...unhealthy? I know I am generalizing a bit here, but compare modern westernised lifetyle to a more basic traditional one. It seems that in order to sustain the former, there is a lot of stress in our life such as a high paid job, strict social demands, and things that negatively affect our helth like unhealthy food, television, the ability to stay up as late as you want instead of going to bed when it gets dark etc.
Don't all these things that most people currently do mean that we aren't leading a natural and healthy lifestyle? We stay up and get up late, eat unhealthy food. We can stay inside for long hours and watch TV, go on the computer. Plus there seems to be a lack of community in modern western life compared to what there used to be, perhaps because we can lead a life more independant of others.
You could argue that all these things are optional, and indeed many people don't lead an unhealthy lifestyle, and maintain quite low stress levels. However, it seems that most people are leading a more stressful and unhealthy lifestyle than they would have in the western world several centuries ago. And whilst they do have an option not to, the mere fact that it it more effort and seemingly less pleasant in the the short-term to live without this modern lifestyle (without TV, a lower paid less stressful job, go to bed early, eat healthier food that some will argue doesn't taste as good, be more active in the community) means that it is simply too easy and so too tempting to just go along with it.
People are not any happier as a result than they otherwise would be without this modernised lifestyle, and so what is the point of it? Isn't the aim of such a lifestyle to make people happier by giving them an easier way to live? And if so, if it isn't making people happier, and indeed is making many people unhappy due to stress and being unhealthy, then isn't it counter-productive?
Don't all these things that most people currently do mean that we aren't leading a natural and healthy lifestyle? We stay up and get up late, eat unhealthy food. We can stay inside for long hours and watch TV, go on the computer. Plus there seems to be a lack of community in modern western life compared to what there used to be, perhaps because we can lead a life more independant of others.
You could argue that all these things are optional, and indeed many people don't lead an unhealthy lifestyle, and maintain quite low stress levels. However, it seems that most people are leading a more stressful and unhealthy lifestyle than they would have in the western world several centuries ago. And whilst they do have an option not to, the mere fact that it it more effort and seemingly less pleasant in the the short-term to live without this modern lifestyle (without TV, a lower paid less stressful job, go to bed early, eat healthier food that some will argue doesn't taste as good, be more active in the community) means that it is simply too easy and so too tempting to just go along with it.
People are not any happier as a result than they otherwise would be without this modernised lifestyle, and so what is the point of it? Isn't the aim of such a lifestyle to make people happier by giving them an easier way to live? And if so, if it isn't making people happier, and indeed is making many people unhappy due to stress and being unhealthy, then isn't it counter-productive?