News: Experiences Make People Happier Than Things
It's early and I'm not terribly happy with my phrasing of that subject line, but at least it's up there. I will probably change it later.
When I first started travel blogging, I thought that I might start posting travel-related news stories. But so much news is bad, to begin with, and travel-related news tends to boil down to transportation-related tragedies (cruise ships capsizing and so forth), or travel "advisories" telling people to stay out of areas because of violence or the threat of kidnapping or things of that nature.
But I finally have what I think is a good one: The Science Of Why You Should Spend Your Money On Experiences, Not Things .
I have always thought that my pleasure in spending money on experiences was odd. I very, very seldom think "If only I had that (television, car, boat, whatever) my life would be so much better." I do buy books and electronics, but those, too, are experiential. Reading a book is, after all, an experience and if reading the book wasn't pleasurable enough that I look forward to reading it again someday, I sell it. I use my computer to learn and to connect to other people, both of which are experiences.
But, apparently, most people are like this. According to the studies mentioned in this article, the longer we own a thing, the less pleasure we get from it. However, the longer a time passes since an experience, the more we enjoy the memory of the experience. And we are more likely to bond with others over shared experiences than over owning the same things (though I have seen quite a bit of bonding with others over things, particularly in the case of cars in my life).
When I first started travel blogging, I thought that I might start posting travel-related news stories. But so much news is bad, to begin with, and travel-related news tends to boil down to transportation-related tragedies (cruise ships capsizing and so forth), or travel "advisories" telling people to stay out of areas because of violence or the threat of kidnapping or things of that nature.
But I finally have what I think is a good one: The Science Of Why You Should Spend Your Money On Experiences, Not Things .
I have always thought that my pleasure in spending money on experiences was odd. I very, very seldom think "If only I had that (television, car, boat, whatever) my life would be so much better." I do buy books and electronics, but those, too, are experiential. Reading a book is, after all, an experience and if reading the book wasn't pleasurable enough that I look forward to reading it again someday, I sell it. I use my computer to learn and to connect to other people, both of which are experiences.
But, apparently, most people are like this. According to the studies mentioned in this article, the longer we own a thing, the less pleasure we get from it. However, the longer a time passes since an experience, the more we enjoy the memory of the experience. And we are more likely to bond with others over shared experiences than over owning the same things (though I have seen quite a bit of bonding with others over things, particularly in the case of cars in my life).