In the general proliferation of consumer choices in the rapidly developing technology field individuals have to scramble to keep up with the rapid obsolescence of computers, television sets, audio systems and so forth, simply in order to have what everyone else has – but they end up no happier than they were several years before with the lower-tech version, and they may even be rendered miserable by what is known as the ‘consumer treadmill’.
Of course people aren’t made happier by larger TV screens, faster computers, smarter automobiles, easy jet travel or instant Internet access to vast quantities of information. Provided they have enough to live on people will fall into a standard range of happiness or unhappiness, depending on what they make of their lives in the context of the choices available to them.
The value of technological innovations is not that they make us happier, but that they allow us to do and experience more, that they expand and enrich our possibilities. They also expand the opportunities for anxiety, failure, envy and the knowledge of what we are missing
Of course people aren’t made happier by larger TV screens, faster computers, smarter automobiles, easy jet travel or instant Internet access to vast quantities of information. Provided they have enough to live on people will fall into a standard range of happiness or unhappiness, depending on what they make of their lives in the context of the choices available to them.
The value of technological innovations is not that they make us happier, but that they allow us to do and experience more, that they expand and enrich our possibilities. They also expand the opportunities for anxiety, failure, envy and the knowledge of what we are missing
No comments:
Post a Comment