The Science of Wellbeing…For Teens!!

Hey everyone!! I hope you all had an amazing weekend. I know I certainly did. I have been working on something SUPER amazing this week. In fact, it is the reason behind the name of this very independent study. This week…drumroll please…I began taking the Yale Course “The Science of Wellbeing for Teens”! This class has been filled with super amazing data that, as a class, we draw important conclusions off of. This class was filmed in 2021, during the height of the Pandemic, so luckily it takes into account how Covid impacted the lives of teens across the world. So the class works like this: first, I watch a video taught by a professor at Yale—Laurie Santos— on a certain subject. This could be anything from “What is Impact Bias?” to “Why should we all strive for happiness?” Periodically throughout the video, I could be tested on any piece of information I learn (much like a Playposit). There are often 6-10 videos in a module, and 6 modules total. After I finish the videos, I am able to review everything I learned and take a short test on the information from these videos. Additionally, with each week, I have “happiness homework” where I have to implement one action or take into account one mindset. This week, mine has been “remember to savor enjoyable events” and “hide your phone during important tasks so that it doesn’t distract you.” Overall, this course has been super informational, comprehensive, and so much fun!

Here is a cool article all about this class!— https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/27/yale-university-most-popular-class-on-happiness-is-free-for-teens.html

Now that we got how this course works out of the way, here are some of the key pieces of information I learned this week:

1. A CDC survey states that 37% of teens have poor mental health (clinically significant mental illness). 20% have considered suicide, and 9% have attempted suicide—these levels are shocking and heartbreaking. This means, right now, about one out of every ten teens have actually attempted to take their own life. These levels make me realize how much of a crisis mental illness in teens truly is…which makes me even more inspired to do something to try and help those who are struggling.
2. The GI Joe fallacy states that “knowing something is half the battle.” In reality, knowing something is only a step in the right direction to implementing something in one’s life—this information tells me that teens shouldn’t be just told that they “need to get good sleep” or should “stay off their phone” or “shouldn’t obsess over their grades.” We, as human beings, need the encouragement to actually begin implementing this in our lives before this information begins to have any positive effect.
3. Happiness does not mean experiencing positive emotions 24/7. It means that when we do inevitably and healthily experience negative emotions, that we deal with them in a non-harmful way…we can’t have the good without the bad!
4. Life circumstances do not affect our happiness as much as we think—one study surveyed lottery winners 6 months after they won in order to measure their happiness levels. When compared to the happiness levels of those who had gotten into a minor car accident 6 months prior, the results showed little to no difference!
5. Related to the info above, we often exhibit this phenomenon called miswanting—the idea that we would be happy “if only I got past this next test” or “if only I had nicer clothes.” In reality, these things don’t actually improve our longterm happiness levels.

But my favorite piece of information that I learned so far has to be the “feel good-do good” phenomenon. This tells us that people who feel good internally or have a more positive outlook on life tend to be kinder and more generous to others! This is so fascinating, because it tells me that our intrapersonal (just us) and interpersonal (us in relation to those surrounding us) are vastly interconnected. This will help guide my ideas for how we as a school can help us as students find skills to achieve happiness! Instead of focusing on our personal happiness and peer relations as two separate categories, I will acknowledge their connection and hopefully find a way to improve both all in one idea!

My first reactions to this course was incredible. I learned SO, SO much, and I truly thought differently of the way I live my life. Not only am I more mindful, but I also feel more hopeful in my daily life. When telling myself “my circumstances don’t have to affect my happiness,” I am able to let go of the little anxieties…it feels incredibly liberating.

I would encourage every one of you to take this course if you have the time…maybe in the summer, maybe by watching one video every week for 10 mins, or maybe just completing one module and finishing there. However, there is no pressure at all, as I will continue to update you on everything I learn as I complete my journey towards coming up with an idea that I can implement here at DA!! As always, have an amazing day:)

Science of Wellbeing for Teens: https://online.yale.edu/courses/science-well-being-teens

Science of Wellbeing (original): https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being