Hands, Desensitization, & Butt Brush

Fried Hand

Here are few reasons why you should not fry your hand:
1. It hurts pretty bad.
2. People in Dallas gasp at the extreme flesh wound and wonder when the plastic surgery is scheduled for.
3. It doesn’t actually add any flavor to the chicken wings.

It’s actually almost healed now, but the past several weeks have been 3 parts: “Man, that hurt but it’s not too bad”, “I think I have gangrene,” and “Crap – that scar is pretty permanent.”

Desensitization

Switching gears, I read an article a long time ago about how Generation Y (born early 80’s to 1994) is desensitized to tragedy because of how saturated our entire lives have been with media coverage. We’ve grown up with the Oklahoma City bombing, Columbine, September 11, the space shuttle disasters, Hurricane Katrina, Virginia Tech, and on. We were the first to grow up in the 24/7 constant media coverage era which has almost made us immune to tragedy.

I read that article and thought, “Yea – I guess that’s true..” Last week, I realized how true it actually is though. When the hurricane in Haiti hit, I didn’t even think twice about it. I had no idea how bad the situation was, because it seems like every day there is a breaking story on some terrible think that killed tons of people. It’s hard to differentiate the severity between “Breaking news – Eating a McDonald’s hamburger can kill you” and “Breaking news – there was a hurricane in Haiti”.

I found a similar article here that is interesting to read. It actually talks about how we’re shaped, not stopped, by tragedy. It’s worth a read for Gen Yers. Or really anyone.

Butt Brush Factor

I’m reading Paco Underhill’s “Why We Buy” book again and I am completely obsessed with it. He is pretty much the inventor of the science of shopping (pretty much the psychology behind why we buy and shop the way that we do). He consults companies and gives them extremely detailed information about how consumers shop in their stores. I want to work for him. Or at least go and get my master’s in Consumer Behavior.

My favorite phenomenon he discovered – that I recommend you try next time you are out shopping – is the Butt Brush. Basically, he concluded that consumers have a personal bubble that must be maintained while shopping for a maximum experience. If another person gets too close and brushes the butt of a shopper (mainly women), the shopper will drop what he or she is looking at and walk away. For example, if I’m in a store looking at a scarf that I really want to buy and someone gets right up next to me while I’m trying it on, I get really uncomfortable, drop the scarf, and leave (or at least relocate to another aisle).

It’s a really funny psychological thing, but I do have to admit that I’ve purposefully butt-brushed people before so they’ll move. Is that bad? I mean, sometimes someone is looking at the last pair of the exact shoes I want. A little butt-brush effect solves all of your problems. Well, most of the time.

99 Balloons

I put this on Twitter, but I’ll post it again. Just grab several hundred tissues before you watch it. Watch the 99 Balloons video. It’s crazy to think that, as humans, we can’t love unconditionally. What we can do, is tap into a supernatural kind of love that gets us through even the hardest times. Can you imagine what would happen if we all tapped in to the full-extent of love?