A story today in the
New Zealand Herald reports that the CALM (Computer Assisted Learning Method)
Web site allows students to download audio files that provide information about long-lasting
happiness - ways to harness mental
resilience, healthy relationships and finding meaning in life. Do these downloads have a downside? Even this short news story indicates that they might.
Based on positive psychology, Dr. Tony Fernando (Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Auckland) originally designed the Web site for medical students. As William Liando quoted Dr. Fernando in today's New Zealand Herald,
"A lot of them are incredibly smart and gifted young people, but what they often don't know is there's a very high level of stress [in their academic life]."
Dr. Fernando wanted to help by providing resources for students to cope with this stress.
The content of the Web site is certainly based on what recent research tells us about happiness (e.g., it's not what we own that makes us happy), and it's not my purpose today to comment on the Web site per se. What caught my attention in this brief news report was a concluding quote of a student user. Liando writes,
"Third-year medical student Phillip Chao is a convert and told the Herald the site helped him most before and during exam time. ‘Instead of listening to music or doing other things when I feel like I've had enough of studying, I can go to the CALM website and listen to a few meditation sessions.' However, the 19-year-old, who downloads the audio files to his iPod for convenience, warned it could also be a tool of procrastination. He said he occasionally used his time on the website to stay away from his books" (emphasis added).
Ah, the irony of seeking happiness on the Internet,
the procrastination superhighway.
Although there is much to be gained, potentially, in taking the time to learn about ways to harness mental resilience, healthy relationships and finding meaning in life, to the extent that this pursuit derails the successful pursuit of our personal projects - in this case Phillip's medical studies - we really may undermine our happiness. How so?
Other research has also demonstrated that the successful pursuit of our goals is a route to happiness (see Goal Progress and Happiness and Getting off to a good start: An upward spiral of happiness). Procrastination on the other hand is associated with negative emotions, particularly guilt.
Avoiding the online procrastination trap
Monitor your time on line. Most of us make rational decisions (e.g., it will only take a minute to download that file to my iPod) over irrationally short periods of time (i.e., a minute later, we face the same decision). Without realizing it, hours can slip by as we take the same rational decision - "it will only take a minute" - one minute at a time.
Consider doing the following:
- Put a clock somewhere prominent to make time salient to you.
- Set a time limit on your Internet browsing and stick to it.
- Acknowledge that you are actually taking a break from the task at hand, so that you're honest with yourself that you're not really on task anymore even though you're still at your desk.
As Neil Postman has argued so well in books such as Technopoly and Amusing Ourselves to Death, technology is a "double-edged" sword. It takes thought and strategies to use it wisely, even in the pursuit of happiness.
