“One day you’re waiting for the sky to fall The next you’re dazzled by the beauty of it all”
I was listening to a cool chill mix on Spotify the other day, and they played Bruce Cockburn’s Lovers in a Dangerous Time. This line seemed to personify how we’re all feeling right now, waiting for the sky to fall like Chicken Little*.
We all have different coping mechanisms. I’m ashamed to admit mine is to retreat into my writing and to my little lake where I can watch the mist rise on the shoreline, listen to the birdsong, and wait for the spring crocuses to appear. Escapism at its finest.
In my heart, I know this is no solution. I wish I was a better person. I wish I was like Carol, the wife of a fellow proctor at Queen’s University who officially retired years ago but keeps working at an outreach program operating out of one of the churches in Kingston, helping people on the street get warm food and shelter. Her response to the unfathomable problem of homelessness and drug use is to volunteer and make a difference.
Or like the millions of Americans in all 50 US states who took to the streets in the No Kings protests yesterday to raise their voices against Trump and his administration’s policies.
That’s not me. I choose to cope by living my small life, making a difference where I can.
Perhaps the ever wise and socially and environmentally conscious Cockburn has provided us with the answer. When the world seems out of control, look for the dazzling beauty in it all.
A magnificent sunrise or sunset. A child’s smile or laughter. The first snow drops or bluebells peeping through the frozen ground. Signs of hope and renewal.
Now it’s your turn to share. What do you do to cope when the world seems to be falling apart and you’re waiting for the sky to fall? Leave a comment below.
*a European folk tale about a chicken who believes the world is ending
In North America and Western Europe, young people are much less happy than they were a year ago.
That’s the startling first sentence in this year’s World Happiness Report, issued on March 20, World Happiness Day.
This year’s report sheds a light on the alarming use of social media, especially among young people and its negative impact on happiness.
Canada fell to 25th place in in this year’s report, continuing a decade long decline. Finland ranked #1 again for the ninth year in a row. The US ranked 23rd and Britain 29th. For the second year in a row, no English speaking countries appear in the top ten.
Social media use was cited as a troubling factor especially for teenage girls in English speaking countries and teenagers.
Some disturbing findings from this year’s report.
In general, most Western industrial countries are now less happy than they were between 2005 and 2010. Fifteen of them have had significant drops, compared to four with significant increases.
In a ranking of happiness changes for under-25s, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand (the NANZ region) rank between 122 and 133 in the list of 136 countries.
In a sample of US college students, the majority wish social media platforms didn’t exist. They use them because others are using them, but they would prefer it if no one did.
In regards to social media, “there is now overwhelming evidence of severe and widespread direct harms (such as sextortion and cyberbullying), and compelling evidence of troubling indirect harms (such as depression and anxiety).”
The report found that the nature of internet use and which age group and gender use it has a direct correlation to happiness and wellbeing. It is strongly negative for Gen Z, moderately negative for Millennials, near zero for Gen X, and slightly positive for Baby Boomers.
One of the studies the report cited was of 15-year olds in 45 countries, where they found life satisfaction is highest at low rates of social media use and lower at higher rates of use.
Platforms designed to facilitate social connections show a clear positive association with happiness, whereas those driven by algorithmically curated content tend to demonstrate a negative association at high rates of use.
Communications, news, learning, and content creation are associated with higher life satisfaction. Social media, gaming, and browsing for fun are associated with lower life evaluations.
Last year, Australia banned social media for youth under the age of 16. Other countries say they are considering following their lead.
There was some good news in this year’s report.
Looking at changes in happiness from 2006–2010 compared to 2023–2025, nearly twice as many countries have had significant gains (79) than significant losses (41), the biggest winners being in Central and Eastern Europe and the biggest losers being in or near zones of conflict.
In eight of the ten global regions covering roughly 90% of the world’s population, those in the youngest age group have higher life evaluations now than in 2006–2010, either in absolute terms or relative to those over 25.
Positive emotions continue to be twice as frequent as negative emotions.
Outside the English-speaking world and Western Europe, the links between social media use and wellbeing are more positive, and depend greatly on the platforms used. Data from Latin America for example show that platforms with algorithmic feeds and featuring influencers are more likely to be negatively linked to life satisfaction than platforms that mainly facilitate communication.
