Meaning of life in an advanced economy.

[idunnosomename]

So here's an interesting survey I cannot relate to very well



Maybe I'm not just cut out for living in an advanced economy. See more on the data here.

https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2021/11/18/what-makes-life-meaningful-views-from-17-advanced-economies/

So I don't really get putting family first, but then I guess I have yet yielded no offspring. my parents are good mates but like, they don't give my life meaning. and your occupation giving your life meaning? what! that the UK puts hobbies above it seems sensible at least, although for me, friends and hobbies are kind of complementary for life.

I mean I'm pretty sure this is a capitalist think-tank and is largely a bit weird. or am I a total shithead? do you think Taiwan or Spain looks cool? what even IS an advanced economy. let me know in the comments

[Video Game Fan 2000]

I think "family" is going to figure higher and higher as it becomes more aspirational.

It's not just an expected thing any more, its something you need to be money rich and time rich to have. Having a support network of people who love you is a luxury, like a fancy car. Goes for both settling down and having kids and staying in touch with the relatives you already have. That's so depressing I can barely type it.

[monkfromhavana]

Girlfriend>Music>Coventry City>old telly>bacon

[bgmnts]

Friends and hobbies are privileges that you can choose so that comes with meaning.

Plus you spend a massive chunk of your life wasting away at a job so you probably should at least pretend it gives your life meaning otherwise everyone would be jumping off bridges.

The real answer is life has no meaning, it just happens and then you die. If you're lucky you die peacefully.

That probably doesn't help marketing though.

[mothman]

A lot of people choose to have families of their own, or do actually care about the families they came from. I don't think it's particularly unusual to score highest so widely. For me it's much more alarming telling that faith crops up solely for the US.

[Shit Good Nose]

Doesn't surprise me that family ranks top for most people around the world, but I'm genuinely surprised that occupation ranks so low in the UK.  With so many tory voters you'd think we were a nation of people that lived to work.

[Dex Sawash]

I bet occupation is #1 in Palestine

[badaids]

Chart Music Podcast > Championship Manager 01/02 > Wanking > Bovril on toast > Stabbing

[Shit Good Nose]

Chart Music Podcast > Championship Manager 01/02 > Wanking > Bovril on toast > Stabbing

Genuinely surprised Bovril on toast ranks so low.

[idunnosomename]

1st - posting shit on the internet
2nd - enjoying the built environment and the natural world
3rd - bitchin guitar solos
4th - doing a fart under the duvet and smelling it
5th - wanking

[Paul Calf]

If I were being cynical, I'd suspect that at least some of those people put family at the top because they thought they should.

[idunnosomename]

love my family, love spurs, love boris and the queen, hate immagrants and the woke left.

[Paul Calf]

[Mr Farenheit]

1st - posting shit on the internet
2nd - enjoying the built environment and the natural world
3rd - bitchin guitar solos
4th - doing a fart under the duvet and smelling it
5th - wanking

If you combined 4 & 5, you'd have room for one more source of meaning in your life. If it happened to be 'making animal noises', again you could combine it and have yet another reason to live.

[idunnosomename]

im sorry smelling a fart and having a wank at the same time seems too debauched for me. also difficult. im happy with my lot

[popcorn]

Hey I know it's uncool to generalise crassly - but why not, it's so much fun. That South Korea result fits exactly with the week I spent there. I was astonished at the visual disparity between adjacent streets - it felt like slums were built between glitzy hotels - and the attitudes of the South Korean guys I hung out with regarding homelessness, careers, money, and North Koreans... and the amount they spent on luxury brands. The beauty standards are also astonishing - waves and waves and waves of perfect doll-like women with identical hair and makeup and eyes and nose jobs. Never been anywhere else like it in my life.

[beanheadmcginty]

I think UK comes out fairly well in that, for a change.

[katzenjammer]

I think there must be something very wrong with this survey. The Spanish are extremely family orientated, far more so than the British.

[Glebe]

[Glebe]

I think there must be something very wrong with this survey. The Spanish are extremely family orientated, far more so than the British.

We Irish are very family orientated too, warm and human. Whereas you Brits are heartless, cold fish, "Oh I'm going to be a father, here's a firm, sensible handshake wife. Stiff upper lip at the birth and that!"

[Zetetic]

and your occupation giving your life meaning? what!

Ideally, yes, a bit. If I'm spending 40/60/80 hours a week doing something, it should be something that speaks to who I am and what I want the world to be like.

Obviously that's not the case for most people, but that's sad.

[Johnny Foreigner]

I should be inclined to think that health is a prerequisite for feeling at ease with the world and yourself. Surely, if you are in constant pain or discomfort, none of the other things give you much satisfaction?

Health being available, material well-being is what makes the others possible, for that is how capitalism works. Many seem to think occupation/work is somehow connected to the state of material well-being, but I opine it rarely is. I am currently reading Richard Jefferies (1848-1887) and have come across this fine quote:

What a fallacy it is that hard work is the making of money; I could show you plenty of men who have worked the whole of their lives as hard as ever could possibly be, and who are still as far off independence as when they began. In fact, that is the rule; the winning of independence is hardly the result of work, else nine out of ten would be well-to-do.

Family is more often a restraint than an opportunity. In an individualist world, family tends to hold you back and thwart your projects: 'be like us, be with us and never leave us'. If I were a Randroid, I would argue that family is a reactionary, tribal institution for primitive savages. Whilst I do not buy that, I can only dispassionately note the fact that attachment to family and friends runs counter to the mantra of rational self-interest.

I do not particularly care for children. I find them ugly and annoying, and if anything alarms me, it is the explosive and ongoing growth of world population. Hence, for myself:

1. Health
2. Material well-being
3. Individual freedom
4. Friendship
5. The ecosystem

[dissolute ocelot]

Health is necessary for a happy life, but so is food, roofs, heating, the sun, clothes, absence of dragons, etc. I guess it's hierarchy of needs.

[olliebean]

I'm genuinely surprised that occupation ranks so low in the UK.  With so many tory voters you'd think we were a nation of people that lived to work.

Still depressing to see it ranking above Health, though.