Life Matters - Separate stories podcast

If you've ever found yourself re-reading the same sentence over and over again, or opening your phone to check a text and then losing an hour, you're not alone. In the online era of 24-hour access, there are endless distractions and demands stealing our focus. Putting it all to one side and paying attention to your top priority tasks can feel impossible. So what can you do about it?

Last week a woman successfully sued Meta and Google arguing their platforms were addictive. She said she was spending up to 16 hours a day online, starting from just six years old. She's been awarded $US6 million in damages, though the companies are appealing. It raises some big questions, like is social media addiction actually real? Can you walk into a psychologist's office, get diagnosed and be...

The friendly jostle to get a spot near the front, the crackle of the speakers as the band takes their place on the stage — attending your first gig is a rite of passage for so many Australians. For some, it plants the seed that inspires an entire career, while for others, it's simply a place to connect with new friends, dance and soak up the atmosphere. But there are major barriers for many young...

With the calls to limit our fuel purchases to just what we need, is it unethical to stockpile? Is it human nature to protect our own self interest or do we have an ethical responsibility to not buy more than our share?

As petrol prices continue to soar, the only way to reduce your bowser bill is to go electric — or get rid of your car altogether.  But could you realistically do that where you live? Australian cities have traditionally sprawled out, and now we're trying to correct that by going up, but the legacy has entrenched a car-centric culture for many of us. A University of Queensland researcher conducted...

There's an longstanding rule that it's not polite to talk about politics at the dinner table.  But in times of global turmoil, where freedom of expression is under threat, it can be harder to keep the peace with relatives and friends whose values don't align with your own. For many, the solution may be cutting off those relationships altogether. But is there a way to stay connected to people we lo...

After a friend goes through a break-up, often the real feelings their besties had about their ex come out into the open.  But what do you do if they decide to reunite with the person you just declared as public enemy number one? 

What if you could have an AI clone of yourself at work respond to all your emails just like you would? It could reply in your tone, predict solutions for you and anticipate problems that may be coming.  This Working Life host Lisa Leong has been investigating Identic AI, chatting with technology researcher Don Tapscott and his own agent, Digital Don, to find out the limits of these AI assistants.

The looming fuel crisis is starting to bite, with service stations running out of petrol and prices soaring past $2.50 per litre. If you're in the middle of planning a trip, whether it's up the coast for Easter or hitting Greek Islands for European summer, the new reality is throwing travel plans into disarray.

It's seen as the heart of the home — the kitchen table is where we gather to prepare meals and break bread together. But the average kitchen lifespan is about 15 to 20 years. Outdated benchtops and cabinets are replaced with modern, minimalist fit-outs, with more than kitchen replacements and renovations amounting to billions every year. So what do we lose from our family history in this cycle of...

Everyone needs a break from the daily grind from time to time. Usual routines start to feel stale, and the stress of everyday responsibilities and expectations can become a heavy load to bear.  The idea of a sabbatical might sound appealing — but what if it wasn't your job, but your relationship, that you needed some reprieve from? It takes a whole lot to keep a marriage going, and for some couple...

A recent Senate inquiry report found that capital gains tax discounts and negative gearing have benefited investors over owner-occupiers, and there are signs the government may tinker with these settings in the upcoming budget. While it's no silver bullet, some argue it could be a huge step towards addressing intergenerational disadvantage keeping younger Australians who want to buy their own home...

From mood swing tea to moisture-wicking pyjamas, marketing to menopausal women has become so lucrative it's been dubbed the hot flush gold rush. But experts say it could be doing harm to your health, as well as your wallet.  So how do you sort the snake oil from the good stuff?

You've planned some time off. You madly finish off all the work you need to get done before your break. Your first day of leave begins and... you get sick. "Leisure sickness" is a term coined by Dutch researchers for people who are more likely to get sick on the weekend or holidays than during the working week. There's very little science to back it up, but there are some theories as to why it mig...

As our cities grow, there's a push to build up, not out — including in our suburbs. For more families, that means home will be an apartment rather than a house. So how do we make sure higher density living is family-friendly? What does good design look like when you're raising kids on the 20th floor?

Author, columnist, and screenwriter Kathy Lette has written dozens of books — but she credits just one as the spark that set her on the path to becoming a writer. In this instalment of Book That Changed My Life, she goes behind the scenes of Vanity Fair by English author William Makepeace Thackeray.

University is a big leap for any young person.  But, for country students who have to move away to study, it comes with the added expense of relocating and living away from home. The rising cost of living is making it even harder, according to the Country Education Foundation.  It says only two in five of its supported students qualify for government assistance, and it's campaigning for more suppo...

If you knew a secret about a new co-worker, would you share it with your colleagues? Where do you draw the line between harmless gossip and unprofessional chatter?

How's your relationship with your mother? If you're a daughter of a baby boomer, that question might hit particularly hard.  There's a conversation evolving online around the complicated bond between Gen X women and their mums. Mother-daughter relationships come with heavy cultural baggage: expectation, guilt, comparison, and tough love. So how do we address "the mother wound"?

Analogue hobbies are having a moment again — crochet clubs, scrapbooking and journalling are all over social media. These once old-fashioned pastimes are finding a whole new wave of fans, with some data suggesting it's younger generations leading the charge. So what's behind the resurgence in offline hobbies?

Aussies couples are moving away from joint finances, and are choosing to be more financially independent in their relationships instead, a new report has found. But a separate bank account doesn't automatically mean the money is protected if the relationship ends. The Australian Institute of Family Studies warns that, for unmarried couples in particular, what feels like financial independence on p...

More than 446,000 Australians are living with dementia. For many, it's a diagnosis that can turn your world upside down.  But it doesn't mean life stops. For both Jim Rogers, who was diagnosed with early onset dementia in his 50s, and Debra Graves, who cared for her husband Don after his diagnosis, an important part of their new reality was prioritising travel.  It meant figuring out how to manage...

How's your day been? Any plans for the weekend? What do you do for work? Small talk might feel trivial, but in her new book Once Upon A Stranger, professor in the psychology of kindness Gillian Sandstrom says these tiny exchanges can help us live a kinder, more connected life. So how can we overcome the awkward, and get a little more chit chat into our lives?

Over the past three years, homelessness in Australia has grown by at least 10 per cent.  Meanwhile in Finland, a strategy known as Housing First has seen long-term homelessness rates drop significantly over the past decade.  The idea is simple: instead of moving people through hostels and emergency shelters, give them permanent housing first — and then provide the support they need. So could it wo...

For many Australians, the images of war and suffering flooding our screens aren't just distant headlines. Unless you've lived it, it's hard to describe the feeling of being physically safe here, while your homeland seems to be unravelling. That's where Witness to War comes in. It's a free mental health support hotline where people can speak to someone in their own language who understands, because...