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.”

Motorola Razr 2022 To Get Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen1 Chipset

The Motorola Razr of 2022 has made a physical appearance in some capacity, confirming leaks that it will look quite different compared to before. But the way it looks aside, other things that we know of the device come from leaks. Though on this front, some things have changed, as the company has revealed two bits of info on what the phone packs.

As Android Authority reports, the company has shared on Chinese social media Weibo that the Motorola Razr 2022 will come with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen1 chipset. Considering that it hasn’t gotten an official launch yet, this is good news. The base Snapdragon 8 Gen1 would be just a little out of date by the time the phone becomes available.

Separately, one post which the report attributes as coming from a Motorola executive states that the Razr of 2022 will also get a 3500mAh battery. By today’s standards, that is a pretty small battery for a smartphone. But hopefully with the more efficient chipset, it would be enough for the foldable phone to last a day at the very least. The executive also claims that the phone will also have good battery management, which would be nice if it’s true.

Beyond these two points though, we’ll still have to go with what we know from previous leaks. Leakster Evan Blass has claimed that the Motorola Razr 2022 will have a Full HD+ display, either 8GB or 12GB of RAM, 256GB or 512GB of storage space, a 50MP primary + 13MP wide angle and macro camera combo, and a 32MP punch hole secondary camera.

Whether or not these are accurate, we will have to wait for the launch to find out. On that note, the report claims that Motorola will be officially unveiling the Razr 2022 on 2 August, so it won’t be too long a wait.

Super Nintendo World To Get Donkey Kong Expansion In 2024

The Super Nintendo World area in the Universal Studios Japan theme park was opened earlier this year. As was reported last November, the section of the theme park will get a Donkey Kong expansion right next to the Mario-themed original area. Nintendo has since announced that the new area will be open sometime in 2024.

As is the usual theme park fare, the new Donkey Kong section will feature things like a roller coaster, themed merchanise, and food. But what really stands out is the area of “lush jungles where Donkey Kong and his friends live”. Overall, the new expansion will increase the Super Nintendo World area by 70%.

In the initial report, Bloomberg noted that the Mario section is a little on the small side. In retrospect, perhaps it wasn’t that small after all, or that the new location is even smaller, if the addition of a new area themed around another IP didn’t immediately double the size of Super Nintendo World.

But at any rate, it will be awhile before those outside of Osaka will be able to visit the place anyway. And it’s really up in the air right now as to whether the world will return to a time where travel is not quite so restricted first, or the expansion will be completed first.

Samsung Galaxy S21 Users Will Be First To Get Samsung’s Android 12 Beta

After teasing about its upcoming beta program a few weeks ago, Samsung has officially opened up registration for Galaxy S21 series users to get early access and try out the One UI 4.0 beta based on Android 12. This year’s release is earlier than usual, as the stable release of Android 12 isn’t even out yet. In comparison, Samsung’s 3.0 beta last year got rolled out a month after the debut of Android 11.

The One UI 4 Beta Program is open to Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21+, and Galaxy S21 Ultra users in China, India, Germany, Poland, South Korea, the U.K., and the U.S. with varying release dates. Eligible users can sign up to preview the OS using the Samsung Members app and use some of the latest features being developed for the final version, including more customisable and transparent data settings.

Samsung says they’ll use the data from the beta program to fine-tune the final release coming later this year. Interestingly, the beta registration is being pushed out on the same day as Apple’s event, which is expected to launch this year’s iPhone.

One UI is the company’s custom Android skin, which looks markedly different from vanilla Android. Google’s upcoming version uses a new design theme called Material You, which is a major design revamp from previous versions of the OS. Seeing as Material You is a fundamental part of Android 12, it’ll be interesting to see how Samsung will integrate the AI theming into One UI’s aesthetics.

Samsung does say that 4.0 will have theming options that span from home screens, icons, notifications, wallpapers, and more, in addition to customisable widgets. From the pictures shown of the beta, it seems Samsung phones will be getting the microphone and camera indicators from Android 12 that show when these components are turned on. And of course, users will have even more customisation options in the AR Emoji Studio.

Coincidentally, a recent rumour based on internal Google documents suggests that the tech giant might be planning to officially release Android 12 for Pixel phones on 4 October, less than three weeks from now. Last year, One UI 3.0 was pushed out to Galaxy S20 phones a month after its public beta, so Samsung users who won’t be joining the beta programme might not have to wait that long for this year’s rollout.

Germany Wants Phones To Get Seven Years Of Security Updates

With phones across the price range getting sequels and successors basically every year, it’s easy to think that each generation will be short-lived. That being said, if you’re really careful, you can definitely keep it running for very long, sometimes beyond the last security update that it gets. Germany wants this to change, and it is looking to get phone makers to provide seven years of security updates.

German publication Heise reports that the country’s government has made a proposal to that effect, alongside extended repair support. Not only must phones get security updates for seven years, spare parts for them must also be easily obtainable and at a reasonable price.

