TOEFL iBT People are 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. 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-driven society alienates us from internal fulfillment.

5.       Desire for the better is in our instinct. Humans have evolved by constantly challenging ourselves for new goals. We instinctively keep improving ourselves or our environment, because to stop trying means to stop moving forward, which is dangerous as things are constantly changing.

 

Disagree

1.       Culture and education teach us the importance of lifestyle of moderation and gratitude for basic necessities.

2.       Teachings of major religions is about giving up desire in order to be free from pains of greed.

3.       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】To add to Emily’s opinion that social media make people less satisfied than before, I think capitalism has made them greedier than before.

【Supporting Details】Capitalism needs people who are constantly unsatisfied to keep consumerism going. It makes people focused on others’ business and feel sense of scarcity. The phenomenon that a new product gets popular and everybody has one overnight was 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 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 leave us dissatisfied.

【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  urbanization and new technology have changed and keep changing untainted society into another hell of greed and envy. Bhutan, for instance, was once famous as a poor but happy kingdom, but it is not the same anymore after it started importing television sets and people started seeing luxury.

【Conclusion】The glass has always been greener somewhere else, and capitalism exacerbates it even more.  (216 words)

Write your draft. Then read each other’s draft, asking questions and making counterarguments.

 

                                                   DRAFT