3 ms·

Why an Easier Life Is Not Necessarily Happier

35 points by blueridge 3y ago

esotericimpl 3y ago
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decr 3y ago
I wonder if someone has taken Borgmann and related it to the latest research on social media addiction and dopamine driven feedback. I've personally felt the effects of instant gratification on social media making life harder in the long run. Challenging activities (e.g. exercise), get me out of the hole.
8bitsrule 3y ago
I haven't heard many people saying 'hard work never killed anybody' lately. (Gotta admit, we are so free of drudgery compared to any ancestors.) IME, happiness is more about how you take advantage of free time. Possessing curiosity is a distinct advantage in a universe filled with diverse phenomena ... else it's all just same-old.
- hammyhavoc 3y ago
  Counterpoint: ikigai. Can everybody achieve ikigai? No. But not everybody can achieve xyz, but doesn't mean xyz isn't worth striving for whenever possible. It occurred to me that several friends could swap jobs between them and achieve ikigai, but they've been at their respective corp since before the IPO and doing xyz professionally for two decades, they feel it wouldn't be "a good career move", yet openly declare their disdain for their profession, position and respective workplace. Obviously, that's a big life decision not to take lightly, but it does strike me that some people accept x because they don't feel they can have better.
jurschreuder 3y ago
This attaches two unrelated topics. Extreme capitalism is making Americans unhappy because corporations go rampant on poor people with zero concern for their health. In Europe the quality of life is way higher and people are happier. Specially for poor people. All these things the writer attaches to an easy life are actually lives taken by corporations for profit. With easy life he means eating cheap chemical food. He means a toxic environment where people are not protected against their basic instincts that can be turned against them to make them addicted to unhealthy things for profit.

35 points by blueridge 3y ago

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decr 3y ago

I wonder if someone has taken Borgmann and related it to the latest research on social media addiction and dopamine driven feedback. I've personally felt the effects of instant gratification on social media making life harder in the long run. Challenging activities (e.g. exercise), get me out of the hole.

8bitsrule 3y ago

I haven't heard many people saying 'hard work never killed anybody' lately. (Gotta admit, we are so free of drudgery compared to any ancestors.) IME, happiness is more about how you take advantage of free time. Possessing curiosity is a distinct advantage in a universe filled with diverse phenomena ... else it's all just same-old.

hammyhavoc 3y ago
Counterpoint: ikigai. Can everybody achieve ikigai? No. But not everybody can achieve xyz, but doesn't mean xyz isn't worth striving for whenever possible. It occurred to me that several friends could swap jobs between them and achieve ikigai, but they've been at their respective corp since before the IPO and doing xyz professionally for two decades, they feel it wouldn't be "a good career move", yet openly declare their disdain for their profession, position and respective workplace. Obviously, that's a big life decision not to take lightly, but it does strike me that some people accept x because they don't feel they can have better.

jurschreuder 3y ago

This attaches two unrelated topics. Extreme capitalism is making Americans unhappy because corporations go rampant on poor people with zero concern for their health. In Europe the quality of life is way higher and people are happier. Specially for poor people. All these things the writer attaches to an easy life are actually lives taken by corporations for profit. With easy life he means eating cheap chemical food. He means a toxic environment where people are not protected against their basic instincts that can be turned against them to make them addicted to unhealthy things for profit.