Writing for Academic Discussion Are people less satisfied with their lives compared to previous generations? - revised -

Are people less satisfied with their lives compared to previous generations? (psychology)

 

 

☆ Let’s Think

1.       Do you agree with that social media make people constantly compare themselves to others?

2.       Give examples of consumerism making people buy unnecessary things like a new iPhone model. What psyche do the industry take advantage of to make people buy more than necessary?

3.       Share your experience in which social pressures made you try to achieve more.

4.       Do you think your generation is less satisfied than your parents’?

5.       Do you agree with Mitchel’s idea that fulfillment of life with family and friends is the basic source of satisfaction that is not affected by changing times?

 

 

☆ Hints for Points

Agree

1.       Studies indicate the relation between social media and dissatisfaction.

2.       Consumerism starts the vicious cycle of short period of satisfaction and desire for more and better that follows it. It also leads to materialism, where one’s value is based on the amount one owns.

3.       Trying to live up to social expectation is stressful.

4.       Results-based society makes people focused on numbers, making themselves alienated from internal fulfillment.

5.       Desire for the better is in our instinct.

Humans have evolved by constantly challenging new goals. We instinctively keep improving ourselves or our environment, because to stop trying means stop moving forward, which is dangerous.

 

Disagree

1.       Education teaches people to thank for what we already have.

Most people around the world are religious, so they are not affected by changes of times. Major religions teach the importance of gratitude for happiness and tell people to give up desire for what is not yours to be free from pains of greed. Secular also learn moderation through cultures.

2.       What most people want is very modest

This world is made up of a few extremely greedy people who have amassed the wealth which equals to the total wealth of the bottom half of the population. However, most people do not care, as long as they can lead a decent life.

 

 

☆ Sample for Ideas and Expressions

【Thesis】Although I basically agree with Emily in that social media make people less satisfied than before, I think people are intrinsically greedy and capitalism, makes them greedier overtly and covertly.

【Supporting Details】Capitalism needs people who are constantly unsatisfied to keep consumerism going. It manages to manipulate people’s minds to be focused on others’ business and make them feel sense of scarcity. The phenomena that a new product gets popular and everybody has one overnight were often seen during the television era. Today, consumer psyche is manipulated in more sophisticated ways through social media. Pop-up banners and commercial posts according to the online user’s past purchase history and taste constantly stimulate their appetite for shopping. Moreover, results-based business culture incessantly demands workers to show the result, making them obsessed with the notion that they must keep making achievements. These structural pressures in capitalist society make us miss appreciation to what we already have.

【Counterargument-treatment】Mitchel’s argument that people’s lives are centered around fundamental values such as happiness with family and friends could be true to some extent, but we have seen urbanization and new technology change untainted society into another hell of greed and envy, like what happened to Bhutan, the country that was once famous as a poor but happy kingdom, after it started importing television sets.

【Conclusion】The glass has always been greener somewhere else, and capitalism exacerbates it even more.  (229 words)

Write your response in 10 minutes. Show each other your responses. Write down questions or suggestions to each other’s response.

 

 

                                                   DRAFT

 

 

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

 

Writing for Academic Discussion Are people less satisfied with their lives compared to previous generations?

Are people less satisfied with their lives compared to previous generations? (psychology)

 

 

☆ Let’s Think

1.       Emily says that social media make people constantly compare themselves to others. Do you agree? If so, share examples.

2.       Give examples of consumerism making people buy unnecessary things like a new iPhone model. What psyche do the industry take advantage of to make people buy more than necessary?

3.       Share your experience in which social pressures made you try to achieve more.

4.       Do you think your generation is less satisfied than your parents’?

5.       Do you agree with Mitchel’s idea that fulfillment of life with family and friends is the basic source of satisfaction that is not affected by changing times?

 

 

☆ Hints for Points

Agree

1.       Studies indicate the relation between social media and dissatisfaction.

2.       Consumerism starts the vicious cycle of short period of satisfaction and desire for more and better that follows it. It also leads to materialism, where one’s value is based on the amount one owns.

3.       Trying to live up to social expectation is stressful.

4.       Results-based society makes people focused on numbers, making themselves alienated from internal fulfillment.

5.       Desire for the better is in our instinct.

Humans have evolved by constantly challenging new goals. We instinctively keep improving ourselves or our environment, because to stop trying means stop moving forward, which is dangerous.

 

Disagree

1.       Education teaches people to thank for what we already have.

Most people around the world are religious, so they are not affected by changes of times. Major religions teach the importance of gratitude for happiness and tell people to give up desire for what is not yours to be free from pains of greed. Secular also learn moderation through cultures.

