While some of this can be explained by society—in countries like China baby boys are favoured and many unborn girls are electively aborted—there are natural processes at work.
Tired of having no work-life balance, many young people in China have adopted the workplace philosophies of 'lying flat' or 'let it rot' (aka doing the bare minimum at work).
" Stop me, " he said, " any time I say something you don't understand." Juan's roommate stopped him four times. And at each spot, Juan worked out a way to make his point more clearly.
Regarding our psychological well-being, the Law of Reverse Effect also seems to be at work, as we experience that by trying to control our mental states, we mostly just stand in our own way.
People froze for a minute or so, during which their partner would stare aimlessly around the room watching other pairs at work, then would unfreeze and take their turn at the jinx.
Charlie was absentminded at dinner, worried over something at work, I guessed, or maybe a basketball game, or maybe he was just really enjoying the lasagna-it was hard to tell with Charlie.