Man, with all his technology ... Has he made himself any happier?

Answer 1

More comfortable, yes.
Happier,no.
Modern man is still as much in pursuit of happiness as his ancestors were...

Answer 2

If you travelled back in time to 1066, set up an outdoor cinema screen and projector in the middle of Hastings just before the battle kicked off and showed a documentary showing all of our modern technology, I'm sure most of the soldiers would be awed and inspired beyond belief. You'd soon have them wishing they could have it all themselves and would believe they'd be happier if they did have it all.

On the other side of the coin, have you ever wished that you could live a simple life? I know I have. The idea of living in a mud hut without a computer, TV, radio, mobile phone, printer, the Internet, IPod, etc sounds very nice. It would be nice not to have supermarkets and to instead have to hunt for your own food. It would also be nice to grow your own food. So here I am with all this technology and yet I think I would be happier without it.

So basically...the grass always looks greener on the other side. Whatever we have we don't appreciate, and whatever we don't have, we want. Since we have technology but we don't have simple, stress-free lives surely we're unhappy? As long as there is a yearning for something better than we have, mankind will always be unhappy and will always want more.

Answer 3

The amazing thing to me is that the more technologically advanced we become as a society, the more we try to connect with each other.

The busiest places on the Internet are chat rooms and places like Yahoo! Answers!

Cell phones, blackberries, pagers (does anyone use pagers anymore?), email, myspace, .....

I think we all just want human contact.

Perhaps we are a bit happier now because we can achieve that contact faster and more frequently, but we may have been happier
-before- all this technology because the contact was deeper and more long lasting.

So the answer, unfortunately, is yes AND no.

Answer 4

Our technology has undoubtedly made us happier in that it has prevented much suffering, for instance by enabling illnesses to be cured or at leas their physical pain alleviated. Technology has also enabled us to do many good things that were unimaginable in the past.

However, technology has enabled society to become more complex. We have lost control over our time by having to perform specialised work. Families have fragmented and technology has enabled greater inequalities of power. Marx, for one, argued that these developments caused misery. I am by no means a political Marxist, but some of his sociological theories are the basis of important insights by subsequent thinkers.

Given the last two paragraphs, in some ways technology has made man happier and in some ways unhappier. It is not easier to say whether on balance we have become happier or unhappier because it depends whether the aspects of life that have improved or those that have deteriorated are the ones you value more highly.

Answer 5

Yes! It is the techonolgy responsible for luxurious/comfort/secured/networked/hygenic life.

Ofcourse everything in this world has a flaw, technology is no exception, it can be a threat to humanity if used with destructive senses.However, the negative impact can be ignored as they can be well controlled using the advanced technological methods.

Earlier many people died for lack of technology in medical fields, now that technology is developed to such an extent where a critically/seriously injured person can be assured life, if brought in time.

Technology helps us to find/discover new hapiness in many methods
artificial oceans(as in japan),theme parks,technologically equipped zoological parks which gets us closer to nature.

It is the technology that helps in saving mother nature also humans providing
advanced security systems.

Hence, technology has the every reason to make a man happy.

:)

Answer 6

For most of human history, and, in fact, in many parts of the world today, man's quest was to find enough food and clean water and shelter to stay alive. When you're on the ragged edge of starvation, happiness is not an issue. So I would say that we of this generation here in the United States of America are definitely happier than our ancestors during the Middle Ages.

Answer 7

yes.

Why the doubt?

Ow, what am I saying. Making a million does not make me happier. People go camping to be happier. I was as happy with my zx-spectrum as I am with this monster I'm sitting behind right now.

Frankly I don't think it made any difference ...
... Except the fact that through technology I'm still around. (don't ask) So yeah, in my case I guess I am.

Answer 8

I recently watched a movie that addressed this very question. The point is made that there are "uncivilized societies" where people live without crime or punishment, rules or violence. Because there is nothing to own, even the idea of jealousy is a foreign concept to them. Meanwhile, we who claim to be "civilized" have technologically advanced ourselves to the point that we have to go to school for at least 12 years to know how to make it in our environment.

Answer 9

this question lacks a rudimentary understanding of human history

if you were to understand how people just 100 years ago lived, you wouldnt even bother asking this question, much if you understood people 500, 2000, or 20,000 years ago

in the western world, we have more leisure time, more economic security and more opportunity for social movement than has ever existed in the history of man

Answer 10

Absolutely

Answer 11

How long will this progress take? Will we improve our technology till ... when? What do you think is the end? Are we going to the future depicted in the movies, or are we gonna turn back to our caves again?..