Making sense of modern life

Here's our new, improved summary of the social need for Life Squared and what the organisation does to address it... Click here to download the summary.

Consumerism for babies

It's been a while since my last post because of a particularly busy period of work and the arrival of a new member of the Docwra household. The process of having a child has opened a door to a whole new world that many non-parents may be unaware of - and consumerism seems to have a strong hold over this new parenting world!

Take the Bounty pack for example - these are packs of free goodies given to new parents at the hospital just after their baby has been born. The Bounty pack reps are allowed to wander through the maternity wards distributing their packs - and they do this in a way that not only seems to have the blessing of the NHS, but that also seems to be an integral part of its maternity service.

This is a serious piece of misrepresentation, as in reality the Bounty pack is simply a commercial tool. It says it provides 'expectant and new mums with...important information, expert advice, support and try before you buy samples', but in reality it is simply a bag of samples and advertisements for baby products. Take out the promotional items and you are left with nothing of any informational value. And these promotional items are being presented to a captive audience, who are new to their role as parents and slightly vulnerable, masquerading as information from the country's trusted health service.

I was so suprised at how a piece of commercialism was allowed to get into such a sensitive part of our health service in this way that I asked a midwife about it. They (slightly sheepishly) agreed that these packs are basically just a load of adverts and product samples.

I'm not having a go at our health service - it is one of our great institutions and the care we received was absolutely brilliant. I just feel this is a great example of how the influence of consumerism can seep into every aspect of our lives - from the minute we are born - and that we need to do something to halt its spread.

Older people's well-being

At Life², we're researching the topic of older people's well-being, in preparation for a future project.

Although we’re living longer and in better physical health than ever, many people are still suffering in their later years from preventable causes like depression, loneliness and isolation. The well-being of the over-65's has been neglected to date, and we could do a great deal more, both as a state and in society generally, to understand the factors that prevent or promote flourishing in older people, and to take action to improve the quality of later life.

IPPR have done some interesting research on the well-being of older people as part of an ongoing programme. The findings are interesting and sometimes unexpected. For example, studies show that litter and traffic are more important concerns to older people than fear of crime and young people in public spaces. Click here and here to read a couple of their reports.

Stay tuned in the coming months to find about our project on flourishing for older peoople...

The lost art of living well

I have written a brief article to provide more details on the rationale for our not-for-profit organisation Life².

Its basic argument is that we face a range of challenges and pressures as individuals living in the modern world, and if we are to flourish in this environment we each need to be given access to a particular range of life skills and information in our lives. Currently, these are not being adequately provided by institutions in modern society, so Life² has been set up to begin providing them to the general public, and to raise awareness of the need for them in society.

Click here to read the article. Click here for an outline of the organisation and some of its activities to date.

The science of happiness

Most of us seek it in our lives, yet it has proved to be something that politicians are unable or unwilling to put at the centre of policy making – until now. In recent years, the science of happiness has been a growing area, and we are now able to identify and measure (with scientific backing) a number of the factors that are proven to make us happy and, conversely, unhappy.

Although policy makers are just starting to get to grips with the implications of this work for policy making, this report by the Young Foundation gives a useful overview of the impact that this thinking on happiness and well-being could have on policy developments in different areas of life – from the elderly to the workplace.

Anyone working for social or environmental change will be interested to read about the possible ways a focus on happiness and well-being could increase their effectiveness in seeking behaviour change from the public. Contact me if you want to discuss ways of applying this thinking to your organisation’s work.