Put down the remote and back slowly away from the television.

Despite the sharp rise in our standard of living in recent decades, Americans today are little or no happier than earlier generations. Why not?

A new study suggests one possibility: Maybe we need to be smarter about how we spend our time. And, no, that doesn't mean watching more TV.

-- Feeling unpleasant. You can think of your happiness as having three components. First, there's your basic disposition -- whether you are, by nature, a happy person or not. Clearly, there isn't a whole lot you can do about this.

Second, there are your life's circumstances, such as your age, health, marital status and income. Often, this stuff isn't nearly as important as folks imagine. If your income doubled, you would initially be delighted. But research suggests you would quickly get used to all that extra money.

That brings us to the third factor, which is how you spend your time -- something you have a fair amount of control over. This is the subject of a major new study by academics Daniel Kahneman, Alan Krueger, David Schkade, Norbert Schwarz and Arthur Stone.

For the study, the five professors surveyed some 4,000 Americans, asking what they did the previous day and then quizzing them in detail about three randomly selected events from the day. Those surveyed were asked to rate the three episodes based on feelings such as pain, happiness, stress and sadness. All this was used to calculate what percentage of time people spent in an unpleasant state.

-- Getting involved. Result? Women, folks under age 65, those divorced or separated, lower-income earners and the less educated were likely to spend a bigger chunk of their day in an unpleasant state.

But what I found most intriguing was the study's data on which activities we enjoy. The five professors grouped activities into six clusters, based on the emotions associated with each.

The standout cluster was what the authors label 'engaging leisure and spiritual activities,' things like visiting friends, exercising, attending church, listening to music, fishing, reading a book, sitting in a cafe or going to a party. When we spend time on our favorite of these activities, we're typically happy, engrossed and not especially stressed.

'These are things you choose to do, rather than have to do,' notes one of the study's co-authors, Prof. Schkade of the University of California, San Diego.

The obvious implication: If we devote more time to these activities, maybe we would be more satisfied with our lives. Yet the evidence suggests we've missed a huge chance to do just that -- which may help explain why Americans are little or no happier than they were four decades ago.

-- Zoning out. Over that stretch, men reduced the amount of time they spent working. Meanwhile, women -- as a group -- spent more time earning income, reflecting their increased work-force participation. But this increased time at the office was more than offset by a drop in time devoted to mundane chores.

In other words, both men and women had the chance to lavish more time on 'engaging leisure and spiritual activities.' But in fact, time spent on these activities has actually declined over the past four decades.

Instead, there's been a significant increase in the hours devoted to what the authors call 'neutral downtime,' which is mostly watching television. Women now spend 15% of their waking hours staring at the tube, while men devote 17%.

Watching TV may be low-stress and moderately enjoyable. But people aren't mentally engaged the way they are when they're, say, exercising or socializing.

'I wonder whether there are self-control problems when it comes to watching television,' muses Prof. Krueger, an economist at Princeton University and another of the study's co-authors. 'I wonder whether people would feel better about their lives if they spent their leisure time doing something that was more interactive and more engaging.'

放下遥控器，从电视前慢慢地退开。

尽管近几十年来美国人的生活水平有了大幅提高，但我们今天并不比祖辈们幸福多少。为什么会这样呢？

一项新研究指出了一种可能性：在如何度过空闲时间的问题上，我们或许应该变得更加明智。当然，这并不是说我们要在电视上花更多的时间。

感觉闷闷不乐。你可以把幸福想成有三个要素组成。首先，是你的基本性格倾向──你是否天生就是乐天派。很明显，你在这方面所能做的寥寥无几。

其次，是你的生活环境，比如你的年龄、健康状况、婚姻状况以及收入。这些东西常常不像人们所想的那么重要。如果你的收入增加了一倍，开始的时候你会感到很快乐。不过研究显示，你很快就会对那部分增加的收入习以为常。

这样我们就需要谈到第三个要素了，也就是你如何度过你的闲暇时光──在这方面你有较大的控制权。学术界人士丹尼尔•卡尼曼(Daniel Kahneman)、艾伦•克鲁格(Alan Krueger)、大卫•施卡德(David Schkade)、诺伯特•施瓦茨(Norbert Schwarz)和亚瑟•斯通(Arthur Stone)进行的一项重要新研究正是以此为主题。

这五位教授在研究中调查了约4,000名美国人，询问他们前一天做了什么，然后就其中随机选取的三件事询问详情。调查人员要求受访者将三件事按照痛苦、快乐、压力和悲伤等类别进行分类。所有这些都被用来计算人们处于不快乐状态的时间比例是多少。

应该从事的活动。结果如何呢？女性、65岁以下的人、离婚或分居人士、低收入者和受教育程度较低的人，他们在一天中处于不快乐状态的时间比例可能会更大。

不过这项研究中最吸引我的地方还是对人们所喜欢从事活动的调查。五位教授按照各类活动可能引起的不同情绪将其分为六类。

多数受访者最喜欢的一类活动是被作者称为"吸引人的休闲及精神活动"，比如拜访朋友、锻炼身体、参加教会活动、听音乐、钓鱼、看书、坐在咖啡馆里或是参加聚会。当我们参加这些自己喜欢的活动时，我们常常是快乐而专注的，不会感到太大压力。

该研究报告的作者之一、加州大学圣地亚哥分校(University of California, San Diego)的施卡德教授指出，这些事情都是你选择去做的，而不是被迫去做的。

显而易见，这说明如果我们花更多时间参加这类活动，可能会对自己的生活更加满意。不过也有证据显示，我们已经错失了很多做这些事情的机会，这或许有助于理解为什么美国人并不比40年前更快乐。

应该避免的活动。过去几十年中，男性的工作时间减少了，同时女性群体的工作时间增多，这反映出她们越来越多地进入职业领域。不过，女性用于处理家务活的时间也大为减少，幅度甚至超过了她们增加工作的时间。

这也就是说，男性和女性都有更多的时间从事"吸引人的休闲及精神活动"。可事实上，花在这类活动上的时间在过去40年中却减少了。

相反，人们花在被作者称为"中性停歇"上的时间却显著增加了，这主要是指看电视的时间。除睡觉外，女性目前有15%的时间都花在了看电视上，男性则为17%。

看电视可能没什么压力，人也会觉得比较自在。只是与参加锻炼或是社交活动相比，人们在看电视时精神上不会那么愉悦。

该研究报告的另一作者、普林斯顿大学(Princeton University)经济学家克鲁格说，他在想人们看电视时是否存在自我控制的问题，他想知道如果人们将闲暇时间花在互动性更高、参与性更强的活动上是否会对生活抱有更好的感觉。
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