This year the World Happiness Report focussed on social media. They found that when young people gave up social media for a month, their wellbeing improved. Deactivated users were happier, more satisfied with their lives, less anxious and less depressed. In short: giving up social media made them happier.
It’s not that simple, though. When people were asked how much they would be willing to pay for Facebook, the median answer was $1 per month. But when asked how much they would need to be paid to give up Facebook for a month, the median was $59. Later, thousands of Americans were asked the same questions about various social media platforms. Results were similar. Users would be willing to pay around $5 per month for most platforms but would need to be paid around $100 per month to give them up.
Strangest of all: even after a happier month without media use, subjects were unwilling to continue for a second month unless paid around $86. Although happier without social media, they evidently perceived a hidden cost of not using it when everybody else did.
A further study found that tertiary students, while unwilling to stop using specific platforms unless paid, would nonetheless be willing to pay$28 per month to deactivate everyone in their institution, including themselves, from those platforms. In other words, people wished that such platforms did not exist, but felt compelled to use them because everyone else was.
This is a ‘product trap,’ where we feel forced to buy a product, not because we want it, but because we feel disadvantaged if we don’t. I wonder how many other product traps are quietly robbing us of our happiness.
Stephanie Hills ©