![]() Jordi Quoidbach, one of the study's lead authors and a psychology professor at Barcelona's University Pompeu Fabra, told us in August. "Our positive emotion, perhaps, can be seen as a resource," Dr. This suggests that our happiness is something of a reserve, the study authors told Business Insider. On the other hand, we do things like going on a hike or getting drinks with friends when we're feeling low. ![]() So long as we're aware that social media doesn't turn into long-term happiness, we'll always withdraw from it - at least temporarily - to do things that will give us those long-term rewards.Ī study published in August in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences which looked at the type of activities people engage in when they're either feeling happy or feeling sad, for example, found that we tend to gravitate towards boring activities like chores when we're in a good mood. This could be good news for those of us concerned with turning into Lacie Pound. ![]() But we also manage to do things that aren't inherently pleasant - like the laundry or the dishes - because we know those activities will help us feel satisfied in the long-run. Sure, we do sometimes gravitate towards things that make us feel good in the short-term. That research helps explain why we don't merely spend all of our time doing pleasurable activities, and why we still somehow manage to do things like work and chores. A January study of 1,787 young US adults sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health, for example, found a “strong and significant association between social media use and depression." Participants' depression levels, the researchers found, increased alongside the total amount of time spent using social media and the number of weekly visits to social media platforms.įortunately, some research suggests there's a limit to how far this hedonic principle will ultimately drive us. Some research suggests the opposite, in fact: that social media use is linked with an increase in negative feelings. Study after study has found that when we engage with social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, we may feel a temporary boost from likes or favorites, but there's absolutely no link between social media use and long-term happiness. In the real world, many of us make Lacie's mistake over and over again. Unfortunately, Lacie continues to pursue what she thinks will make her happy, like a high social media rating, while completely disregarding the things that might actually make her happy, like friendships with her co-workers or a real relationship with her brother. And she'll do anything - even if it goes against her instincts, even if it's all, ultimately, a big lie - to get there. In the part of the episode where Lacie views the apartment of her dreams, she's shown a virtual reality scene of herself making dinner in the kitchen with a lover - and it's this romantic vision that seems to goad her into pursuing the 4.5 rating. The episode ends in the middle of a vicious but comical insult-throwing match between Lacie and the man in the cell across from her. ![]() In the end, after brandishing a knife in the middle of a very public nervous breakdown, Lacie is arrested and jailed. The remainder of the plot focuses on Lacie's initially promising - but ultimately devastating - attempt to raise her score by speaking at the wedding of a childhood friend with an envious 4.8 rating. But she's several percentage points away at a meager 4.2. A higher score of a 4.5, the leasing agent tells her, would qualify her for a 20% discount. In one particularly evocative scene, the main character, Lacie Pound (played by Bryce Dallas Howard) discovers the only way she can afford the apartment she wants - in the prestigious Pelican Cove Lifestyle Community - is by raising her rating and becoming a "preferred" member. In essence, because we're always on the hunt for that next thing that'll make us feel good, it's almost impossible for us to just be - and just being, research suggests, is one of the key ways to feel truly happy. Next month.Ī psychological principle called the "hedonic treadmill" is the real fuel that would, in theory, drive us toward this pathetic and debilitating future. It's not your typical science fiction, which envisions the world 100 or 1,000 years from now. This is precisely the reason "Black Mirror" is so compelling.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |