The document discusses The Virtual Happiness Project, which aims to study whether spending time online can lead to feelings of happiness. It notes that past research has shown happiness is linked to social interaction rather than things like wealth or health. It then puts forward the hypothesis that as the internet lacks boundaries, it has become a popular place for social interaction. The project plans to test this hypothesis through a global survey and two experiments to measure whether a correlation exists between time spent online and reported happiness, and how this may relate to factors like information overload and maintaining many casual friendships online.

1. The Virtual Happiness Project
Jim Stolze @ PicNic ‘08 www.virtualhappiness.org

2. 2 observations
1 announcement

3. #1 Happiness?
[observation]

4. “Happiness is good health
and bad memory”
Albert Schweitzer (1875 - 1965)

5.  medicine
 nobel prize
 happiness research

6. 50 years research

7. Happiness is not about
being in good health
winning the lottery
having power
living in a good neighbourhood

9. the difference

10. social factor

12. interact

14. #2 Internet Usage
[observation]

16. no surprise

18. We sing, we argue, we laugh and we talk...

20. We sing, we argue, we laugh, we talk
we dream, we love, and we turn strangers into friends.

22. We sing, we argue, we share, we talk,
we dream, we love, and turn strangers into good friends.
Just like our ancestors did by their campfires.

24. Except, we don’t live in the age of Kumbaya anymore.

27. Global Campfire

28. Shaping our minds and driving social interaction.

29. #1 Happiness
+
#2 Internet Usage

30. We are a social species
and need to interact to feel happy
and because it's lack of boundaries
the internet has become a popular place to do this.

31. So...
Does this mean that being online,
makes you feel happier?

32. So...
Do all these bits and bytes create a thing called

33. Virtual Happiness

34. Virtual Happiness Project
- hypothesis
- global survey
- two experiments

35. measurable

36. And if we find a correlation between spending time
online and feelings of happiness.
How is this related to things like:
- information stress
- friendship inflation
- continious partial apttention?

39. Continious Partial Attention?

40. Many questions...

41. February 2009

42. Survey
www.virtualhappiness.org

43. Happy PicNic!

44. Thank you
JimStolze@gmail.com www.virtualhappiness.org