Self-Monitoring

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Self-monitoring is a relatively new concept in personality traits, having emerged only about 50 years ago. It refers to ensuring that one’s image in public is appropriate or meets expectations.

It is a spectrum-based personality trait. High self-monitors may be more proactive, such as closely observing their audience’s attitude and behaving as a “social chameleon.” Low self-monitors, on the other hand, tend to express their inner feelings and are consistent across situations, which may make them appear blunt.

Although it is a personality trait, the influence of the environment is obvious. Individualistic and collectivist regions tend to have more low self-monitors and high self-monitors, respectively. The principle is probably that the differences in behavior encouraged by different environments lead to a certain tendency.

This difference also leads to differences in the interpretation and preferences of works in individualistic and collectivist regions. For example, in the game 《Ice Age》, when players accustomed to individualism restrict personal freedom and ultimately complete the game in the form of a totalitarian government, the message “But was it worth it?” is displayed, and players usually reflect on their behavior.

However, KOL players accustomed to collectivism may express it from a politically correct perspective, believing that it is all worthwhile. Although this is the mainstream voice on social media, Steam reviews do not lie. The recommendation rate for Simplified Chinese is as high as 89 %, which is almost the same as the world’s recommendation rate of 92 %, and even higher than the recommendation rate of 85 % for Japanese. (It may also be that Simplified Chinese players who are willing to pay for games on Steam are relatively less susceptible to collectivism)

Another manifestation may be that high self-monitors are more willing to socialize anonymously online. Kaspersky conducted a survey in the Asia-Pacific region on the prevalence of anonymous social media accounts, and the results showed that it was as high as 35 % in Southeast Asia and 28 % in South Asia, while it was only 20 % in Australia. Although data from Europe and the United States is lacking, it should be similar to Australia and relatively low.

P.S.: There are still many controversies and confusions in the research on self-monitoring, so this should be a theory with obvious flaws and needs to be improved.

Nonexistent Memories Increased

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During the popularity of psychoanalysis, many psychological problems were considered to be caused by childhood trauma, so some psychologists tended to dig into childhood memories. However, possibly due to the suggestive nature of the methods, some false accusations appeared, such as false allegations of child sexual abuse.

The movie 《狩猎》 (The Hunt), starring Mads Mikkelsen, is a reflection of this kind of false accusation. Some scholars are concerned about these false memories, so they designed an experiment: recruiting a small number of 5-year-old children and asking their parents to often tell false stories of getting lost in the mall in a week. The results showed that about 25% of the children regarded it as a memory and even filled in the missing details.

However, this type of memory implantation experiment is very unethical, so there seem to be no similar experiments in recent years to confirm it. Fortunately, there is also a widespread social phenomenon that can be observed, which is the Mandela effect. In 2013, when Mandela passed away, many people outside of South Africa said, wasn’t Mandela already dead in the last century?

And the lyrics “fifty-six ethnic groups”, the character “𪠽” (the simplified version of 噹) in books, the color of Pikachu’s tail, etc., many people feel that their memories do not match the facts. Since there has been no large-scale epidemic of new encephalitis in society, it is not the activation of Reading Steiner to see the history of other world lines, but simply a widespread false memory.

Current AI images can be made very realistic. If they are used to implant false memories, they may be more efficient, X user 寒涟漪 worried.

The Negative Impacts of Smartwatches on Health

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In 2024 , the number of global smartwatch users exceeded 454.69 million. Due to the extremely high number of users, and recent discoveries, the negative impacts of smartwatches on health have gradually become recognized by the public.

Fluoroelastomer is an excellent rubber with extremely high corrosion resistance, not even afraid of “sulfuric acid hands.” Therefore, fluoroelastomer is used in some mid-to-high-end watch bands, such as the $49 Apple Watch Light Blush Sport Band.

However, fluoroelastomer may release PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), and then the PFAS is absorbed by the skin, causing some problems. In recent years, increasing evidence suggests that PFAS has many toxic effects on the human body. (The toxic emulsifier PFOA contained in some non-stick pans, as well as the contaminant PFOS in drinking water, both belong to PFAS)

A study found that 15 out of 22 common brands of smartwatch bands release PFAS. To reduce the body’s exposure to PFAS substances, changing to a band other than fluoroelastomer may be a good idea. It’s just that the effect is unknown, because PFAS is too common.

The reason why there are no relevant regulations to limit it is because the main PFAS substance released by fluoroelastomer bands is PFHxA, and there is currently little understanding of this substance. Because PFHxA is added as a substitute for PFOA, it is a substance required to manufacture fluoroelastomer. So, maybe it will be like some artificial sweeteners, and its harm will be discovered in the future.

