University of Bolton research suggests we can learn lessons from the past to achieve happiness

In 1938 the Bolton Evening News ran a competition for two guineas for the best letter on “What does happiness mean for you and yours?”

The resulting 226 handwritten letters were transcribed by Sandie McHugh from the University of Bolton and fellow researchers Julie Prescott, Jerome Carson and Charlotte Mackey to give an insight.

The team found that social media has impacted on society’s happiness with people being passive rather than active agents in their leisure time.

Instead it is recommended people focus on ‘what they enjoy’ as well as keeping active and doing things for others.

The team suggested that community libraries and leisure centres as well as volunteering opportunities would lead to a happier society.

Letters sent to The Bolton Evening News 29-years-ago as part of the Mass Observation Project revealed that top three themes to emerge as being connected with happiness were contentment/peace of mind — meaning having enough rather than seeking wealth; family and home — where people were in happy marriages, had healthy children and place for repose — and other people, meaning giving and helping others less fortunate than themselves.

Ms McHugh said: “These shared values helped the community get by before the NHS and the welfare state “Their pleasure time, what we would call leisure, was in the town and in the Lancashire seaside resorts, principally Blackpool. “Leisure was often centred in their workplace or the local pub. The people of Bolton were agents and actors in their own leisure activities.

“In today’s age of information our lives and leisure are more individualistic and some commentators have suggested that companionship from social media is an illusion and of a more solitary nature. People could ask themselves whether too much of their leisure time is spent on the internet rather than with other people, and is of a passive, rather than an active nature. They should ask what they would most enjoy.

“Scientific research shows that enjoyment is important for happiness and wellbeing, keeping active is good for health and helping other people can be beneficial to the giver.”

The team suggest the lessons from 1938 should be learned by present-day initiatives to enhance wellbeing in towns like Bolton.

These include wider use of public facilities such as libraries, leisure centres and schools. Expansion of the voluntary sector and higher levels of participation by people as volunteers and more facilities for active leisure.

Ms McHugh said: “We welcome the move of the Office for National Statistics to measure people’s wellbeing and not just look at economic measures. This helps raise awareness and can be a prompt to action.

“ As the 2017 World Happiness Report suggests, happiness can be considered as a measure of social progress and a goal of public policy.”

The research was revealed at the annual conference of the British Psychological Society. In 2014, The Bolton News and the University of Bolton replicated a survey first done in the 1938 to find out what is happiness.