Congratulations to Costa Rica, who jumped to fourth place (the report’s editors surmised this could be due to the quality of their social lives). Here is the list of top 10 happiest countries in the world.
Finland
Iceland
Denmark
Costa Rica
Sweden
Norway
Netherlands
Israel
Luxembourg
Switzerland
This week’s #HappyAct is to take a page from this year’s study and spend less time on social media. Delete an app or two. Stay happy.
J.R.R. Tolkien wrote in The Fellowship of the Rings, “All who wander are not lost.”
Does anybody get lost anymore? Not often. With the advent of Google maps and GPS, we’ve become glued to a screen on our dashboard or in our hands that tells us exactly where we need to go. We’ve lost the joy of getting lost.
There is a freedom and excitement to discovering what’s around the next corner when you are lost. Of course, you need to pick your times. If you are on a strict time schedule, or travelling with a group who would not appreciate your meanderings, it may not be the best time to wander at will.
But if your goal is simply to explore and discover, put your phone away and let whim and desire lead you.
On our recent trip to Turkey, Dave and I made the conscientious decision to put our phones away and get lost in Istanbul. In the touristy Sultanahmet neighbourhood, we wandered down back streets where locals shopped for daily necessities like cheap undergarments, work clothes and shoes. We passed by Turkish grandmothers “nenes” wearing scarves over their heads and peasant skirts, shopping for socks and underwear, and workers hauling merchandise up the narrow alleyways on carts.
In the Taksim district, we got lost in alleyways selling art and musical instruments and were surprised when we popped out directly in front of the Galata Tower, one of the historic landmarks on the modern side of the Bosphorus.
We spent another afternoon poking around Kadikoy, a neighbourhood on the Asian side of the Bosphorous. We found spices, tea and coffee half the price they were selling it for in the touristy Spice Market and had one of the best meals of our entire trip.
In the ancient town of Bursa, near the Mediterranean, we went exploring when we noticed a man setting up a vegetable stand. We discovered to our delight it was market day, and spent the next hour browsing stalls that snaked up and down narrow alleyways filled with fish, fresh produce, pure olive oil in unmarked bottles, tobacco, and more. It was one of the most amazing produce markets I’ve ever been to, and we just happened to stumble upon it.
This week’s #HappyAct is to put your GPS away and get lost. On foot, by car, it’s your choice. See what adventures and treasures you can find.
Photos: At top and above: every type of produce imaginable at the Bursa market. Note the selection of olives and unmarked bottles of olive oil. Workers carrying merchandise by hand in the back streets of Sultanahment. Dave in one of the alleyways near the Galata Tower. And finally, one of the chefs working in the window at Ciya Sofrasi in the Kadikoy neighbourhood of Istanbul. They own three restaurants, and can bring kebabs from their restaurant across the street over to include in your order. It was one of the best meals we had in Turkey.If you look closely, you can see my reflection in the window!
I’ve always been jealous of people who are really great at something.
I know I’ve been dealt more than a fair hand at life. I’m average-looking with average intelligence and am generally considered to be a nice person.
I was a good student but never Mensa or Harvard material. I can hold my own in most sports, but never competed provincially or at a higher competitive level. I can make a mean stew and banana bread, but would never cut it on Master Chef Canada.
I can write passably, but nowadays with ChatGPT, Bing and Gemini, any human and now machine can spew out the drivel I share each week in my little Crappy Act as Dave likes to call it.
The list of things I suck at is even longer. I can’t sew or hem, I wouldn’t know where to begin on any building or home renovation project and I’ve inherited my father’s innate inability at wrapping presents. (One of my favourite things to do on Christmas Eve was watch my father make a batch of wrapping every one of my Mom’s presents while drinking a few glasses of rye and ginger.)
It doesn’t help that the entertainment industry flaunts in our faces the many talents of celebrities who seem to be great at everything. Jim Carrey is an accomplished artist. Actresses like Anna Kendrick, Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson can act, dance and sing like songbirds plus have successful businesses on the side. Anthony Hopkins writes symphonies for gods’ sake. And those Helmsworth brothers, Chris and Liam. It’s not enough they’re gorgeous and talented actors, they can even dance.
