Want to be happy? Just switch off your cell phone

he secret to being happy lies in turning
off your mobile and concentrating on your
friends and family rather than text
messages and emails, a leading expert on
happiness has claimed.
Professor Paul Dolan, of the London
School of Economics, believes that the
popularity of smartphones has seen
people constantly having their attention
drawn away from their nearest and
dearest ones and to the devices instead.
He warned that unless people changed
their behaviour, they could suffer mental
illness as a result, the 'Daily Mail'
reported.
He told an audience at the Hay Festival a
celebration of culture and social
responsibility - in Cartagena, Colombia
that there are also now mental conditions
called Internet addiction and Phantom
Vibration Syndrome where you have a
phone in your pocket and you think you
have got a text message but have not.
"We're constantly having our attention
distracted and distraction is a cost," he
said.
"When you switch tasks it requires
attention. Paying attention to what you're
doing and who you are with and turning
your phone off and enjoying being with
your friends is much better for you than
constantly checking your phone and
checking emails," he was quoted as saying
by The Telegraph.
On his talk on happiness, Dolan also
pointed to research that people who are
married or have religious faith are happier
than single people or atheists.
Dolan added separation was much worse
for married couple's happiness than
divorce because of the uncertainty it
caused.
His advice to anyone going through a
break-up would be to 'make decisions
quickly' adding that once a divorce is
finalised people's happiness quickly rises.
He also added that middle-aged men in
their forties are among the unhappiest
but levels of satisfaction start to rise once
people reach their fifties.