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We would like to be a little happier. The problem is that much of what determines happiness is not in our control. Some of us are genetically predisposed to see the world through rose-coloured glasses, while others have a generally negative outlook. Bad things happen, to us and in the world. People can be unkind and jobs can be tedious. But we do have some control over how we spend our leisure time. That's one reason why it's worth asking, which leisure time activities are linked to happiness and which are not.
There are some organizations, universities that conduct studies on happiness. In a recent analysis of one million US teens shows how teens were spending their time and which activities correlated with happiness, and which didn't.
The study focused if changes in the way teens spend their free time might partially explain a significant drop in teens' happiness after 2012 - and perhaps the decline in adults' happiness since 2000 as well.
Overuse of Mobile Phone
Mobile Phone overuse is a dependence syndrome seen among mobile phone users. Some mobile phone users exhibit problematic behaviors related to substance use disorders. These behaviors can include preoccupation with mobile communication, excessive money or time spent on mobile phones,
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use of mobile phones in socially or physically inappropriate situations such as driving an automobile. Increased use can also lead increased time on mobile communication, adverse effects on relationships, and anxiety if separated from mobile phones or in a signal connectivity issue.
World Health Organization on Dependence Syndrome
The Tenth Revision of the International classification of Diseases and Health Problems (ICD-10) defines the dependence syndrome as
being a cluster of physiological, behavioural, and cognitive phenomena in which the use of a substance or a class of substances takes on a much higher priority for a given individual than other behaviours that once had greater value. A central descriptive characteristic of the dependence syndrome is the desire (often strong, sometimes overpowering) to take the psychoactive drugs (which may or not have been medically prescribed), alcohol, or tobacco. There may be evidence that return to substance use after a period of abstinence leads to a more rapid reappearance of other features of the syndrome than occurs with nondependent individuals.
ICD-10 further states that in unqualified form, dependence refers to both physical and psychological elements. Psychological or psychic dependence refers to the experience of impaired control over drinking or drug use while physiological or physical dependence refers to tolerance and withdrawal symptoms. In biologically-oriented discussion, dependence is often used to refer only to physical dependence.
Dependence or physical dependence is also used in the psychopharmacological context in a still narrower sense, referring solely to the development of withdrawal symptoms on cessation of drug use. In this restricted sense, cross-dependence is seen as complementary to cross-tolerance, with both referring only to physical symptomatology (neuroadaptation).
Substance use disorders can be defined by 11 factors, according to DSM-5, such as
- Use in larger quantities or for longer than initially intended.
- A desire to cut down or control use.
- Spending a great deal of time obtaining, using or recovering from the substance
- Cravings and urges to use the substance
- Unable to manage undertakings at workplace, home or school because of substance use.
- continuing to use, even when it causes problems in relationships.
- Giving up important social, occupational, or recreational activities because of substance use.
- Use in situations in which it is physically hazardous.
- Continued use of the substance despite adverse physical and psychological consequences associated with use.
- Needing more of the substance to get the desired effect (tolerance)
- Development of withdrawal symptoms
Smartphone addiction can be compared to substance use disorders in that smartphones provide the drug (entertainment and connection) while acting as the means by which the drug is consumed. A study conducted at Alabama State University on the effects of smartphones on students, defines the issue by stating that we are not addicted to smartphones themselves, but that
we are addicted to the information, entertainment, and personal connections (that a smartphone delivers).People have an affinity for constant entertainment, and smartphones provide the quickest and easiest accessible route to it.
A Possible Threat Emerges
In another study, it was analyzed data from a nationally representative survey of eighth, 10th and 12th grades that's been conducted annually since 1991.
Every year, teens are asked about their general happiness, in addition to how they spend their time. It is found that teens who spent more time seeing their friends in person. exercising, playing sports, attending religious services, reading or even doing homework were happier. However, teens who spent more time on the Internet, playing computer games, or social media. texting, using video chat or watching TV were less happy.
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In other words, every activity that didn't involve a screen was linked to more happiness, and every activity that involved a screen was linked to less happiness. The differences were considerable - teens who spent more than five hours a day online were twice as likely to be unhappy as those who spent less than an hour a day.
Of course, it might be that unhappy people seek out screen activities. However, a growing number of studies show that most of the causation goes from screen use to unhappiness, not the other way around.
In one experiment, people who were randomly assigned to give up Facebook for a week ended that time happier, less lonely and less depressed than those who continued to use Facebook. In another study, young adults required to give up Facebook for their jobs were happier than those who kept their accounts. In addition, several longitudinal studies show that screen time leads to unhappiness but unhappiness does not lead to more screen time. If we want to draw a conclusion based on these researches, it would be very simple - put down your phone or tablet and go do something - just about anything - else.
It's not just Teens
These links between happiness and time use for screens are worrying news, as the present generation of teens spends more time with screens than any previous generations. Time spent online doubled between 2008 and 2016, and 82 per cent of 12th grades now use social media everyday (up from 51 per cent in 2008).
Sure enough, teens' happiness suddenly plummeted after 2012 . So did teens' self-esteem and their satisfaction with their lives, especially their satisfaction with their friends, the amount of fun, they were having and their lives as whole. These declines in well-being mirror other studies finding sharp increases in mental health issues among them, including depressive symptoms, major depressions, self-harm and suicide. Especially compared to to the optimistic and almost relentlessly positive millennials. They are markedly less self-assured and more are depressed.
A similar trend might be occurring for adults. In the same study it is found that adults over age 30 were less happy than they were 15 years ago, and that adults were having sex less frequently. There
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may be many reasons for these trends, but adults are also spending more time with screens than they used to. That might mean less face-to-face time with other people, including with their sexual partners. The result is - less sex and less happiness.
Causes are more Social than Economic Environment
Although both teen and adult happiness dropped during the years of high unemployment and the Great Recession (2008-2010), happiness didn't rebound in the years after 2012 when the economy was doing progressively better. Instead, happiness continued to decline as the economy improved, making it unlikely that economic cycle were to blame for lower happiness after 2012.Growing income inequality could play a role, especially for adults. But if so, one would expect that happiness would have been dropping continuously since 1980s when income inequality began to grow. Instead, happiness began to decline around 2000 for adults and around 2012 for teens.
Nevertheless, it's possible that concern about the job market and income inequality reached a tipping point in the early 2000s. Somewhat surprisingly, we found that teens who didn't use digital media at all were actually a little less happy than those who used digital media a little bit (less than an hour a day0. Happiness was then steadily lower with more hours of use. Thus, the happiest teens were those who used digital media, but for a limited period of time.
Final Thought
The answer, then, is not to give up technology entirely. Instead, the solution is a familiar adage -
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everything in moderation. We should use our phones for all the cool things, it's good for and then set it down and go do something else.
Enough evidences support and ensure us that we might be happier for it.
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