People
with strong social connections generally have a much better time. We enjoy
better physical and mental health, recover faster from sickness or injury, and
are less likely to suffer eating or sleeping disorders. We report being happier
and rank our quality of life higher – and do so even when the community that we’re
connected to isn't particularly well off or educated.
Indeed, social connectedness is actually more important than affluence: regular social
activities such as volunteering, church attendance, entertaining friends, or
joining a club provide us with the same boost to happiness as does a doubling of
personal income.
As Harvard’s Robert Putnam notes, “The single most common
finding from a half century’s research on the correlates of life satisfaction,
not only in the United States but around the world, is that happiness is best
predicted by the breadth and depth of one’s social connections.” (The
Impulse Society: America in the Age of Instant Gratification by Paul
Roberts © 2014, Bloomsbury, New York, NY; pp. 131-132)
