self-esteem and good coping abilities. They’re well-functioning little kindergartners. When they start interacting with other kids, they’re behaving in ways that get them liked.”
Cassidy and Asher are also studying the expectations of young lonely children. “We found so far that children who are better liked have more positive expectations about ending loneliness.” Well-liked children believe other people will help them, that they will help other lonely children, and that whenever they feel lonely, they’ll be able to help themselves, Cassidy said.
Currently, Cassidy is looking at children after first grade, to see how their understanding of loneliness develops. “As adults,” she explains, “we have a very sophisticated understanding of loneliness. There’s a lot we can say about it that first graders can’t.” Adults, for example, can differentiate between solitude and loneliness, between being alone and feeling lonely. “When do kids get more sophisticated?” Cassidy asks. “When do they come to understand all the subtleties that we now know?” Conducting the study in a Pennsylvania school district, Cassidy is interviewing first, fourth, seventh, and tenth graders to observe how concepts of loneliness change.
“But knowing children’s understanding isn’t enough,” Cassidy said. “We want to help the children.” All four of her loneliness studies ultimately lead to “the $64,000 question,” as Cassidy calls it. “You’ve got the lonely children identified, you’ve called them, you bring them all into this room — there they are. What are you going to do with them?”
Jude Cassidy, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the department of psychology, College of the Liberal Arts, 514 Moore Building, University Park, PA 16802; 814-863-1729. “Loneliness and Peer Relations in Young Children” was published in 1992 in Child Development. Steve Asher is a professor of educational psychology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
US News & World Reports – By: Deborah Kotz - Posted: Dec. 1, 2009
“All the lonely people, where do they all come from?” the Beatles sang in “Eleanor Rigby.” Well, now researchers know: Loneliness is contagious, according to a new study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and can spread from person to person. Just as researchers have previously shown that happy people can make others feel exuberant, so, too, can lonely people make others feel desolate. And this loneliness network can extend up to three degrees of separation.
As the study authors write, “A person’s loneliness depends not just on his friend’s loneliness but also extends to his friend’s friend and his friend’s friend’s friend.” You might think: If someone has friends, how can she be lonely? But, speaking from experience, friends may talk about how “out of the loop” and disconnected they feel—even while they’re conversing with each other. That sort of conversation can leave both people feeling down. It can be worse for older folks, who often cut many of their social ties when they head into retirement and their kids move away. And this can have negative health consequences, according to a slew of previous studies.
In young adulthood, the stress that comes with perceived social isolation can raise blood pressure and cholesterol, speed the aging process, and cause the body to accumulate dangerous fat around the abdomen. In a person’s senior years, this same isolation can lead to a progression of Alzheimer’s disease, less independent living, clogged arteries, and even death. [Read Why Loneliness Is Bad for Your Health.]
Aging, though, doesn’t have to equal loneliness, says Laura Carstensen, a psychology professor at Stanford University and founding director of the Stanford Center on Longevity. In her previous studies, Carstensen has shown that elderly folks experience fewer negative emotions than younger people on a daily basis. She tells me that older people tend to focus more on positive images and messages in everyday life and tend to resolve interpersonal problems more effectively. “As we sense the clock winding down, we become increasingly concerned about what’s important, what matters, savoring the time we have left,” she explains. “We don’t want to waste time on negative, trivial, insignificant things.” (Political candidates take note: Older voters respond more to positive campaign ads focusing on a candidate’s strengths rather than negative ads pointing out the opposition’s weaknesses.)
“You can expect to have fewer—but deeper—connections in old age,” Cartensen writes in her new book, A Long Bright Future. She points out that these few strong bonds can be enough to keep you from feeling lonely. (In fact, researchers have shown that folks who report feeling lonely have nearly as many friends as those who don’t; they just don’t feel able to make strong emotional connections.)
Here are four tips from Cartensen for ensuring your own “long bright future.”
1. Nourish your social relationships. Learn to let go of grudges, she says, and nourish relationships with siblings and cousins your own age; they’re most likely to stay with you through time and can remind you of your younger self. But don’t confine yourself to your own age group. Look for younger friends as well—yes, children, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren count—so you don’t run the risk of being the last (and loneliest) woman standing.
2. Work longer. You can stay socially connected by remaining in the workforce as long as possible. Plus, it infuses your life with meaning. Many folks, though, find they need a change of pace in their 50s or beyond. Encore Careers is a nonprofit venture that helps people close to retirement age turn to new careers in the public service, going from, say, a high-powered litigator to working in public interest law or from an advertising executive to a high school principal.
