Have you ever noticed that your friends roll their eyes when you get older? Taylor and Travis For dinner again? Do you and your partner regularly fight over the remote when they suggest watching a thriller while you just want to check on your “friends” on the remote? The Real Housewives?
Then we have good news: Your insatiable need to gossip could be a sign of deep intelligence — and you shouldn't let anyone tell you otherwise!
We know this to be true, because the smartest man in the world says so. seriously! Younghoon Kim35, from Korea, has the highest recorded IQ in the world, a staggering 276. To put this in context, the average IQ is around 100 with the genius threshold being 140. So it's fair to say that Kim is very intelligent and… Not surprisingly, he works in academia. But when he's not focusing his amazing mind on neuroscience, finance, biomedical engineering and encouraging others to unleash their brainpower, he can often be found scrolling through the latest celebrity news while listening to his favorite K-pop music.
Younghoon Kim
Younghoon KimUs Weeklyeditor Dan Wakeford He sat down with Kim to learn more about his belief that a love of pop culture is crucial to his well-being.
“I love news and stories from the world of celebrities and entertainment, because it helps me a lot to cope with anxiety,” he said. wenoting that many people with particularly high IQs can struggle with their mental health. “I think that celebrities and the entertainment industry are exploiting our culture and their content is very interesting to me. They are the people who entertain us all. They are artists, so I think, in a way, learning about their lives is a form of artistic experience. It's an escape for me as well, but it's also A source of inspiration.
Despite devoting his life to science and technology, Kim has equal respect for creativity. “Celebrities are not only really creative, but they also help us think of new ideas and new ways of expressing ourselves,” he says. “It helps us become more motivated to become better versions of ourselves. And popular culture never stops!”
Welcome to the all-new Us Weekly magazine. I'm Dan Wakeford, your editor-in-chief, and I've spent the past three months thinking about how to make this iconic American brand — the print magazine as well as the website — even better. My journey began by listening to you, dear readers. I discovered that there are many (…)
In addition to being a huge fan of BTS – The first K-pop act to truly go global – Kim also looks like Swiftie, and says it helps him feel more immersed in American culture; Yes, keeping up with celebrities can give us a broader view of the world too!
But don't take one (very smart) man's word for it – there are many other reputable academics who have come to the same conclusion. New study Researchers at Stanford University and the University of Maryland found that gossiping can be good for you, discovering that talking about other people for about an hour a day led to more cooperative behavior. Maybe this is something to make your boss aware of next time he's concerned that too much chatting around the office water cooler is affecting productivity? On the contrary, this is how we get things done as a team!
The truth is that we as humans have the unique advantage of being able to indulge in gossip. according to Yuval Noah HarariMajor book Sapiens: A Brief History of HumanityHomo sapiens – that's us! – They are social animals that make gossip the key to our survival. If you don't talk with your colleagues about who hates whom, who sleeps with whom, who tells the truth and who lies most often, how do you know who to trust about important things, like where the lion is hiding? Gossip is social currency, and those who do not indulge in it risk being excluded from the circle. Leave this group chat at your own risk; You could get swallowed by a wild animal (or miss the memo on vacation plans).
We're big fans of podcasts Emotional garbagein which the author Carolyn O'Donoghue He interviews great writers, artists and comedians about “the culture we love that society can sometimes make us feel ashamed of” – and this is a culture that is often gossipy! In one of the last episodes, London Times journalist Elizabeth Day She shared her deep obsession The Real Housewives Franchise, and on another best-selling author's Schitt's Creek screenwriter Monica Hesse Order of relationships in Love indeed. Seems trivial? Sure, but trivial things can be crucial. Great minds on Emotional garbage Know that human relations – which is almost always at the heart of any good gossip, whether it is about… Jennifer Lopez Or the genetics of marketing – literally necessary for the survival of humanity. Emotional intelligence is just as important (perhaps more) than being book smart, and celebrities and the art they create can teach us a lot about what motivates people. Yes, we say that reality shows are an art form. Not sorry!
Some stars are even in favor of gossip, along with the actor Morgan Spector He says Pieces It's the key to understanding strangers. “If someone has delicious food, what's better?” said the HBO star The Gilded Age. “Talking about other people is one of life's great pleasures. I think gossip is underrated. Usually it gives you an atypical insight into someone else's life, how they live, their personality. It's not just the scandal or the surprise; it's also to say, 'Oh, this It is what they are, and then you have to explain it – at length, ideally.
Okay, we know in the end that being able to name every member of the Kardashian/Jenner family — including their pets, of course — probably isn't your ticket to a Nobel Prize, but we think it's time to stop feeling guilty about gossiping. Celebrating the colorful people of the world, admiring what they wear, laughing at what they say and gasping at who they date, can provide some much-needed light relief from the stresses and tensions of real life.
Whether you're juggling your money to pay for groceries or feeling anxious about everything you see unfolding on the news, we all know that reality can be tough, but great music, TV, movies, and fashion are there to distract, entertain, and delight. And inspiration. If that's good enough for the smartest man in the world, it's good enough for… we.
