53% Of Women Surveyed Says They Get Lonely, Worser When They Climb Corporate Ladder

 

It’s often been said that it’s lonely at the top and now there’s new research to prove it. A recent survey of more than 600 men and women across the U.S. found that 53% of women in the workplace experience loneliness—and it only gets worse the higher they climb the corporate ladder.

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The study, which was conducted in February 2023 by TheLi.st, Berlin Cameron & Benenson Group, confirms what women in the workplace have long known—getting ahead is no easy feat and it’s not exactly a walk in the park once you get there.

“This research points to a workplace crisis, a mental health crisis and a pipeline crisis for women,” says Ann Shoket, CEO of TheLi.st, a private community of high-impact women in media, technology and entrepreneurship. “We did this research not to point out how lonely it is, but to point out the impact of that loneliness on their lives and their careers. It’s not that so many women are feeling lonely at their job, but they feel lonely because of their job.”

Almost 30% of senior-level women in the survey said they feel as if they don’t have anyone to talk to about work and that lack of support is taking a toll. Two-thirds of senior-level women say that work, combined with responsibilities at home, have left them feeling burned out, stressed and overwhelmed. One needs to look no further than the recent resignations of high-profile women in leadership positions, such as Jacinda Ardern, the former prime minister of New Zealand and YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, to see a trend.

A recent study by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a Chicago-based executive outplacement firm, found that 167 people stepped down from CEO roles in February 2023, an 11% increase over the number of leaders who left in February 2022. For women, the reasons are varied, according to a report from McKinsey & Company and Lean In that saw women leaving leadership positions because they are likely to experience stronger headwinds than men; they’re overworked and underrecognized; and they desire a more flexible and diverse workplace culture.

“We think that loneliness and success go hand in hand—the idea of the lone wolf leader bearing all of the weight of the decisions on their own,” says Shoket. “And that is not conducive to success for women. Women feel unseen, unsupported and like they can’t be their authentic selves at work.”

What’s really at stake when it comes to loneliness

Beyond implications at work, loneliness is also linked to a number of physical and mental health issues, including higher risks of depression, anxiety, cardiovascular disease, trouble sleeping and dementia among others. In fact, a study from the National Institute on Aging found that prolonged isolation is the same as smoking 15 cigarettes per day.

The loneliness epidemic is so prevalent that at a lecture at Yale last fall, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy said, “It is both common and consequential, and that is one of the reasons why I wanted to raise the alarm that this is a public health issue.”

To help cope with the stress, nearly 92% of the senior-level women who reported being lonely in TheLi.st study said they turned to a negative coping behavior, such as alcohol, drugs, overexercising and overspending.

Loneliness is contributing to a pipeline problem for women leaders

In TheLi.st’s study, researchers found that nearly 60% of women say their feelings of loneliness or isolation have increased as their careers progressed and nearly 53% of women have declined a job, a promotion, quit or stopped working altogether because of the negative impact on their personal life.

“There’s a generation of women who are looking up the ladder at the women ahead of them and seeing what they’ve had to sacrifice, seeing how they’ve had to compartmentalize and they’re like, ‘no, thank you. I’m opting out of that,’” says Shoket.

Instead of opting out of leadership positions altogether, Denise Hamilton, CEO and founder of Watch Her Work, a digital platform for professional women, is encouraging a younger workforce to reimagine what success could look like on their terms.

“People aren’t aspiring to leadership roles the same way they used to, especially after a kind of value correction that happened during lockdown,” says Hamilton. “We had this Great Resignation, but I call it the Great Negotiation because literally everything is on the table. It’s all up for a repositioning and restructuring.”

To do that, Hamilton recommends taking into consideration what you need to succeed, and how a particular role or company may be able to support those goals.

“How are we articulating what we want in these environments instead of just stepping away from the table?” she asks. “It’s really important to be a part of the reimagining of the modern workforce.”

Loneliness is even worse for women of color

Not only is it lonely at the top, but it’s less diverse, too. The Lean In report found that only one in four people in the C-suite is a woman and only one in 20 is a woman of color. Meanwhile, TheLi.st study saw that feeling of loneliness is especially exacerbated for Black women and women of color, whose isolation is compounded by a lack of respect. Only one in five women of color strongly agree that they feel respected at work, compared to over a third of white women.

“We’re still only about one to two generations in where women have been allowed to work, let alone where they’re getting to the C-suite,” says Bea Arthur, therapist and founder of The Difference, an on-demand therapy service. “I can tell you from my own experience as an entrepreneur and working with high performers in general that if you see a woman or a person of color at the top, you know they’ve been through some shit to get there and to stay there.”

And it’s not necessarily any easier even when you’re your own boss, as Arthur can attest, recalling a time when she was the first and only Black woman and one of eight female founders at Y Combinator, a startup accelerator company, back in 2015. To help navigate her experience of often being the “first, only and different” as showrunner Shonda Rhimes once described it, Arthur leaned on the help of a coach.