When I retired, I hoped I would discover something I’m great at. I tried painting since my Mom was an accomplished painter.
I signed up for a 3-hour workshop where the theme was painting a beach scene, since it was the dreary winter months. Using a photo as our inspiration, my friend Angela and I spent the next three hours practising our brush strokes painting white sand beaches, blue waters and palm trees. While people ooh’ed and aah’ed over each other’s canvases, mine somehow ended up resembling L.A. after the wildfires. One guy actually said to me, “Yeah, those palm trees aren’t good.”
I tossed the finished painting on my dresser for a couple of weeks, trying to decide whether I should fix it, paint over it or just throw it out. One day I came home and it wasn’t there. Dave had hung it as a joke in the kitchen above the stove. It’s still hanging there. A true masterpiece. Judge for yourself.
Okay, so maybe painting isn’t my thing. But just maybe it’s not as important to discover what you are great at, so much as what you are most passionate about and love to do.
This past week, Fortune magazine published an interview with Matthew Saxon, the Chief People Officer of Zoom on the pending one-year anniversary since Zoom mandated employees who live 50 miles or less from headquarters to return to the office a minimum of two days a week.
Saxon characterized the decision to mandate a “structured hybrid” work model in August 2023 a “success” that has led to efficiencies and creative solutions.
The Chief People Officer, who once promised workers could work remotely indefinitely, justified the abrupt about-face, saying the hybrid work model was better for productivity, corporate culture and their customers.
The article has created ripples in an already turbulent and tenuous relationship between workers and employers.
It seems to me that employers who are issuing return-to-office mandates want it both ways. When it is critical or convenient to let employees remotely, as was the case during the pandemic or when there are bricks and mortar changes, it’s okay for employees to work from home and they trust them to do their jobs and be productive. But the minute those reasons fade, they want employees back in the office.
It’s hypocritical and a bit of a slap in the face if you ask me (and in case you were wondering, Saxon works primarily remotely).
Some say it’s the beginning of the end of remote work. One thing is for sure, it’s the height of irony.
They say the road to hell is paved with the best intentions. For almost a decade now, I’ve been blogging about happiness. I started this blog as an outlet for my writing and because I was fascinated by the juxtaposition of people living in a world with so much wealth, but struggling more than ever to be happy.
I’ve learned much about what makes me happy, the science of happiness and the intrinsic benefits of having purpose, showing gratitude and helping others.
I now fear instead of helping people live a happier life, I’ve contributed to the navel-gazing narcissistic culture our society has become.
Forget the #MeToo movement. We’re living in the age of #JustMe.
I know what you’re thinking. Every generation has claimed that the next generation is more selfish and self-absorbed than they were. Perhaps, but the advent of computers, cell phones, celebrity culture and the seismic shift in how we work and play in the past fifty years has propelled us into a whole new level of egocentricity.
Honestly, if I see another selfie of a 20-something posing sideways in front of a bathroom mirror holding up their cell phone with pouty lips, accentuated hips, and frosted tips, I think I’m going to lose it.
And don’t even get me started on the hyper-focus on resilience. Try telling a farmer living a hundred years ago in rural Canada with six mouths to feed and no running water you’re taking a break to “practice self-care” or going on a “forest therapy walk”, they’d mock you until their cows came home.
A sad and disturbing product of this #JustMe movement is we all have become more polarized in our views and unaccepting of other people’s opinions. What’s more, we don’t hesitate to share our views in the most public of forums. “We” are always right and everyone else is wrong.
It’s time we went from taking selfies to choosing selflessness, from practicing self-care to caring for others.
It was Ghandi who said, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
This week’s #HappyAct is to change the #JustMe narrative and find happiness by looking outward instead of in.
This Wednesday, March 20 is the International Day of Happiness. The day was declared by the UN in 2012 to recognize that happiness is a fundamental human right and to encourage nations and individuals to spread happiness and make happiness a priority.
The theme the UN has chosen this year is #HappierTogether. Here is a picture from their photo album of people from all over the world smiling, happier together.
It’s such a poignant theme. As individuals and societies, we’ve withdrawn from human connection, partly out of necessity from COVID-19, but also self-imposed.
