Technology and happiness

Great Debates
1

The other day, while observing my daughter and nephew playing, I thought that they don’t look any happier (or less happy) than me and my cousins when we were kids in the 80’s.

So, I asked my dad to tell me, compared to his grandkids now and to kids in the 80’s, how happy were kids in his time, i.e. the 50’s.

No iPods, no PSPs, no Gameboys, no computers, no internet, no advanced medicine, etc.

He said that, in his opinion, kids in his time were as happy, if not happier, than kids today or the 80’s.

Not sure how Dopers feel about this, but, from my limited experience, this seems to be the case.

Also, not sure how this carries over to adults, but again, I see no advances in the “happiness factor” of adults.

Anyway, my question is: if all these technological advances do not improve our overall happiness, what on earth are they good for?

Shouldn’t it be our goal to maximize happiness, rather than maximizing the number of high-tech gadgets we can invent?

Of course, each new invention seems desirable and people think it will make them a little bit happier if they had it (and I love gadgets), but when you step back and look at the big picture, there is no net gain in happiness.

So:

  1. Are people (adults and kids) today happier than they were before?
  2. If not, what is the point of inventing more and more stuff?

If people are indeed not happier, wouldn’t it be a better use of all the resources and brainpower that is currently devoted to inventing new technology, to start looking into the brain and finding out what does make us happy? Not sure where this could lead to or how profitable such a venture might be, but it must be better than wasting time inventing stuff that does not make people any happier.

One final thing: A lot of technology does decrease human suffering and relieve manual labor (e.g. better medicine, washing machines, etc), but that seems not to translate to more happiness.

What say you?

2

Well I think that a side effect of technology has been a dissolution of communities. I think that a strong community can lead to happiness, and that isolation can lead to unhappiness. However, a tightly knit community that stifles a person can be hellish also.

3

I think the purpose of the technology is more to alleviate the fear of death. One can be happy while still fearing Death, and be bored as hell when not fearing death. I don’t know if it’s really there to make us happy as much as help us avoid death or at least keep us from thinking about death.

4

I think that, as time goes by and the march of technology progresses, more and more people are gaining that level of basic “hapiness” that you described, rather than living miserably in their un-technological hovels.

5

I grew up without any of this modern stuff. But we had alternatives. Ham Radio, model airplanes, rockets, you name it. Plenty for an inquisitive boy to keep himself busy. Before that, kids would hop up old cars, build go-karts, or get involved in scouting or other recreations. And of course, you could always grab your ball glove and go play some catch, or go fishing, or raise some pets.

So no, technology doesn’t make kids happier. What makes kids happy is good health, a stable family life, regular meals, and being surrounded by people who love them. That’s pretty much it.

In fact, technology may make things worse. When I was a kid, I had to expend serious effort to learn enough electronics to get a Ham license. Scouting required the building of all kinds of skills. The lack of complex electronic toys meant we had to use our imaginations in our play. The lack of video games meant we had to interact with other kids or work to amuse ourselves, rather than just being flooded with sensory images.

Before there was television, kids had to amuse themselves if they wanted amusement at all (or join in family games). Then television came along, and kids spent hours a day just sitting in front of the box, rather than building things with their hands or inventing games. Was that a good thing for child development? I’m not sure. On the one hand, I’m sure that kids today have a better intuitive understanding of the world beyond their neighborhood, which is a good thing. On the other hand, I’m not sure they are growing up with the same level of number of skills that kids of 50 years ago did.

But technology does make kids healthier, and the increase in wealth means that poorer kids can have happier childhoods because they might actually be able to afford running shoes and baseball gloves.

6

First off, the technology exists today to get people in under-developed countries out of their “un-technological hovels”. We don’t need to develop more technology to accomplish that. We need the political will to do so.

Second, where my parents were brought up, there was no electricity, no refridgeration, not even running water in the house until they were in high school. Yet they were happy. So, not sure if you need much technology to be happy (I assume enough food to eat and no war would be the two basic requirements for being able to be happy)

7

I don’t know about anyone else…but just the inventions of portable video game players and dvd players for childeren to play/watch on long car rides bumps up the modern happiness level to heights unheard of before said inventions. The rest is just extra.

8

One small facet: dishwashers, vacuums, and so on do indeed make life easier. But I suspect they only made life happier for the people who made the transition. If you had to fetch water from the well outside every day for every task, you would be overjoyed to get running water in your home. You might well feel a thrill of happiness every time you turned on the tap for the rest of your life. But for those of us who have always had running water, it’s not a big deal. We don’t think “woohoo!” every time we turn on the water (though I frequently give thanks for hot showers–how did people survive without those?). We don’t realize how much cleaner and easier our lives are with our labor-saving appliances, because we have never had to live without them.

And I doubt very much that video games and electronic entertainment make us happier. Mostly, things that make us happy are things that require some exertion or imagination; they fill us up psychologically, so to speak. So going out and running around with other kids, getting worn out, using imagination a lot–all the stuff that kids used to do every single day–probably does make for more happiness than video games and TV, even though video games are fun (I like them too, sometimes).

