Advertising, Happiness and The End of the World #2

My happiness comes from myself, my family, and my friends. I enjoy the time I spend alone when I have a book, a sketch pad, or a phone in my hand with some snacks and movie played in the background. I think the national happiness index is a good idea. It collects the citizens’ feelings towards that living which can provide a good resource to see the developments of the country over the years. The data can also point out the current problems within the societies. For example, in the Summery of 2015 GNX Index, it show the process of evaluating the happiness. As reflected in the World’s Happiest Country Also Has No Carbon Emissions, it points out the concern of the climate change in Bhutan, but it turns out that the citizens start to protect the forests in more ways. To evaluate happiness, I think it depends on the individuals. Sometime the society can affect the personal feelings. From my perspective, it is because people are seeing things through other people’s eyes instead of speaking in their own voice. Happiness is always around you, the importance is the way you see. The happiness is based on love. Love can from other people, but most importantly is from yourself. As an individual, the love from yourself can be powerful to support you to go through the problems. When people are not blocking their own voice, they hear more from their opinions and have the ability to keep themselves happy, it does not need any other things to be depended on.

In the article I’ve Been Called A Luddite, the author suggests that the happiness does not come from the technologies since there’s no emotion. But people can feel all different energies and love when they go out and communicate with people in person. I do not fully agree with the author’s opinion. I think the technologies make our life easier nowadays. We can get in touch with people even when we are far away, and we can get things that we want online. The merchants you ordered online can be delivered to the house directly. However, I agree that people can not feel the liveliness if they talk online instead of face to face. When people are sitting face to face and talk, the interactions are different from online chats. The computer or phone screens are always cold, but the actual person is dynamic. With eye contacts and body compositions, people know they are focusing on their talk which is more efficient. In contrast, when talking online, people can be multi-tasking which can create misunderstanding. The technology is not powerful enough to deliver the actual emotions and energy though their screens.

In the But Will It Make You Happy from New York Times, I find that the base of the happiness depends on ones set of minds. In the beginning of the article, it tells that most of the stress come from concerns of money. The article points out that people will find happiness it they spend it in the right way. To get products sell, the shops care about the reflections and life situation of the consumers. The article uses Walmart as an example. People get their happiness from their experience. This experience is the cycle of buying new things, using them, then buy new things to replace them. “Scholars and researchers haven’t determined whether Armani will put a bigger smile on your face than Dolce & Gabbana. But they have found that our types of purchases, their size and frequency, and even the timing of the spending all affect long-term happiness.” I agree with this statement. Many people nowadays want to compare their life with others. As the technologies get more developed, people can reach out to more information online. They follow the trends to show off that they live better than others by buying new things frequently. In the article, this type of situation is introduced as “keep up with the Joneses”. This kind of happiness to me is misshapen. I think that people are losing their identities.  In the article, It suggests people to save more and spend less. “New studies of consumption and happiness show, for instance, that people are happier when they spend money on experiences instead of material objects, when they relish what they plan to buy long before they buy it, and when they stop trying to outdo the Joneses.” But people can change their mind easily, the way of spending money can depend on the moods. Sometimes people buy things without thinking too much, and they would regard after they paid for it. In most cases, they still would not return these things. It creates unnecessary cost and more space to store these things. The awareness of strong possessiveness become important in these situations. Happiness is not based on amount of money they spent. When people are not blocking their own voice, they hear more from their opinions and have the ability to keep themselves happy, it does not need any other things to be depended on.

Representative of happiness to me (A photo taken by Jaime Lyu on the flight home)