Technology has only exacerbated this trend. We delude ourselves into thinking we’re more connected now by cell phones and technology, but these devices have somehow divided us, becoming platforms for discordant voices and viewpoints or have become something we hide behind instead of doing the real work of connecting with people in person.
Even our work lives have become more isolating with millions of workers now not even leaving their homes to experience human connection.
There are certain groups that are at higher risk of being unhappy in isolation, seniors and youth being two critical demographics.
After COVID, I blogged about “languishing” and wondering why I wasn’t chomping at the bit to get out and reconnect with people again. I concluded that it wasn’t because I had social anxiety and didn’t miss people, I just didn’t have the energy to re-enter the world.
It’s time. Time for us to reach out, be kind to each other, and understand that without human connection, most of us will never truly be happy.
It’s time to find the energy and make a conscious effort to be happier together.
This week’s #HappyAct is to do something to be happier together. Volunteer in your community, invite a neighbour over for a drink, check in on a senior. Post a picture of you smiling this week with people who make you happy and who you enjoy spending time with.
As a communications professional, I’ve always believed my greatest skill was the ability to listen and ask questions.
It has served me well in my career. In the age of artificial intelligence, I predict the ability to ask good questions will become the most important skill crossing nearly every profession.
In case you haven’t experimented with ChatGPT or any of the AI programs yet, the way it works is you ask a question, and the program uses machine learning to generate information. Just like any program, the quality of the output is 100% determined by the quality of the input. The more detailed, descriptive and targeted the prompt, the more accurate and helpful the result.
The possibilities are endless, just like the number of results you can receive. I know colleagues who now keep detailed spreadsheets of prompts to ask ChatGPT and similar programs. Here is an example of career-based prompts from Chris Donnolly for job hunting, expanding your network or updating your resume, a good one to keep handy since many of us could be out of work soon thanks to AI.
The key is to be as detailed and specific as you can. OpenAI recently unveiled its new video AI generator called Sora. At the launch, CEO Sam Altman asked people to send in prompts for Sora to demonstrate their ability to create videos in seconds. Here is a Twitter/X post with one of the videos based on the prompt:
“Beautiful, snowy Tokyo city is bustling. The camera moves through the bustling city street, following several people enjoying the beautiful snowy weather and shopping at nearby stalls. Gorgeous sakura petals are flying through the wind along with snowflakes.”
Introducing Sora, our text-to-video model.
Sora can create videos of up to 60 seconds featuring highly detailed scenes, complex camera motion, and multiple characters with vibrant emotions. https://t.co/7j2JN27M3W
Scary isn’t it? And just like buyer beware, prompter beware. You can never completely trust the information you receive.
A lawyer in BC recently used ChatGPT to prepare legal briefs in a family law case. The brief cited cases that never existed. She was ordered to pay special costs in the case to opposing counsel and is under investigation by the law society for her actions.
Just like every new technology, we will need to navigate the ethics of AI and find the right balance and place for it in our lives. As I’ve been grappling with how to use it professionally and personally, I’ve decided not to use it for any creative projects unless it is to do research so my own thoughts, words and voice are represented in my work.
This blog is called the #HappyAct for goodness sake, so I thought I would end this week’s post on a positive note. I asked Bing Copilot, “I’m a communications specialist working in a small rural municipality. How much time before my job becomes obsolete due to AI?” I’ve shared the response it gave below.
The final line was “Remember, the future isn’t about humans vs. AI; it’s about humans collaborating with AI to achieve better outcomes. 🤝
Wait a minute. It didn’t answer my question. I guess machines are more like humans after all (time to brush up my resume…)
Bing Copilot response
“As a communications specialist working in a small rural municipality in Ontario, your role involves critical human skills that are not easily replicated by artificial intelligence. Let’s explore this further:
Contextual Understanding: Your job requires understanding the unique context of your municipality, its people, and their needs. AI can process data, but it lacks the empathetic understanding that comes from human experience.
Effective Communication: Your ability to convey information clearly, tailor messages to different audiences, and build relationships is invaluable. While AI can generate text, it often lacks nuance and emotional intelligence.
