There's the saying that habits determine your future, and habits certainly can become a big part of who we are, because they catch on like wildfire. We often hear about the habits cultivated by successful people and we try our best to emulate them. But then there are habits that are just downright annoying and disgusting that ruin our day if we see them. But the person that is usually behaving this way doesn't have the slightest clue that they are doing it. And before they know it, people start avoiding them at work during lunch break or at social events. Here are common habits that will make everyone hate you.
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00:00The old adage may tell us, to err is human, but to annoy may be just as human.
00:06Experts have studied what sorts of things we as people find annoying, and why it is
00:10we find them so grating.
00:12Here are the most common infuriating habits most of us do.
00:17If you've ever sat beside someone who shakes their legs, you likely had a hard time concentrating
00:22on anything else.
00:23In an article for Psychology Today, Susan Whitbourne, Professor Emerita of Psychological
00:28and Brain Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst explained that anxiety, something
00:33everyone experiences, can be one cause of jittery legs.
00:37Nervous?
00:38Yes.
00:39First time?
00:40No, I've been nervous lots of times.
00:46The expert added,
00:47"...your legs are the largest area of your body, so when they move, it's pretty hard
00:51for others not to notice."
00:52Although most people can work to stop this habit, 7 to 10 percent of people in the United
00:57States can't just turn off their jittery legs.
01:00Those with restless leg syndrome, a neurological sensory disorder, experience unpleasant or
01:05uncomfortable sensations in the legs and an irresistible urge to move them, according
01:10to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
01:15Eating can be a pretty wonderful experience, but nothing kills your appetite faster than
01:19sitting next to someone who is slurping soup, open-mouth chewing, chewing loudly, scraping
01:24their utensils across their teeth, or otherwise being a dinnertime dingbat.
01:31Yeah, that's annoying.
01:37But as it turns out, it might not be the person eating who's to blame.
01:41You may be dealing with a condition known as misophonia.
01:45Medical News Today explained,
01:46"...misophonia is a disorder where people have abnormally strong and negative reactions
01:51to the ordinary sounds humans make, such as chewing or breathing.
01:55These reactions can, quote, range from anger and annoyance to panic and the need to flee."
02:00While not everyone who finds themselves annoyed at eating sounds is suffering from misophonia,
02:05a person with the disorder is much more likely to experience severe emotional distress as
02:10opposed to mild irritation.
02:13There's nothing quite so jarring as having a conversation with a close talker.
02:17At the outset of the convo, you don't realize things are about to get so weird, but then
02:22they do.
02:23They get so weird.
02:30So if we all hate having people talk right at our faces, why do some people do it?
02:35Neuroscientists at the California Institute of Technology discovered a link between the
02:39amygdala region of the brain and personal space.
02:42The researchers noted that a woman with a damaged amygdala did not recognize others'
02:47preferences for personal space.
02:49I care about my personal space.
02:51Whoa, whoa!
02:52Hey!
02:53Who's around me right now?
02:54But it might not just be about the brain.
02:56Cultural differences could also be at play.
02:58Daniel P. Kennedy, a professor of biology and co-author of the study, explained in an
03:02interview with Caltech, saying,
03:04"...if you're in a culture where standing close to someone is the norm, you'd learn
03:07that was acceptable and your personal space would vary accordingly."
03:12Have you ever listened to a story or a speech that was so full of pauses that it was almost
03:17impossible to pay attention?
03:19Stephen D. Cohen, an instructor at the Harvard Division of Continuing Education and a leading
03:24communication expert, admitted,
03:25"...it is difficult for me to watch political speeches.
03:29After all, I know that I am going to hear one alarming word over and over again.
03:33That word, he revealed, is um."
03:36"...we're gonna have to fly their alien craft out of our atmosphere and dock with it."
03:44These little filler words have been dubbed word whiskers, a fitting name for a pet peeve.
03:50Public speaking expert George Birney revealed on his site that such words are useless in
03:54public speaking.
