The price of happiness

Would you rather buy a new pair of shoes or have an hour’s lesson in paddle boarding? Would you prefer to spend on a new television or invest in a guided five day trek? Most people realise that buying things does not in the long run lead to happiness, or even in the short run for that matter, yet people still tend to buy material things over life experiences when it comes to purchase choice. The question is; why?

In a new study researchers surveyed people before and after they made a purchase. They found that prior to making a purchase people indicated that a life experience would make them happier but that a material item would be a better use of their money. However, after making the purchase people believed that not only would life experiences make them happier, they are also of better value.

So people actually do know that life purchases will make them happier but it is easier to put a value on a tangible object like a new lounge suite. It is less easy to put a monetary value on exploring ancient caves in Peru. Interestingly though, the ability to see the value in experiences is heightened once a material purchase is made. It is as if the true value, or lack of value, in a new “thing” becomes apparent as soon as we have bought it.

The problem is that we forget, just as we forget the vacuous nature of politicians when it comes election time, just as we forget the emptiness after eating takeaway food, so we forget how meaningless buying new things can be…until we buy something new.

Imagine, for a moment, a society of people who remember…who know that fast food is rubbish, who recall the self-serving vacuity of (most) people seeking public office, and who know that what matters is experiences in life not what you “own”. What a wonderful world it can be.