“My coach reminded me that respect comes from the Latin word respicere, which means to ‘look back at, or regard,’” she says. “And that’s the thing. It doesn’t matter how much I’ve done, they’ll never see me as valuable. The “not being seen” piece…that’s what loneliness is—feeling alone, feeling unsupported. It’s exactly what they say, being a brown person you have to work twice as hard to get half as far.”

How to combat loneliness in the workplace

In addition to coaching, Arthur has relied heavily on coworking spaces and community groups, such as TheLi.st, to help feel less alone.

“Being a member of a good coworking space that does programming, content and events where I could see other founders come and speak and meet other entrepreneurs has been such a game changer,” says Arthur. “Working from home has great flexibility, but every now and then it helps to be around other people.”

Hamilton suggests budgeting time and proactively reaching out to your friends and professional network to schedule lunch dates and coffee dates, whether they’re in-person or virtual. After all, friendships have been proven to improve our physical and mental health. But at the end of the day, it’s on companies and policies to provide better working conditions for women, especially those who are underrepresented in leadership positions.

“All the coaching we give women about how they can have better work-life balance, we have to cut that out. This is a systemic societal problem,” says Hamilton. “My advice is to be gentle with yourself and understand the challenge that’s in front of you. You don't get the promotion because you work hard. You get the promotion, because somebody above you, who has the authority to amplify you, thinks you work hard.”

Thieves Discovered Using Hacking Tool Disguised As A JBL Portable Speaker To Steal Cars

A new form of carjacking has been discovered by UK-based automotive cybersecurity researcher Ian Tabor, which allows thieves to break into keyless vehicles using a special hacking tool to spoof the security system. One particular version of this device, he noted, could appear as a seemingly harmless portable speaker from JBL.

What led to Tabor researching the matter was actually caused by his own experience of losing his Toyota RAV4 last year. The first few attempts of the theft were even documented by the researcher on Twitter, where he assumed that these were merely acts of senseless vandalism on his car. More specifically, Tabor tweeted that vandals have torn off its front left-side bumper and partially dismantled the headlight not once but twice in three months. 

The third time, unfortunately, was the charm for the thieves as the RAV4 went missing a few days after the second attempt. This incident prompted Tabor to investigate how his car was stolen, together with fellow automotive security expert Dr. Ken Tindell. Their findings have been published as a detailed report via the latter’s Canis Automotive Labs blog on Github.

In their research, it is discovered that the carjackers are using a new and sophisticated approach called CAN (Controller Area Network) Injection, which exploits a newly found vulnerability in 2021 Toyota RAV4 vehicles dubbed as CVE-2023-29389. This particular flaw automatically trusts messages from other ECUs (electronic control units), allowing physically proximate attackers to drive a vehicle by accessing its CAN bus and then sending a forged key validation message. However, thieves are first required to pull away the bumper in order to expose the car’s headlight connector to access the ECU, hence the presumed vandalism attempts.

What’s even more concerning is that such methods, which have been documented on video by the way (shown above), would reportedly take only two minutes to break into keyless vehicles. Upon further digging on Youtube, crime forums and even the dark web, Tabor discovered that thieves have been using CAN Injection tools that are sold online as emergency start devices. These are originally intended for use by owners or automotive professionals when a car’s key fob is lost, stolen, or otherwise unavailable.

As mentioned earlier, one version of this hacking tool, which both security experts purchased for reverse engineering purposes, came in the form of a fake JBL portable speaker – a disguise that can easily fool any unsuspecting individual or authority if uninspected. Our own research has found that other similar tools are also available as generic key fobs and, of all things, a certain retro handset. Of course, we won’t link our discoveries here due to obvious reasons, and we do not condone the use of such equipment.

According to Tindell, pressing the play button on the fake JBL portable speaker will trigger it to send out a CAN message burst that instructs the targeted vehicle’s ECU to unlock its doors. Of course, with the car believing that the false key is valid, thieves are also given access to its Push Start function and are able to drive off.

While the attack was successfully replicated on a Toyota RAV4, it is still possible that something similar could occur on other vehicles using the same technology and architecture. Tabor and Tindell have alerted Toyota regarding the vulnerability, but have yet to receive any acknowledgement or response from the automaker.

Samsung May Announce Galaxy Z Tab Foldable Tablet Alongside Tab S9 Series

There have been a fair number of rumours surrounding the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 series of tablets that are expected to be launching this year. This includes a possibility of there being five distinct models in the lineup in total, with two budget variants in addition to the base, Plus and Ultra models. More recently, an industry leakster has claimed that the South Korean tech giant may be launching another tablet at the same time. And this extra addition may be a foldable tablet, dubbed the Samsung Galaxy Z Tab.

