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Andy Merolla is a professor in the Department of Communication at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Jeffrey Hall is a professor in the Department of Communication Studies and the director of the Relationships and Technology Lab at the University of Kanas. Whats the big idea? Individually, most day-to-day interactions may seem trivial, but they add up to an important personal and societal opportunity. We all engage in our own unique ecosystem of everyday communicationour very own social biome. Meaningful engagement with others is critical to health and wellbeing, but we live in a time when any kind of engagement is dwindling. So, even if we dont get every moment just right, its worth prioritizing human contact and kindness so that we can cultivate happiness within and around us. Below, coauthors Andy Merolla and Jeffrey Hall share five key insights from their new book, The Social Biome: How Everyday Communication Connects and Shapes Us. Listen to the audio versionread by Merollain the Next Big Idea App. 1. We all inhabit unique communication ecosystems that define us. We come to know ourselves and others through communication. This includes the full range of daily face-to-face and mediated interactions, from passing hellos and office chit-chat to heated conflicts and heart-to-hearts. But its hard to conceptualize all this interaction. We coined the term social biome to help people understand how our lives are lived out in everyday communication. A social biome is our ecosystem of day-to-day talk. Its the totality of our moments of communicationin-person and digitalwith loved ones, acquaintances, coworkers, neighbors, customers, clerks, and complete strangers. Our biomes include interactions we choose to engage in, those thrust upon us, and those we just happen to bounce in and out of. The term biome comes from biology and ecology to describe what life is like in specific regions, including its plants, wildlife, and climate. Every human has their own unique microbiome, composed of the trillions of bacteria, fungi, and viruses living in and on our bodies. These microbes shape our health and well-being in fascinating ways, and although our microbiome is subject to the choices we make, such as the foods we eat, its also shaped by innumerable factors beyond our control. This includes where we happen to be born and the spaces we live and work in. Our social biomes, too, are products of choices we make and many factors beyond our control. You can choose to be as kind as you can to those around you, but in many situations, you simply dont get to choose whos around you, nor how they communicate with you. When we start viewing our lives as lived out in social biomes, we recognize how consequential our moments of everyday interaction are for shaping our self-concept and worldview. We also understand the limits of what we can do. Any individual moment of interaction can seem inconsequential, but at scale, our habits of interaction are anything but. Respect, dignity, and trust, as well as hate, indifference, and disdain all play out in small moments of communicationsmall moments that, over time, accumulate, crystallize, and calcify into our view of the world around us as a generally welcoming or inherently intolerant place. Ultimately, a social biome perspective compels us to scrutinize how we spend our time and why, how we choose to treat others, and what adjustments we can make to social habits to make our livesand the lives of those in our social biomeshealthier and happier. Moves as small as a text to let a friend know you were thinking about them, or pausing an extra beat to acknowledge a coworker you might usually ignore, can initiate new and, hopefully, enduring, routines of connection that can scale up and reverberate across people. 2. There is no such thing as just right when it comes to communication. Its incredible how much people value good communication skills. In one survey, over 90% of parents said that good communication skills are essential for their kids to thrive. Compare that to the percentage citing math skills (79%) or science skills (just 58%). Its not just parents. Corporations prize communication abilities in hiring. This makes sense, as research indicates that communication problems are at the root of billions in corporate losses each year. People instinctively know that if they could just communicate better, it would help to address a lot of problems they face. But what exactly is better when it comes to communication? It is a harder question to answer than you might think. Despite decades of research, simple definitions of good communication are hard to find. First off, consider how messy everyday communication is. Of the thousands of words we typically speak each day, we tend to communicate in six-word chunks that are chock full of vocal fillers like um and ah, hesitations, starts, stops, interruptions, and trail offs. Add to that the constant digital distractions that tax the cognitive processing abilities of even the most Zen among us, and you get a good sense of what everyday communication is like. It bears little resemblance to the polished turns of talk we see in a typical Netflix series. Further, many of us think about communication in the wrong way. We use the word communication as if its a singular entity. But its not. We all operate from different sets of assumptions about what good communication entails. We even differ in our view of what communication is for. The meaning of communication is always co-constructed between people, and those people might be operating from very different understandings of what demarcates the communicative good from the communicative bad. Many communication challenges result from our tendency to put too much pressure on ourselves (and others) to get communication just right. But just right is always dependent on the unique standards people apply, and those standards dont always align between communicators. When we fully appreciate that there is no such thing as just right, we can feel freer to connect with others in ways that feel authentic, knowing there are many paths to good communication. 