Mappiness is a free app for your iPhone. It’s part of a research project at the London School of Economics that is interested in how people's happiness is affected by their local environment — air pollution, noise, green spaces, and so on.

If you are interested – click here to learn more!

Brilliant presentation by PSFK on the "Future of Real-time..."

While companies have come a long way in terms of embracing the Internet and new media – they still are decades behind what Generation Z kids will expect from their future employer. We decided to see just how far apart Generation Z kids are from the corporate environment they will soon enter – and have chosen to highlight five facts and five corporate disconnects.

 Fact #1 – Kids Are Always On.... 

• Generation Z kids spend an average of 1.5 hours per day on the computer and 1 ¼ hours playing video games. A recent UK study found that children found social networking (Facebook / Twitter / MSN) more important than other aspects of their life including their family.

 Corporate Disconnect #1  - Companies Ban Employees from Being Always On....

• Robert Half Technology found that only 10 % of CIOs allow employees to full access to social networks during work hours.
• A great example is Goldman Sachs who recently invested $450 million in Facebook, yet the social network is blocked for its employees.

Fact #2 – Kids Adept Media Multi-taskers  

• About 4 in 10 – 7^th to 12^th grade kids say they use another medium most of the time while they are listening to music (43%), using a computer (40%) or watching TV(39%).

 Corporate Disconnect #2 - Work Environments NOT Conducive to Media Multi-tasking

• Tight budgets and space restrictions have created work environments will little regard for personal space. This cubicle-world is not conducive to media multi-tasking leaving the Generation Z employee both impatient and bored.

 Fact #3 – Kids Say Email is So "Yesterday"

• According to market research firm JupiterResearch, 80 percent of teens with cell phones regularly use text messaging.

Corporate Disconnect #3 - Email Preferred Method of Corporate Communications

 There were 294 billion emails sent in 2010 and half of corporate employees check their email constantly

 Fact #4 - - Kids Expect to be Entertained  

• Everything they see, hear, and need to learn is embedded in increasingly exciting levels of entertainment.

 Corporate Disconnect #4 - Companies Are in the Business of Facts, not Entertainment

•  30 million Powerpoint presentations bore employees each day. Companies communicate via boring Intranet sites, circulars, email blasts and audio messaging. None of these tools will engage or entertain our Generation Z kids.

Fact #5 – Kids Expect to have Input and Create 

• Kids can go online and design their own stuffed animals, create their own books, chocolate bars, clothing labels or even design a label for a can of their favorite pop drink. Kids expect to have a say in the creation of new products.

 Corporate Disconnect #5 - Corporations Don't Regularly solicit Employee Input  

• Companies still communicate in “top-down” and on “a need to know basis”. They often create products in isolation and secrecy, which will inevitably frustrate Generation Z kids who are constantly able to create online.

 The reality is - most Generation Z kids are not ready for the tradtional working environment, nor are corporations ready for these demanding, Internet-savvy kids.

Comments?

We have been reporting for quite sometime that children are addicted to the Internet. Chinese authorities have now gone one step further and ordered online video game operators to allow parents to monitor their children's playing sessions as part of a nationwide crackdown on the growing problem of Internet addiction. The Ministry of Public Security was one of eight government departments that issued a joint notice on Monday ordering online gaming companies to comply with the new guidelines by March 1, 2011.

Upon proving their identity, parents will be able to put daily or weekly restrictions on their child's game playing time, the notice said. They would also have the option of putting in place a total ban. 

Thoughts

A new Cornell study finds that mothering styles can predict your experiences in adult relationships.

That's the finding of Vivian Zayas '94, assistant professor of psychology, whose study is published online by Social Psychological and Personality Science.

"It was assumed that differences in adult attachment -- how people experience their relationships in adulthood, especially with romantic partners -- was rooted in their experience with their primary caregiver early on in life, typically one's mother," Zayas said.

The findings included:

Young adults who as toddlers had received sensitive, non-controlling maternal care giving were less avoidant about their attachments to their partners and friends (e.g., were able to share their feelings).

"There was essentially no significant relationship between the type of care-giving they experienced at 18 months and their attachment to their mothers in adulthood. As children grow, their attachment shifts from parents to peers. But parents continue to "provide you with a sense of security that very few people can replace," Zayas said.