Happiness and Relationships

        Through the use of advanced, powerful and ever-creative technology, we are able to maintain happier relationships in the world.


Internet and social networking tools weren’t available until quite recently.  The internet gained in popularity around the 1990’s when desktop computer and laptop prices began to tumble, thus becoming more in line with what the average buyer might be willing and able to pay.  In due course, the social networking era was introduced around 2003.  First, came Myspace.com and then Facebook.com.  After that, dating websites and interest-based communities quickly appeared, helping us to rekindle friendships with acquaintances who had drifted away due to changes in addresses and job situations.  


Tal Ben-Shahar “In fact, however, the most important and challenging component of a happy relationship is not finding one right person –I do not believe that there is just one right person for each of us—but rather cultivating the one chosen relationship.”(120)  That means that there are many different types of relationships, including friendships, work partnerships and loving relationships. You shouldn’t work on just one, but all of them.  Doing so will make you a more well-rounded individual and put a certain balance in your life.  The new technology we have today and the way we connect with our loved ones and business associates has totally been altered.  We no longer rely solely on regular mail or land-line phones to stay in touch.  E-mail and texting are all the rage nowadays.  For some, it’s an addiction--as well as a distraction--from the real world.  People who constantly check e-mail a hundred times daily may need to seek help in defining why they feel more comfortable with technology, rather than actual human contact. 


Tal Ben-Shahar quotes Lord Byron to the affect that “All who would win joy must share it; happiness was born a twin.”(111)  Thus, happiness should always be shared--and expressed with others--especially family and friends, in order to be truly realized.  People, who were born in countries other than where they now reside, love to communicate with relatives and friends in their country of origin.  We almost never lose interest in maintaining relationships with others who still reside in places where we first saw the light of day.  Using Skype and Skype mobile video sharing software opens up that part of the world again, enabling us to maintain contact with loved ones for only a few cents a day.  Having the ability to connect to a friend anywhere there is a Wi-Fi internet connection is nothing short of amazing!  On top of that, the sound quality and picture are great!  The interface is user friendly and easy to manipulate, even for those with limited computer knowledge.  All you need is a computer or laptop, a web camera and Skype software in order to connect.  Seeing old friends smiling back at you--and talking about the good times had in the past--can only help to maintain happy relationships.      


Mobile phones have been around since the early 1970’s.  The first versions were huge and awkward to carry around.  Not only were they  costly to own, but reception was not always satisfactory.  Thus, they were unappreciated and unpopular.  No one could have conceived that, by 2007, the appearance of the Smartphone would revolutionize the very nature of communication as much as it has.  After the Smartphone, the Tablet was introduced in 2010, turning the telephone into a device capable of many different applications, such as computing, downloading of books, e-mailing, researching on websites such as Google, as well as the downloading of newspaper and magazine articles.  Even GPS functionality has been built into an easily transported device.    


As technology changed, so did the world we live in, thus enhancing our ability to communicate with others.  David Myers states that “There are few stronger predictions of happiness than a close, nurturing, equitable, intimate, lifelong companionship with one’s best friend.”(112)  It is not always easy to stay in touch with all of our friends and loved ones at any given time, but as human beings, it’s in our nature to do so.  Without our friends or loved ones, we would be lost in this world. 

         In summary, the internet and social networking systems have helped to keep us connected with each other around the globe.  Times have certainly changed--but so has technology.  Fortunately technology has become more affordable, and thus more of a necessity than the unattainable luxury it was once considered.  As human beings, we need to express our ideas and thoughts.  Technology enhances those aspects by increasing our ability to learn and communicate.  That is what keeps us moving as well as motivated.  All things considered, technology is a powerful tool for attaining that knowledge, but it should not consume the bulk of our time and take us away from dealing with people in the real world.  


What other fascinating technology awaits us down the road?  I can hardly wait!