Welcome to the Good Life Chronicles, where living a good life takes center stage.
Remember the good old days when you could just plug something in and it worked?! No password confirmation, authentication codes, repeated logins, or having to select all those CAPTCHA images… twice. Only to log back in later and do it all over again.
That was my experience this week. Yes, I bought a new phone. Thank you for your condolences! While repeatedly logging in was frustrating, what surprised me more was my excursion to Dubai Mall for help with my data transfer.
As I sat in the store, watching screens extolling the virtues of my new phone, I wondered how technology is undermining our happiness. Happiness isn’t just an emotion; it’s tied to what we do every day. But now, our daily activities have become tasks we feel compelled to monitor.
(This is not the actual phone I bought! For illustration only.)
Beyond just sending emails and voice notes, my new phone immediately suggested using its built-in shopping App because happiness apparently comes with points now. It also prompted me to track blood pressure, heart rate variability, steps, sleep, mood, monthly cycles, and other recovery metrics I’ve yet to even understand or know I have.
The same in-store screens promoted "smart" technology, encouraging wearable-like apps for washing machines, air conditioning, and even dimmer switches. While some people love this technology, sitting in that store made me wonder how much of wellbeing has become a performance, something we do for the sake of having something to measure.
Is hitting daily targets and earning badges turning happiness into a task, no different from laundry or picking up dinner?
Perhaps the solution isn't adding complexity, distractions, or detailed tracking. Maybe our definitions of happiness and wellbeing need simplifying. Rather than treating them as tasks to accomplish, states to achieve, notes to take, or metrics to evaluate, perhaps they are better thought of as things to experience and create.
Gosh.
Am I getting old?!
I'm not anti-technology, but letting it distract me from enjoying life is something I’d rather avoid.
Does all this tracking and monitoring enhance your happiness, or distract you from living?
How do you use technology (or not) to help you live a Good Life?
Share it in the comments here or below depending on your platform. Remember to log in to leave a comment.
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Have a great week!
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