Less Social & Turn Year Around

Are people less social now than before? Dangerous Dave looks at a study that says "yes"! Plus, how to turn your year around if 2025 has been not so good so far.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This, he's deeper in the den with dangerous day. Well,
if you're walking through a city street, do you totally
zone out or do you engage openly with people around you.
A new study looked into urban pedestrians and it seems
to be walking faster and doing less socializing. It's not anecdotal.
It's compared to a recent video of footage from forty
years ago, and people in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia

(00:22):
walking fifteen percent faster and have about half as many
informal encounters. Naturally, the biggest change is technology. Now everybody
walking has a smartphone. They have their face buried in it,
and they're not interacting with the people around them. We're
talking about your phone. You got your head buried in it. Also,
the study found the average incomes of people who lived
in work downtown in larger areas is swored, so people

(00:43):
have higher values of time and won't stroll around and linger.
There's also been a decrease in our social interactions of
all kinds popped up in data and arising rates of loneliness.
And finally, the surge of climate controlled pay to enter
third spaces like coffee shops and casual eateies, people will
have more of a tendency to actually be interactive there.
The difference is social interactives there and on the sidewalk

(01:06):
is you're more willing to mingle with people who are
in a similar private space, as you are more likely
to have a cross cultural interaction with those than those
on the street. So why does it matter? Researchers say
cities have a special ability to bring people together. It's
a core of city making, which means urban. The process
requires some random encounters, people talking to each other, mingling

(01:27):
and bumping into each other. One solution build more communal
areas along the streets with ample green space, shade and seating.
I've noticed that even just you know, in Grand Forks,
my wife and I walk a lot, especially in the summer,
a lot of green space, a lot of walking paths,
a lot of parks near me. You'll walk by and
some people will look at you and smile or say hi.
I always say hi. I always try to make contact.

(01:49):
But there's so many people, even if they don't have
their phone, they avoid even eye contact. It's just like
you don't exist, you don't exist, you don't exist. Deeper
in the two well We're not even a month into
twenty twenty five, and lots of us are feeling burnt
out already. If you're in that group, here's some tips
to get you to turn things around. First of all,
move every day. You can't sit and doom scroll all

(02:10):
day long and feel good. Put the phone down every
now and then. Do something active, whether it's walking, yoga,
or something else you might enjoy. Eat the food that
fuels you about like beans. I don't know about fuel,
but I get a lot of gas anyway. Doesn't mean
you have to live off of salads and protein shakes.
Aim for balance of stuff that is good for you
and makes you feel good. There's a time and a
place for fast food and pizza, but maybe just not

(02:31):
every day. Find something that makes you happier to get
through the day, and do it more often, whether it's
time with family, traveling, gardening, playing an instrument, or any
number of things. Get your stress under control. Stress can
drain you physically and mentally, so get it more manageable.
It can have big effects. It's easier said than done,
of course, but the small improvements can impact how you feel.

(02:53):
They also tell you to limit caffeine and alcohol It
can be fine in moderation, but drinking coffee alcohol too
late can impact your sleep. Bad sleep can make you
feel less energized and get good sleep. If you follow
every single piece of advice mentioned already and you don't
get enough sleep, you're still not going to feel good.
So try to get a minimum seven to nine hours,
wake up consistently at the same time every day, and

(03:15):
go to bed at a reasonable hour seven and nine hours.
I can get that. Takes me all a week, but
I can get it too. In again for another episode
of Deeper in the Den with Dangerous daved right here.