What is happiness and what is the true definition of being happy? Are our lives really optimistic, cheerful and content like they seem? Do we determine happiness by our stress levels or our income? The controversy is whether human wealth or emotional well-being an individuals thoughts about happiness. The article, “The price of Happiness” by Phillip Ball states that people who state that they are content say “you need to be highly educated, female, wealthy, married, self-employed and not middle aged. And misery, meanwhile, comes from unemployment, low income, divorce and poor health.” Wealth for individuals can help measure their happiness because they are able to receive top notch health, education, relationships, etc. People gain satisfaction when they receive extra bonuses at work or unemployed people that find a job which pays better than previous jobs. Studies have shown that the sense of ‘self-righteous satisfaction’ hits a limit where it stops increasing. Emotional well-being is a key feature determining happiness rather than income. People can be happy while earning an average wage rather than a rich, old single man or woman. An individuals emotional well-being has more impact on happiness that wealth can’t buy.
Income plays an insignificant role in an individuals day-to-day happiness. People assume that with more money in their pockets, they would be happier and do more enjoyable tasks until reality sets in. People think that with nicer houses, cars, and so forth, they will be happier but according to the article, “Money does not buy much happiness” states that “those with higher incomes tend to be tenser, and spend less time on simple leisurely activities” (Sarah Goudarzi). People with higher incomes were devoting more time working, traveling, and shopping rather than spending time with their families and friends. Parents that are off on business trips and away from their families for long periods of time can decrease the happiness within a family. The children will not experience the love and affection they deserve from their own parents they are never around. Is money worth leaving your children behind for long periods of time? Also, leisure in the United States is important and a government statistic claims “men who make more than $100,000 a year spend 19.9 percent of their time on passive leisure activities such as watching television and socializing. Meanwhile, men whose annual income was less than $20,000 spent more than 34 percent of their time dedicated to passive leisure”(Sarah Goudarzi). An individuals emotional state is important determining an individuals happiness where money reduces the importance of family, friends, social life and leisure activities during peoples day to day lives.
Wealth does not have a positive influence towards children’s emotional well-being of happiness. A large sum of money does not help teach parents how to raise respectful, responsible and happy children. Children growing up with large amounts of money do not learn the true value of money and its worth. Many take this amount of money for granted while average and poor children know the true value and work hard to earn their own. According to “What Money Can’t Buy”, social scientists who study the effect of income on children’s well-being emphasize different aspects of well-being depending on their discipline (Susan Mayer). People believe that children coming from poor households are more likely to drop out of school, have behavior problems and delinquency which in some cases can be true but many of these families are interested in their children’s moral character, happiness and social conscience to teach them proper values in life. If a child raised from a poor family is taught proper moral values throughout their life they can grow to have a happy, successful life that doesn’t involve a large income. A rich child can grow up with larger amounts of money but can never be taught proper values which can have negative effects in their life and make them unhappy in the long run. They are normally seen as being ‘spoiled’ because they get whatever they want and never take no as an answer. They will buy the most expensive things for no apparent reason and never experience the true worth and the true happiness that average children feel when they buy something they worked hard for. This type of behavior decreases the emotional well-being of these rich children. Money cannot buy the moral character, happiness and social conscience to help raise a child.
The emotional well-being can bring a constant sense of joy that an increased income cannot. Sure people get excited when they see $20 dollars on the ground but this moment only last about a minute. People who win the lottery or any amount of money are happy when they win but they will return to their previous level of happiness. These situations only have a small impact on long-term satisfaction. People who are wealthy take for granted or do not necessarily view happiness the way poor or average people do in life. According to “Money Won’t Buy You Happiness” believes that people aren’t very good at figuring out what to do with the money (Matthew Herper). People of average or low income use their money wisely and use it with purpose while wealthy people buy things they do not actually need, or buy some things that do not give them long-term pleasure. In some cases, people become less happy from the way they spend their money. People will quit their jobs early, buy a house that is very isolated with no neighbors, and normally find themselves lonely and depressed. Also a wealthy man buying a really expensive car at first seems like a happy experience that many people would kill for. The situation wealthy people do not consider is that the enjoyment of a fancy car with no one else in it slowly starts to wear off and make them less happy. Money can buy you a fancy car but it can’t buy you a partner you love to share and enjoy it with for a long period of time.
Money is an important aspect in today’s society when trying to be successful in life. The problem is many people believe that by being wealthy and successful, this will bring them happiness. Studies have shown that people who have a large income do not have a positive emotional well-being. Even though they are wealthy, their happiness does not add up to equal their amount of success. People of average or low income are seen to have good emotional well-being where money does not influence their happiness. Parent’s with a higher income can become too influenced by their jobs and forget that family happiness is first priority in life. Teaching and raising children proper moral values can help them become more successful in life and be happy while achieving their goals. Allowing children to become spoiled increases the chance of their happiness to only show when money is involved when realistically money should not matter to them at all. Money in all aspects is important for many people but this society should not be basing their happiness around the amount of income they receive.
Works Cited:
http://www.nature.com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/news/2010/100906/full/news.2010.447.html
http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/060629_money_happiness.html
http://www.forbes.com/2004/09/21/cx_mh_0921happiness.html
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