#294: Does the Speed of Innovation Drive Unhappiness?

We don't seem to be as happy as we should be. Does this have something to do with technology?

Now we know that there have been studies already on people who are given a wide selection of choices, and it has been observed that they are less happy than if they have fewer choices. So if you go to a Starbucks and you don't know your order and you stand there and look at it, it's overwhelming. I know what I want. I've learned how to pronounce it. Starbucks people are very particular about how you pronounce their drinks. I just go in there if I go and I tell them what I want.

But this wide selection is actually not making us happy. It should, because of affluence—we have what we want. So I'm speaking about people who get to live in Western countries where they actually have what they need and more than that. But it seems that we keep getting less and less happy.

And I've just thought about this recently—that this may have to do with technology. I'm not saying that technology makes us unhappy, but the kind of technology that we have is always the best version right now, but we are expecting for a better model to come around in the future.

So, let's say you buy a phone—you buy the latest model, and you know that in half a year to a year, there's going to be a new model. And this is new. This has always been true for cars, but with cars, they're so expensive—you know you have to eat that cost, and you know you have to be happy with the car for a while.

But now everything technological around us is like that. You buy a new television, and then a few weeks later you go to the store and say, "Well, there's something wrong with it." "Oh, yeah. That's already an old model." "I just bought it." "No, it's already old."

I can't even remember how many times I've had that experience. I buy something new, and a few weeks later the service person looks at me as if I have an old device. I say, "I just bought it."

And so this is happening with televisions, with phones, with computers—yes, with cars and so on.

Is this putting ourselves into a frame of mind where we can't even enjoy what we have because we know it's already outdated? And that in a few months or years, people will look at us and say, "Why are you having such an old device?"

And we respond as humans very strongly to social pressure. And so this is something truly new. I mean, we've seen this at other levels of life already, but, you know, you buy a shoe and you know the shoe doesn't last forever. Try finding a cobbler. Try fighting the need for a cobbler. You buy a new shoe.

But that's still different because you expect—you walk with the shoe a lot, and after a while... And so this has been such a predominant feature of our lives now recently that it seems to make us even unhappy.

It's probably a reason also why people can't commit to each other anymore, because maybe you find an upgraded model next week, and maybe that is a better boyfriend or girlfriend or whatever.

So that's—yeah, I just wanted to share that with you. I think there's maybe something to that and how that makes us unhappy. We don't allow ourselves to be happy with what we have, and the technological innovation cycles are driving that behavior more and more.

[This was originally posted to YouTube as a video. Following is a slightly abbreviated transcript, preserving the oral style of the video.]