The Role Of Happiness In Ernest HemingwaysThe Sun Also Rises

In the novel The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway describes the two stages of every bankruptcy: â€Å"‘Two ways’, Mike said. ‘Gradually and then suddenly’† (56). Hemingway’s description of bankruptcy closely reflects the rise of social media as it has become the primarily medium of interaction within society. Subsequently, there have been questions raised about how this radical shift in interactions affects the means of achieving a happy life. Within academia, happiness is described as a sense of well-being and is generally associated with a combination of one’s state of mind and genetics (Lyubomirsky). These genetic effects are culminated in the term â€Å"happiness set point†, a natural proclivity towards a certain level of happiness. Today, both†¦show more content†¦Even further, Adam Piore of the online magazine, Nautilus, claims that social media improves social relationships by creating new mediums of communication. Though there is polarization in how social media affects users’ ability to achieve happy lives, the rise of social media refutes Sonja Lyubomirsky’s perspective on happiness, which attributes happiness to primarily a person’s genetics. The effects that social media has on users’ happiness, depending on the choices of the users, demonstrate that Lyubomirsky underestimates the effects that circumstances and personal choices have on happiness. To begin, the existence of social media platforms, and the subsequent opportunities they create refutes Lyubomirsky by demonstrating the importance that societal circumstances have on happiness. For example, when describing the Happiness Twins study from the University of Minnesota, Lyubomirsky claims this study concludes that â€Å"†¦the average happiness of your identical twins is a much more powerful clue to your happiness than all the facts and events of your life! (Lyubomirsky 188). Lyubomirsky also later a dvises the readers that â€Å"we are also unlikely to find lasting happiness by changing our life circumstances† (195). Lyubomirsky’s portrayal of the complexities of happiness favor a deterministic view that implies that humans have limited control over their happiness. However, research from Robert E. Kraut finds that regular