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제 7 호 One Marshmallow or a Hundred Marshmallows to Have with Patience?

  • 작성일 2020-09-27
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Kicker: LIFESTYLE TRENDS


One Marshmallow or a Hundred Marshmallows to Have with Patience?

Is the Trend of Small but Certain Happiness Really the Refuge We Created?


By Min-gyeong Lee, Editor

lee.mkpeach.gmail.com


  Do you know about the marshmallow experiment? It is a quite famous experiment. It is said that children who earned twice as much because they waited without eating marshmallows immediately became more successful when they grew up. However, it is also widely known that there was a large error in this experiment. The results were interpreted and published without considering the diversity of samples. Those who succeeded later were, in fact, not because of patience, but with a better environment, and the children who did not have the patience were brought up in an environment where they could not trust the rewards that would come later, so they took a marshmallow right away. Korea's trend of “small but certain happiness” also implies this uncomfortable reality. This is a conclusion made by people who have no hope that marshmallows will come twice, ten times, or 100 times with patience and effort.



1. The Concept of “Small but Certain Happiness” and How It Represents Young People

  “Small but certain happiness” is commonly used to mean “small but certain happiness in everyday life”. This buzzword comes from Murakami Haruki's 1986 essay "Afternoon of the Islets of Langerhans." The writer described the phrase as “the feeling of tearing freshly baked bread with your hands, stacking up neatly folded and packed underwear in a drawer, and wearing a white shirt newly bought with the smell of clean cotton from your head.”.

  In Korea, the trend of “small but certain happiness” began in a different context from the attractive way of finding happiness in everyday life suggested by Murakami. As for the social definition of this phrase used in Korea, people who accept this trend positively as well as those who criticize it negatively, generally agree that it is an antithesis of social happiness judged from the social point of view pursued by the existing society, such as being promoted, marriage, owning a home, owning a car, etc.

  As a means of marketing, by actively using this buzzword as a suitable phrase to replace cost-effectiveness or other product benefits with abstract happiness, it has become more visible in advertisements than real young people actively use it. Compared to the way concepts similar to “small but certain happiness” are interpreted and practiced in other foreign countries, the phenomenon has become much more consumption-oriented or even wasting in Korea, as it meets the strong consumerist culture peculiar to Korean society. In other words, it is accepted by young people as a concept of materially compensating one's own suffering through consumption in shorter cycles rather than giving up the present for a large, uncertain happiness in the future. The younger generation with a relatively high average educational background is trying to live while recognizing reality and making compromises based on some reasonable logic. 


2. “Big and Certain Happiness” Against “Small but Certain Happiness”

  On the other hand, a new discussion has recently emerged among the younger generation.

  “I do not need “small but sure happiness”. I need a certain and sound happiness. What is wrong with that I am poor-looking? I will work hard to collect money.”

  “Big and certain happiness”: The great capital or life achievements or processes that are earned through hard-working and saving in youth. In a way, this can seem like an obsolete value. 

  The value of “youth because you suffer” makes sense at first glance that you have to struggle in youth to be comfortable with old age; however, it is often used as an excuse for unscrupulous people who try to exploit young people's workforce at no cost, so many young people have an allergic reaction to hearing similar words..

  Nonetheless, after discovering the “small but certain happiness” trend and aggressively emphasizing it in the media and marketing, it became a society that promotes overconsumption, and young people who question this phenomenon began to appear one after another.

  However, as mentioned earlier, because of the values these people pursue, or the voices that are concerned and criticize consumerism embedded in the trend, the economic structure that does not benefit younger generations and benefits only specific people overlap with the so-called “ggondaes”*, people characterized by narrow-minded  nagging,. which is criticized by people who enjoy short cycle repetitive consumerist lifestyles. This trend is also based on the social outlook and individualism of the young generation with high average education, and it is not easily disputed because there are already some grounds and conclusions.


*ggondae: the Korean term for a narrow-minded old human


  However, it is true that when people who support “small but certain happiness” consumer lifestyles criticize “big and certain happiness”, their criticism also has limitations of grasping the different argument from theirs based on their approximate impressions rather than from proper examination.


The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge.

-  Daniel J. Boorstin




  As the prospects of the younger generation are gloomy anyway, a trend of “small but certain happiness” has emerged that they will be rewarded for their efforts every time while enjoying the present. On the other hand, there have been some people who aim for “Big and certain happiness” by saving money and struggling with financial technology. Is the latter really just old value? Or is it a new will to protect themselves in response to consumerism and commercialism?                   


Sources:

https://www.sciencetimes.co.kr/news/%EB%A7%88%EC%8B%9C%EB%A9%9C%EB%A1%9C-%EC%84%B1%EA%B3%B5-%EA%B3%B5%EC%8B%9D%EC%9D%80-%EC%98%A4%EB%A5%98/

https://www.cnbc.com/id/100367067