The Economics of Happiness

Recently, I read an article by Steve Faktor, CEO of IdeaFaktory, called The Economics of Happiness.  He makes some great points about our culture and why some of us aren’t as happy as we could be. With the amount of literature out there about how to find happiness, you would think we’d all be skipping and singing everywhere we go. We spend so much time and money on finding purpose, that we forget that we hold the power to our happiness (which is defined differently by everyone).

Survival

One of his first points is about one of our basic instincts: survival. In this day and age, we pretty much have what we need whether it be a TV, phone, car, or food. All we have to do is drive to the store to get them. No one in our society walks to the local stream to get water or has to forage for food. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t really want to go back to those times, but at one time, those were tangible things that you could look back on at the end of the day and be proud of.

Envy on Overdrive

Another point talks about “Envy on Overdrive.” How many of you check Facebook regularly or Twitter or Instagram? We have access at any given moment to everyone (even people you haven’t seen in 20 years). We can see their seemingly perfect lives unfold before us. No one puts things out there they don’t want everyone else to see. Online, we can all be perfect; leaving some to feel like they can’t compare.

Gratification Acceleration

One of the final points made is about “Gratification Acceleration.” Today, we can generally expect quick outcomes to our actions. You can order something from Amazon and it has the potential to arrive the next day. You use to have to wait for your news to arrive by the daily newspaper or by the morning or nightly news. Now all you need to do is sign on and go to any given news site or turn on one of many different news channels on TV. We’ve become so accustomed to instant gratification that we get annoyed and irritated if we don’t get a response to something as quick as we think we deserve it.

The point to all this rambling leads me to reflect on some final thoughts. 1) Remember, we hold the power to our happiness. 2) Most of us have our basic needs covered and we should be thankful. 3) Just because you check your social circle online, remember most of the time they aren’t posting the worst part of their day. 4) Slow down and think about what it was like 50 years ago. If you need to take a walk while waiting for an order to be filled, take it as an opportunity.

What points can you add?  Please let me know in the comments below.