In this ted talk, Dan Gilbert discussed how people synthesis their own happiness and displayed data to show why synthesis happiness is real. What I found interesting was that no matter what hard situations the people in the first example were in, they still found ways to be happy. I think this is very uncommon in today’s young society due to social media. People go on social media and think they are living a boring and uneventful life because they are seeing other people brag about their life in an extraordinary way. Sadly, this can be the cause of depression in many teens, especially girls, making synthesizing happiness even harder.
Gilbert seemed like a credible and trustworthy speaker. His data from past experiments did an accurate job of revealing how people synthesis their own happiness, even if they do not know they are. I also find his message to be reasonable, favorable advice. Life will not always be perfect, so synthesizing happiness could make a lot more people satisfied with their life.
I can incorporate more synthetic happiness into my life if I stop overthinking, comparing myself to others, and become more grateful for everything I have. Almost every day I find myself overthinking or being indecisive about many decisions that I have to make. During his Ted Talk, it made me realize that just like the students in his study, I overthink a right or wrong choice because I let it drag out and cause me stress. Just like the students, when I have to make fast decisions, I am happier with the outcome because I did not have to spend so much time deciding which one I would like more.
Emily's college blog 
Hi Emily!
You make a very good point that social media can make synthesizing happiness harder, as it provides us with a chance to compare our own choices to those of others, and to see opportunities we wish we had for ourselves. Without social media it might be harder to tell what others have that we do not, thus making it a bit easier to synthesize happiness.
I also agree with you that decisions that are permanent force me to recover faster than those that cause me to overthink and consider things I could do differently, much like what Gilbert found in his studies.
A very thoughtful first impression!
Emily
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