3. Learn throughout your life. While taking formal education classes at a local community college can help improve your social connections and keep your mind stimulated, you can educate yourself in less structured ways. “Start a garden, try out for a local community theater’s play, buy a field guide and hit the hiking trail,” preferably with a friend, Cartensen writes. Book clubs, lecture series, and group guitar lessons are others ways to expand your mind and your feelings of connectedness.
4. Take care of your body. Exercise is the best antiaging elixir there is, and it’s also a great way to make friends. Mall-walking groups are everywhere nowadays, and swing dancing has come back into fashion. Heck, even the neighborhood gym is a social gathering place. Seniors often comprise the biggest group of exercisers at suburban workout facilities, especially in the late morning and early afternoon.
In his opening address, International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge paid tribute to Canadians and urged all athletes to be aware of their responsibility as role models.
“Here we are back in Canada for the third time in the history of the Olympic Games. After Montreal and Calgary, it is now the turn of the West Coast of this wonderful sports loving nation to host the world’s athletes,” said Rogge.
“Thank you Canada for this great loyalty to the Olympic ideals. “Dear athletes, these Games belong to you … so give them the magic that we all desire through your performances and your conduct. “Remember that you are role models for the youth of the world. There is no glory without responsibility.”
Note from Richard: Wonderful to see the world come together for 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver.
The Pepsi Refresh Project is a new effort to empower individuals to make a positive impact on the world. We have pledged to award more than $20 million to support innovative ideas that move communities forward. Anyone can apply for a grant and the public decides who wins.
Each month, Pepsi will award grants up to $1.3 million to the winning ideas across six categories, including: Health, Arts & Culture, Food & Shelter, The Planet, Neighborhoods and Education.
Pepsi will collaborated with organizations that are dedicated to making a positive difference in the world to design and implement the Pepsi Refresh Project. These partners include GOOD, a leading platform for thought and action revolving around pushing the world forward; Global Giving, an online marketplace that connects people who have community and world-changing ideas with people who can support them; and Do Something, the largest non-profit teen charity..
Our theory of social change is that new ideas are born from optimism, a curious mind and a creative spirit. We can make a difference by equipping people with the means to bring their ideas to life. And, we believe social media and digital engagement can fuel, extend and inform these efforts.
This focus on social engagement is driven from the highest points of the PepsiCo organization – and you can expect to see great things on this front from PepsiCo over the coming years. What is at the core of all of our efforts is how can we continue to help and support the space by being an organization that is open to exploring and working with all of the bright minds and emerging technologies that are driving social media forward.
Through the Pepsi Refresh Project, we’re helping to move people’s ideas from wishful thinking to reality. The results so far have exceeded our expectations. After just 72 hours, we quickly hit our 1,000 submission limit for the first month — including at least one submission from each state. We look forward to tracking the winning ideas and we can’t wait to see what people come up with next.
The lesson is: if you listen to what people have to say and give voice to their perspectives, you can inspire people and empower their ideas to refresh the world.
Note form Richard: The power of corporations that exemplify positive change and connectivity though projects such as the Pepsi Refresh Project helps to bring healing and awareness to a lonely and fragmented world. If you have a great idea to better your community and possibly the world, this may be your opportunity to make a world of difference.
My hope is the past few months have been informative and helpful to the viewers of this website. Today, I am adding a new feature to promote more awareness, connection, and healing in our world.
Introducing : “One World,” which will be dedicated to news and links that I have found interesting, inspiring, and humanely important. Your input is always welcome and you can post your comments after each article. Best Wishes - Richard.
New website:TED.COM - “ IDEAS WORTH SPREADING”. Excellent website providing riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world. Check it out @www.ted.com
Fall of the Berlin Wall: 20th Anniversary Celebrations
World leaders are gathering in Berlin today, two decades after the fall of the wall, to celebrate and reflect on the event.
November 09, 2009. It’s 20 years to the day since the Berlin Wall fell, marking the end of the cold war face off between East and West. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that the Fall of the Berlin Wall brought progress to whole of Europe. At the end of his speech he addressed Berliners in German language (03.50).
Loneliness can be one of the most difficult feelings to shake, and if not checked, can become a destructive force, even leading to suicide. Yet no one can escape feeling lonely and it is something that faith alone cannot completely remedy. All people, whether married, single, priest, or consecrated religious will inevitably feel lonely at times and must deal with these feelings throughout their whole lives.
In some cases loneliness is more poignant and painful. I wonder if our handicapped brothers and sisters and elderly who live alone fight with these feelings. Likewise, patients at nursing homes and hospitals, although busy and bustling places, may feel forgotten and long for the warmth and love of friendship. Although it would take just a little kindness for them to feel welcome, often few even bother to visit.
