Photo: Courtesy of Apple.
We're firm believers that honesty is the best policy, but sometimes a little white lie slips out of our mouths. Things as petty as telling a friend you'd rather stay in tonight than go to dinner — these have become odd sources of anxiety. We toil over the right, gracious words to cover up our honest disinterest so as to avoid drama, but according to science, that lag time is a telltale sign that we're lying.
Just when you thought you could avoid getting caught, time comes to play and it is not on your side. According to the ACM Transactions on Management Information Systems journal, a lie takes 10% longer to write than the truth. After having 100 volunteers give 15 false responses to 30 questions, scientists concluded that lies came packaged in closely edited, often shorter messages.
And now, thanks to our smartphones, it's easy to tell when someone is editing their texts. The new software shows when the person you're talking with starts and stops typing. Now, not everyone stares at their screens waiting for a response, but in this case, time is Pinocchio's nose: The longer it takes to respond, the more likely you're being lied to. Hopefully you've a solid .gif response folder at the ready. (Scientific American)