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January 19, 2005
Money doesn't buy happiness: proven
Experts have shown what they've always told us: money can't buy happiness. Above $40000 US for a family of four, extra income does nothing for how happy you feel day-to-day, or year to year. The article assumes that you are not dirt poor, of course, in which case more money will definitely make you happier.
We live in a rich country, yet we are not happier than people in poorer countries. In fact, I suspect that we are less happy because we have attained our riches at the expense of our happiness and sense of fulfillment. A lowly farmer that tends his fields and sees results from hard work (and isn't owned by Monsanto, for example), is probably happier than the programmer making $75000 a year. I bet that people in peaceful, but poorer countries do not suffer from depression very much, or chronic fatigue syndrome. I'm not suggesting that these aren't real ailments, but rather that the ways in which we live, perhaps our priorities, are chiefly responsible for them.
The sentiment is on the rise among college students. An annual poll by the University of California at Los Angeles and the American Council on Education found that entering freshmen rated becoming "very well off financially" first on a list of 19 goals, ahead of choices such as helping others, raising a family or becoming proficient in an academic pursuit.
I think that this is very telling. But here's something else:
Not having a job when you want one — even if you're well off — ranks at the top, Loewenstein said. Other prescriptions for unhappiness: having a bad relationship with your significant other or having children beset with problems.
Why does not having a job when you want one rank above not being happy in your relationship, or even worse, having children with problems? I think that would be the worst of all among the three. And I never felt particularly upset that I didn't have a job. At least, not this time around. It suggests to me that maybe we no longer know what is important. I wonder when we got off the track.
The greatest thing, and possibly something that could become huge, is Bhutan's ditching of the Gross National Product and adoption of the GNH standard, or Gross National Happiness. This standard is based on four pillars of success: economic self-reliance, a pristine environment, the preservation and promotion of Bhutan’s culture, and good governance in the form of a democracy. Imagine what could happen if more and more of us could influence the powerful and adopt this kind of standard. I wonder how things would change. We wouldn't be in the economic position that we are in, but then again, would we even care?
Posted by JonasParker at January 19, 2005 10:40 AM
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