The report also mentions an opposing view in the form of DigitalEurope, an industry association that represents brands like Apple, Samsung and Huawei. The association says that security updates should be limited to three years, and software updates at two. Spare parts should also be limited to batteries and displays, as other parts “rarely fail”.

On the face of it, the battery is probably the biggest hurdle in getting a phone to last anywhere near seven years. Add in the fact that many phones come with some sort of water resistance (even if they’re not advertised features), and this makes battery replacement, and maintaining water resistance after that, tricky.

Someone Managed To Get Windows 11 Running On A Lumia 950 XL

Microsoft released the Windows 11 preview build earlier this week and many fans and enthusiasts are jumping on it. And while the OS has been frustrating PC owners whose systems “don’t meet” the new TPM 2.0 requirement, one user has seemingly thought outside the box: installing the OS on a nearly six year old Lumia 950 XL.

The feat was performed by French engineering student Gustave Monce, who also posted a video of his effort on YouTube. According to Monce, he says that he managed to get an ARM64 build of Windows 11 running on the old Windows phone after “a day of work” and the results are, in a word, fascinating.

As a quick primer, the Lumia 950 XL was launched back in 2015, which was pretty much the twilight years of Microsoft’s Windows Mobile OS for smartphones. Specs-wise, the phone ran on a Snapdragon 810, 3GB RAM, 32GB of expandable storage, and had a 5.7-inch WQHD display.

Naturally, it goes without saying that Windows 11 was never made to be backwards compatible with the last of Microsoft’s Windows mobile devices. Having said that, the video shows the device being able to orient from portrait to landscape mode, albeit not seamlessly.

What is even more impressive is that Monce also managed to make the device capable of making and receiving phone calls. Why is this impressive? Because Windows 11 doesn’t ship with a phone stack, which means Monce actually had to create that part of the stack from scratch.

At the end of the day, it’s clear that Monce’s efforts are really just for fun, and there is no denying that it is quite refreshing to see what is an already ancient device – in technological terms, that is – capable of running Microsoft’s OS replacement for Windows 10.

Fitbit Wearables May Soon Get Snore Detection

Sleep tracking is a pretty common feature these days for smart bands and smart watches. But Fitbit looks to be adding one extra feature to its sleep tracking functionality. It’s snore detection, which adds another layer of sleep analysis.

9to5Google found hints of the feature in the Fitbit 3.42 APK. The full name of the feature is called Snore & Noise Detect. And as the name suggests, it tracks the frequency of your snoring relative to the amount of time you are asleep. And it also measures ambient noise in the background.

All this will be done via the microphone on the wearable. But if you have a partner who snores, your Fitbit wearable won’t actually know who is the one snoring. Also, the use of this feature will be limited if you have, for some reason, ambient noise that’s louder than your snoring.

If you’re thinking that this will cost a lot in terms of battery juice, you’ll be right. A line in the Fitbit APK tells users to charge the device up to at least 40% before calling it a day. It also explicitly says that using this feature will result in more frequent charging.

9to5Google notes that while it is able to enable the feature briefly, it’s not widely available to use in the Fitbit app. There’s no indication as to when the new Google subsidiary will change this either.

PS5 To Get Hardware Redesign; Production To Start In 2022

It looks like the PS5 may be getting a slight upgrade in a year or two. But so far, it looks like it’s not as major as going from the PS4 to the PS4 Pro. Instead, it may be something like the new, improved battery life version of the Nintendo Switch instead.

Taiwanese website DigiTimes reports that the PS5 will be getting a hardware redesign. Emphasis on the hardware part, going from a 7nm CPU to a 6nm one. The company may have preferred to use 5nm, but ultimately decided against it because it’s too expensive to do so.

This supposed hardware redesign will enter production in 2022. Which may mean that the improved PS5 consoles will only see the light of day very late that year at its earliest, or in 2023. It’s unknown what sort of performance increase that can be expected from this redesign. But the usual suspects are a slight performance increase, and maybe better power efficiency.

Though on the outside, the console is not expected to get any significant cosmetic makeover. Overall, it’s probably safe to expect the same minimal fanfare that the improved Switch saw. Which is to say none at all besides maybe a way to identify which one you’re getting if you haven’t already gotten a PS5.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3, Z Flip 2 May Get IP Ratings

While IP ratings on phones are getting more and more common, it’s still a challenge to give one to foldable devices. But it looks like Samsung may be giving them next entries into the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip lines.

SamMobile reports the two new foldable devices from Samsung will feature IP ratings, but what rating exactly remains unknown. Due to the complicated nature of their construction, chances are it wouldn’t be an IP68. That’s basically the best a consumer product can go for, certifying that a product can survive being submerged at depths of slightly over 1m for 30 minutes. And that’s not something easy to promise when you have an important moving part in a device’s construction.

It’s not surprising that Samsung wants to extend the IP rating privilege to its most expensive products. This is especially when the company’s own midrange device is getting such a benefit.

