You catch the smell of a sweet being prepared in someone’s kitchen, and suddenly you’re back at your grandmother’s house. The familiar aroma, the sounds coming from the next room, someone insisting you have another serving, it all comes rushing back. You were just walking past a bakery. How did this become a full emotional […]
Proustian Memory Effect: One Smell and Suddenly You’re Back in 2012 Read More »
Every Diwali, the familiar production begins: someone untangles last year’s lights, someone insists the rangoli needs “just one more detail”, and someone is assigned the important task of tasting the sweets. Diyas appear, festive food fills the kitchen, relatives call, and the family follows customs that have survived generations. We know what is coming. We
You are waiting for the lift. It will arrive in approximately twelve seconds. Naturally, you reach for your phone. The lift has not even had time to disappoint you, and you are already checking Instagram. You watch something while eating, something else while getting ready, and perhaps a third thing while watching the first two.
You have been looking at the food delivery app for 27 minutes. You have compared cuisines, checked ratings, read reviews, calculated delivery charges and briefly considered cooking. You are now hungry enough to eat the phone, but somehow still haven’t ordered dinner. The options are endless. Your patience isn’t. And this isn’t limited to food.
The Fascinating Psychology of Analysis Paralysis: Why You Can’t Just Pick Something. Read More »
You see a recipe for a pasta dish you might make one day. Save. A video explaining how to stretch before running? Save. A book recommendation, a tiny apartment makeover, a career tip, a language-learning trick and a stranger’s very persuasive list of places to visit? Obviously, save. You are not collecting posts. You are
You Have 3,000 Saved Posts. Is Digital Hoarding Your New Hobby? Read More »
You mention that a restaurant was good. Someone immediately explains why it was overrated. You say you enjoyed a film. Suddenly, you’re defending the director’s entire career. You suggest ordering pizza, and somehow the conversation has reached a courtroom-level examination of your decision-making abilities. Some people can turn “It’s a little cold today” into a
First, you believe you will be happy after your tenth exams. Then after getting into college. Then after surviving college. Then after finding an internship, a job, a better job, financial stability, a decent apartment, and perhaps a personality that doesn’t collapse when someone asks, “So, what’s next?” Somewhere along the way, waiting for life
Waiting for Life to Begin: The Dangerous Trap of Delayed Happiness Read More »
You ask AI to write an email. Then summarise a 30-page reading. Then explain the summary because the summary somehow needs a summary. Finally, you ask it what you should think about the whole thing. Congratulations. You have successfully delegated your way out of having an opinion. Technology has made everyday life ridiculously convenient. We
Cognitive Offloading: The Hidden Dangers of Letting AI Do Your Thinking Read More »
Your former classmate just got promoted. Someone from college is engaged. Another person has moved abroad for postgraduate studies, and a fourth has somehow bought a house before learning how to cook anything beyond Maggi. Meanwhile, you are trying to decide whether your current career plan is a plan or simply a series of increasingly
The Psychology of Feeling Behind in Life: The Hidden Rules of Adulthood Read More »
At 1:43 a.m., you have applied for seventeen jobs, rewritten your CV for the fourth time, and refreshed your inbox so often Gmail should be paying you rent. One listing asks for three years of experience, six software skills, and the emotional resilience of a Himalayan monk. You apply anyway. You feel anxious, so you
Doomjobbing: When Job Search Anxiety Disguises Itself as Productivity Read More »
