The Village Effect: How Face-to-Face Contact Can Make Us Healthier and Happier

✍ Scribed by Pinker, Susan

• Book ID: 109209403
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Year: 2014
• Tongue: en-US
• Weight: 2 MB
• Category: Fiction
• ISBN-13: 9781400069576

✦ Synopsis

A provocative and persuasive argument about the transformative power of our face-to-face connections

Concrete factors such as diet, earning power, exercise, and drugs have driven our recent understanding of health and well-being. New findings tell us that our relationships are just as critical to our survival. Pastimes that many of us have written off as frivolous time-wasters--chatting with friends over a meal, taking a coffee break with a co-worker--serve important biological functions. We are living in an era of constant digital connection, but also of increasing social isolation: More of us than ever settle far from our families and find ourselves living, shopping, going to school, and working alone.

Human beings are hardwired to connect with one another. Social networks matter: Tight bonds of friendship and love protect our health, help us to learn and remember, extend our lives, and make us happy. But not just any social networks will do: We need...