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People delay returning to enjoyable activities to make the experience 'special,' study suggests

People often delay returning to lost pleasures, according to a study. When people are unable to engage in enjoyable activities, from catching up with friends to going to the movies, one might think that they would jump at the chance to return.

However, Linda Hagen and Ed O'Brien show in a series of surveys and experiments that people often delay returning to previously rewarding behaviors. After the end of COVID-19 shutdowns, surveyed Americans reported waiting additional time to return to restaurants, movie theaters, parties, vacations, and family visits so that their return would be especially satisfactory.

In a survey, respondents who felt their time away from an activity had been long were more likely to delay return than participants who reported a short perceived time away. In another experiment, 200 college students were asked to either send a short note of appreciation to a friend or complete a dull work task. While 55% of people who had last contacted their friend recently (averaging one week) chose to reach out to the friend, just 41% of those who had not contacted the friend for a long time (averaging one year) chose to contact the friend.

A separate experiment in which adults were asked to text a short hello to a friend produced similar outcomes. When probed about the reasons for these voluntary delays in returning to favorite activities, participants indicated that they wanted their first time back to be special.

According to the authors, the study offers insights into delay behaviors such as procrastination, which may be prompted by the perceived positive value of a future task in some cases. "Right now" may simply never feel quite special enough.

The findings are in PNAS Nexus.