COMMUNICATION FINAL PAPER!!!REALLY REALLY NEED A 4.0 A++++++WORK NEEDED!!PAY MORE!!!!

Communication and the Good Life

• 1) Unit #3 Overview

• 2) Three Questions about the Good Life

• BREAK

• 3) In-Class Activity

• 4) Screening: Happy

Unit #3 Overview • Core Questions:

• Do our contemporary communication practices facilitate or undermine our capacity to enjoy “good lives”?

• More broadly, what does a “good life” look like in our consumer-driven, digitally networked society?

Thought Experiment • 1) Decide the amount of time you would ideally

spend on each of the following activities per week: a) working; b) community volunteering; c) “screen time”; d) shopping

• 2) How much time do you actually spend on these activities?

• 3) Where are the largest gaps between ideals and realities? Why do you think those gaps exist?

Unit #3 Overview • Many visions of good life

(utility, deontology, etc.). They express different ideas about end state and the means used to get there.

• Communication plays an important role in each. It provides the tools we use to interact with and learn about the world, and it forms the industry through which those ideas are expressed.

Unit #3 Overview • Our starting point: The good

life is easier to experience than it is to define.

• This is because we have discordant definitions about what the good life entails.

• However, there are “sensitizing” questions that can be asked in any situation.

3 Questions

• Question #1: Are people the best judge’s of their own well- being?

• Subjective (self-reported) versus objective (based on external criteria) measures of well being.

3 Questions

• Question #2: Is a good life a moment (or moments) enjoyed or a life well-lived?

• A moment, a period, a life.

3 Questions

• Question #3: Is happiness linked with virtue? Can one be happy without being ethical?

• Hedonism: The idea that the main good in life is the pursuit of pleasure.

Communication and the Good Life

• 1) Unit #3 Overview

• 2) Three Questions about the Good Life

• BREAK

• 3) In-Class Activity

• 4) Screening: Happy

In-Class Activity • Discuss Graham Hill’s “Living with less, a lot less”

article.

• 1) Please summarize the author’s argument in a few sentences.

• 2) According to Hill, is happiness linked with virtue? Why or why not?

• 3) Do you agree with Hill’s arguments? Why or why?