July 9, 2009
Wealthy and yet unhappy - how come, Singapore?
IT IS disturbing to read that Singapore ranked 49th in the Happy Planet Index 2.0 survey conducted by the New Economics Foundation ('Costa Ricans the 'happiest worldwide'', Monday).
This is even though it was ranked fourth highest per capita income in the world by the International Monetary Fund last year, and third by the World Bank in 2007.
By all counts, we are a materially wealthy nation, so why are Singaporeans not happy with their lot? Singaporeans have access to the best of everything, yet they seem to indicate that they are not happy.
I wonder if this is why we often see grim faces on buses and the MRT. Are Singaporeans stressed out? Do they yearn for more, without finding it? Why are we, as a nation, not as happy as our poorer neighbours like Vietnam, for example, which ranked highest in Asia? Does our education system stress material success over achieving internal peace and happiness?
Curiously, Vietnam, with less material success than Singapore, ranked fifth in the index, and Costa Rica topped the survey.
At the same time, the wealthy and technologically advanced nations we like to emulate, such as the United States and Britain, ranked 114th and 74th respectively, even worse than Singapore. This clearly shows that material success does not guarantee happiness.
It is time that we made an effort to re-establish our priorities, learn to relax, appreciate what we have, smile, and be happy.
Anil Bhatia
July 11, 2009
In this meritocracy, there's no time to smell the roses
I REFER to Thursday's letter by Mr Anil Bhatia, 'Wealthy and yet unhappy - how come, Singapore?'
There is a systemic flaw in our meritocratic system where we strive to be the best in everything, in meeting wants, in careers, in infrastructure. In the process, our human capital is put through various stress tests from a young age until retirement and even the grave.
The young are put to a stress test the minute they start formal education at primary level with homework and remedial classes. School holidays are filled with more lessons, remedial classes and co-curricular activities for upper secondary students. To gain entry to top junior colleges or polytechnics, students must achieve an aggregate score of eight points or less, compared to 10 to 15 points years earlier. How not to be stressed out?
Young adults struggle with work from demanding bosses who expect 24/7 due diligence from employees. Many in this age group struggle to acquire material wealth at the expense of pro-family, procreation activities. Mature workers worry about job security and those who are retrenched often remain chronically unemployed for a long while. Many in this age group (45 to 55) are most vulnerable, with massive expenses to take care of, such as children's education, housing loans, elderly parents' medical bills and retirement expenses. How to be happy?
The elderly are also vulnerable as their children may fall into the mature age group who are either struggling to maintain their livelihoods or unemployed.
With little financial support from their children, many are forced to work as cleaners or do other manual work with their limited skills. Retirees who have exhausted their Central Provident Fund savings are forced to go back to work with limited scope of employment in the current economic climate.
There is hardly any stage in the human cycle where we can slow down and make an effort to smell the roses in society.
Roland Ang
[Read this article:
http://www.helium.com/items/329527-the-link-between-money-and-happiness
High on Per capital Income, low on happiness? Nothing new there. Countries richer than Singapore are ranked unhappier.
However the most unhappy countries are those that are the poorest. When starvation and death are staring you in the face you would be insane to still be happy.
As for why the rich are unhappy, the helium article proposes that the answer lies in the opportunity cost hypothesis; or the spoilt for choice hypothesis.
A rich man simply has more choices open to him than a poor man. However actually making a choice means giving up all the other choices and foregoing the opportunity to enjoy those other choices. Hence the lament of the rich: "I've got nothing to wear!" "There's nothing to do!"
There is also another reason, and that is that happiness is relative. If your neighbour's situation is as bad as yours, you would be less unhappy - The "Everybody's in the same boat" hypothesis.
However if your neighbour is better off, then you realise your lack, and you feel unhappy.
Another possible explanation is that people measure happiness differently in different countries. This is somewhat related to the above. With higher income comes development, comes globalisation, comes news and information, and suddenly your "neighbourhood" extends to the entire developed world or first world. Then you wish your human rights was as good as the US, your social welfare as good as the Netherlands, your industry as innovative as the Japanese, your customer service as good as Hong Kong, your engineering as good as the German.
But if you're puttering around in your little farm in a Costa Rica, with no knowledge of the wider world beyond your island, you'd be happy when the rain comes on time, the wind cools you down, and the sun comes out when you need your harvest to ripen. Your world is smaller, more manageable, and you are more content.
The saying, "ignorance is bliss" applies in these case. The happiest people are those who do not know of other alternatives (or do not care).
So what is the solution for Singapore? Become ignorant? Stop chasing development and the almighty buck?
Or decide that Happiness is over-rated?
Or understand that a Happy Costa Rican may not be comparable to an unhappy Singaporean?
Or understand that happiness = contentment = satisfaction = things stay status quo = no development = no improvement.
And the next time someone makes a stupid simplistic comparison about happiness and wealth, we take him out and shoot him for being an angsty whiny complainy twit?]
