Some people
think that people are less happy and satisfied today than people were in the
past. All things considered, I am in complete disagreement with the statement
and there are few reasons as follows.
To begin with,
there are more entertainment nowadays due to the development of televisions. To
be specific, the invention of TV allowed the existence of entertaining programs
including dramas, movies, and comedy. Enjoying such programs pleases and
satisfies people as the programs allow people to laugh or cry, which enables
them to let off some steam. A personal experience of my sister supports this
idea. My sister is not the most sociable person I know of, so she was under
severe stress due to small number of friends she had. She even needed some
medication and counselling due to depression caused by solitude. Her counsellor
told her to do activities which may please her and recommended watching TV. My sister
followed her advice, and before long, she felt less depressed and even smiled a
lot. Without television, she would not have lived a happy life afterwards.
Moreover, people
can achieve success according to their effort more easily than before. About
few centuries ago, there had been a set hierarchy in the social roles of
people, and there was a very small movement across the hierarchy. However, such
hierarchies are abolished in most countries nowadays. Therefore, people are
able to choose whatever career they want to be and will be successful if they
work hard enough. As they are rewarded with their hard work, people are much
more satisfied than before. It is true that people in the highest part of the
hierarchy may have enjoyed pleasure, but as there are much higher percentage of
people in the lower part, the overall happiness of people must have increased.
Therefore, as
there are new technologies for entertainment as well as disappearance of kingdoms,
I strongly believe that people are happier and more satisfied nowadays than in
the past.