Postscript: Wearing a smartwatch for a long time may cause skin folds under the watch face. Since smartwatches use flashing green light to measure heart rate, and red and infrared light to measure blood oxygen saturation, some people worry about whether the watch will cause abnormal skin aging. But in reality, there is nothing wrong, it is just moisture accumulation under the skin, the skin is “puffed up,” just switch hands or rest for a while.

Man Will Conquer Nature, Maybe?

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「Man Will Conquer Nature」 was once the underlying logic of many social mobilizations and social movements, such as Learn from Dazhai in Agriculture, Eliminate the Four Pests and building dams with very low standards, etc. The Eliminate the Four Pests plan at that time originally intended to eliminate flies, mosquitoes, rats, and sparrows in 10 years or less.

However, the main achievement of Eliminate the Four Pests was that it almost wiped out sparrows, which then led to an increase in pests. Fortunately, “Man Will Conquer Nature” still has many positive results, including using the rule of law to regulate the minimum level of morality, and using technology to make up for physical defects, etc. But can basic human preferences really be suppressed by free will?

Although people’s aesthetics vary and change with the times, the most well-known stars of each era generally conform to the aesthetics of most people. Since there is a standard of beauty, there will also be a judgment of ugliness. Appearance anxiety plagues many people, so the market for skin care, makeup, and cosmetic medicine is very large.

For evolutionary psychology, which may bring about physical attractiveness, it is too difficult to suppress nature with subjective will. In 1967, someone challenged the slender aesthetic. Radio host Steve Post held an acceptance of obesity movement in Central Park, which was a pride event for obese people. (body positivity)

However, the effect is very subtle. It may reduce the physical anxiety of obese people, thereby reducing anxiety and depression. However, there is still a lot of discrimination against obese people. Moreover, this theory also makes some obese people with unhealthy conditions lack the motivation to improve their weight.

Even if most people agree that it is wrong to ridicule other people’s physical characteristics, this is the basic morality of modern society, and it is correct. But this is just a beautiful wish. Maybe the New Left thinks that the Old Left’s methods are wrong, and they can solve the problem of discrimination against transgender groups and achieve correctness. Unfortunately, it seems that this may be a repeat of the same mistakes.

PS: Aesthetics is affected by nature, which is probably controlled by genes. Transgender groups also exhibit traits different from the public because of genes. Therefore, the difficulty of getting the public to accept transgender people may be as difficult as getting transgender groups to accept conversion therapy. So the only way to solve this problem may be to implement large-scale gene therapy to modify the underlying nature of physical attractiveness, etc.

The Standardization of Japanese Schools

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Ma Dugong introduced in an issue that schools are standardized to improve the minimum standards of schools. At least, the food in the school cafeteria is not easily criticized. This reminds gledos that the schools in Japanese works have a very high degree of similarity, which shows that Japanese primary and secondary schools are unexpectedly standardized?

In The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Haruhi Suzumiya tried to draw a ground painting to contact aliens on the school playground when she was a child. The tool she used was called a line car (ラインカー), which can use calcium carbonate powder to draw runways. Because Japanese primary and secondary schools are paved with soil or fine sand on the playground, such equipment is needed.

In works involving enrollment, there will be a white sign with “Entrance Ceremony” written on it at the school gate. At graduation, the graduation certificate will be rolled up and placed in a dark tube. These entrance and graduation activities are basically held in the indoor gymnasium.

According to Article 10 of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s 『小学校設置基準』, elementary schools should have (indoor) gymnasiums, unless local conditions or other factors limit the establishment of gymnasiums. Of course, there is also the infirmary that was introduced before, and the school swimming pool that often appears in the works, which together form the Japanese campus familiar to ACG fans.

As of 2021, 87% of elementary schools and 65% of junior high schools in Japan have outdoor swimming pools, which is a very high proportion. However, this is not a facility stipulated in the 『小学校設置基準』, but in the 『学習指導要領』, the curriculum requires teaching swimming and other sports.

Such standardized school facilities and some of the same culture make Japanese schools more equal. Specifically, financially relying on transfer payments and other means to make the financial distribution of schools in rural and urban areas in Japan more balanced. And the teacher rotation system makes the level of teachers equal. And the standardization of infrastructure mentioned above makes the infrastructure of schools not lack or too bad, which makes Japanese primary and secondary schools realize equalization of basic education.

Enemies and Hatred in “Magical Girl’s Witch Trial”

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Note: The following content contains complete spoilers for the game 《魔法少女的魔女审判》 (Magical Girl’s Witch Trial, Witch Trial), as well as some side spoilers for classic ADV games.

As a rare large-scale ADV game this year, Witch Trial is probably the best ADV game this year. 《无法成眠的伊达键 – From AI：梦境档案》 (AI: The Somnium Files – nirvanA Initiative) may be too small, while 《百日战纪 -最终防卫学园-》 (Hundred Days War Chronicle – Final Defense Academy -) and 《终天教团》 (The Eternal Order) have too much hype and are more like a grind to play, so their bangumi scores are not as good as Witch Trial.