Loneliness often can come as a result of the choices we have made, or circumstances in our lives. Separation and divorce can ignite feelings of rejection and lead to seclusion. The pain of rejection is a high price to pay, but it is sometimes the bitter side of loving. Single people also, may question the meaning and value in their lives when they feel a certain loneliness. Catholics who have a homosexual inclination, and who try to live their faith and to live chastely, sometimes feel that this world (and perhaps their Church as well) has let them down. They deserve our respect and encouragement.
Married people, as well, suffer from the pain of loneliness. Even when marriage is good, spouses still pass through difficult times when they feel alone. They may feel that their partner does not understand, or marriage is not what it ought to be, and at times it is quite difficult to bear. While a spouse and children may take the edge off loneliness, they can never completely eradicate it, nor should they, since they are gift, not a possession to erase loneliness.
Although loneliness is an inevitable part of our lives, there are certain things that seem to help when we feel alone. The feeling of being close to someone and being able to speak freely, without fear of being judged helps a great deal. Friendships are very important, although we cannot and should not place all our expectations on friends to cure our loneliness. In his reflection on friendship, in The Prophet, Khalil Gibran writes, “For what is your friend that you should seek him with hours to kill? Seek him always with hours to live. For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness.”
Prayer is a great support in dealing with “emptiness.” The late Father Henri Nouwen, in his spiritual classic Reaching Out emphasizes that life is a threefold movement of reaching out, first to our innermost being, then to others and also to God. Even if prayer is often dry, or our relationship with God is a “work in progress” praying is still reaching out to Him.
However, there is no guarantee that prayer and reaching out to others can banish loneliness. We know that life is difficult and although love heals, it can also hurt! The paradox of loneliness is that only by giving love and extending friendship to others can we actually receive it in return. This is a hard lesson to learn. The words of St. John of the Cross come to mind: “Where there is no love, place love, and you will find love.” How true!
As a young man, a priest and now bishop I have experienced loneliness. It has been a great grace for me to have the support of family, a few faithful friends and the joy of serving the Church to help me realize that there are ways to remedy loneliness, or at least to take its edge off. When I was young, a priest was the first to help me move from my own personal loneliness to a certain inner peace and solitude. This may be why I feel close to the youth in their longing for love and friendship. Their loneliness can be quite painful; however, their generosity of spirit and their love for life is quite needed in today’s world. They are not afraid to hope, believe, or give generously. If there is an answer to our loneliness, our young people have found it: they believe it is in sincere prayer and in the joy of human love. I agree, and thank God for the young.
We were created to live in communion with God and others. When we can touch the “emptiness” inside of ourselves without running from it, we can find God’s healing joy, and then are able to share it. When we recognize this God-given call to communion with others, we help ease the loneliness of those around us, whether they are family, friends or strangers. More importantly, the way we reach out to God and to others is the key to help us to transform our own painful loneliness into a generous solitude.
The great Saint Augustine prayed “our hearts are restless until they rest in You, O God.” Our hearts are restless, but this is for a reason: to need others and to need God. It is this loving Father who put loneliness, not isolation, in our hearts, because He knows that we are at our best when we need others, for we are forced to break down the walls of our self-imposed isolation, and reach out in a way that makes this world better. Loneliness is difficult to bear, but the other side of this interior struggle is communion and hope. O Mary, Mother of all who seek God and the good of others, pray for us.
On the day after Thanksgiving, set aside one hour to record a conversation with someone important to you. You can interview anyone you choose: an older relative, a friend, a teacher, or someone from the neighborhood.
Article from: The National Day Of Listening.org – Nov.27th, 2009
You can preserve the interview using recording equipment readily available in most homes, such as cell phones, tape recorders, computers, video cameras, or even pen and paper. Make a yearly tradition of listening to and preserving a loved one’s story. The stories you collect will become treasured keepsakes that grow more valuable with each passing generation.The Free Do-It-Yourself Instruction Guide is easy to use and will prepare you and your interview partner to record a memorable conversation, no matter which recording method you choose. Link to the website: www.nationaldayoflistening.org/
Note from Richard @ AlonelyWorld.com: This is a great way to record and document a life, a legacy, and history of someone important to you. This process presents a tremendous opportunity to connect with someone who may be lonely, isolated, and forgotten. Listening is an “art and act of love.” Without these stories, we lose forever the critical opportunity to record a life history that can be passed on for generations. Imagine the possibilities if we all took the time to engage, connect, and record these amazing stories with questions that illuminate and preserve priceless moments of someone’s past. The above link is an excellent resource to help you with this process. Please share your experiences with us here – your comments are always welcome. Best Wishes – Richard.
