Technology and Happiness

In this past century, or even in just the past twenty years, the world has experienced an advance in technology greater than ever before. The microchip has redefined all of society; everything from iPods to phones to vehicles to toys now rely on this precious technology. Advances in technology have brought cures for deadly illnesses, drastically improved the living conditions of the average person, and have created new standards of recreation and entertainment. In short, technology has come to define human progress.

So what is the goal of life, the purpose of humanity? The answer rings simple and clear from a wide range of sources (including the Declaration of Independence), yet I feel perhaps His Holiness the Dalai Lama said it best in his speech at the “Forum 2000” conference in Prague in 1997.
“I believe that the very purpose of life is to be happy. From the very core of our being, we desire contentment.”

Thus, it makes sense that technological progress would be a fair indicator of progress as a civilization. Unless, of course, technology isn’t necessarily making us happier.

An article I read today, entitled Technology and Happiness: Why getting more gadgets won't necessarily increase our well-being, explains the situation.

“By most standards, then, you'd have to say that Americans are better off now than they were in the middle of the last century. Oddly, though, if you ask Americans how happy they are, you find that they’re no happier than they were in 1946 (which is when formal surveys of happiness started). In fact, the percentage of people who say they’re very happy has fallen slightly since the early 1970s -- even though the income of people born in 1940 has increased, on average, 116 percent over the course of their working lives.”

The article goes on to explain that this isn’t just an American Phenomenon, but something that occurs in numerous developed countries. Exhibit A: Japan. “Between 1960 and the late 1980s, Japan's economy was utterly transformed, as the nation went from a low-cost supplier of cheap manufactured goods to what is perhaps the world’s most technologically sophisticated society. Over that stretch, the country's GDP quintupled. And yet by the late 1980s, the Japanese said they were no happier than they had been in 1960.”

And yet, according to the article, there was one group of Americans that stayed consistently very happy: The Amish. The article even states that on a survey asking how satisfied you are with your life on a scale from 1-10, the Amish turned out to be as happy as the Forbes 400. Could the Amish’s independence from technology be behind this trend?

Curious to see what other populations were “happy”, I googled “Happiness Survey” and click on a link to a BBC news article. Title: Nigeria tops happiness survey. The other top five, in order, were Mexico, Venezuela, El Salvador, and Puerto Rico. The United States sat at 16th.

Another interesting article I found talked about a study regarding children, technology, and stress. After reading the first two articles, the verdict of this one surprised me. Today’s youth have become so technology dependent, that removal of technology would lead to extreme stress. However, in the context of my peers, this conclusion isn’t actually that alarming. Excluding hours spent sleeping, I would estimate that many of my teenage peers spend less than an hour without having access to their internet, cell phone, iPod, computer, or TV. I myself realize the dependency I have on technology, having experienced the chaos of not having my phone with me or the frustration of having my internet go down. Web 2.0 has only tightened the chain; social networking sites like Facebook, or media sharing sites like Youtube have expanded the internet so it is no longer just a place to send emails and look up information. Thus it is only natural now that a break from our dependence on technology is stressful, and yet, this brings up some key points. If the average American is not any happier than they were several decades, and yet, if a separation from technology now brings stress, and consequently, unhappiness, then, without technology, aren’t we unhappier than before? Has our dependence on technology destroyed our ability to draw happiness from things we once did? Or perhaps, has technology created as many new burdens as new joys?

I would like to end with the rest of the quote from the Dalai Lama:

“In my own limited experience I have found that the more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well-being. Cultivating a close, warmhearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at ease. It helps remove whatever fears or insecurities we may have and gives us the strength to cope with any obstacles we encounter. It is the principal source of success in life. Since we are not solely material creatures, it is a mistake to place all our hopes for happiness on external development alone. The key is to develop inner peace.”

Thus, I would argue that technology is neither human progress nor regress, at least as far as happiness is concerned. Technology is simply a physical means of achieving things, it does not promote happiness or stress. Humans do that to themselves, and technology is just a means, just like everything else, to do so.