15 psychological 'cheat codes' people swear 'work every time' for social situations

“I pretend everyone I meet is in love with me."

By Heather Wake

Science says that humans are naturally social creatures, but often in real life, nothing about interacting with others feels natural. Even the most confident people can struggle with what to say, how to read a room, or when to jump into a conversation.

But according to Reddit, there are a handful of clever tricks that can give anyone a boost. When one user posed the question, “What’s an actual psychological ‘cheat code’ you use in social situations that works almost every time?” responses flooded in, revealing simple strategies for everything from memory recall to dealing with an enemy.

Woman's speedy shoe tying trick using only her pinky fingers looks magical but here's how it's done

Her short video is absolutely mind-blowing.

By Jacalyn Wetzel

Teaching children how to tie their shoes can be frustrating for both parent and child. Usually, adults try to turn it into a fun game that uses the imagination to convert the laces into bunny ears, roller coasters, or rocket ships. But what if tying your shoes could be as entertaining as a magic trick? This one isn't just for parents teaching kids to tie their laces. This bow-making trick just might change the way everyone ties their laces.

A woman who goes by the name Alet on social media recently uploaded a video of herself tying her shoe. It was so quick that viewers thought it was fake or done with savvy editing, but it's real. She introduces the lace tying trick as "your next party trick to impress a drunk person or a surgeon equally." But to be fair, you don't have to be drunk to be impressed by this speedy sorcery.

To prove that she didn't splice the video in anyway, Alet slows down the process to show viewers how it's done after sharing how tying her scrub pants resulted in an impromptu cheering session. While standing in the operating room hallway with surgeons and others crowded around her excitedly shouting at her to "do it again," she explains before spilling the secret of the neat trick.

“I asked 3000 people to teach me their favorite dance move”

For nearly 100 years, one family has faced the challenges of “brittle bone disease.”

Like his mom, grandma, and great-grandma before him, Alex was born with a condition called osteogenesis imperfecta, otherwise known as “brittle bone disease.” For every family member before him, the condition meant a lifetime of broken bones, hospital visits, and constant worry — but that story is now changing. With the support from Shriners Children’s™, Alex is experiencing a level of freedom and quality of life that former generations had only hoped for.

Read their journey and see how donor support moves this work forward.

A stunned Ricki Lake learns that boxes of her lost photos were sitting in a local flea market ​

The beloved talk show host thought the photos had been destroyed in a fire.

By Cecily Knobler

On January 7, actress and TV personality Ricki Lake was one of the thousands of people who tragically lost their homes in the wildfires that swept across Los Angeles. Nestled near the Pacific Palisades, her beautiful home was completely destroyed by ravaging flames.

Writing about it on Instagram, Lake shared a terrifying timeline, marking it "The day we lost our home."

• "Timeline of our efforts to save our beloved home in Malibu.

• 11:24 am early signs of smoke in Temescal Canyon

• 11:54 am setting up our fire defense system

• 4:10 pm Ross hosing down our neighbor’s palm tree (baller move)

• 6:17 pm Ross attempting to siphon gas for the fire defense system motor. (Even bigger baller move, though it didn’t work.) 😩

• 6:55 do we stay or do we go?"

Cut to nearly one year later. Artist Patricia "Patty" Scanlon just happened to be at the Pasadena City College Flea Market when she came across a box of photos. One woman in the pictures struck her as oddly familiar, and she soon realized it was Ricki Lake.