Mathilde’s Musings #1
My weekly digest of discoveries during quarantine.
As an avid learner, I can jump from a podcast to a research paper in a matter of minutes. My areas of interest range from personal growth and (mental) health to languages, neuroscience, and anything I’ve set my mind to understand better. For a while, I’ve consumed this content passively. Today, I want to start sharing some of my discoveries with you.
Writing more has also been a particular goal of mine during quarantine. Rather than continuing to beat myself up for not publishing enough, I’ve decided to revisit my expectations. I’ll start small and focus on sharing what I find helpful, inspiring or amusing on a weekly basis. Podcasts, book notes, articles and the occasional meme.
I hope you’ll enjoy my musings. 🙃
Mathilde
👂One Podcast
Why aren’t people staying at home?
Staying home is a new form of social signalling these days. It shows that “we care”. At the start of the pandemic, however, many of us might have thought it was an unreasonable ask. I myself have gone from skeptic to self-quarantine pro in a matter of weeks. Why is that?
The latest episode of “You’re not so smart” highlights some of the reasons why we struggle to self isolate, at least at first. Turns out, there are a number of cognitive biases at play, such as:
- Learned helplessness — The feeling that nothing you do has the power to change the outcome of a negative situation. When giving mixed guidelines to the public, governments might contribute to this state. People who might have otherwise stayed home will break the rule more easily.
- Normalcy bias — Our brains assume things will keep going as they have been — normally. When no one around us is affected by the virus, it’s hard to think exponential growth can occur. As a result, we underestimate the likelihood of it spreading.
- Wishful thinking — If you’ve been told you have nothing to worry about, you’ll be more inclined to seek information that confirms that belief. You’ll find yourself reading articles and chatting with people who reinforce that misguided thinking.
🍎 One Product
Resistance Bands. DIY Haircut. Inflatable Pool. As we spend more time at home, our behaviours change, and so do our Google searches. Glimpse put together a fun dashboard showing how search queries for various items have spiked these past weeks. Some are more amusing than others… Where’s my bidet crew at?
📕 One Book
I’ve just started reading “Behave” by Robert Sapolsky, professor of neurobiology at Stanford, primatologist and… storyteller — he’s someone who can teach you the nitty gritty of how your brain works all while making you laugh. I literally can’t put the book down.
I first came across his work with “Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers”, a phenomenal piece of research on why we get chronically stressed (and what we can do about it). At the time, his book helped me come to terms with a crippling period of burnout and depression. I’ve been fascinated by his work ever since.
With Behave, Sapolsky’s promise is to help us understand human behaviour (the good, the bad and the ugly), starting from what happens in our brain 🧠 all the way up to evolution 🐒 I’ll share notes in a future musing. Stay tuned!
🎟 One Event
Since we can’t gather IRL, we’ve all been thrown into virtual events of all shapes and sizes. Workouts. Parties. Dates. It’s been fun. But beyond Zoom calls, can virtual gatherings really provide value in the long run? How can event organisers help us learn, connect and feel part of something bigger online? My team at JAM has been pondering these questions, and with the help of our wonderful community, we launched our first virtual conference…
The Remote Product Manager –– I’m really excited about trying out this new format. It promises to be fast-paced, fun and full of good vibes! 🥳
