Archive: Opinions

According to the World Happiness Report the United States is the 19th happiest country in the world.  And according to a new Wallethub analysis New York is the 15th happiest state in the United States.  In her analysis of happiness data, psychologist Jean Twenge correlates a connection between the decline of happiness, especially in adolescents, and the rise of smart phone use.  She finds that people who have actual face to face relationships are happier than those who spend their time with their noses in their phones.  She also finds that "depression, suicidal ideation, and self-harm increased sharply among adolescents since 2010, particularly among girls and young women."  The data shows happiness in the US declining starting in 2008.

Just reading the Happiness Report is enough to make us unhappy!  But, hmm, is it really smart phones that are the culprits?  Speaking from my own experience, yes, sort of.  I am pretty unhappy when I am in a room full of people who are more interested in interacting with their phones than in interacting with me.  If it gets too bad I bring up the Kindle app on my phone and read a book (which makes me happy, though probably not as happy as I would be if I weren't driven to it by being ignored).

2008 was the year Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Bettie Page, and  Paul Newman died, which made a lot of people unhappy.  They were probably three times as unhappy if they read about these deaths on their phone,  Danica Patrick became the first female driver to win an IndyCar series race, which may have made a bunch of male drivers unhappy.  Barack Obama became President of the united States which certainly made a lot of Republicans unhappy.  And there was 'Bloody Friday', which was the day stock exchanges around the world saw record drops of about 10%.

Still the smart phone theory seems to hold some water.  In the last ten years the amount of time adolescents spend on their phones has increased, with the average 12th grader spending 6 hours accessing the Internet, social media apps and sites, and texting on their phones.

My own experience suggests a cure for that. when it comes to texting I much prefer typing on my computer to my phone.  Why?  Because my fingers are bigger than the keys on my phone, and I have never mastered the technique of dragging across the keyboard and stopping at the letter I want. I don't much like texting except for very brief messages like "At the store. Do we need carrots?" or "Our dinner with Sally and Bob is off for tonight."  When my phone pings unexpectedly I tend to jump.  And the amount of energy spent on typing on that tiny keyboard seems more of a chore than is worth it to tell Stanley that Betty doesn't really like him.

So here's my idea: make cell phone keyboards even smaller and harder to use.  It's human nature.  People will take the path of least resistance, and terrible keyboards will make talking on the phone the easier choice.  They are called phones, after all, which is short for telephone, and when telling a phone is easier than typing on one, people will stop typing.

Certainly talking on the phone is not interacting face to face, but its a step.  And it's good training for talking to an actual person who is in the same room with you.  However, if you talk on a phone in the room with me in it, I am still going to be unhappy.

New York's Happiness Rating puts us at 4th in the percentage of Depressed Adults, 1st in Suicide Rate, 16th in the Number of Work Hours, 19th in the Separation & Divorce Rate, 29th in Income Growth, and 22nd in Safety.  Low numbers mean happier, high numbers not happy, with the average rating being 25). So 1st in Suicide Rate means the lowest suicide rate, and the state is only below average in income growth as far as happiness is concerned.  I am personally depressed by my income growth (or the absence of same), so I know this to be true.

I recently had occasion to replace my old phone, and the features of my new one do make me happy.  I marvel at the powerful little computer they fit into that flat mini-tablet that is even more powerful with the myriad of data available over the cellular or wifi connection.  I suppose the next step in its evolution will be surgical implants with a direct connection to our brains.

Before the surgeons get to happy sharpening their scalpels, someone should take a hard look at the addictive quality of these devices and how they impact suicidal impulses and deep depression.  Because you can, at least, turn off a cell phone if you want to.  For those of you who have never done it, press and hold the side button on the phone and follow the instructions on the screen.  But you can't turn off your brain.

Or move to Hawaii, the happiest state in the United States.  Or move to Finland, the happiest country.  Hmm, I wonder if Hawaii and Finland have lousy cell phone coverage?  Or smaller keyboards?

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