Pritam's Blog
The Half Life Of Happiness
“What is the half life of happiness in 2021?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” She asked, my therapist.
“I guess everything has an expiration date.”
“True. But where is it coming from now?”
“Have you heard of the term ‘Half Life of Knowledge’?”
“Yes, I have…”
“It’s basically the time that has to elapse before half of the knowledge or facts in a particular area or discipline becomes obsolete or outdated. Just like half life of radioactive elements…”
“Yes…”
“So, I was reading about this particular concept. Since new information gets added everyday, certain amount of old information becomes useless after a point of time. Of course, the rate at which old information and knowledge becomes useless is directly proportional to the rate at which new knowledge is added. Now, the rate at which new knowledge is added is increasing every year resulting in a decrease in the half life of knowledge. Back in 1930, an engineering degree had a half life of 30 years. In 1960, it was 10 years.”
“Makes sense…”
“Since 2013, the entire universe of information and facts has been doubling every year, thanks to the advent of science and technology. As a result, the half life of knowledge for most fields has dropped tremendously. Software engineers, for example, have to learn new programming languages every year so that they stay relevant in their trade.”
“Ok. But where are you going with this?”
“So, I started thinking and I realized it’s not just knowledge, but even other things, happiness for example, that has lost its longevity because of the abundance of everything…”
“Like?”
“Ok. Let me explain. Even few years back, video streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video were not that popular. And we used to rely on Torrents and the likes to watch movies at home. The process was long… You have to do your research, read online reviews, and then search for the movie, put it on download. And internet wasn’t that fast back in those days. So, it used to take hours, sometimes even days, to download one movie. Then you would watch it. If it turned out to be a good movie, you would appreciate the tedious process. The feeling too would last long. And if you didn’t like it, you would still try to watch it. After all, lots of effort went on to download it. But now, you just search for a movie and start watching. If you like it, good. If not, you have other options. And since the process has become easy, the effect is low…”
“That’s very interesting… Old wine but in a new bottle,” she smiled…
“Laugh all you want. But it is true.”
“It is, I agree… Accessibility reduces the value of things.”
“THINGS are still fine. But I am talking about FEELINGS and EMOTIONS. When I was a teenager, love was different. Back in those days, we didn’t have cellphones and social media. People were not accessible just at the click of a few buttons. I used to hate going to school and yet Saturday evenings were depressing. Because I had to wait for 40 hours before I could see her face again - the girl I was in love with. I used to spend my weekends listening to ‘Shaam-sawere teri yaadein aati hain, Aake dil ko mere yun tadpaati hain…’ on my walkman…”
“Hahaha… You are cute, you know. I think you would have enjoyed your teenage if you were as expressive as you are now…”
“Nah. I don’t regret it. And who said I am expressive now? I think I am still the introvert guy I used to be…”
“I wouldn’t know. I didn’t know you back then… I wish I knew you though.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes. But I think you do express yourself now…”
“I do express certain things to you… but that’s because I pay you to listen to me.”
“Stop saying ‘I pay you’ like that. You make it sound like I am some sort of escort.”
“But I do pay you… to fix me.”
“I think you stress upon the fact that you pay me to talk to you to hide the fact that you actually enjoy my company.”
Ok. Maybe she’s right. I felt a little exposed and a lot embarrassed.
“But that holds good for you too. I mean you too enjoy my company. But you don’t pay me… So, I have to stress upon the payment part,” I threw a nervous chuckle.
“But I don’t try to hide the fact that I enjoy your company…”
“Yeah yeah… Anyway, why do I ask these fucked up questions?”
“Because you think a lot. Tell me something - can you think of at least one thing that has been triggering a certain kind of emotion in you for a long time? Like it hasn’t changed in all these years?”
“Yes, actually. The face of Narendra Modi. I think the concept of half life is not valid when it comes to NM. If I have to quantify the way I feel about him, I would say that it doubles every time I see his face.”
“Hahaha… Well, in that case, your theory about the half life of happiness isn’t fully correct…”
“Maybe, maybe. I hope it isn’t correct.”
“It is correct, Pritam. I have to be honest with you. But it’s equally true that there are exceptions… Sometimes, things don’t have an expiration date…”
“Really?”
“Yes.
“Ok. Thank you. Bye…”
We hung up.