I agree with Pastis, the cartoonist, on this one. He’s panning the idea that people should keep away from the internet. (Click on the picture for higher resolution.)
Pig: I studied all the ancient texts, religions, and philosophies to determine the key to happiness.
Goat: And what did you find?
Pig: Get off the internet!
And in the last panel,
Pig: Ironically, I used it for all my research.
Clearly it depends on how we use the internet. One key to my happiness is to keep learning new things and to broaden my view of the world and life. The internet is my most powerful tool for doing that. (In addition to being my main access to most of my friends!)
What about you? What’s your key to happiness? How does the internet fit in?
January 6, 2025
The key to happiness is knowing that we are happy.
God bless.
🙂
at this time, I don’t have a key to happiness, unless it is Beau bringing joy and laughter. I consider staying off the internet my key to unhappiness. it connects me to the outside world. now that I have taken a moment to think, if the internet was gone the world might be a happier place. as long as it is available we will not leave it alone
I don’t know about the world, but i wouldn’t be nearly as happy without the internet.
…I love how I can easily learn new and interesting things online.
Me too!
Honestly I don’t really know what my key to happiness is. I won’t say that I’m unhappy but I’m just not really sure what it is that brings me the most happiness.
I do need my internet though. It brings me closer to all my blog friends and provides me with answers and entertainment.
We are so lucky to have it!
Presently, I am taking one day at a time. I use the internet daily for all kinds of things, but mostly for searching things about life. I probably use social media a little too often and may need to reduce the amount of time I spend there. Have a Happy Monday
I hope you had a great day too.
I quit social media a few years ago. It was not worth my time after awhile. I found friends I knew IRL got so hooked on it that they no longer seemed to be my friends, only interested in gathering followers and likes. I came back to blogging, which I had always preferred. This makes me feel much better. I am mostly contented in my own world, it’s grown smaller and smaller, but I am doing ok with it.
I occasionally read friends’ FB posts, but they aren’t very satisfying. They’re like junk food for me. The blogs I follow go deeper, share a lot more.
I do research on the internet. I’m most interested in neuroscience and biochemistry, but my understanding is limited by my lack of education in these areas. Organic chemistry only taught me that I was not as smart as I thought I was:)
I find the mind-gut connection to be fascinating. Most of our serotonin is made in our gut. I also worry that modern medicine has very little understanding of how our minds work and just throw things at people, to see if it helps. Case in point, my daughter and myself. I’ve taken antidepressants for years but I still get depressed. And my poor girl, the docs don’t know how her brain works but just “try” things. Happily the CBD gummies seemed to have helped the most.
I’m glad you’ve found something that helps at least a little. I agree, doctors on the whole don’t understand how to deal with a lot of mental problems. Hopefully eventually they will learn a lot more and be more helpful. Take care.
That’s a good point. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks.
Staying away from much of the political news on the internet helps me. Plus perspective and gratitude…and making a decision to gravitate to positives. 🙂
Yes. 🙂
I was reading an article in Smithsonian Magazine about MacArthur’s time in Australia after he fled the Phillipines in WWII. Normally I’d go to the internet to clarify some things but this time I (stubbornly) hauled out my old Times Atlas of the World and a midsized dictionary. Just like the old days except I had to use a large magnifying glance to see details. But the Internet is much faster. Now with AI being used more and more though, one can’t help wonder about the truth of what one finds.
We’ve always had to be careful about sources of information. One of my best teachers in high school would make outlandish statements and say, “It must be true, I read it in a book.” Until then I assumed all books were reliable. It was a wake up call. Bless him.
I made an error in my comment above. It’s the “Philippines”, not the “Phillipines.”
I didn’t even notice. I read for content and often miss typos.
It’s not that we are spending time online that makes us unhappy, it’s what we’re finding to do online that makes the difference….just like in our off line lives.
Yes!
At this point in my life, I suppose I could do without the internet … but how to become happy again would be a reach.
No, I’m not interested in going without. I just need to focus on where my fingers take me.
Well said.
I LOVE how I can go to the internet with ANY question, and find out the answer! And on my phone, I just talk to it and ask a question, up comes the answer! It is like living with the smartest person in the world!
Yes!!
I get my books online from BookBub. Then, while reading them, I look up things in them that are not familiar to me. I love being able to do that.
I’ll have to look up BookBub. Thanks. 🙂
My key is happy pets and good people!
That sounds great!
The internet is part of my happiness haha, I also love to learn.
🙂
I would probably be lost without the internet…I have used it so many times to learn how to do something. Plus all the fun have watching quilters. Plus the music! No one mentioned the music. I don’t listen to music much any more…but I won’t go into why. But I still love it and still have times I listen.
I love google earth/google maps. Have spent so many happy hours there. I always have liked maps…the satellite view is just the icing on the cake.