From likes on your social media posts, to immediate access to your favorite movies and gaining new levels and extra points when gaming, it puts you in a positive mood and makes you feel happy. Could happiness be triggered by a simple push of a button? It might not be immediately obvious, but we do have “happiness buttons” all around us. For instance game consoles, social media, mobile phones, and remote controls, are all designed to deliver instant gratification. This interesting “thought” experiment explores the role technology plays in influencing and regulating our emotions. The question was raised by professor Dacher Keltner during the The Science of Happiness course developed by the Greater Good Science Center of the UC Berkeley to teach the science of positive psychology and how to lead a happy and meaningful live. Imagine by simply pressing a button you would feel instant happiness. It is free.Įach time you return to comment on the Learning English site, you can use your account and see your comments and replies to them. Or you may create one on the Disqus system. Enter the login for your social media account. They are for Disqus, Facebook, Twitter, and Google.Ĭlick on one image and a box appears. Under the box, you can see four images for social media accounts. Do you have a similar expressions in your language? In the Comments section, you can also practice using any of the expressions from the story. to catch and hold the attention of especially to force an interview causing emotional pain or distressĬorner – v. to cause an intense and usually negative emotional reaction in (someone) producing pleasure or contentment by providing what is needed or wanted Now, where is that cake you were talking about?Īnd that brings us to the end of this Words and Their Stories.Īnna Matteo wrote this story for VOA Learning English. Now she’s got David buttonholed.ī: Poor guy. Not caring is the best way to deal with a button-pusher. I also told her that I don’t want to talk about work anymore at a party.Ī: Good. Are you still upset about the project?ī: No, I’m over it. And you’re too nice to tell her to button it. A party is NOT the place to corner someone about work.ī: And she knows I wanted to work on that project.Ī: Really not cool! She just wants to push your buttons. Have you tried the cake? It is SO good.ī: I haven’t had anything to eat or drink yet! Jen had me buttonholed for an hour about her work project.Ī: Not cool. Now, let’s hear some of these terms used between two friends.Ī: Where have you been? I’ve been looking all over for you. If you are buttonholed over an unpleasant topic, you can also say that someone had you cornered. But usually, we use this term when someone talks to you for a long time about something you don’t want to hear. Now, you can buttonhole someone with a fun topic. Like a button that has slipped into a buttonhole, they cannot escape. So, if you buttonhole someone in a conversation, you trap them. Like I said, the expressions are rude.īut there is another way we use “button” in our conversations.įor a button on our clothing to work, it needs a buttonhole. If I tell someone to button their mouth, button their lip or to simply button it, I am telling them to shut up. We could fasten them shut to keep silent.Īnd that gives us some impolite expressions. Now, let’s talk about the kind of buttons on clothing.Īs you know already, buttons are fasteners on our clothes. Sometimes we don’t mean to, but we can bring up an issue that is touchy to someone else. However, pushing someone’s buttons can also happen accidentally. After that, she stopped trying to push the old boyfriend button. But then finally, I told her I did not not care. For example, a woman I used to know always tried to push my buttons by bringing up an old boyfriend. If you push someone’s buttons, you do something or talk about something that upsets them.īutton-pushers like to upset people by bringing up sore subjects. So, some unkind people may find it satisfying to push people’s buttons. They are things to which we feel sensitive. Our buttons activate or trigger our feelings. Well, did you know that people have buttons too? However, these buttons are not physical things. There is something very satisfying about pushing a button. Young children like to push buttons – even if nothing happens. Let’s talk about the kinds of buttons you press or push. In English, the word “button” is found in many useful and common expressions. They keep are shirts closed and our pants from falling down. The world is filled with buttons! Some buttons we press - such as the ones needed to operate a vehicle or machinery. And now Words and Their Stories, from VOA Learning English.
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