The joy of less

How much stuff is enough stuff? At what point should we worry a bit less about getting and spending and devote more time and energy to other things? As is usual, science documents the basis behing most conventional wisdom: things dont matter, people do.
 
Recent research suggests that we are happier if we have less rather than more. It seems that people thrive when they have a network of close relations to others and when they have meaningful work that they find engaging and not if they have more material things.


It seems that most of us get more pleasure out of doing than out of having. Though the line between “doing” and “having” is not always a bright one Leaf Van Boven, Tom Gilovich, and their collaborators have shown that doing satisfies us more than having does. In reflecting on the past or contemplating the future, people are happier when they have experiences on their minds than when they have things on their minds. And the higher a person’s income is, the bigger the disparity between the joys of doing and the joys of having. 

According to this research, there are several possible reasons why doing does more for us than having. "First, though doing is just an episode in life, we continue to “consume” the things we do by remembering them, and sharing our memories with others. Second, doing is almost always social, and I’ve already indicated how important social relations are to well being. Doing things together with others may actually strengthen social ties". Third, doing seems to constitute a more meaningful part of our personal identity than having does. Now there is reliable research indicating that people who have what we might call materialist values are less satisfied with their lives than people who don’t. 

And by the way, as people age, doing seems increasingly to dominate having as a goal. This may be a key part of the “wisdom of aging,” and may help explain why, despite persistent aches and pains in recalcitrant body parts, older people are happier than younger ones.