Living outside Rustenburg, South Africa. Francois Xavier Marit/AFP/Getty Images
Economists at the World Bank calculate that 2.5 billion people live on $2 a day, but what exactly does that mean? In the developed world, living on so little would be almost unthinkable. For 40 percent of the global population, $2 a day is a reality that must, somehow, be made to work. The link to hear the audio story @ NPR Planet Money: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2009/07/hear_making_a_life_on_2_a_day.html
In Portfolios of the Poor, Daryl Collins and co-author Jonathan Morduch uncover the surprisingly complex financial lives of the most destitute people. Article from: www.NPR.org. “One World” @ ALW.
You know the scene. It looks so warm and cozy and loving. The large, smiling family is gathered around an exquisitely laid-out table, brimming with beautifully prepared food. All of this is playing out against the backdrop of a roaring fire and holiday trimmings.
You’ve seen the same image portrayed in commercials, television specials and movies for years. But holiday scenarios like this are largely a myth and often generate a great deal of unhappiness during this time of the year.
Experts warn against the notion that without an idyllic holiday, there is something terribly wrong. In fact, millions of people are alone during the holidays, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with them.
It’s Just a Day
For many people who won’t be surrounded by family or loved ones during this time of year for a variety of reasons — recent separation or divorce, death, travel or simply because they live in different parts of the country — media portrayals can add to a sense of isolation.
“There’s so much hype for this wonderful time of togetherness,” said Elaine Rodino, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist in Santa Monica, Calif., “that it accentuates the feeling of being alone and disconnected.”
“Many people try to make the holidays be more than what they are,” said Craig Ellison, Ph.D., author of “Saying Goodbye to Loneliness and Finding Intimacy.” “They invest in them heavily, thinking they’ll make up for the other 364 days of the year,” he said.
What’s Normal
Some degree of loneliness is normal during the holidays or any time, says Ellison, director of the Alliance Graduate School of Counseling in Nyack, N.Y. Rodino adds that there’s nothing abnormal about having the “holiday blues,” which are more like a mood than any sort of lasting condition. Both agree, though, that indulging in self-pity only makes a person feel worse.
Many people don’t care for their relationships throughout the year, and then suddenly feel at a loss when the holidays roll around, according to Ellison. He suggests that relationships are not cemented during the holidays, nor is it realistic to expect that the season will result in spontaneous healing.
So, again, both experts urge their patients — and everyone — to have realistic expectations about the holidays. Rodino tells her patients “to put together a holiday experience that feels right to them.”
Ellison suggested, “Have a holiday where loneliness doesn’t dominate.”
Couple pay another table’s tab, and chain reaction of generosity lasts hours
By Danielle Johnson
NBCPhiladelphia.com
updated 3:09 p.m. MT, Mon., Dec . 14, 2009
PHILADELPHIA – It played like a scene from a holiday movie — a mystery couple, who didn’t leave their names or numbers, walked into a restaurant, finished their meal and then set off a chain reaction of generosity that lasted for hours.
That’s just what employees at the Aramingo Diner in the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia said a man and a woman did during their breakfast shift Saturday morning.
“It was magical. I had tears in my eyes because it never happened before. I’ve been here for 10 years, and I’ve never seen anything like that,” said Lynn Willard, a waitress.
Willard and other waitresses told NBC Philadelphia that the couple started the chain reaction by paying double: for their own meal and for the tab of another table of diners at the restaurant. There’s no evidence that one group of diners knew the others.
“I could not believe it. And it continued and continued — it was very nice,” said Willard. “They asked us not to say anything until they left, say, ’Merry Christmas’ that person picked up your check.’”
For the next five hours, dozens of patrons got into that same holiday spirit and paid the favor forward.
The diner’s manager said not one person was concerned about price of the check — which ran between $12 and $30.
“It was a surprise to all of us; the girls were even taken aback,” said the diner’s manager. “Those who took the check also tipped the waitress. So nobody had to do anything other than pass it on, and that’s what they did. They just passed it forward.”
It’s a true holiday story that proves how a small gesture of kindness can create some magic.
From: Los Angeles Times Opinion Section – By: Gregory Rodriguez.December 7, 2009
Researchers argue that far from being a personal issue, mass loneliness threatens our public health.
What’s a good way to keep from getting lonely in this high holy season of togetherness? Stay away from lonely people.
It’s brutal but true, and it’s the cutting-edge finding of researchers whose mission it is to discover the causes of loneliness so that we can combat it with full force.
