Essay Sample on Living a Good Life in the Real World

Introduction

Fundamentally, the aim of every human being is to live a good and flourishing life. However, existence often throws people challenges that inhibit this process of living a good life. As such it is imperative to explore and reflect on these inhibiting challenges in the light of philosophical tenets to practice and optimize the concept of good living.

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The first challenge to reflect on is work. In Crawford (2009) essay,The Case for Working With Your Hands, the author gives his experiences in an office job and at his own motorcycle repair shop working as a mechanic. from his account, the office job as an abstractor was nothing but a wounding activity, that left him confined and stultified in addition to devaluing his Master's Degree knowledge he had acquired. Contrary to the experience he had with at the abstracting job, a motorcycle mechanic, the manual job left him absorbed in work for hours. While failures in the repair job were more prune compared to the office job, he recounts that these events would often be counterbalance with moments of elation.

The two examples mentioned above shows the significance of human power in the achievement of human flourishing. Before exploring the human powers in relation to work, it is imperative to understand the concept of human flourishing. According to Kraut (2009), a flourishing human being basically possesses, develops and enjoys the exercise of cognitive, affective sensory and social powers. Now, looking at the two jobs in relation to this concept of flourishing, the office job fails to meet the concepts threshold hence the negative impact. Precisely, during his abstracting job, he asserts that the quality standards were generic with no cognitive stimulation since the supervisors did not even care about the content. Additionally, working 28 articles per day in his secluded cubicle meant social isolation for most of his work time. The fact that the job curtailed his cognitive and social powers critical for human flourishing explains the dissatisfaction. Contrary to the office job, the mechanic job required attentiveness and metacognition to make a good diagnosis. Additionally, it emphasized on moral and ethical responsibility to the client thus reinforcing the social aspect of the job. As such, the manual job incorporated various key powers of flourishing including social, cognitive and sensory. Consequently, the manual job was more satisfying compared to the abstracting job.

Apart from work as a key aspect of living a good life, technology has become an increasingly critical part of our lives today. In Turkle (2015) article, Stop Googling. Let's Talk, he explicitly shows how technology, more so the phone devices, has intruded the human connection and face-to-face conversations. People, especially the younger generation, cannot keep up with a deeper conversation because they want to keep texting on their phones in the process. This has resulted in reduced empathy and intimacy across generations. While technology is necessary for our lives, Turkle (2015) suggests a holistic approach in correcting this generational social damage. First, he asserts carving out spaces that are device-free at home or workplace would stimulate conversation and solitude that encourages more connection with ourselves and others. Additionally, the engineers should design devices with features such as "do not disturb" that allow devices to allow people to complete a given task and release them. This way, the technology will augment human connections rather than using our vulnerabilities to attenuate it.

Relating the above technology challenges to Kraut (2009) concept of human flourishing, it is clear that phone devices have stripped off people's effective and sensory powers. For instance, the stifling of empathy and intimacy shows significant loss of affection power that is critical for a flourished life. On the erosion of sensory power, it is evident that the technology has negatively affected the concentration and attentiveness to a point people rarely have deep conversations due to divided attention. Reclaiming these powers will significantly improve the quality of life.

Finally, loneliness, as shown by Cacioppo and Patrick (2008), poses a great threat to living a good life. From the interview loneliness, which is contagious and heritable in nature, increases the early death chances by 20%. Fundamentally, loneliness causes the victim to disconnect with other people and ultimately lose the sense of belonging. This disconnection leads to self-preservation and at the endocrine level, it negatively affects the person's immunity and resistance to diseases.to overcome the loneliness challenge, it is important to reciprocate in communication and letting lonely people what actually happens when they go into this self-preservation mode.

Loneliness is a contra attribute to Kraut (2009) social and affective prescribed human powers for a flourishing life. Essentially, a lonely person goes to self-preservation mode, which cuts the ability and trust to confide his or emotions with other people. Additionally, the decline in sense of belonging prompts seclusion which is basically the detrimental action for a social being. As such, loneliness strips off the essential victim's social and affective powers and ultimately curtail the efforts of living a good life.

Conclusion

From the detailed analysis of mentioned challenges in relation to Kraut's prescribed human powers, it is imperative to evaluate work, technology and social connections to make informed decisions that improve the quality of life. Furthermore, while academic qualifications and office jobs do not necessarily guarantee a good life, emphasis on human powers in all quarters of life is key.

References

Cacioppo, J. T., & Patrick, W. (2008). Loneliness: Human nature and the need for social connection. WW Norton & Company.

Crawford, M. (2009). The Case for Working With Your Hands. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/magazine/24labor-t.html

Turkle, S. (2015). Opinion | Stop Googling. Let's Talk. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/27/opinion/sunday/stop-googling-lets-talk.html

Kraut, R. (2009). What is good and why: The ethics of well-being. Harvard University Press.