Thursday, November 15, 2012

Spending On Others.

Michael Norton, narrator of Ted Talk: How to Buy Happiness, emphasizes the point in which money can buy happiness when you don't spend it on yourself.  For instance, CNN wrote a report on when people win the lottery.  People think winning the lottery will make one's life amazing, but in reality their live's actually fall apart.  Most frantically spend all their money and proceed into debt, while some have friends/family who bug them for money.  Eventually, those social relationships are ruined along with debt rising.  

Everyone fantasizes what they would do if they won the lottery. Many people's ideal dream consists of getting a private yacht near an exotic island, buying a snowy mountain with a secluded log cabin, etc.  Basically, all these visions involve becoming antisocial, though.  Money simply makes people selfish. 

So Norton and his team conducted an experiment to see if being pro-social instead of antisocial would contribute to one's overall happiness.  One VanCouver morning, Norton and his team handed out envelopes to people around the city saying spend this money on yourself before five o'clock.  And others received envelopes with money to spend on others.  At the end of the day, it was concluded that people who spent money on themselves did not get much out of it, but did not get less happy.  On the other hand, people who spent money on others got much happier.  

Norton wanted to further his research and extend his experiment to other parts of the world.  He altered his study by using charities instead of people around the cities.  In almost every country in the world, people who gave money to charities were happier people than those who didn't contribute.  

Overall, Norton believes money can buy happiness, but it is simply what/who the money is spent on.  What people nowadays don't realize is one doesn't have to do amazing things to make oneself happy. It is the thought that counts.  Spending money on other people has a bigger return than spending on yourself.  Everyone must stop thinking about which product to buy yourself and start thinking about what you should buy for other people.  When was the last time you bought something for someone else?  Did their smile on their face make you happy?



Authority: Michael Norton 
Accuracy: posted by reliable source (Ted Talks) 
Timeliness: April 2012
Video Source:
Ted Talks: Michael Norton How to Buy Happiness
http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_norton_how_to_buy_happiness.html

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