03:55He clarified, writing,
03:57"...no, they're worse than that.
03:58They're annoying, and they detract from your presentation."
04:03Using filler words, or word whiskers, in our speech isn't the only thing that drives
04:07people crazy.
04:08Hank Davis, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Guelph in Canada, highlighted,
04:13quote, the uptalk epidemic in an article for Psychology Today.
04:17He explained that uptalk is the ever-growing tendency to end statements with upward inflections
04:22to make them sound like questions.
04:24Davis revealed that he started noticing the speech pattern in Canada in the early aughts,
04:28adding,
04:29He argued that uptalk had begun as a form of valley girl speak.
04:33"...shut up!"
04:35But although there is no clear origin, he noted the manner of speaking spread from Canada
04:39to the United States and across the pond to England.
04:43Of course, Davis isn't the only one infuriated by uptalk.
04:46In a survey of 700 managers, executives, and business owners, 71 percent found uptalk to
04:52be a particularly annoying trait, and a whopping 85 percent thought it was a, quote,
04:57"...a clear indicator of a person's insecurity or emotional weakness."
05:01Sorry?
05:03Ever stop and wonder why so many guys seem to spit pretty much as soon as they step outside?
05:09Well, apparently, it's not just to gross everyone out.
05:12Hey, Jesus!
05:15Susan Maples, dentist and author, explained the phenomenon when speaking to Women's Health.
05:20It's pretty cultural.
05:22Some guys spit because they grew up thinking it's cool and didn't get chastised the way
05:25girls might for spitting.
05:27Others develop the habit from spitting out chewing tobacco.
05:29Why do they call it chew and not swallow?
05:32Am I right, man?
05:33Guess you are right.
05:36As it turns out, though, there may also be a biological reason why men are more likely
05:41than women to spit on an unsuspecting sidewalk.
05:44A 2006 study found that healthy men had larger salivary glands than healthy women.
05:49As such, they often experience a higher flow rate of saliva, leading to the urge to spit
05:54more often.
05:55Filthy buggers.
05:56They smell, they bite, they spit.
06:01You may love chewing a piece of Big Red or Double Bubble, but what about listening to
06:05someone else smack their chewing gum or pop bubbles?
06:08It's possible you just find the sound a little irritating, but those with misophonia may
06:13feel like this is some kind of torture.
06:15Mouth sounds are especially triggering to those with the condition, and the sounds from
06:19chewing gum are certainly not excluded.
06:21In addition to misophonia, other people also experience chicklephobia, or the fear of chewing
06:27gum.
06:28Those with this phobia may be terrified of the stuff and find it completely gross.
06:32While chicklephobia is not a common fear, some think Oprah Winfrey may be chicklephobic
06:37because of her stance on gum.
06:38She once told People,
06:39"...I hate chewing gum.
06:41It makes me sick just to think about it.
06:43When people chew loudly or smack it and pull it out of their mouth, that's the worst."
06:52Millions of Americans bite their nails.
06:56This is true even though scientists told us how gross and bad for us it is.
07:00So why, despite all of the evidence, do a lot of us still engage in this totally frustrating
07:05and destructive habit?
07:15Much like nicotine, experts believe there's a biphasic effect to nail biting, which means
07:20it can work as a stimulant or a depressant depending on the circumstance.
07:24It is possible to curb this habit, though.
07:26Fred Penzel, a psychologist who works with patients in body-focused repetitive disorders,
07:30told Vox,
07:31"...we try to identify all the triggers and control them in various ways, either by blocking
07:36them or by finding substitutes."
07:39If you're a knucklecracker, your mom may have warned you that if you don't stop, you'd end
07:43up with arthritis.
07:44However, we now know that's not true.
07:47Harvard Health Publishing revealed that even though it's kind of annoying, popping your
07:50knuckles probably doesn't raise your risk for arthritis.
07:54Take that, Mom.
07:55Game on!
07:58Game over.
08:01But what is happening when you crack your knuckles?