3. Were living in an Age of Interiority. Time-use data, which tracks how people spend their daily lives, has shown that we spend less and less time socializing. This trend started long before the COVID-19 pandemic. Time spent alone has been increasing for at least three decades. Social changes, such as food delivery apps, online shopping, and self-checkout lines, make it possible to avoid human interaction for tasks that once required it. Its becoming increasingly possible for people, especially highly resourced folks in the Global North, to live in ways that circumvent face-to-face interactions. Were not just hanging out with friends less often; were able to orchestrate a more disconnected life thats finely tailored to our own needs. If we remember that people within social biomes are interdependent, then we see that each persons shift toward a more interior life limits opportunities for social connections. When it comes to belonging, we are all in it together. Disconnection, moreover, is self-reinforcing. When we become less comfortable interacting with people, even in mundane moments of everyday life, our social skills can atrophy. Social inertia sets in, making it increasinly energy-intensive to re-engage and build new relationships. The reason for this interior shift across society is not solely due to personal choices. The social world controls us as much as we control it, and innumerable structural factors are pulling and keeping people apart. Long work hours. Precarious economic conditions. Lacking access to reliable and high-quality child and eldercare. These factors deplete people and lead them to want nothing more than to retreat from the social worldoften toward a screen where they get some semblance of control. On top of it, ongoing segregation and political sorting intensify divisions, so even when we connect with others, its most likely with like-minded others. There are both personal and societal costs when we live more interior lives. 4. Connection and restorative solitude are linked. Alone time is important. A well-connected and socially satisfying life requires contented solitude. Research shows that communicating with others, including highly enjoyable conversations, requires a lot of energy. To replenish that energy, we need to recharge, often in solitude. Importantly, though, satisfying interactions make our time alone feel better. In a study Jeff and I conducted a few years ago, we found that peoples overall satisfaction with their life was associated with their daily survey reports of how content they felt when alonefeeling contented while alone is most likely to occur following positive social interaction experiences. For many people, though, solitude isnt contented or chosen. Instead, its inescapable. When we find ourselves alone but dont want to be, it reflects the kind of disconnection and loneliness that former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and many others have so admirably called attention to in recent years. Social connection is highly uneven. Some people are doing greattheir days are full of enjoyable interaction, and their calendars are packed with fun social events. Meanwhile, many others dont have reliable access to the rewarding interactions that facilitate vital feelings of belonging. This is again where a social biome perspective can be helpful because it reminds us that we can do our best to look out for other people around us, particularly folks who dont have as many opportunities for social interaction and support. This includes acquaintances, neighbors, and people we work with. Our efforts to reach out can rekindle connections for people badly needing them. 5. Hope is an interpersonal phenomenon. If were in an Age of Interiority, we could just as easily contend that were in an Age of Hopelessness. People have lost faith in institutions and feel less trust in the people around them. People with marginalized identities feel under attack by people in positions of great power. Fears of climate change. The existential dread of AI. Pick your poison. But what exactly does it mean to feel hopeless or hopeful? In day-to-day conversation, we say things like were holding out hope or trying not to get our hopes up. Such comments suggest that hope is, at best, an intentional suspension of disbelief or, at worst, willful ignorance of the cold, hard reality of life. This view of hopeas a foolish illusion or dangerous obliviousness to the way things really areis one held by some of historys most famous philosophers. Hope was among the evils inside Pandoras box. Over the past 70 years, however, social psychologists have offered a radically different view of hope tied to the way we think about and pursue goals. The late psychologist C. R. Snyder and his collaborators helped us see that many of our most important goals are linked to other people. These goals can be both big and small. When we see friends giving their full attention to one another or small acts of kindness between strangers, that is hope in action. People are choosing to prioritize their finite attention and energy on others. These are building blocks of connection and, over time, give us a sense of hope to pursue larger, more challenging goals. When we accept the idea that hope is communal and not just personal, we better appreciate how much is riding on our treatment of one another in everyday moments of talk. Small moments of acknowledgement and compassion arent the antidote to all the worlds ills, but its hard to envision a world of rebuilt trust and a better future for our kids if we dont try to spread kindness and dignity, moment by moment, across our social biomes. This article originally appeared in Next Big Idea Club magazine and is reprinted with permission.
