Society is constantly pushing technological progress through fierce competition and increasing consumer demand. Over the last decades, this has brought us major technological advancements like computers and mobile phones that are widely available to the public in the Western world. One tends to say that people are better off now than they were in the middle of the last century. Otherwise, there would be no reason to spend our money on these new technologies. However, research shows that people are not happier than 70 years ago, even though their income has increased significantly. Before we proceed to assess the relationship between technological progress and happiness, how is happiness actually defined in most cases?
According to the Oxford Dictionary, happiness is defined as the state of feeling or showing pleasure or contentment. This is still a quite broad definition, but I think contentment is an interesting word that is implicitly in conflict with seeking (technological) progress. Alternatively, one could describe happiness in the light of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, which includes physiological needs, safety needs, belongingness and love needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization. Here, lower needs must be satisfied before individuals can attend to needs higher up, according to the order of needs mentioned above. One could argue that happiness corresponds to the level of satisfaction of these needs. Some examples may give us further insights into the relationship between happiness and technological progress.
Social media have entered our lives quickly over the last decade and we now experience both positive and negative effects. It gives us opportunities to experience pleasure as we are increasingly connected to friends, family, and acquaintances. But when online contact replaces physical contact, one could question what type of contact gives higher pleasure, both in the short term and long term. For instance, children are seduced to grab their mobile phones instead of playing outside. Does this give them more pleasure? In addition, I would argue social media negatively affect our levels of contentment due to phenomena like Fear of Missing Out (FOMO). We tend to compare our lives to other peoples’ that ostensibly are having a better time. Without social media, we would not be confronted with the (better) lives of other people, which would increase our level of contentment.
Another example to illustrate the relation between happiness and technological progress would be technological advancements in production methods. On the one hand, more sophisticated technology has catalyzed efficient food production. According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, more efficient food production would contribute to satisfying physiological needs, if not satisfied before. On the other hand, more sophisticated technology has enabled countries to develop weapons for mass destruction for example, which would negatively impact the safety needs in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
Given the examples above and my intuition, I would argue that in most cases technological progress does not result in increased happiness and leads to discontentment. What do you think about the relationship between technological progress and happiness?
References:
https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html
https://www.technologyreview.com/2005/01/01/231791/technology-and-happiness/
Very interesting post! I believe this topic is not yet given enought attention in this digital age, however it affects all of us. I think it’s interesting to discuss this topic because it could indeed be argued that we are more satisfied in our (basic) needs as you correctly point out. Thus, if we rely on models then in theory we could be described as happier. However, I do not necessarily think this is the case. I believe happiness is much more than these needs and it might not even be possible to measure happiness. I personally recognize this ‘fear of missing out’ as well as the pressure of social media and therefore think that techbological progress might even affect my happines in a negative way. I think we don’t realize that with technological development we get more needy and greedy maybe and forget about other important things in life that can’t be provided digitally!
Hi Joel,
It is a very interesting topic you wrote about and perhaps more relevant than ever. While I agree with the fact that technologies have bettered our lives especially in regard to physical health, I think that it has negatively affected our mental health in which happiness is the biggest player. Even as a person that is not really active on social media, there is definitely pressure to compare yourself with other people. This can be in terms of work, social life or appearance. And even though I think all of us recognize that posts on social media most of the time only illustrate the positives or can be entirely fake, most of us do feel pressure to be similar to those whom we follow. The constant exposure to other people’s “perfect lives” makes me believe that technological progress does not necessarily makes us happier.
Thank you Joel for this post, it was very interesting but most of all it pointed out a problem that is too often overlooked: all this rush toward progress and technological innovation seems to be always connected with better performance, better comfort, better life overall. If you can take photos of a landscape with your new iPhone 13 pro, play with your friends to the new FIFA game, and do the shopping directly from your couch, what else could you possibly desire? We forget to consider that sometimes this may prevent you from actually enjoy and see the beauty landscape because too focus on capturing it to share it on Instagram, from enjoying the physical company of your friends, from going out for a walk and buy some fresh groceries from the local shop in your neighborhood.
Another bad consequence of technological innovation, and in particular social media, is the FOMO you mentioned: the constant fear of missing out on experiences, parties, trips, which is worsened by the increasing habits of showing off on social networks in the fanciest possible way everything we do in our life.
Paradoxically, Covid 19 reduced this fear (we were all locked down at home, what can you possibly miss out?). But now, with everything opening again, FOMO is growing more and more, as we all feel this need to regain the experiences we missed.
I am not saying social media are bad, I use them, and I post on them, but what I really don’t like about them is the constant comparison they create between your life and all the other users, that could have a very deep impact especially on the youngest. And definitely does not make them happier