Issue #6 · Deember 7th, 2015 · View in your browser

1. Why do we have a sense of humor?

Hopes&Fears asked humour researchers and theoreticians why we have a sense of humour. The answers are quite diverse but there's one really interesting idea. Humour is the expression of play behaviour through language (as opposed to physical play). Humans are the only species that can play with ideas and thoughts. We also are the only ones who can devise different possibilities of how a situation might turn out. In that sense humour is useful to reduce the scope of such possibilities and make sense of it all. Also, apparently, the sense of humour is an important criterion for mate selection. It allows potential mates to assess each other's capacity to play with ideas and adapt. Go figure.

• Quartz : This is what happens when an AI system learns to talk

2. Study finds quitting Facebook makes you happier and less stressed

The Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen took 1095 Facebook users and split them into two groups. One group (A) was allowed to keep on Facebookin' while the other (B) was left without access to the site for a week. In reply to how happy they felt, 81% of group A said they were as opposed to 88% of group B. People who left Facebook felt less angry, less depressed, more decisive and enthusiastic. Group B felt 55% less stress. This is, according to the study, because we focus too much on what others have rather than on what we need. Revelation? I think not. At least now we can quantify it. 

3. The state of UX in 2015

Software is all around us. And we know it'll keep spreading. If you're ever curious about it, take a look at this report. For instance, you'll learn that software applications will look increasingly alike. Why? Interaction patterns are now robust enough for designers not to have to “reinvent the wheel”. (About three door handle designs will satisfy most use cases, the same goes for software.) You'll also read an interesting critique of wearables (we don't need new product categories but we need to make existing products smarter).

4. The Sundry meta gift guide

The holiday season is approaching. We all like browsing lists of potential gifts. No, you don't?

• The Wirecutter gift guide: theirs is also an aggregation of different lists for different kind of people. It's quite complete.

• New York Times gift guide: it's neatly divided in categories (music, film, travel, etc.). You'll find something, don't worry. 

• BoingBoing: both eccentric and quirky, find a gift for your weird friend here.

• Quartz: they asked 40 leaders in art, social justice, business what was the best gift they ever received.

*Thanks and have a nice week, 

Ulysse*