I love gadgets. When I buy a gadget I want, it feels great: Exploring all the things that the new device enables me to do and marveling at the things that technology has accomplished.
But, when I think about it, I am not happier after I buy one of these gadgets. There is a certain ‘basal happiness level’ which I am currently at, and I feel that this level does not increase after purchasing a desired object.
And yet, I still want these objects. I’d rather have them than not have them, even though they don’t increase my level of happiness.
I noticed something similar when I recently caught an episode of ‘Fame’, which is sort of ‘Glee’ from the 1980s. The kids in ‘Fame’ had no Internet, no cellphones, no Facebook, Twitter, no computers, etc, but they seem exactly as happy as kids in ‘Glee’. The basal level of happiness of the average teenager has not increased in the last 30 years, even though we have all these new technologies and gadgets that make our life easier and more comfortable. And yet, every person would rather have these new devices than not have them.
I started wondering about this, since it has been my assumption that we strive to maximize our happiness, and so if an action has no long term effects on our happiness, why take that action? If I’d rather own these devices than not own them, it means that there is some metric other than happiness that is improved by owning them.
I think that metric is ‘contentment’. I am simply more content owning these devices than not owning them.
And this concept applies not only to gadgets, but also to other aspects of life. Somone may work hard to get a promotion, build a big house, become rich, get a nobel prize, etc, even though after all these things are accomplished their ‘basal happiness level’ will likely not change.
What determines our happiness level is not very well understood, but after our basic survival needs are met, happiness is a function of things like brain chemistry predisposition, whether whoever you love loves you back, how well you get along with your significant other, how many close friends you have, etc.
Those things are unlikely to change just because you bought a new smartphone or a new Porche, or even because you won the Nobel prize. And yet, people strive for these things, not because they will be happier as a result, but because they will be more content as a result. They will be more content with themselves if they know that they have achieved what they wanted: bought a beautiful house, made partner in a firm, became CEO, won an Oscar.
People initially think that they are trying to maximize their happiness, but after a while, after achieving some early goals and not feeling happier, they realize that it’s foolish to expect to become happier when the next goal is achieved. And yet, they persist on working towards that next goal. At that point, they are simply trying to maximize their contentment. It’s just that ‘the pursuit of contentment’ is not as catchy as ‘the pursuit of happiness’.
Originally published at https://andrewoneverything.com.
