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This week, we’re checking our life stats, succumbing to nostalgia, and injecting some magic into your daily walks.

The facts you need: Life stats

‘Life stats’ sounds like something from a GCSE Geography or Science lesson, and you’re not far off – this website shows you how many times your heart has beaten in your lifetime, and how much the population has grown since you were born.

‘Life stats’ don’t sound particularly warm or exciting, but this website is both. Click through to find out how the world has got better since you were born – how has extreme poverty decreased, how many more people have access to electricity, how has the world literacy rate changed.

For a quick, informative pick-me-up, take a look. If you’re keen to find out even more about why the world is a better place than we may think, we would recommend reading Factfulness by Hans Rosling, which tells the story of ‘the secret silent miracle of human progress’.

The update the worlds needs right now: Twitter warns you if you’re being offensive

Twitter is on a mission to make us all a little nicer. A new trial is coming out on iOS, giving tweeters a chance to review and revise their tweet before publishing. The option will only be available if the platform notices potentially harmful language in a post, meaning we won’t all be subjected to an annoying double-tap tweet. Of course, Twitter is also doing some of the work itself, having banned dehumanizing content in March.

The working from home podcast you need: Stylist

Stylist’s new Working from Home podcast has been a source of sweet relief over the past five weeks. Offering expert insight into the feeling we may have throughout lockdown, this week’s edition discusses feeling of guilt in lockdown, why we find conference calls so draining, and alternative entertainment recommendations.

The show everyone needs to watch: Normal People

BBC3 has its best week ever thanks to Normal People, and shared some interesting stats with the world. Streaming services sharing viewer details is by no means new, but it’s almost always fascinating – remember when 60% of us chose Frosties for breakfast in Bandersnatch? Or how UK residents were less likely to throw a cup of tea?

The Normal People insights say less about our food and drink consumption and slightly more about the addictiveness of good television and the power of nostalgia. Over a quarter of those who watched Normal People, watched all twelve episodes in under 24 hours. But binging is nothing new. The really interesting part is that only 1/3 of viewers were aged 16-34, the target audience of the show and the book its based on. So who were the rest of the viewers? They were slightly older, enjoying Normal People due to the nostalgia it offered around a particularly awkward stage of life.

Throughout lockdown, we’ve seen the nation succumb to Nostalgia, with NOW TV revealing that Dad’s Army and Only Fools and Horses have seen a surge in streaming. Brands are now tapping into this with their advertising, such as the Whassap Bud and Lynx Africa Hot Since ’95 ad – though it has to be said, not everyone can pull of nostalgia quite as well as Sally Rooney.

The video you need to watch: The boy wizard is back

Speaking of nostalgia, this week Spotify dropped a retro sound from 1997. No, it wasn’t MMMBop – it was Harry Potter. A group of celebrities, featuring Eddie Redmayne, Stephen Fry, and for some reason, David Beckham, have recorded themselves reading Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone, with Daniel Radcliffe reading the very first chapter. You can watch the live videos or listen via Spotify to inject some magic into your daily walk.