In this issue of The Upworthiest, Patrick Hamilton explores why your definition of a "good friend" depends entirely on when you were born. Plus, 10 Black women bought first-class tickets and revealed a lot about race in America, and the acronym mix-ups causing mortifying hilarity online.
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The true definition of a ‘good friend’ depends entirely on when you were born | ||
Studies say each generation views loyalty and friendship differently. | ||
By Patrick Hamilton | ||
Everyone wants a good friend—someone they can trust, share their feelings with, and bond over moments big and small. Finding friends in this digitally dominated age isn’t easy, especially with the generation gap. | ||
If you’ve ever felt like you and your younger (or older) friends speak completely different languages, you’re not imagining things. Across generations, our definitions of what makes a “good friend” shift dramatically. While older generations often value traditional, constant presence, younger adults are redefining loyalty through the lens of mental health, boundaries, and low-pressure support. | ||
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One of the most beautiful parts of a home is the people who make it feel like one
For 50 years, Habitat for Humanity has worked to expand access to safe, affordable and sustainable housing for the 1 in 3 people who wake up without an adequate home.
Because a home can be the beginning of so much more.
This is community care in action.
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10 Black women sat in first class on an airplane and it revealed a lot about race in America | ||
10 Black women bought first-class airplane tickets, and it revealed a lot about race in the U.S. | ||
“Are they a high class of people than I am?” | ||
By Tod Perry | ||
Software developer Angie Jones’ recent girls’ trip revealed that America still has a long way to go regarding race. To most, that’s not surprising. But what’s unique is how the specific experience Jones and her friends went through revealed the pervasive way systemic racism still runs through our culture. | ||
Jones is the Senior Director of Developer Relations at Applitools, holds 26 patented inventions in the United States of America and Japan, and is an IBM Master Inventor. | ||
On July 27, she tweeted about a flight she took with nine other Black women, and they all sat in first class. “People literally could not process how it was possible,” she wrote. “Staff tried to send us to regular lines. Passengers made snide remarks. One guy even yelled ‘are they a higher class of people than I am?!'” | ||
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An Upworthiest Quiz
According to researchers, how many hours does it take to turn an acquaintance into a close friend?
Yesterday’s Results
In yesterday’s issue, we shared Tod Perry’s story on the ‘Home Shoes’ hack that helps people with ADHD beat task paralysis.
And we asked: How many decisions does the average adult make in a single day? 26.3% of you went with 35,000, which is the “right” answer, at least according to every article on the internet since a 2015 university blog post first floated it. Nobody has ever actually counted.
Reader Boston did the math anyway: “1,440 minutes a day minus 480 for sleep leaves about 1,000 waking minutes. 35,000 decisions is one every 1.7 seconds, which can’t be right.” We ran the numbers too. Boston has a point. Unless, as reader Ann Dag put it, “every waking moment is a decision,” in which case 35,000 might be an undercount.
350 (21.3%)
3,500 (45.6%)
35,000 (26.3%)
350,000 (6.9%)
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Online communication can result in some hilarious misunderstandings. | ||
12 times people completely misunderstood what an acronym or emoji actually means | ||
“So sorry for your loss. LOL.” | ||
By Annie Reneau | ||
Communication has always been a hit-or-miss reality, even before the Internet. Misunderstandings, misreadings, and misinterpretations happen. But the age of emojis and online-only acronyms has opened up even more opportunities for miscommunication, sometimes resulting in mortifying hilarity. | ||
A thread on X highlights misuses of modern acronyms and emojis, largely revolving around the letter “F.” (Fair warning here that many of these contain f-bombs.) It starts with someone who thought “JFC” stood for “just for clarification.” | ||
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