Home-brewed Happiness

♡ misty with overalls ♡

At the Nintendo of America headquarters, the sections of the building are themed after various Nintendo characters, with the rooms in them being given names fitting the theme of the section. Here is a sign showing the Wario section with the “Waluigi”, “Diamond City”, “9-Volt” and “Warioware” conference rooms.

Ever feel like you’re stuck in a mindless scroll and can’t get out?

Click HERE for a survey about how your online habits affect your happiness

Ah, the gap between intent and action, the “now self” vs. the “later self,” or morning guy vs. night guy:

We all know our tendency to opt for immediate rewards even when (especially when?!) it doesn’t align with long-term goals. We put off exercise. Date people we shouldn’t. Watch shows instead of work. 

As a researcher interested in all things human behavior, this got me thinking. The internet (more specifically, Tumblr) is the perfect place for us to more deeply understand why we behave in ways that don’t make us happy. Tumblr sees a future where social platforms aren’t designed to exploit our tendency to seek immediate rewards. So I approached them with a question:

What if we could ‘nudge’ our decisions to reflect a version of ourselves that brings us happiness in both the short and long-term?

Enter Benevolent Hellsite.

Welcome to an exploration and investigation of happiness and human behavior online. This blog is a staff-affiliated, independent research project designed to start a conversation.

The end goal? 

Create real features on Tumblr meant to increase short and long-term happiness, informed by YOU—Tumblr users—and the science of human behavior.

What to expect from this blog:

1. Open discussions about how our behavior online leads to (or takes away from) our happiness

2. Prototypes of new features based on your responses

‘Happiness’ looks different for everyone, so…

✨ CLICK HERE 💫  for a survey on how your behavior online affects your happiness