Think this is just a scholarly version of a “Dr. Phil” episode? Think again.
The lead researcher on this project — with UC San Diego’s James H. Fowler and Harvard’s Nicholas A. Christakis — is University of Chicago neuroscientist John T. Cacioppo, who last year co-wrote a groundbreaking book arguing that far from being a personal issue, mass loneliness threatens our public health. This new study, published in the latest issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, seeks to map the geography of loneliness. Who feels it? And what is the connection of these Eleanor Rigbys to the rest of us?
What the authors find is that, like a virus, loneliness is contagious. People become lonely because of who they know as much as who they don’t know. It makes sense, really. When people are lonely, they tend to be less trusting and even irritable toward others. This type of behavior can easily make those on the receiving end feel a sense of isolation and loneliness themselves. In other words, lonely people pass on their loneliness. Before alienated people check into a cave, they alienate others, thereby continuing the chain. As the researchers put it, this means that loneliness is “both a cause and consequence of becoming disconnected.”
Just as bad news travels faster than good news, the authors find that the spread of loneliness is “more powerful than the spread of non-loneliness.” In fact, loneliness is so pernicious, it stands to reason that people would go to great lengths to curb its spread. In his book, “Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection,” Cacioppo argued that loneliness, like fear, is a useful emotion. Ideally, it ought to cause people to seek comfort and safety in other humans, ultimately solidifying necessary social bonds rather than destroying them.
In this study, however, the authors suggest that in some cases, like rhesus monkeys that drive off or eliminate once-isolated monkeys that have been reintroduced to the colony, humans may also shun isolated members of their own species. They speculate that this collective rejection may serve to protect “the structural integrity of social networks” necessary to society.
Why is the contagion of loneliness and the shunning response important news? For starters, because we know Americans are already lonelier than they have ever been. Studies show that we move in smaller social circles and have fewer confidants than we used to. Add to this the probability of loneliness contagion and you get a snowball effect. And there’s more. Because the rest of us shun the lonely, we’ve got a prescription for deep divides and levels of isolation that could threaten the cohesion required for any society to function.
The spread of individual loneliness has mass social consequences, and among them are insidious effects on democratic values. We’re all aware that associations and affiliations — which socialize us into democratic life — are at the heart of democracy. The more lonely, divided and isolated we become, the less we participate and associate. The fewer people who participate actively in democracy, the more everyone is at the mercy of the loudmouthed extremists and demagogues who do engage.
We should think of loneliness, then, not just as a sad condition haunting some of us but as a seed of political disunity. Not only does growing social isolation undermine the social contract, it leaves the public grasping for new ways to connect. Indeed, as society becomes more atomized, the electorate might very well become more susceptible to calls for dangerous forms of solidarity — be they national, religious, ethnic or partisan. Research already suggests that social isolation leaves individuals more willing to embrace the abstract certainties of rigid ideologies.
To counteract the threat inherent in the spread of loneliness, Cacioppo and his colleagues advocate for more targeted social interventions. They don’t spell out what they mean, but I expect their next publications to outline just exactly how they’d go about repairing all those fraying social networks.
For the time being, maybe it’s enough to know that turning your back on all the lonely people may prevent you from catching the isolation bug, but it won’t protect you — along with the rest of society — in the long run. So do the right thing this Christmas: Rise above your instinct and don’t shun them at all.
“As far as I am concerned, the greatest suffering is to feel alone, unwanted, unloved.The greatest suffering is also having no one, forgetting what an intimate, truly human relationship is, not knowing what it means to be loved, not having a family or friends.”
“Loneliness is the world’s biggest problem; more people die from loneliness than from cancer, heart disease, and all the plagues that kill people in the world.”
From the incomparable Burt Bacharach and the talent from American Idol television series.
Note From Richard: This song has haunted me for years with its timing, lyrics, and orchestration. Bacharach is the master of this pop music era - writing songs with lyrics by Hal David that have universal meaning and powerful moving melodies. This song reminds us of what is really important in the world. Enjoy!
Think you can drive and text or talk at the same time? Science shows your brain just can’t keep up. University of Utah researcher David Strayer has been studying distracted drivers for 10 years. “The brain just doesn’t work the way we’d like it to work,” he says. “We can’t multitask the way that a lot of people think they can.”
David’s research found that talking on a cell phone quadruples your risk of an accident. “For comparison purposes, someone who’s drunk at a 0.08 blood alcohol level has a four-time crash increase. So talking on a cell phone is about the same as driving drunk,” he says. “When you’re text messaging, the crash risk goes up to eight times.”
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