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