Happiness and well-being are universally observed as constructs. But even though they have been around for a long time, it is still difficult to define them clearly and succinctly. For example, when is one happy? There are multiple time frames within which an individual can be seen as happy. An individual can be happy in their life but not be happy in the present moment because they just got scolded. They can be happy in some aspects of their life and unhappy in other aspects. For example, one can be happy with their marks or their academics but be unhappy with the social aspect of their life. Therefore, there are many questions still left unanswered that can help us understand these concepts further and the reason for this ambiguity can be attributed to the subjective nature of these ideas.
With the emergence and rapid evolution of technology, these constructs are converted into measurable quantities. This leads to the development of what one might call objective happiness. This phenomenon is more likely to be observed in the high-tech world as compared to subjective happiness as the online world, especially social media, has turned all emotions into measurable concepts. The number of likes on a post is a very good example. The subjective reaction of an individual is limited only to the comment section but the number of likes that an individual receives on a post is measurable, countable, and given more importance.
Human beings are social creatures. In fact, 54.2% of the population between the ages of 16 and 64 say that the primary reason they use the internet is to stay in touch with their friends and family (Kemp, 2022). But along with this desire to stay connected is the desire to share their own “happy” life. Online individuals not only want to be happy, but they also want others to know that they are happy, and to envy them for being happy. Wanting to be seen as happy and displaying it by being untrue to the self is deeply connected to the feedback that they receive online. Correlating others’ feedback on social media (the number of followers or likes they receive) with their level of happiness is the reason for the prevalence of the objective nature of happiness over the subjective nature of happiness in the online world.
There are a specific number of likes and followers that an individual receives that makes them happy and satisfied. The joy brought by these online numbers is not fully superficial and even though it is problematic to use social media as your sole source of happiness, some individuals genuinely believe that it is the only way to be happy. This is the objective side of happiness; a measurable quantity which defines the levels of happiness in an individual.
Since technology is developing at a fleeting pace, it is important to realise the difference between actual life and online life and learn to obtain positive emotions from the real world.
References:
Kemp, S. (2022). DIGITAL 2022: OCTOBER GLOBAL STATSHOT REPORT. DataReportal. https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2022-october-global-statshot
Jahanvi Tripathi
Jindal School of Psychology and Counselling
(Batch 2024)
Email id- 21jspc-jtripathi@jgu.edu.in
