A team of researchers claims to have uncovered an interesting paradox: humans are happier when they’re busy, but we’re inclined towards idleness (“an evolutionary vestige that ensures we conserve energy.”) Christopher K. Hsee, Adelle X. Yang, and Liangyan Wang ran a series of experiments with college students and found that students were inclined towards idleness, but would seize even superficial opportunities to be busy. Furthermore, students who took the opportunity to do something with their downtime reported feeling happier after the experiment. In keeping with the times, the authors see an opportunity for government intervention: “Governments may increase the happiness of idle citizens by having them build bridges that are actually useless.” [%comments]
Are We Naturally Lazy?
TAGS: psychology
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Reminds me of the ol’ Kentucky hillbilly and his son sitting in the house smoking pipes.
“Son, go out and see if it’s raining,” said the dad.
“Aw, Pa, can’t we just call in the dog and see if he’s wet?”
Speaking of this matter, I read a “proverb” just the other day that ought to give us all pause. Basically, it asked why we wanted eternal life when we can’t even figure out what to do on Saturday.
I, for one, am definitely happy doing stuff. Usually though I am happiest when I am doing things that are not what I _should_ be doing.
Idleness is a way to rebel against structured work. Entertainments are a way to rebel against boredom. Useless work might occupy the mind and the body but in the end you have nothing to appreciate and so its value will be lessened, possibly even inverted. People like to see that the work they have put into something has a lasting effect on others.
Yes, there is nothing more meaningful and satisfying than being enlisted by a bureaucracy to work on a giant, purposeless monument to futility.
When do I start?
to be happy is to be considered by the others as such
66% of Americans are FAT; either overweight or obese.
IF LAZY PEOPLE eventually grow FAT, then we have the Morphological Proof of Laziness.
IT is easy to blame our fatness on a conspiracy of corn growers, flavor chemists and big greedy corporations. But hard to examine our own bad habits, overeating, laziness and sloth.
” I just woke up, and my athletic body is not bloated up like a zepplin! IT must have been alien ray technology or a CIA psychological plot!”
In the past 3 years or so I turned into a big video game player. It involves doing nothing but I yet I get so much happiness from it. My handle on the PSN is LaZyTiMe.
Useless or not, I suspect that the people building the bridges would actually have to believe that they were going to be useful, in order for the effect to work. It’s hard to believe that that surly teenager serving burgers, although undeniably busy, is happy.
Tolstoy was a firm believer in doing hard manual labour for the good of the soul, much to the amusement of his serfs, apparently.
I’ve seen way too many happiness surveys and statements recently. “Rich people aren’t happy,” “having freedoms makes us unhappy,” “working makes you happy.” All self reported happiness surveys should be abolished.
I could make a happiness survey that said that people preferred being governed by murderous dictators, that doesn’t make it true.