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Why You Should Put Down Your Phone and Daydream Instead
At any bus stop or while waiting in line, most people will have their heads down looking at their phones. Recent research found that many people check their phones at least 50 times per day. But studies suggest that if you resist that urge and let your mind wander instead, there could be some serious benefits. Giving yourself time to daydream seems to be good for your well-being, for problem-solving and maybe even for your relationships. Daydreaming has been a subject of scientific research for decades. We spend as much as half our time awake daydreaming or listening to our own thoughts — but it isn’t always a pleasant experience.
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New Research From Psychological Science
A sample of recent articles covering overconfidence, rationality, sexual identity, and much more.
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For 2026, There’s a Better Way to Be Hopeful
As we look ahead to the new year, hope seems to be in short supply. Recent surveys have found that sizable majorities of Americans believed the United States was on track to become economically weaker and more politically divided, nearly 80 percent did not expect their children’s lives to be any better than theirs and more than half feared we would make little progress in dealing with major global challenges such as climate change over the next few decades. This lack of hope is ominous. Hope drives us to improve our lives and the world around us. When it’s extinguished, despair and paralysis fill the gap, making progress even less likely.
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Hope in a Time of Cynicism
America has become a country of cynics. At least, that’s what studies show. People don’t trust each other, the media or the government. Most Americans, about 80 percent, don’t feel confident their children’s lives will be better than theirs. About half the country thinks America’s best days are in the past. “Cynicism is vastly on the rise,” said Jamil Zaki, the director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab. It’s a dangerous trend — but Zaki and other experts say it’s reversible if people cultivate hope that another future is possible.
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A Better Way to Think About New Year’s Resolutions
... In the long run, resolutions that keep others in mind tend to have greater staying power. Studies have found that brute willpower alone lasts for only so long, and that people have a much harder time accessing willpower when stressed. This might help explain why a more individual New Year’s goal, such as losing 10 pounds by swearing off ice cream, may be more likely to fizzle. “If you fail in your quest, then the only person you have ‘let down’ is yourself,” Kurz said. Evolutionarily speaking, people might not even be built to set self-serving goals.
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Willpower Doesn’t Work. This Does
There is a children’s story I used to read to my daughters when they were 3 and 4 years old. It comes from Arnold Lobel’s “Frog and Toad” series and involves a big batch of cookies so delicious that the main characters can’t stop eating them. “We need willpower,” says Frog. “What is willpower?” asks Toad. “Willpower is trying hard not to do something that you really want to do,” says Frog. Even at their young ages, my daughters nodded in recognition when, earlier in the story, Frog says to Toad, “I think we should stop eating.
