The TedTalk “The paradox of choice” by Barry Schwartz argues how the amount of options or choices you have affects your life not only in your happiness but also in how you think. what I mean with this is when a person can’t decide or has different options to pick from and one is finally made the person will always wonder what would’ve happened if they took the other option or would have done differently and even with the choice they made they still are unhappy because they are thinking of the other options and outcome and have them wonder if it was correct, and never really being satisfied. The article “From the ‘perfect’ salary to keeping up with the Joneses, here’s how money affects your happiness” by Cory Stieg argues that to an extent money can affect our happiness, to an extant meaning we all have our needs and money buys our needs but not everyone has the same needs some have more than others, some may be satisfied with little or some seek for more, and some may be a necessity.
Having all the money in the world doesn’t always bring you happiness, for example, Barry Schwartz brings up an image where a couple is on vacation, and from my understanding being on vacation is for you to enjoy or be happy and not be stressed but in the image the man instead of enjoying his vacation he’s thinking about how he should’ve parked his car in front of his building. Cory Stieg brings up how its easy to get caught in golden handcuffs, and there are many people in this type of case, who have a job that pays them well but it isn’t what makes them happy, yes they can have a roof, and provide from them self but every morning they wake up for work there’s isn’t that happiness to getting to work or satisfying to work. Money brings you needs but not happiness. A person can work 3 jobs and have an unhappy life because they never have time to enjoy and be in a constant routine for an extended period until that person is drained out.
One thought on “Conversation 5: Arguments”
I strongly agree with Barry Schwartz’s and Cory Stieg’s argument on how the number of options and money affects our happiness. They both provide enough evidence to prove their point and I can clearly see how these two concepts, when taken too far, can prove to be harmful to one’s overall happiness. I appreciate that both authors provide different perspectives: Schwartz looks at too many options and Stieg looks at excessive money. I think this is helpful in showing how both have the potential to have negative impacts on our happiness.