Wealthy and yet unhappy - how come, Singapore?
IT IS disturbing to read that Singapore ranked 49th in the Happy Planet Index 2.0 survey conducted by the New Economics Foundation ('Costa Ricans the 'happiest worldwide'', Monday).
This is even though it was ranked fourth highest per capita income in the world by the International Monetary Fund last year, and third by the World Bank in 2007.
By all counts, we are a materially wealthy nation, so why are Singaporeans not happy with their lot? Singaporeans have access to the best of everything, yet they seem to indicate that they are not happy.
I wonder if this is why we often see grim faces on buses and the MRT. Are Singaporeans stressed out? Do they yearn for more, without finding it? Why are we, as a nation, not as happy as our poorer neighbours like Vietnam, for example, which ranked highest in Asia? Does our education system stress material success over achieving internal peace and happiness?
Curiously, Vietnam, with less material success than Singapore, ranked fifth in the index, and Costa Rica topped the survey.
At the same time, the wealthy and technologically advanced nations we like to emulate, such as the United States and Britain, ranked 114th and 74th respectively, even worse than Singapore. This clearly shows that material success does not guarantee happiness.
It is time that we made an effort to re-establish our priorities, learn to relax, appreciate what we have, smile, and be happy.
Anil Bhatia
July 11, 2009
In this meritocracy, there's no time to smell the roses
I REFER to Thursday's letter by Mr Anil Bhatia, 'Wealthy and yet unhappy - how come, Singapore?'
There is a systemic flaw in our meritocratic system where we strive to be the best in everything, in meeting wants, in careers, in infrastructure. In the process, our human capital is put through various stress tests from a young age until retirement and even the grave.
The young are put to a stress test the minute they start formal education at primary level with homework and remedial classes. School holidays are filled with more lessons, remedial classes and co-curricular activities for upper secondary students. To gain entry to top junior colleges or polytechnics, students must achieve an aggregate score of eight points or less, compared to 10 to 15 points years earlier. How not to be stressed out?
Young adults struggle with work from demanding bosses who expect 24/7 due diligence from employees. Many in this age group struggle to acquire material wealth at the expense of pro-family, procreation activities. Mature workers worry about job security and those who are retrenched often remain chronically unemployed for a long while. Many in this age group (45 to 55) are most vulnerable, with massive expenses to take care of, such as children's education, housing loans, elderly parents' medical bills and retirement expenses. How to be happy?
The elderly are also vulnerable as their children may fall into the mature age group who are either struggling to maintain their livelihoods or unemployed.
With little financial support from their children, many are forced to work as cleaners or do other manual work with their limited skills. Retirees who have exhausted their Central Provident Fund savings are forced to go back to work with limited scope of employment in the current economic climate.
There is hardly any stage in the human cycle where we can slow down and make an effort to smell the roses in society.
Roland Ang
[Read this article:
http://www.helium.com/items/329527-the-link-between-money-and-happiness
High on Per capital Income, low on happiness? Nothing new there. Countries richer than Singapore are ranked unhappier.
However the most unhappy countries are those that are the poorest. When starvation and death are staring you in the face you would be insane to still be happy.
As for why the rich are unhappy, the helium article proposes that the answer lies in the opportunity cost hypothesis; or the spoilt for choice hypothesis.
A rich man simply has more choices open to him than a poor man. However actually making a choice means giving up all the other choices and foregoing the opportunity to enjoy those other choices. Hence the lament of the rich: "I've got nothing to wear!" "There's nothing to do!"
There is also another reason, and that is that happiness is relative. If your neighbour's situation is as bad as yours, you would be less unhappy - The "Everybody's in the same boat" hypothesis.
However if your neighbour is better off, then you realise your lack, and you feel unhappy.
Another possible explanation is that people measure happiness differently in different countries. This is somewhat related to the above. With higher income comes development, comes globalisation, comes news and information, and suddenly your "neighbourhood" extends to the entire developed world or first world. Then you wish your human rights was as good as the US, your social welfare as good as the Netherlands, your industry as innovative as the Japanese, your customer service as good as Hong Kong, your engineering as good as the German.
But if you're puttering around in your little farm in a Costa Rica, with no knowledge of the wider world beyond your island, you'd be happy when the rain comes on time, the wind cools you down, and the sun comes out when you need your harvest to ripen. Your world is smaller, more manageable, and you are more content.
The saying, "ignorance is bliss" applies in these case. The happiest people are those who do not know of other alternatives (or do not care).
So what is the solution for Singapore? Become ignorant? Stop chasing development and the almighty buck?
Or decide that Happiness is over-rated?
Or understand that a Happy Costa Rican may not be comparable to an unhappy Singaporean?
Or understand that happiness = contentment = satisfaction = things stay status quo = no development = no improvement.
And the next time someone makes a stupid simplistic comparison about happiness and wealth, we take him out and shoot him for being an angsty whiny complainy twit?]
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