Modern Technology and Human Happiness

Educational Goals    

The technology boom of the past 20 years has contributed to a shift in consciousness.  In the process of adapting to new interfaces, the American populace has made noticeable changes to how it addresses emotions, health and well-being. I am interested in exploring the relationship between the rapid proliferation of technology and how Americans address (or neglect) their personal wellbeing. In addition, I want to investigate the ways new technology can both support and stifle a healthy lifestyle.

Today’s generation faces a dilemma. The proliferation of technology has inserted itself into virtually all corners of society. These growing technological systems have become platforms to transfer new messages about American lifestyle. These messages include radically new ideas about relationships and belief systems. I’m interested in exploring how technology has affected how we think about these lifestyle shifts.

Here are some additional questions I want to ask:

• ·         How have Western notions of morality been impacted by technology?
• ·         What effects has media had on creating meaningful relationships?
• ·         What are major motivations influencing the college-age and 20s generation? What are they aspiring for?
• ·         What elements of cultural identity has technology impacted and/or replaced?
• ·         How has the “new age” of advertising affected consumerism?
• ·         To what extent, and in what ways, have older generations been affected by new technology that are distinct from the college-age/20s generation?

            The social sciences offer many courses to support my research. Anthropology, psychology and sociology all offer distinct and relevant insight into aspects of human thought and behavior. The adapted fable about three blind social scientists from different fields inspecting an elephant describes this process: One finds the tail and says, “This is what an elephant is!” The next finds the trunk and draws the same exclamation; the third yet another. None of the scientists are wrong. By collaborating on their findings they discover a more complete understanding of what an elephant is.

My goal in utilizing these three social disciplines to guide my studies is to benefit from their collective wisdom. Through sociology I intend to strengthen my understanding of American culture, both the factors which define it and how people behave within its structure. My coursework in psychology will help to demystify how people as individuals think and process new ideas. Anthropology courses will help me take a step back and interpret larger trends in human behavior in the modern era.

Additionally, the field of communications offers helpful insight into technology’s impact. Through it, I’ll explore how different messages are more effective at conveying ideas and motivating behavior.

Pursuing courses in history and political science will also serve to inform my inquiry about national consciousness. Successful social movements throughout history have aligned thousands, sometimes millions of people behind a particular belief. Exploring the elements and conditions which successfully bonded these groups around a certain cause will offer clearer insight into how social movements born of technology are formed today.

A concentration in Modern Technology and Human Happiness doesn’t already exist because a synthesis of these two elements within the student-age generation is still in its infancy. Many people are in a frenzy to be “updated” with the latest vocabulary and applications to interfaces with the newest technology. The rapid tempo new technology creates does not support reflection required to interpret today’s trends. My area of concentration aims to alert and educate people of these emerging themes.

I aim to reveal how a conscious relationship with technology affects how happy and healthy we are. Communications Prof. Sut Jhally puts it this way: “We have to be able to see the air around us…how do we stop being part of that world and take that analytical step back and see the world in a slightly different way?” With a clearer understanding about using conscious technology, ultimately I am interested in determining whether the presence of mass technology has stunted human health and fulfillment and, if so, to pursue answering the question: How can we revitalize them?

Continuing Aims

Consciousness is the lens humans use to interact with the world. After graduating from the university with a BDIC in Modern Technology and Human Happiness, I intend to shift from researching about wellbeing to promoting it. I aim to educate people that a fulfilled lifestyle requires engaging in an active process. I plan on supporting people to define what fulfillment looks like for them. I imagine several scenarios to make this happen:

• Developing an experiential education curriculum for young adults and serving on staff
• Becoming a certified Life Coach offering individual support sessions
• Writing and publishing articles and books on my research, offering strategies for success
• Running seminars and retreats on the theme of happiness, health and fulfillment

Experiential Background

At the beginning of high school, I had already established many areas of interest still important to me today. At the time, I felt a then unidentifiable spark in some of my assignments. I had a surprisingly strong reaction when I addressed the nature of American society. My papers expressed a lot of criticism toward peoples’ behavior, habits and tendencies.

Before transferring to UMass, I engaged in a program called Semester Intensive at the Lenox, Mass.-based Kripalu Yoga Center. The college credit-based curriculum was designed around integrated leadership and was infused with mind and body practices including yoga and meditation. During the semester I learned an incredible amount about the nature of the mind—its tendencies, how to probe and reshape it and how to integrate new mindsets and belief systems.

I see BDIC as an opportunity to reawaken my passion from high school and bridge it with some of the new ideas about cognition and personal change I discovered at Kripalu.

Methods and Procedures

To address the elements of a major in Modern Technology and Human Happiness, I intend to draw from the following departments: Anthropology, Communication, History, Political-Science, Psychology and Sociology. Because the lens I am choosing to focus on is so wide, it makes sense to balance a course load of both micro and macro disciplines. Anthropology and Sociology work in tandem to distinguish different social groups and how their culture and socialization explain who they are and what motivates their actions. The History and Political Science classes I’ve selected take a closer look at a combination of particular cultural heritages to glean how human thought processes can differ. My intention in pursuing Communication classes is to strengthen my ability to critically analyze and compare how messages are conveyed through different media. My Psychology classes work on the micro level, deciphering how the human brain is integrally linked with human thought.

I feel enthusiastic about a concentration in Modern Technology and Human Happiness, an under-articulated reality students of my generation are facing. We may be seen as a generation plugged in with the latest technological applications. At the same time we are engaged in the age-old questions of individual freedom and developing meaningful relationships with others. The frenzied pace in which new technology operates has created a tension in the lives of my contemporaries I am eager to explore, alerting and educating people about what these developments mean for my generation, the older generation, and generations to come.