Week 8 - Ted Talks - Post Two
There are many ways to become happy and to have a life worth living, but the most direct and controllable route is through how one spends their time and how one trains their mind. It has been proven that once people have a yearly income of 74,000, money does not cause happiness, so people should not make this their sole route of achieving it. People across all walks of life have reported that happiness comes from focusing on the present, in one way or another.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a psychologist, explains that flow is the key to happiness. He describes flow as a state of being where one is completely dedicated to the task at hand and they feel happy. It is impossible to multitask and be in flow, for a human mind can only process 60 bits per second of information. Therefore, in order to be in flow, one must be focused solely on the present task at hand. Adam Alter, an author, describes a different way to focus on the present—staying away from screens. Out of 24 hours in a day, the general majority of people only have 4 hours of personal time for themselves. In recent years, since 2010, these four hours are getting used for screen-time more and more. As of 2017, 80% of personal time for most people was spent looking at or using a screen. That means that most people have just 30 minutes for themselves, for their humanity. Out of the three and a half hours of personal time that is spent on screens, the majority is spent badly: dating, social networking, gaming, entertainment, news, web browsing, etc. Alter explains that the reason people can sit, attached to a screen for so long, is that there are no stopping cues, or a signal that its time to move on and do something different, anymore. He says that a way to move past this is to make promises such as to "never use your phone at/when ___". This limits phone usage and gives one a stopping cue. When people do this, they are happier, they have better conversations, and have a better, more meaningful life. Lastly, Andy Puddicombe, a meditation and mindfulness expert, discusses how people never take any time to do absolutely nothing, meaning no reminiscing about past and no thinking about future either. The way to incorporate this practice of nothing into one's life is to meditate. One should familiarize one's self with the present and just relax for ten minutes.
These people and their research prove that people are happier when they discover how to relax their minds and can spend time in nature. Adam Alter's research pushes people to spend more time outdoors, away from screens. Both Mihaly Csikszentmihaly and Andy Puddicombe have researched ways to relax and train the mind. People are happier when they do these things for they are focused on the present, their minds are much more free of stress, and they do not feel as caught up in the business of life.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a psychologist, explains that flow is the key to happiness. He describes flow as a state of being where one is completely dedicated to the task at hand and they feel happy. It is impossible to multitask and be in flow, for a human mind can only process 60 bits per second of information. Therefore, in order to be in flow, one must be focused solely on the present task at hand. Adam Alter, an author, describes a different way to focus on the present—staying away from screens. Out of 24 hours in a day, the general majority of people only have 4 hours of personal time for themselves. In recent years, since 2010, these four hours are getting used for screen-time more and more. As of 2017, 80% of personal time for most people was spent looking at or using a screen. That means that most people have just 30 minutes for themselves, for their humanity. Out of the three and a half hours of personal time that is spent on screens, the majority is spent badly: dating, social networking, gaming, entertainment, news, web browsing, etc. Alter explains that the reason people can sit, attached to a screen for so long, is that there are no stopping cues, or a signal that its time to move on and do something different, anymore. He says that a way to move past this is to make promises such as to "never use your phone at/when ___". This limits phone usage and gives one a stopping cue. When people do this, they are happier, they have better conversations, and have a better, more meaningful life. Lastly, Andy Puddicombe, a meditation and mindfulness expert, discusses how people never take any time to do absolutely nothing, meaning no reminiscing about past and no thinking about future either. The way to incorporate this practice of nothing into one's life is to meditate. One should familiarize one's self with the present and just relax for ten minutes.
These people and their research prove that people are happier when they discover how to relax their minds and can spend time in nature. Adam Alter's research pushes people to spend more time outdoors, away from screens. Both Mihaly Csikszentmihaly and Andy Puddicombe have researched ways to relax and train the mind. People are happier when they do these things for they are focused on the present, their minds are much more free of stress, and they do not feel as caught up in the business of life.
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