08:03The science behind it may make even those of us who have this habit squeamish.
08:08Essentially, cracking your knuckles increases the space between your joints.
08:11In turn, gas bubbles in the joint fluid burst.
08:14Robert Schmerling, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, explained,
08:19"...cracking the knuckles is probably harmless.
08:21Although there have been occasional reports of dislocations or tendon injuries from overly
08:26vigorous knuckle cracking, such problems seem very much to be the exception and not the
08:30rule."
08:31So basically, it sounds gross — and is gross — to some people, but it probably doesn't
08:35hurt anything.
08:37It seems every meeting has its designated pen clicker.
08:40If you've ever come close to hulking out in the middle of the workday over this incessant,
08:45irritating noise, we hear you.
08:47And if you've ever envisioned throwing all of the pens out of your office window, well,
08:51there's a reason for that.
08:52Although many people with misophonia are triggered by mouth noises, pen clicking can be just
08:57as infuriating.
08:58Medical News Today reported that clicking a pen can make them want to scream or hit
09:02out.
09:03Unfortunately, there is no treatment for this condition, though you could argue that people
09:07should, you know, just stop constantly clicking their pens.
09:16Likewise, it's also important to remember that someone with misophonia can't simply
09:20forget about the sound.
09:21In fact, the publication said telling someone to ignore the annoying noise is akin to telling
09:26a person with depression to snap out of it.
09:28Not only is it insensitive, but it also won't work.
09:33It's hard to have a conversation with someone who constantly interrupts you.
09:36Although we may all be guilty of doing this at times, some have made it a habit, and they
09:41may not even have realized this is the case.
09:43Who's this lovely…
09:44Excuse me, Bon Jovi, I'm in the middle of a conversation here.
09:47Yeah, but you said to…
09:50One Reddit user posed the question,
09:52"'What's a habit you never know you did until someone pointed it out to you?'
09:56Of the thousands of responses, interrupting people was a big one.
09:59One user admitted,
10:00"'I always interrupt people, and ever since it was pointed out to me, I've been shocked
10:04by how often I've had to stop myself butting in.'"
10:07Rhonda Scharf, a professional speaker, admitted in an article for HuffPost that she also possesses
10:12the, quote,
10:13"...incredibly annoying habit of cutting off other people while they're talking."
10:17Yet she believes this habit can, and should, be broken with a little awareness and effort.
10:21Build faster.
10:22Can you stop interrupting me?
10:23If you just…
10:24Yeah, okay, thank you, anyway!
10:27How often do you borrow things without returning them?
10:30While we've all probably forgotten about a library book or two, borrowing something from
10:35a friend and then failing to return it is a habit that most definitely causes frustration.
10:39People notice when they don't even get the little things, like pens, returned to them.
10:42I keep bringing pens, and you guys keep taking them, and I'm afraid I'm putting my foot down.
10:48Even if your friend never brings up the time you borrowed her little black dress and never
10:52brought it back, there's a good chance she remembers, and that memory isn't a fond one.
10:58Regardless of how you feel about talking on the phone, we can all agree that hearing someone
11:02else's phone conversation is beyond annoying.
11:04But why is that so irritating?
11:06In an excerpt from the book Annoying!
11:08The Science of What Bugs Us, Lauren Emberson, a psychology graduate student, revealed,
11:12"...I think the reason why is that we can't tune it out.
11:15We find it more rude than someone having a conversation around us because our attention
11:19is drawn in, and that makes us irritated that we can't be doing the other things or thinking
11:24about the other things that we want to."
11:25Emberson dubbed this phenomenon half-a-log, and found that no matter how hard we try to
11:30ignore these quite literal one-sided conversations, we can't.
11:34According to Emberson, our minds are hardwired to try to predict what's coming next, but
11:38that is really difficult when you're only hearing one half of a conversation.
11:41Still, the brain will continue to try to process the information it's been given, and annoy
11:46us in the process.
11:47Thanks for nothing, brain.