The leakster in question is one Revegnus, who made the claim on Twitter. In an answer to a question in the replies, they claim that “There’s a really high probability that this will come out this year”. They also say that the alternative would be releasing it in 2024 instead, but doing so would mean that it will be “one of a bunch of foldables coming out next year”.

Beyond that though, there’s not much else in terms of details. Though if Samsung truly intends to launch a foldable tablet this year, then it will line up with a previous claim by another leakster. Last month, Yogesh Brar claimed that the company may be lifting the veil off of a tri-folding device sometime this year. At the time, it was unclear which form of tri-folding this device will end up sporting. During last year’s edition of CES, the company showcased two possibilities – one is an in-and-out double curve that resembles the letter S or Z, the other being a brochure-like inwards fold.

At any rate, we’ll likely have to wait until Samsung officially announces the Galaxy Tab S9 series of tablets first to see if the announcement gets a hitchhike by a Z Tab. And for now, even those don’t yet have a date attached to the event.

Cyberpunk 2077 RT: Overdrive Mode Seemingly Cripples RTX 4090 Without DLSS 3

It’s been a couple of years since CD Projekt Red (CDPR) launched Cyberpunk 2077 and in spite of a rocky launch riddled with bugs, glitches and unplanned disappearing acts of vehicles, the studio has already brought the game up to an acceptable enough level, and is still constantly adding on new improvements, patch after patch. In fact, in its next update, the game will be getting a patch that gives players access to an upgraded version of ray-tracing mode, known as RT: Overdrive Mode.

We first wrote about RT: Overdrive Mode back in March, when GDC 2023 was in full swing, and both NVIDIA and CDPR gave a technical session regarding the technology. The mode, also known as Full ray-tracing, which is also known as path-tracing, is actually just one of the two popular methods used by game developer whenever they wish to simulate the behaviour of light in-game. With the more conventional ray-tracing, the in-game engine traces the path of light rays and their interaction with different objects; this processing method requires a lot of graphical power but the end results are images and environments with very accurate reflections, refractions, and shadows.

 

With path-tracing that is used by the RT: Overdrive Mode, the lighting calculation is randomly computed and involves the path of lights that are sampled within an environment. It’s a less complex and demanding process but as a trade-off, the final product is an image with higher noise levels. NVIDIA, in this case, seems to have successfully mitigated that issue, as evidenced by its latest teaser video, showing off the mode in all its glory. In the brand’s words, “full ray-tracing models all properties of light from an unlimited number of emissive sources, delivering physically correct shadows, reflections, and global illuminations on all objects.”

There is a very clear and obvious trade-off for the new RT: Overdrive mode, and that’s an increased strained or processing power by the GPU, and NVIDIA actually shows it in the product demo. With full ray-tracing activated and its DLSS upscaling technology turned on, the feature effectively kneecaps an RTX 4090, with the GPU just able to churn out 16 fps on average, and at 4K resolution. Of course, flip the switch on the brand’s DLSS 3, and the framerate ratchets back above the 100 fps mark and stays there for the remainder of the short tech demo. Honestly, we’re not sure if that massive drop in frames is actually legitimate, but if it is, it does feel a bit soul-crushing, especially given the power a GPU such as the RTX 4090 commands.

US Government Traces Pentagon Leak To Member Of Air Force National Guard

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has traced the source that leaked highly classified documents from the Pentagon back to an Air National Guardsman. 21-year-old Jack Douglas Teixeira, who is a member of the US Air Force National Guard, was arrested in the state of Massachusetts earlier today.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland confirmed the arrest and said that Teixeira was currently being held “in connection with an investigation into alleged unauthorised removal, retention, and transmission of classified national defense information”. During the investigation, it was surmised by the Washington Post that whoever leaked the documents was, in all possibility, someone of the suspect’s age, an American that grew up with gaming and guns in their life, and most importantly, would be a soldier within a military branch.

The investigation is still ongoing but US officials found that Teixeira also controlled a Discord server, through which he leaked the classified documents, all just so that he could get the one thing a person his age would do: he wanted to impress his friends. His channel wasn’t as big, with only 25 members in total, but the problem was that it included individuals that hailed from Europe, Asia, and South America. Unsurprisingly, once the authenticity of said documents were verified by other sources, they began spreading like wildfire, leading to the current predicament the US government is in right now.

As we reported yesterday, Teixeira’s leaking of US Pentagon documents is also the most potentially devastating, and could even be more impactful than those leaked by Edward Snowden back in 2013. Alleged content from the highly classified documents reportedly included references to Russian and Chinese activities, and about how the current war in Ukraine has drawn the latter country into helping the former. Not only that, but the leaked documents also seemingly point to the US spying on allied countries, including South Korea and Israel. Among other things.

Another matter that the US government will most certainly be asking, in light of Teixeira’s arrest, is how exactly a low-ranking Air Force National Guardsman even managed to get his hands on documents, some likely modified down the line, that was clearly not for his eyes.