The Dalai Lama, Maslow and Marcel Leboeuf have all tried to persuade us that their own little theory of happiness was most salutary. While some have traveled the world flops to propagate a message of peace, others were selling bubble baths Sapino. Today, Facebook convert more followers per day than any religion. Social media should they be our safe haven, leading us to eternal happiness?
The concept of happiness was invented in ancient Greece by Epicurus and a bunch of guys in togas who stalled 4-liter vini, while playing solo harp donated by lookalikes Lucie Laurier. Several centuries later, these philosophers have given way to geeks in lab coats in universities, but they reach the same conclusion as the old: "What makes humans happy, what are the social interaction that it creates and 'he maintains, explains the author of the book "Connected" and professor at Harvard, Dr. Nicholas Christakis. Factors such as money, health, education or IQ of an individual with little or no influence on his happiness. "It's too bad, Gregory Charles was off to a good start.
In 2002, a study from the University of Illinois has also shown that students who were most happy and showed fewest signs of depression share the same characteristics as Bouscotte in his good years of strong interpersonal ties and the desire to spend time with their friends and family. "Human beings are social beings who like basic need to communicate with each other, says psychologist Mary-Anne Sergerie. And tools like social media can respond. "
Facebook, the new Canadian Tire happiness?
When asked the question, Dr. Christakis is quite categorical. He said the authentic emotions are not transmitted virtually. "We can provide ideas on Facebook, but not happiness. "Happiness is transmitted only in person", he said. However, people who have strong interpersonal relationships in real life may find it easier to build relationships online. "The author of the bestseller argues that technology must register relations support to already existing friendship. "The interaction online support relationships face to face, not the opposite," he said.
Former advertising, Pierre Côté founded a few years ago Relative Happiness Index (RHI), an independent social observatory, which regularly takes the pulse of happiness in Quebec. The IRB is a qualitative and quantitative tool whose objective is to evaluate the impression and perception that people have their own state. According to his studies, Facebook members show an IRB slightly higher than non-members, although the difference is too small to conclude that they consider themselves more fortunate than the latter. "When you dig a little by cons, we find that 50% of Facebook members find that their happiness level has improved over the past year. As for non-members it's only 40%," he said. But statistics do not enable us to find out whether it was before or after the establishment of the Fan page of jewelry Caroline Néron.
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Biodome for a human
In addition to allowing us to keep in touch with people who would otherwise have been weak links (the gang of fencing course at CEGEP Edouard-Montpetit, I salute you), Facebook offers the opportunity to show his "collection" of friends. They are identified, then the pine proudly on our wall, as when we were kid, with our collection of exotic butterflies imitation.
While some Facebook members have several hundreds of specimens, Dr. Christakis's research showed that most users have about 110 friends on the famous site, or friends of 4719 unless the very famous comedian Stéphane Fallu. But what is the nature of these relationships? "On average, people have only 6.6 true friends," he said. And according to Pierre Côté, the number of close friends has a direct impact on the IRB: the people who have four or more close friends have an NRR higher than 10 points to those who have only one close friend. However, he said, there is a clear link between the number of Facebook friends and the level of happiness. "If someone has a lot of virtual friends, it denotes an active social life in the real world," he said.
I love myself so I'm on Facebook
Facebook does not only feed our social life but also helps us feed our self-esteem. According to Pierre Côté, Facebook members have a higher esteem for non-members. "Over 61% of members consider themselves beautiful people physically and 69% as people with charm," he said. I seems that the proliferation of the number of photos taken in the mirror of the toilet Carlos & Pepe's by hipsters in sweat pants Dawson College is no stranger to this statistic. But those numbers drop rapidly among non-members: only 50% consider themselves beautiful people and 66%, as people with charm.
"In my face, my hands are, but behind, is a smile," sang accurately Dany Bedar. Today, the profile pictures tell a lot about the moods of an individual. Dr. Christakis has also asked the following question: is the smile on his photo an indicator of its level of happiness? The result of his research is staggering: People who smile occupy a nerve within their network and have more friends than those who do not smile. "The act of smiling is associated with having a friend over, it's significant when you consider that people have an average of 6 close friends."
After 2000 years of catechism classes teaching us that happiness resides in altruism, forgiveness and love of his neighbor, is that happiness simply would not connect to the other, a social need facilitated Facebook? Although happiness is not contagious on this social networking, the community that itès made of shares a common trait of sociability, a key to find happiness. But to be sure we put all the chances on our side to be happy, we're still going to buy a bubble bath Sapino, just in case.
Translated from french
Original article
