Happy people enjoy the company of others, being outdoors and reading. Watching television, on the other hand, is not how happy people like to spend their time.  In fact, a new study shows that TV watching was the one activity happy people do less than unhappy people.

Fellow blogger, Sarah Newman, doesn’t own a television and is one the happiest (and smartest) people I know. So what is it about the tube that can bring you down? Could it be all of the ads telling us to color our hair, remove our embarrassing wrinkles,  get longer eye lashes, buy a new wardrobe and to quickly replace any cell phone that can’t give us directions while simultaneously playing our favorite song?

Perhaps the unhappiness stems more from staying at home than watching the TV?

One thing that the research could not identify is whether watching TV makes you unhappy or whether unhappy people watch more television. So for example, the unemployed or sick or people with a disability may by virtue of staying home more, watch more TV. And in these instances, TV is just a distraction and cant remedy any larger issues that may be causing unhappiness.

As a self-identified happy person, I’m not 100% how much this study really taught us about happiness. But here is what i do know: takepart with CauseCast because doing something good with and for others is guaranteed to make you happy.

Related:
Meh enters the dictionary

(Photo:johnheppolette’s flickr photostream)