This week’s must-reads: Why listening to your customers is not a foolproof plan

In my work as a behavioral designer, I come across important stories on how psychology influences our behavior. Every week, I share my round-up of the most important stories at the intersection of psychology, technology and business. I hope you enjoy them!

Don’t despair if your child is glued to a screen, it may be keeping them sane (The Guardian) Social interaction is vital for young minds, and social media might be the only way of achieving this during lockdown.

Work from Home Like a Behavioral Scientist (PeopleScience) If you’re new to remote work, you might wonder if you are working from home or living at work. Here’s some advice on how to manage working from home.

The Price of Discipline (David Perell) Suffocating a person’s free will for too long will result in harmful second-order effects for individuals and society at-large. This is the price of discipline.

[Don’t] listen to your customers (Ux Booth) Today’s product and design leaders often rely heavily on the world of their customers when building their product road maps. Seems like a foolproof plan, right?

How gaming became a form of meditation (BBC) The new ‘gentle’ video games are absorbing, beautiful and silly, and they can help keep us calm and safe.

Forget homeschooling during the pandemic. Teach life skills instead. (National Geographic) So you’re not actually a teacher. You still have plenty to teach your children.

Happy reading!

- Nir