Category:
E-Commerce
Are you prepared for when the power goes out? To prevent massive wildfires in drought-prone, high-wind areas, electrical companies have begun preemptively shutting off electricity. These planned shutdowns are called public safety power shutoffs, abbreviated to PSPS, and theyre increasingly common. So far this year, weve seen them in Texas, New Mexico, and California. Unlike regular power failures, which on average last only about two hours while a piece of broken equipment is repaired, a PSPS lasts until weather conditions improve, which could be days. And these shutoffs come at a steep price. In 2010 alone, they cost California more than $13 billion. A 2019 analysis of shutoffs in Placer County, California, found that they harmed 70% of local businesses. I am a business school professor who studies how people pay for things, including during emergencies. As I point out in my new book The Power of Cash: Why Using Paper Money Is Good for You and Society, many people have abandoned paper money and switched to electronic payments such as credit cards and mobile apps. This can become a big problem during an emergency, since these systems need electricity to operate. The switch to electronic payments is making the world less resilient in the face of increasing numbers of major natural disasters. So if a public safety power shutoff strikes and you dont have any cash, you may be doubly vulnerable. On the other hand, keeping cash can protect youand not just you and your family but also local businesses and your community. After all, keeping the economy moving during shutoffs reduces the financial damage they cause. Why do they keep turning off the power, anyway? Its all about risk. The world has experienced a number of very destructive wildfires recently. In 2025, large parts of Los Angeles burned to the ground, with more than 18,000 buildings destroyed or damaged. In 2023, wildfires in Hawaii killed more than 100 people. Massive wildfires have also occurred recently in South Korea, Portugal, and Australia. Governments, people whose houses burned, and insurance companies are all looking for someone to blame and pay for the damage. Climate change, which is increasing the worlds average temperatures and drying out trees and grass, is setting the conditions. Since Mother Nature cannot be sued, utilities make handy scapegoats with deep pockets. Electrical utilities are sued because their power lines, transformers, and other equipment often start blazes. So to prevent lawsuits as well as fires, power companies are increasingly turning off the power when the conditions are ripe for a catastrophic blaze. Theres no uniform set of standards for when to impose a shutdown, but in general power companies do it when there are hot, dry, and windy conditions. For example, a PSPS is triggered in Hawaii if theres a drought, wind gusts are over 45 mph, and relative humidity is under 45%. Power shutoffs are a relatively new idea. They were proposed in California in 2008 and first allowed in 2012. Since then, power companies across the entire western U.S. from Texas to Hawaii have adopted these plans. Shutoff plans also stretch from southern border states such as Arizona to northern border states such as Idaho and Montana. Shutting off the power is a huge problem, since it causes massive disruption to communities. People depend on power to run medical equipment, work, and keep communities safe. Even people with a desperate need for electricity, such as those on medical life support, are not immune to a safety shutoff. How to prepare for a PSPS As the world warms, the chance of being caught in a preemptive power shutoff increases. What can you do to minimize the impact? Having solar panels wont protect you: Utilities shut off customers with solar panels to block those panels from pushing power onto the grid, since the whole goal is to shut off the grid. The only way for you to still have power is to buy a battery storage system and a transfer switch, which allows you to take your system completely off the grid. But this is very expensive. Getting a portable generator is only a partial solution for a multiday hutoff, since most last only 6 to 18 hours on a single tank of gas. Plus, generators run very hot, which creates its own fire risk. Another way to minimize the impact of both a power shutoff and a wildfire is to create a small disaster relief kit, or go bag. Creating one is relatively inexpensive. It should contain key items such as water, your medicines, some shelf-stable foodand importantly, some cash. Even some government websites forget to mention this. Its also important to use paper money before a shutoff happens. I have all too frequently seen gas station attendants, supermarket checkout clerks, and restaurant servers have no idea how to handle cash. Recently at my local supermarket, for example, I paid with a $20 bill. The cashier had to ask another employee which kinds of coins to use to make change. If people dont know how to handle cash during normal times, it ceases to be useful during emergencies. As the world warms, public safety power shutoffs will occur more frequently. The shutoffs clearly highlight the trade-off between economic and social disruption versus preventing dangerous wildfires. These shutoffs show there are no easy solutions, only hard choices. There are a few sensible and easy steps to take to reduce the impact of these shutoffs. One is to understand that during one of the very moments you might really need to spend money, modern payment systems fail. Holding and frequently using old-fashioned cash is a simple and low-cost way to protect yourself and your family. Jay L. Zagorsky is an associate professor at the Questrom School of Business at Boston University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Category:
E-Commerce
Chalk it up to bad timing: Some Home Depot customers are furious after a recent April Fools’ Day prank from a tool review website suggested that the home improvement giant would start charging parking fees due to inflation. This was no laughing matter, as anxious Americans awaited President Donald Trump’s tariffs news, expecting higher prices on goods and services. So the April 1 date didn’t register with angry viewers right away. Many took to social media, some creating a Reddit thread about the supposed fees, with one duped X user even proposing #BoycottHomeDepot. Desperate for some damage control, Home Depot responded on its official X account, posting, “this is an April Fools’ post from a tool review website. We do not charge for parking.” So, what exactly happened? On April 1, Pro Tool Reviews, an online product review site, published a fake news article that said Home Depot would start charging for parking to combat inflation and “offset increasing operational costs [to] keep prices competitive,” and that the modest parking fee (“$2 for up to two hours in central Florida, to $5 for a full day of parking in Los Angeles”) would help the company avoid passing those extra costs directly on to customers. Unfortunately for Home Depot, as the target of the joke, American consumers are now particularly sensitive about retailers passing the cost of tariffs on to them. Pro Tool Reviews told USA Today that the article’s high viewership was “truly humbling,” indicating the traction this apparent PR nightmare has received, with editor-in-chief Kenny Koehler adding, “we hope our friends over at Home Depot were able to laugh as well.” (We’re not so sure about that, Kenny.) This isn’t the first time an April Fools’ Day joke has caused trouble. In fact, there is a long list of brands whose pranks have gone awry, from Google to Volkswagen. In 2016, Google announced a new Gmail feature that it claimed would add a GIF of a yellow animated “Minion” character dropping a microphone at the end of an email. Google later apologized. And in 2021, the German carmaker claimed it was changing the name of its American division to “Voltswagen,” causing the stock to rise, as well as a great amount of confusion. The origin of April Fools’ Day dates back to 16th century France, when Charles IX decreed that the new year would no longer begin on Easter, but instead on January 1. Those who refused the change were named, you guessed it, “April fools.”
Category:
E-Commerce
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