I would probably be happier if I read more books in the evening, or worked on projects, than if I watched TV all the time. As it is, TV is easy, and I do enjoy the programs I watch, and sometimes I read or work too. But TV is not as fulfilling as more substantial pastimes are.

9

They were created because they COULD be created. We don’t need them. They stifle creativity in children as far as I’m concerned. Kids would find other ways to entertain themselves in the past, and it usually involved other kids. I love to see kids playing outside. It’s rare when you do anymore. They’re on their bikes going to a friend’s house to play Nintendo or something.

10

Sam Stone I don’t know what kids you know, but from my generation and younger who grew up with computers, we have lots of skills. We know how to build a website. We know how to phreak a cell phone. I personally helped fix cars so I know what a car looks like under the hood and COULD fix a problem if I had to though I am no mechanic. I can build a proper campfire, and I know how to get around North America rather cheaply. I know how to put together a warehouse party. I mean maybe there are people who aren’t making a whole lot of skills, but I think it’s just different what we learn how to do. You didn’t know how to use google when you were a kid or use a Canon XL1 camera. I mean I’m 28 now and have updated my skills into adulthood obviously, but I know a lot of kids that are doing some pretty wild and crazy stuff. I know a little bit about how to modify a diesel engine to make it run on vegetable oil. I had an atari when I was a kid, upgraded to a Nintendo, and from a Nintendo to a PC.

Not every kid of your generation was building go-karts or ham radios, so I am not sure if that’s a good indicator. I mean what were the uninspired lazy kids doing in your generation? The uninspired lazy kids now smoke pot and play Playstation, but is the percentage really higher?

Erek

11

What your goal should be is not for me to say, or mine yours. Further, having as one’s goal maximizing happiness is not demonstrably likely to lead to happiness.

12

So, what is the point of continually improving technology, if it makes things worse?
Simply for the benefit of the poorer classes?

I think most people think of technology as something that will improve their lives, and this is what they expect from it.

Is it possible that we are going through a sort of transitional period where we, as a civilization, have just acquired several new “toys” (TV, computers, cars, etc), that have temporarily altered human lifestyles in a sort of bad way, but, over time we will figure out the best way to structure our lives and society so that we benefit from these toys and are indeed happier?

13

But look at yourself and the people around you. Are you indeed happier as a person after these inventions? They may make long car rides easier, but can you say that you are overall happier than you were before?

14

Point of order: can we get a definition of happiness?

15

I agree that today’s kids have all the above at their disposal, but are kids today happier than in past generations? I think not.

If not, what is the point of having Google and a Canon XL1 camera?

16

I separate technology into two categories: Entertainment and pretty much everything else. I hate when I see a fat little kid staring blankly at a screen and telling me he’s “having fun.” Now, I love my computer for things like looking up stuff that would normally take tons of space on a shelf, but I never play games on it. I watch tv but I enjoy acting to blue-screen technology every time. There are certain advances we’ve made that are good and lots that aren’t good. People need to tighten up the filter a little.

17

I dunno, people are decrying a lack of creativity in a time when scientific advancement is moving at a breakneck pace that’s hard to keep up with. When I was a kid Dungeons and Dragons was the tool of the devil. A lot of creativity was frowned upon because it was “un-Christian”. Video Games are becoming a lot less rigid. The primitive video games required less imagination, but newer ones, like where you build an empire or games like “Spore” and “The Sims” are increasing the creative complexity. Not to mention having Photoshop or Lightwave on your home PC.

Also, technology is there because ‘creative’ people decided to build it. The creative flow is there, I don’t think it’s being stifled anymore than it used to. I mean I play video games where I am a Space Marine fighting demons in Hell. That sort of thing would be looked at as the Devil’s work 100 years ago. Kids are putting Reason on their home PC and making electronic music.

I think this is usually a question of nostalgia for one’s childhood rather than a true worry. Besides there is nothing that stifles creativity quite like public schools.

Erek

18

You create your own happiness.

19

You are free to live without any you choose. Why don’t you try living without some of them and see if you are happier?

20

This is not about one person (e.g. me), it is about the general level of happiness.

Also, it is different to take away something from someone, than to simply never show this thing to that person. For example, if I give you $100,000 and later on say that I will take it away from you, this is different from me never having given you the $100,000 in the first place, even though in both cases you end up with the same amount of money.

In any case, let’s take your example. Assume I start living without my iPod. I will mind it for a while, but I’m not sure it will make me less happy as a person.

More importantly, I can say for certain that I am not a more happy person now that I have an iPod than before iPods ever existed. And I’d venture to say that no person who bought an iPod is now a happier person than before iPods existed.

Again, this is not about one person or one invention. Look at kids around you. Do they look happier than kids did a generation ago? I don’t think so.

Look at adults around you. Do they look happier than adults did a generation ago?