Humour, funny cats and productivity
Watching Netflix's The Social Dilemma last night, a few of us on the NoTosh team recognised some of the behaviour. Just like so many others, we love a good session of watching funny cats on YouTube. Just like so many others, we feel the guilt when we realise how much time has zipped by on that or any other frivolous and distracting activity that social media pulls us into.
At some point in the last decade, technology stopped being a set of tools, and we ended up become the tool used by technology, for data harvesting and commercial influence. The documentary is worth a watch this weekend.
But not before you've had that last session scrolling funny cats on YouTube. Interestingly, research shows that a YouTube sesh with Funny Cats - in particular those featuring kittens - actually makes us more productive in four distinct ways.
- Humour has an energising effect. In an Australian study, participants were given a mundane task to do and were exposed to a funny or neutral video. Participants worked twice as long when they were exposed to funny videos (as compared to people who were exposed to neutral videos).
- Humour helps us persist. In a similar study, those who were exposed to a Mr Bean clip demonstrated more persistence in completing a task than those who didn’t.
- Cute images increase attentiveness. In a Japanese study, participants were shown images of kittens or images of cats. Those who were shown “cute” images, kittens, improved their performance by 44% AND they were more careful with their work, taking more time to complete it. The findings suggest that looking at cute images helped participants to be more deliberate in their work.
- Short mental breaks re-energise us.
The idea is that, by giving yourself a short mental break, you effectively recharge your batteries and have renewed vigor to tackle whatever dull, frustrating, or challenging task is in front of you at work. — Martha C. White
So, to be more productive, should we be getting at least some funny cat viewing into our schedules? You’re welcome...
Ewan and Chantelle
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