Before
This week was the start of my 5-week step towards happiness project where I introduce new ideas on how to improve happiness, implement them in my life for a week and reflect on how they impacted my overall sense of happiness. To start off this first week, I decided that during the week long spring break, I would start reading a new book rather than browsing through social media and binge watching television shows for the entire week. This idea was inspired by my desire to break free from the habit of using my cellphone solely for the purpose of watching shows on Netflix, watching YouTube videos and browsing Instagram and Facebook.
Like many individuals across the globe, social and digital media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Netflix, and YouTube have become a major part of our daily lives. These platforms are so ubiquitous with the activities I do on a daily basis that it would be impossible to recall a day in which I have not used one of these platforms since owning my first smartphone. These media platforms make up a lot of what I do daily because they offer me an avenue to escape the stress and boredom of the real world, and they provide an opportunity to interact with people who are not within close proximity.
While these internet platforms provide an escape from real world problems, several studies have demonstrated that extended use of these platforms create new problems of their own. Studies on the impact of media on happiness have shown that extended usage of these platforms becomes heavily addictive and is also correlated with depression and anxiety as the glamour and rich lifestyle of public figures on these platforms drives low self-esteem in regular individuals. Given the correlation between extensive digital/social media usage with increased levels of depression, anxiety, and overall decline in happiness, spending more time reading instead could prove to be an effective means for improvement in happiness level.
In order to implement this idea, I had to decide on what book to read and the duration of my reading time. Using the amazon kindle app, I searched for thriller fictional novels that would be engaging to me and would serve as a welcome distraction from using my cellphone watching Netflix or browsing through Facebook and Instagram. Selecting this genre of novels to read is important because they reflect the same genre of TV shows that I would normally watch and because reading works of non-fiction as a requirement for classes was not always the most interesting read. After browsing through the list of novels on Amazon, I settled on the first book in a series titled “Apocalypse”, a fictional novel by Peter Meredith. My plan was to read the book for at least two hours a day, and limit social media usage to 30 minutes each day throughout the break. At the end of spring break, I would reflect on the impact this daily routine had on my overall happiness level and how sustainable this practice would be if I were to implement it full time.
Happiness Project 