Reasons Why 21st Century-ers are Miserable

From Dennis, here's an article on cracked.com that talks about why modern people are "miserable".

"The problem is we've built an awesome, sprawling web of technology meant purely to let us avoid annoying people. Do all your Christmas shopping online and avoid the fat lady ramming her cart into you at Target. Spend $5,000 on a home theater system so you can see movies on a big screen without a toddler kicking the back of your seat. Hell, rent the DVD's from Netflix and you don't even have to spend the 30 seconds with the confused kid working the register at Blockbuster.

Get stuck in the waiting room at the doctor? No way we're striking up a conversation with the smelly old man in the next seat. We'll plug the iPod into our ears and have a text conversation with a friend or play our DS. Filter that annoyance right out of our world."

Read the full article here

Alright, the article specifically mentioned 7 reasons although it seems to me that some or most of them overlap. I think it makes sense overall - the encompassing idea is the importance of handling and cultivating both emotions and relationships.

However, recalling an interview with Eric Weiner by Stephen Colbert in The Colbert Report made me think of perhaps another element to the explanation. Weiner was interviewed about his new book, The Geography of Bliss, where he talks about his travels and his observations of the happiest places in the world.


I remember him saying that money does buy happiness to some extent. According to him, the world average ceiling is $15,000: earning below 15 grands and increasing it to 15 will increase your happiness as well; earn at least 15 grands and more money will do little to satisfy you (I'm sure the ceiling is way higher for people in the US).



Now, I can't cite any studies as of the moment but I'm sure that there is a growing income inequality, i.e. the gap between the rich and poor is growing all over the world (the rich are becoming richer and the poor, poorer). Assuming this and Weiner's statement to be true, then the signs are pointing to a decreasing chance of happiness monetary-wise.

So that's the money-aspect that got me pondering. But wait, are we really miserable? The article said that we are "hard-wired by evolution to need to do things for people." Aren't we equipped with the mechanism to find humor and hope as well? And while there is hope, doesn't that make us overcome misery?

Lastly, am I sounding like a politician? I'm yakking about an article, putting my own spin on the issue, and talking about abstract matters.