But whether or not the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 2 will actually come with the ratings, we’ll have to wait and see. SamMobile also reports that both devices will see an official reveal in July, a month earlier than its usual August event reserved for its Note line. The Note device itself will likely not be making an appearance due to the global chip shortage.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children To Get A 4K Remaster On 8 June

Final Fantasy VII Remake is one of the biggest phenomenons in gaming right now. So it’s probably not too surprising to see the 2005 film Advent Children returning to the limelight as well. Last week we saw the announcement of a watch based on the film. Now, the news is that the movie itself is getting remastered.

Coming a whole 16 years later, the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete remaster will come in 4K. And since it’s the complete edition, it will come with extra material that the original did not. Think of it like a director’s cut version.

Sony Pictures uploaded a 10-minute preview of the film, but it’s not the new 4K version. Probably to tug at the nostalgia of those who watched the original way back when, to get them to buy the new 4K version. Which is a weird slice of the movie to show, since it’s the slowest part of the Advent Children movie.

For those who are fans of the original game and the movie, this may be something you’d want to watch. Even if it’s only to see what the film would look like when given the remaster treatment. But if your first Final Fantasy VII experience is the remake, then it’s probably not a good idea to watch this.

Lazada Shoppers Can Now Get Digital Financing Through Aspirasi CashNow

Lazada shoppers who’d like to stretch their spending limits can now apply for digital financing through Aspirasi CashNow. The service, offered by Axiata Digital’s micro-financing platform Aspirasi, is available to all Malaysians aged 18 to 65 who have an active Lazada Wallet account.

Aspirasi CashNow claims to be Shariah-compliant and provides financing amounts starting from RM500 up to RM2,500, with a low profit rate and monthly installment tenures (terms and conditions apply). Interested shoppers are promised a quick and easy application process that takes about 3 minutes.

Eligible applicants will receive their funds credited into their Lazada Wallet within 48 hours. They will also enjoy Aspirasi CashNow Protect, a complimentary micro-insurance that covers accidental death and permanent disablement as well as reimbursement on online bills (terms and conditions apply).

This isn’t the first time that Lazada Malaysia and Aspirasi have worked together. In 2019, they teamed up to provide financing support to micro-enterprises and SME merchants on the e-commerce platform. Through Aspirasi, merchants would obtain easy financing with micro-insurance as an optional benefit.

Aspirasi is a platform built by Axiata Digital, itself part of Axiata Group, which is better known for telco subsidiary Celcom.

For more information about Aspirasi CashNow, you can go here.

Watch Dogs Legion Will Get Cross-Play At Some Point In The Future

Ubisoft initially planned for the multplayer component for Watch Dogs Legion to launch on 9 March. Ultimately though. the publisher has decided to delay the multplayer component on PC indefinitely. And while the mode is available on consoles, the main co-op mode, Tactical Ops, has been pushed back. Though for what it’s worth, the publisher says that cross-play and cross-platform progression is still on the way.

In a tweet responding to another player, the official Watch Dogs Twitter account said that the dev team is working on adding this feature to Legion. Though it will be added in a future update, no exact date was given.

Naturally, enabling cross-play isn’t exactly on top of Ubisoft’s priority list. As it should be, since Watch Dogs Legion still needs its multiplayer component to work properly. And with there being no word on when players can expect that to be fixed, anything else beyond that would naturally also not have a concrete release date.

That being said, there’s also the question of if Ubisoft can fix the issues plaguing Watch Dogs Legion before players lose interest. The game was released back in October last year. Those who got the game early would likely have been done with the singleplayer campaign by now. Even the promised Bloodline DLC has yet to drop.

Monster Hunter World Gets A Board Game; Kickstarter Campaign Starts 20 April

There have been quite a number of video games that have made the transition to physical board games. The latest addition to that list looks to be Monster Hunter World, if its Kickstarter campaign succeeds.

Monster Hunter World: The Board Game is made by Steamforged Games. The company has previously brought a number of other games to the tabletop. This includes the likes of Devil May Cry and Dark Souls. Like those iterations, this one featuring Monster Hunter will have cards represent the available weapons and the moves available to them. Hunters and monsters are represented by mini figures, the largest of which measures over a foot (~30.5cm) in height.

Tabletop news outlet Dicebreaker has a trailer showcasing the game setup, as well as a few models of the hunters and monsters. From there, we can see Rathalos, Anjanath, Great Jagras and Tobi-Kadachi figures against the hunters, which are quite accurate as far as scale goes.

According to Dicebreaker, the Kickstartercampaign will have three tiers. The first asks for US$70 (~RM282), and will come with the Ancient Forest biome, four hunters and four monsters. This will be enough to provide 30 hours of game play. A more “complete” experience comes at double the price, but double’s play time with monster count increasing to nine, and hunters up to eight. Going all-in with a US$279 (~RM1141), you get a 75-hour “campaign” and a total of 24 figures.

All in all, Monster Hunter World: The Board Game is bound to play very differently compared to the original. No surprise here, as it’s basically the same for every other game-to-tabletop conversion. Though it would serve as a bridge between the two worlds, possibly introducing fans of one to the other. The Kickstarter campaign kicks off proper on 20 April.