The verdict is in: kids don't make you happy. Instead of acknowledging that what we've always been told - that babies are tiny bundles of joy - is a big lie, the article moves the goal posts and redefines happiness. What a load of shit.
If you're not already reading STFU Parents, you should be.
7.19.2010
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5 comments:
Sorry, HTML fail. I fixed the link.
Studies about feelings seem so weird to me. How do you measure happiness objectively and accurately?
That's probably a question for Tim.
Hi, I'm Tim, I'm part of an atheist club Ursula is in.
"How do you measure happiness objectively and accurately?"
You can't.
We don't have a precise definition of 'happiness', and we don't have reliable tools to measure 'happiness'.
Basically psychologists just ask people how happy they are. The problem is what people say may not have very much to do with what they actually feel. And how you phrase the question enormously affects how they answer. Ask someone if they have become happier since having a child, and they will probably say yes. Ask that same person today, and one year before they had the child, how happy they are, and they will probably say the same thing both times.
Also the research says children don't affect happiness, not that they decrease it. Which is unsurprising, since almost nothing does. Seriously, self reported happiness is the same two years after losing a leg, winning the lottery or getting married as it was before the life changing event. It would be slightly surprising if children were different.
The big thing to remember is what the studies actually show is how people respond to surveys--- which while possibly connected to happiness, is not the same thing.
I asked Tim to explain because he's incredibly thorough in his explanations.
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