2.       What most people want is very modest

This world is made up of a few extremely greedy people who have amassed the wealth which equals to the total wealth of the bottom half of the population. However, most people do not care, as long as they can lead a decent life.

 

 

☆Ideas and Expressions  

【Thesis】Although I basically agree with Emily in that social media make people less satisfied than before, I think people are intrinsically greedy and capitalism, which exists behind social media, makes them greedier overtly and covertly.

【Supporting Details】Capitalism needs people who are constantly unsatisfied to keep consumerism going. It manages to manipulate people’s minds to be focused on others’ business and make them feel sense of scarcity. It is not clear whether social media successfully contributes to this manipulation, as algorism makes adds reach only limited group of people. The phenomena that a new product gets popular and everybody has one overnight were often seen during the television era but not anymore, while we still see cases that seem to be related to the psyche such as murders related to Nike shoes. I guess consumer psyche is still successfully manipulated in more sophisticated ways now through social media; or else, they would not have been allowed to be prevalent.

【Counterargument-treatment】Mitchel’s argument that people’s lives are centered around fundamental values such as happiness with family and friends could be true to some extent, but we have seen urbanization and new technology change untainted society into another hell of greed and envy, like what happened to Bhutan, the country that was once famous as a poor but happy kingdom, after it started importing television sets.

【Conclusion】The glass has always been greener somewhere else, and capitalism exacerbates it even more.  (235 words)

Write your response in 10 minutes. Show each other your responses. Write down questions or suggestions to each other’s response.

 

 

                                                   DRAFT

 

 

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

 

Writing for Academic Discussion Should cigarettes be banned?

Should cigarettes be banned, or should people be allowed to make their own choices? (public health)

 

 

☆Let’s Think

Notes:

1)     40 years ago, smoking was not a concern in Japan. Many people smoked. They smoked anywhere, anytime, and no one complained. Starbucks was the only shop that was non-smoking till about 20 years ago. In 2003, a law obligating public organizations to prevent passive smoking started, and spaces for non-smokers or those for smokers were made. Since then, the number of smokers has gradually decreased, and smoking in public areas was banned in 2020.

2)     Ban on cigarettes means that production, sales, and purchase of cigarettes are prohibited by law.

 

1.        Is there anyone who smokes around you? Do you want them to stop smoking? Why/Why not?

2.        Marijana is now legal in most states of the U.S., and it is legal throughout Netherland. Why?

3.        Is secondhand smoke avoidable completely?

 

 

☆Hints for Points

Smoking cigarette should be banned:

1.        Smoking is toxic and causes cancer and other serious diseases.

2.        It is addictive.

3.        There is the problem of second-hand smoke/smoking.

4.        Smokers’ families lose them twice. They first lose them when the smoker refuses to stop smoking despite their begging before the smoker actually dies of a disease caused by their smoking.

 

Smoking cigarettes should stay legal:

1.        The government has no right to prohibit individual habits. (infringement of freedom)

2.        Only public smoking should be banned.

3.        Smokers will be stressed out and resort to other harmful substances if smoking is banned.

4.        Banning will make cigarettes go underground just like what happened in the Great Prohibition and what has happened to cannabis.

 

 

☆Ideas and Expressions  

【Thesis】Although I partly agree with Sophia in that second-hand smoking must be prevented for public health by any means necessary, I am skeptical of the legitimacy of banning cigarette smoking.

【Supporting Details】Although the government must protect public health and therefore must ban harmful substances like poisonous drugs, cigarettes are not so harmful as it has little immediate effect on the health of the user. Actually, substances that are as harmful as or could be more harmful than cigarettes such as alcohol and sugar are not banned, either. These products have been around as part of people’s lives for a long time, and they are closely intertwined with sense of happiness. Banning their use will take away the pleasure and other vices related to them from the users. This is a violation of freedom to pursue happiness. Decisions on whether to take health risks in exchange for indulgence should be left to individual decisions. Thus, the government is not authorized to intervene an individual’s habit of smoking.

【Counterargument-treatment】Of course, education on adverse effects, regulation of excessive advertising, and ban on public smoking must be ensured. However, other than the reason I wrote above, total ban on smoking will make it go underground, and lives of those who are heavily addicted to smoking will be affected as they will get illegal products just as users of illegal drug do. Smokers without cigarettes may also start other bad habits like heavy drinking, and this is a retrogression in health promotion.

【Conclusion】Therefore, smoking in private spaces should be at the discretion of individuals.

(258 words)

 

Write your response in 10 minutes. Show each other your responses. Write down questions or suggestions to each other’s response.

 

 

                                                   DRAFT