Hot MedFax

Now this is weird. Do thoughts of death change our shopping habits? According to a new study, yes, they do.  Newswise.com reports that it's not really what you think, but just that, in this time of holiday merriment, it's easy to become really depressed about reports of plane crashes, terrorist attacks, fatal car accidents and deadly fires, which may lead shoppers to think more about their own mortality than buying that new iPhone for your kid. Now new research from the John Molson School of Business (JMSB) and HEC Montréal shows that, for people with certain world views, thoughts of death don't cause us to curl up in our homes and not venture out.  They can actually trigger the buying impulse. While the habits of spendthrifts don't change after contemplating their own mortality, compulsive shoppers, on the other hand, go out and buy more. "Previous research shows that thoughts of death lead individuals to strongly defend world views that maintain ...

Now this is weird. You know all those people who are constantly checking Facebook and Instagram and Twitter and all those other texting sites? Well, they're not just annoying.  They may be sleep-deprived. It's an odd correlation but a new study links compulsive Facebook checking to lack of sleep. Say what? Apparently, University of California, Irvine, researchers have found that, if you find yourself toggling over to look at Facebook several dozen times a day, it’s not necessarily because the experience of being on social media is so wonderful. It may be a sign that you’re not getting enough sleep, according to newswise.com. n a recently completed study, researchers at the University of California, Irvine demonstrated that lack of sleep – in addition to affecting busy college students’ moods and productivity – leads to more frequent online activities such as browsing Facebook. “When you get less sleep, you’re more prone to distraction,” says lead researcher...

Hah!  Caught you!  OK. There's homosexual.  Meterosexual.  Now, datasexual ? It's not what you think.  It's obsessive self-trackers, according to Janet Fang at smartplanet.com.  You know them.  They're either posting their dinner photos, then checking compulsively to see who viewed them, or adding comments to someone else's post, and checking them every two minutes. Fang, who references IIIEE Spectrum for the information, writes, they're constantly using social media "not just to enhance self-knowledge but also to embellish self-presentation, especially on social networks." She notes that  Big Think offered this description last year: "They are relentlessly digital, they obsessively record everything about their personal lives, and they think that data is sexy. In fact, the bigger the data, the sexier it becomes. Their lives — from a data perspective, at least — are perfectly groomed." That's another thing.  I hate reading abou...