Don't think too hard, Stephen. Your forehead will fall off.

I'm Angela Duckworth.

I'm Stephen Dubner.

And you're listening to No Stupid Questions.

Today on the show, if everyone hates meetings, why do we have so many of them?

What am I paying all these minions for anyway?

Also, why does modern adolescents last well into a person's 20s?

When you and I were in our 20s, they didn't have cars, they didn't have oxygen even.

Stephen, here's an email we got from a John Binion in Baton Rouge.

Are you ready for it?

Yeah.

Stephen Nangela. I, like many others, tend to find myself attending more and more meetings of late. It seems to me that the

attendee list for these meetings has gotten longer and longer. I have noticed that no matter how many

people are in attendance, there are usually only three or four people actively participating

in the meeting while

everyone else is remaining silent. Is there a reason why otherwise talkative people tend to get

quiet in meetings with a lot of other people in them? Is there a recognized sweet spot for meeting

attendance? And finally, why do we pay to have extra people in meetings who aren't going to participate?

Wow, John's getting a lot for his money.

Three questions he's asking for the price of one.

Yeah.

So in terms of the first one, why do, quote, otherwise talkative people get quiet in meetings?

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