My niece's birthday wish...a gift for me!

Dear Happiness & Leadership Community,

In this week's column included below, I share how giving is a gift and what my niece's birthday wish taught me about happiness - how young people are relishing the old-fashioned way of capturing memories - yah!

And my sister will be happy to know that Annalisa Fang made a good choice - Marty Seligman's Flourish as her other birthday gift!

Enjoy!

Giving is a gift....

I enjoy purchasing gifts that I think the receiver will delight in owning.?Researchers have found that performing generous acts activates the part of the brain to increase personal happiness. Being generous with your time, energy, or money creates a “warm glow” and positive affect.?Why the more involved a volunteer becomes with a cause, the more fervently they believe in the mission making them want to contribute more.

My niece’s birthday was Tuesday this week. I asked her mom what she would like as a gift. My sister suggested buying her a psychology book.?Very practical, I thought, given my niece, a freshman in college, is considering a major in psychology. I then asked my niece what she would like, and she thought about it and with appreciation, expressed an idea - a Fujifilm disposable camera!

Slo-Mo Vintage Photo-taking: Happier!

I thought it a bit unusual since she has an iPhone that can take amazing pictures instantly.?I have matured over the years in my gift giving to focus on what the receiver really would like, versus what I really like….Ever curious, I decided to research why she might have interest in a disposable camera as a birthday present, and found that it is a trend among her age group to take photos the way we did at their age.?The “slow motion” way, where you have to wait and where one shot has to suffice since the camera and film are in limited quantity given there is a definite cost for each shot.

One thing I really like about this trend is that it goes against the pressure of social media since digital pics are taken in multitude, the best shot selected, then often edited to perfection, and then posted, to make the memory “real!”?A disposable camera captures “rawer” moments.

In the olden era of capturing memories, there were usually a few weeks of finishing the roll of film, then dropping the cartridge in the mail, to then wait days for the film to be delivered to the queue for processing at the photo lab, before making the journey back to your mailbox.?I remember the anticipation, as a young girl,?of checking my mailbox to see if my finished photos were in the stack of mail and if indeed there were, eagerly opening up the yellow or green envelope to shuffle through the stack of photos.?Then going through them many times to oow and awww?before selecting which might make the final cut into the memory album.?

A Positive Trend - Parting Ways with Perfection

I was fascinated to learn that young people are now showing an interest in going back in time.?Happy with my findings, I ordered my niece several disposable cameras in hopes that they would help her delight in capturing future college memories.

I believe this trend can help take away anxiety and body-image issues and societal pressures of teenagers and rather capture pictures for her to remember, instead of painting an ideal picture for everyone on the internet. I have a big concern for the mental health of our young people. In 2021, the U.S. Health & Human Services cited 49.5 percent of adolescents having had a mental health disorder at some point in their lives. The National Alliance on Mental Illness reports that nearly 20% of high school students reported serious thoughts about suicide in the past year, and 9% reporting a suicide attempt.?These are troubling statistics.

Positive Psychology at Penn

My niece has an interest in positive psychology, and is at perhaps the best place to study this field, University of Pennsylvania, where the likes of Marty Seligman and Angela Duckworth teach and do research.?Next year she will be taking Professor Duckworth’s Grit lab and will have a most interested Aunt looking over her shoulder!?I am a big fan of Angela’s research and have commented on her work:?Grit .

She just found out that she was awarded a grant to work with a faculty member, a clinical psychologist and implementation scientist, dedicated to improving mental healthcare for youth. I am so excited for her and their work together this summer at Penn.

Parting Gift

To my niece - if you are reading this, to make your Mom happy, please pick out a book from?Savvy’s Favorite Positive Psychology & Business Resources , and I will send it to you!

And I might just pick up a disposable camera for myself too….