But it has a clear difference from many common ADVs, that is, Witch Trial avoids mentioning, evaluating, or reflecting on social organizations and social phenomena. 《Ever17》 is about the protagonists fighting against immoral pharmaceutical companies, and the protagonists of 《命运石之门》 (Steins;Gate) are fighting against the government doing evil experiments and the scientific organization that monitors the world.

Even 《人狼村之谜》 (Raging Loop) discusses the oppression of indigenous people and their beliefs by ancient Japanese people (details can be found at 土蜘蛛), and some villages are subject to unnatural religious manipulation. So, Witch Trial, which mentions witches, should mention past witch hunts like 《海市蜃楼之馆》 (The House in Fata Morgana), right?

However, it doesn’t. There are no social organizations or social phenomena in Witch Trial that can be regarded as enemies. Even the causes of the psychological problems of more than a dozen characters are mostly simply from their families (or guardianship facilities). Only Sakura 羽艾玛 Emma and Nikaido 希罗 Hiro’s psychological problems come from Yukishiro 月代雪 Yuki, who committed suicide due to being bullied at school.

But later, after learning that this was part of Yukishiro 月代雪 Yuki’s plan, school bullying became a background board for simply advancing the plot, rather than a topic that could be discussed in depth. So who is the enemy? Owl Warden? He is just a prison warden, and the specific orders come from higher up. Kurobaku 冰上梅露露 Meruru? She is only an accomplice, and her plan even allowed the magical girls to live longer, so it is difficult to truly hate her.

The Great Witch Yukishiro 月代雪 Yuki? She is indeed the culprit who spread the witch factor, which led to many people being murdered and isolated. But after chatting properly, they can still understand each other and give the protagonists a way out, so she can’t be considered an enemy. So who is the enemy? Is it the humans who are carrying out genocide against the witches on the island?

Maybe, but Yukishiro 月代雪 Yuki is the smallest witch, (next is speculation) Yukishiro 月代雪 Yuki’s ability is not enough to find and murder the king or pope who issued the order. Then, based on her own abilities, Yukishiro 月代雪 Yuki came up with a good way. That is to spread the witch factor to humans, making them the existence that she hates and wants to exterminate (Magneto in 《X战警》 (X-Men) also tried this approach).

It’s just that the spread is too slow. Over the years, the influence of religion has become very low, and witch hunts no longer exist. Yukishiro 月代雪 Yuki’s plan to turn humans into the race she hated failed, so she turned to exterminating humans. Yukishiro 月代雪 Yuki began to spread the modified witch factor, so some girls who are over 15 years old, have psychological trauma, and have accumulated stress will become witches with strong murderous intent.

In this way, humans will hunt witches in their own group, which is Yukishiro 月代雪 Yuki’s revenge on humans. And when asymptomatic infected people in humans, that is, the witch factor exists in all human bodies, Yukishiro 月代雪 Yuki will release magic to kill witches and exterminate all humans.

In this way, the object of Yukishiro 月代雪 Yuki’s revenge has disappeared. The religion that used to be high above and could easily hunt witches and murder others. To the old version of religion that has declined and almost no one believes in (now they believe in the improved version, which has removed a lot of violent content). But this also raises a question, should humans bear the sin of exterminating witches many years later?

Yukishiro 月代雪 Yuki also knew that her revenge was not very reliable, so she handed the trigger to the pure, kind, and well-behaved Emma. As a result, in the ending, Emma did not become Yukishiro 月代雪 Yuki’s tool of revenge. Instead, Yukishiro 月代雪 Yuki gave up revenge after everyone’s persuasion. (Yukishiro 月代雪 Yuki: “I have no enemies.” It seems that the Nobel Peace Prize should be awarded to Yukishiro 月代雪 Yuki.)

gledos generally likes 《魔法少女的魔女审判》 (Magical Girl’s Witch Trial) very much. The deep emotions between multiple characters are indeed very outstanding in ADV. However, the ending feels a bit unsatisfactory. After all, the deeper black幕 problems have not been solved, just like 《Remember 11》, which is a bit melancholy.

I wanted to complain about Yukishiro 月代雪 Yuki’s plan, but as I wrote, I found a more reasonable reason for her. Yes, many works have so-called enemies, and it is rare to be able to write such a work based on having no enemies. Judging from the evaluations and scores, most people also accept this ending, which can be regarded as a great innovation.

Postscript: Inspired by the dolphin radio wave video 《后叮咚鸡时代的爱情——〈魔法少女的魔女审判〉测评》 (The Love in the Post-Ding Dong Chicken Era – Review of “Magical Girl’s Witch Trial”), which mentioned that the game deliberately avoided political topics.