The cursor blinks rhythmically, attempting to attract my attention. My mind, however, is elsewhere. The laptop screen has become a window looking out onto a great digital vastness. This neverending cyber universe, like its physical counterpart, is expanding with incredible velocity.
According to Domo, specialists in business intelligence and data visualisation, we presently upload 300 hours of video to YouTube every minute and send about 15 million text messages every second. Industry pundits also forecast that by 2020 we will have amassed 44 zettabytes – or sextillions – of data. For non-geek speakers, a zettabyte is one billion terabytes, and a terabyte equates to around 1.5 million of those 3.5-inch floppy disks we used to use – remember them? This exponential data growth, with its stupefying numbers and made-up-words, is known as big data, a valuable by-product of our information age.
I see the information age as the birth of an alternate universe. Many of us now live alternate lives, one taking place online and the other in the old world; that messy place where spirit meets bone. The old world is biological, the new one digital and these two worlds are increasingly intertwined.
Psychology prides itself on knitting together the biological, cognitive and social aspects of human experience, which we call the biopsychosocial approach. However, our increasing tendency to live our lives online and in the digital space constitute a whole new dimension to understanding and exploring human behaviour. Perhaps psychology now needs to develop a digital version of the biopsychosocial model.
Psychologists, myself included, have begun to consider the digital world in our analysis and programmes of research. Sure, we can still assess your psychological health by measuring stress hormones or administering questionnaires but your browser history and social media posts can probably tell us just as much, if not more, about your current state.
When you tell someone that you’re a psychologist, there is often a cliched response, which typically involves the person acting defensively and jokingly saying something along the lines of: “Do you know what I’m thinking? Can you read my mind?”. Of course, psychologists don’t know our thoughts or desires, but Google does.
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Read more from Justin Thomas:
Seasonal affective disorder: it's time to shake off the summer blues
Why teachers need just as much help as their pupils
Workplace happiness is a job for us all
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Google searches – of which we presently make 3.6 million per minute – speak of our desires, interests and needs. A data scientist with access to your online life might be better placed to make predictions about what’s on your mind than a psychologist. Increasingly though, these disciplines – data science and psychology – are collaborating and merging.
For example, a recent study by a team at the University of Pennsylvania and Stony Brook University in New York used Facebook data to identify users with an existing diagnosis of depression. The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this year, used what the authors describe as "depression-associated language markers". These include things like being highly self-referential – using "I" and "me" a lot – and frequently mentioning feelings of hostility and loneliness in status updates.
This algorithm was sensitive enough to predict a case of depression three months ahead of the condition actually being documented in medical records. This opens up the possibility of using social media data as a method of early detection and relapse prevention in the context of mood disorders.
In a separate study, this time using Google search engine data, researchers were able to monitor the spread of an influenza pandemic across the US. Monitoring health-seeking behaviour in the form of Google search queries significantly outperformed traditional, old world methods of monitoring the spread of sickness. Traditional illness surveillance systems, including those used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the US, typically have a reporting lag of up to a fortnight; using the Google data cut the delay to just one day.
Medics and psychologists can no longer afford to ignore the fact that much of our lives are conducted online and we leave behind a valuable data trail. For scientists interested in the wellbeing of humanity, this data is invaluable.
Our own psychology research group at Zayed University recently began collaborations with data scientists. Looking at UAE-generated Twitter data from 2016, totalling 140 million tweets, we were able to examine a wide range of questions, from identifying noise annoyance sources and hotspots across the country, to exploring the relationship between sleep patterns and mood. We found people who post most of their tweets between midnight and 5am tended to be the least happy.
In the old world, we used to look to the stars for answers about human behaviour. In the new world, we need to scrutinise big data.
Dr Justin Thomas is professor of psychology at Zayed University
Honeymoonish
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The Baghdad Clock
Shahad Al Rawi, Oneworld
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In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
CREW
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What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champioons League semi-final:
First leg: Liverpool 5 Roma 2
Second leg: Wednesday, May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
TV: BeIN Sports, 10.45pm (UAE)
Teaching your child to save
Pre-school (three - five years)
You can’t yet talk about investing or borrowing, but introduce a “classic” money bank and start putting gifts and allowances away. When the child wants a specific toy, have them save for it and help them track their progress.
Early childhood (six - eight years)
Replace the money bank with three jars labelled ‘saving’, ‘spending’ and ‘sharing’. Have the child divide their allowance into the three jars each week and explain their choices in splitting their pocket money. A guide could be 25 per cent saving, 50 per cent spending, 25 per cent for charity and gift-giving.
Middle childhood (nine - 11 years)
Open a bank savings account and help your child establish a budget and set a savings goal. Introduce the notion of ‘paying yourself first’ by putting away savings as soon as your allowance is paid.
Young teens (12 - 14 years)
Change your child’s allowance from weekly to monthly and help them pinpoint long-range goals such as a trip, so they can start longer-term saving and find new ways to increase their saving.
Teenage (15 - 18 years)
Discuss mutual expectations about university costs and identify what they can help fund and set goals. Don’t pay for everything, so they can experience the pride of contributing.
Young adulthood (19 - 22 years)
Discuss post-graduation plans and future life goals, quantify expenses such as first apartment, work wardrobe, holidays and help them continue to save towards these goals.
* JP Morgan Private Bank
The Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index
The Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index
Mazen Abukhater, principal and actuary at global consultancy Mercer, Middle East, says the company’s Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index - which benchmarks 34 pension schemes across the globe to assess their adequacy, sustainability and integrity - included Saudi Arabia for the first time this year to offer a glimpse into the region.
The index highlighted fundamental issues for all 34 countries, such as a rapid ageing population and a low growth / low interest environment putting pressure on expected returns. It also highlighted the increasing popularity around the world of defined contribution schemes.
“Average life expectancy has been increasing by about three years every 10 years. Someone born in 1947 is expected to live until 85 whereas someone born in 2007 is expected to live to 103,” Mr Abukhater told the Mena Pensions Conference.
“Are our systems equipped to handle these kind of life expectancies in the future? If so many people retire at 60, they are going to be in retirement for 43 years – so we need to adapt our retirement age to our changing life expectancy.”
Saudi Arabia came in the middle of Mercer’s ranking with a score of 58.9. The report said the country's index could be raised by improving the minimum level of support for the poorest aged individuals and increasing the labour force participation rate at older ages as life expectancies rise.
Mr Abukhater said the challenges of an ageing population, increased life expectancy and some individuals relying solely on their government for financial support in their retirement years will put the system under strain.
“To relieve that pressure, governments need to consider whether it is time to switch to a defined contribution scheme so that individuals can supplement their own future with the help of government support,” he said.
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It's Monty Python's Crashing Rocket Circus
To the theme tune of the famous zany British comedy TV show, SpaceX has shown exactly what can go wrong when you try to land a rocket.
The two minute video posted on YouTube is a compilation of crashes and explosion as the company, created by billionaire Elon Musk, refined the technique of reusable space flight.
SpaceX is able to land its rockets on land once they have completed the first stage of their mission, and is able to resuse them multiple times - a first for space flight.
But as the video, How Not to Land an Orbital Rocket Booster, demonstrates, it was a case if you fail, try and try again.
