Let Joy Find You
Happiness isn’t a destination; it’s something that finds you along the way.
By Emily Smurthwaite Edmonds (BA ’01, MA ’04) in the Winter 2023 issue
Even a small dose of fresh air can be beneficial. “Time outside resets our mental capacities and makes us more effective, productive, and creative.”...
Recent research backs up the benefits of cutting back. One study found that the happiest teens spent less than an hour each day looking at a screen, and unhappiness scores rose with screen time. Similarly, measures of life satisfaction, self-esteem, and happiness drastically fell for adolescents following 2012, the first year more than 50 percent of Americans reported owning a smartphone. While Hill notes the damaging comparison mindset that social media often invites, he believes the greatest danger is tech “distracting us from being fully present with each other as we go about our lives.”