Creativity and Adaptability: As a communications specialist, you adapt to changing situations, create engaging content, and find innovative ways to connect with residents. AI can’t match human creativity and adaptability
Community Engagement: Building trust and engaging with the community is a core part of your role. AI can’t attend town hall meetings, listen to concerns, or build personal connections.
Ethical Decision-Making: You navigate ethical dilemmas, handle sensitive information, and make judgment calls. AI lacks moral reasoning and can’t weigh complex ethical considerations.
Local Knowledge: Your understanding of local history, culture, and politics is irreplaceable. AI lacks this context.
Predicting obsolescence is challenging, but here’s the optimistic view: AI can enhance your work by automating repetitive tasks, analyzing data, and suggesting content. However, your uniquely human skills will remain essential. As technology evolves, consider upskilling to stay relevant. 🌟
Remember, the future isn’t about humans vs. AI; it’s about humans collaborating with AI to achieve better outcomes. 🤝
I have a new love-hate relationship in my life and it’s not with a person. It’s with a machine with the initials AI.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning have rapidly inserted itself into our lives. Almost every cloud program I use at work now has AI built into it making my life easier. If I’m designing a flyer, Canva knows exactly how I want to line up elements on the page.
Bing Copilot is my new best friend. If I need some ideas for an interactive exercise to do at a trade booth on recycling or emergency preparedness, I just ask my trusty copilot to come up with some creative ideas.
It wasn’t always this way. I remember my first few run-ins with snarky chatbots (check out my 2019 post, How to make friends with the bots).
But now it seems like we have crossed over to the dark side of AI. Last week, I listened to a webinar featuring Alex Sevigny, Associate Professor of Communications Management and Communication Studies at McMaster University. He said AI adds automation and scale to the digital world we already live in but now “we are moving into a world of machine-learning persuasion and it’s terrifying.”
This world of persuasion includes thieves, virtual influencers created to sell us products, and deepfakes.
Kingston Police recently issued an advisory about a deepfake deception scam, where scammers faked an entire video call. The scammers were able to steal over 200 million Hong Kong dollars by emailing an employee and pretending to be their Chief Financial Officer.
An Air Canada chatbot recently gave a passenger wrong information about a bereavement fare. This in and of itself is not newsworthy (humans give wrong answers all the time). What was newsworthy and concerning was Air Canada said it wasn’t responsible for the information the chatbot gave out. Air Canada argued that its AI-fueled chatbot was “responsible for its own actions” and that the airline can’t be held responsible for what it tells passengers.
Let’s pause for a moment to let that one sink in. A company that programmed a machine is claiming it’s not responsible for the machine anymore because it has a mind of its own.
Even more disturbing to me was seeing the whole new crop of virtual online influencers who are trying to persuade us where to shop, what to wear and how to live your lives.
Here’s Bermuda, one of the older virtual influencers. She made her debut online in December 2016 and identifies as a robot woman who wants to motivate young entrepreneurs to go after their business goals and is pursuing a music career, recently releasing a cover of Under the Bridge by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers on Spotify.
Thalasya here travels across Indonesia where she was created exploring its sites and shops. Since travelling is expensive, she funds her hobby advertising for hotels, restaurants and even health pills and has her own clothing store, Yipiiiii.
What the absolutely f**k?
We are officially now living in a world where we can no longer trust what or who we see in the online world.
The ethics of AI will be our next big albatross to slay, but at least we have some giants taking up the fight.
This month, Taylor Swift took legal action against the AI beast after sexually explicit AI graphic-generated images of her were published on Twitter/X and later taken down. Even the White House commented on the story as governments grapple with how to protect basic human rights like privacy and copyright.
We are at the infancy of understanding how AI will impact our society. I’m glad I’m nearing the end of my professional career in communications, but there is one thing I know for certain.
When it comes to my personal life, my default will be to live in the real world where I know people are real and genuine.
Ed note: The above image of myself was generated using an AI image program called Facet AI. I did a quick frame around my face and asked it to make me look 30 years younger. This was the result. I should add just as I was about to publish this week’s post, my handy AI Assistant in WordPress asked me if I wanted to check my spelling and tone before publishing.
Next week: Check back for Part 2: The one skill you’ll need to succeed living in a world of AI
Happy Act 