Living in the moment really does make people happier

Level 3 Advanced
1 Key words

Fill the gaps in the sentences using these key words from the text.

drift off cognitive wellbeing reminisce anticipate

random distracted focused consistently engaging

1. If you are _______________________, you are not able to concentrate on something.

2. If something happens _______________________, it happens regularly and in the same way.
3. A person’s _______________________ is the satisfactory state that they should be in, especially as regards
their health and security.
4. If you are _______________________, you are concentrating on a particular aim and you are not wasting time
or energy on other things.
5. If you _______________________, you talk or think about enjoyable experiences in your past.
6. If a task is _______________________, it is interesting and keeps your attention.
7. If you _______________________ something, you think that it will probably happen.
8. If something is _______________________, it is chosen or it happens without any particular method, pattern
or purpose.
9. If you _______________________, you either stop concentrating on something or you fall asleep.
10. _______________________ processes are those that are connected with recognizing and
understanding things.

2 What do you know?

Decide whether these statements are true (T) or false (F). Then check your answers by reading the text.
1. People spend more than half their time thinking about something other than what they are actually doing.
2. If your mind wanders, this will make you less happy.
3. Being distracted is a cause of happiness.
4. People are happiest when they are having sex, exercising or in conversation.
5. People are very happy when using a home computer.
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NEWS LESSONS / Living in the moment really does make people happier / Advanced
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 Living in the moment really does make people happier
Level 3 Advanced
Living in the moment really does
make people happier
Psychologists have found that people are
distracted from the task at hand nearly half of the
time, and this daydreaming consistently makes
them less happy
Ian Sample
11 November, 2010
1 Happiness is found by living in the now,
particularly if the now involves having sex,
according to a major study into mental wellbeing.
But the study also found that people spend
nearly half their time (46.7%) thinking about
something other than what they are actually doing.
2 The benefits of living in the moment are extolled
by many philosophical and religious traditions,
but until now there has been scant scientific
evidence to support the advice. Psychologists
at Harvard University collected information on
the daily activities, thoughts and feelings of
2,250 volunteers to find out how often they were
focused on what they were doing, and what
made them most happy. They found that people
were happiest when having sex, exercising or
in conversation, and least happy when working,
resting or using a home computer. And although
subjects’ minds were wandering nearly half of
the time, this consistently made them less happy.
3 The team concluded that reminiscing, thinking
ahead and daydreaming tend to make people
more miserable, even when they are thinking
about something pleasant. Even the most
engaging tasks failed to hold people’s full
attention. Volunteers admitted to thinking about
something else at least 30% of the time while
performing these tasks, except when they were
having sex, when people typically had their mind
on the job around 90% of the time.
4 “Human beings have this unique ability to focus
on things that aren’t happening right now. That
allows them to reflect on the past and learn from
it; it allows them to anticipate and plan for the
future; and it allows them to imagine things that
might never occur,” said Matthew Killingsworth,
a doctoral student in psychology and lead author
of the study. “At the same time, it seems that
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NEWS LESSONS / Living in the moment really does make people happier / Advanced
human beings often use this ability in ways that
are not productive and, furthermore, can be
destructive to our happiness,” he added.
5 For the study, Killingsworth and his supervisor,
Daniel Gilbert, author of the 2006 book
Stumbling on Happiness, developed a web
application for the iPhone that contacted
participants at random times during their waking
hours. When they received a message, those
taking part had to respond with information
about what they were doing, by selecting from
a list of 22 activities, such as doing housework,
shopping, or watching TV. They went on to rate
their happiness on a scale from zero to 100, and
said whether they were focused, or daydreaming
about something positive, negative or neutral.
6 The results showed that happiness was more
affected by how often people drifted off, and where
they went in their imagination, than by the activity
they were doing at the time. The researchers say
they’re confident that being distracted was the cause
of unhappiness, rather than the other way round.
7 The authors write in the Science journal:
“A human mind is a wandering mind and a
wandering mind is an unhappy mind. The
ability to think about what is not happening
is a cognitive achievement that comes at an
emotional cost.” Asked why people seemed to
be particularly focused during sex, Killingsworth
observed: “If you were messaged while you were
having sex it probably wouldn’t turn out so well if
you whipped out your iPhone. Sex is one of the
few broad categories of activity that requires and
perhaps benefits from our full attention.”
8 More than 5,000 people have signed up for the
happiness study and the researchers hope to
attract more so they can look at mental wellbeing
in different geographical regions and between
the sexes with greater accuracy. “Hopefully we
will get a lot of new participants from all over the
world and will be able to answer questions we’ve
not really been able to ask before, because
we’ve never had this kind of data on people’s
experiences,” Killingsworth said.
© Guardian News & Media 2010
First published in The Guardian, 11/11/10
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 Living in the moment really does make people happier
Level 3 Advanced
3 Comprehension check
Choose the best answer according to the text.
1. Humans’ unique ability to focus on things that aren’t happening right now …
a. … can be a major cause of unhappiness.
b. … allows them to predict the future.
c. … requires their full attention.
2. Reminiscing, thinking ahead or daydreaming about something pleasant …
a. … makes people happier.
b. … makes people less happy.
c. … fails to hold people’s full attention.
3. Why does the research require greater accuracy?
a. because only men have been involved in the research so far
b. because the number of people involved in the research was too small to draw accurate conclusions about
differences between the sexes
c. because it only involved people at Harvard University
4. When were the participants in the study contacted?
a. at random times during the night
b. at regular times during the day
c. at random times during the day

4 Find the word

Find the following words and phrases in the text.
1. a four-word expression meaning living for the present moment (para 1)
2. a verb meaning to praise something in a very enthusiastic way (para 2)
3. an adjective meaning very little or not enough (para 2)
4. a two-word phrasal verb meaning to concentrate on something and pay particular attention to it (para 4)
5. a two-word expression meaning all the time that you are awake (para 5)
6. a four-word expression meaning vice-versa (para 6)
7. a four-word expression meaning to have a negative consequence (para 7)
8. a two-word phrasal verb meaning to take something out very fast (para 7)
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NEWS LESSONS / Living in the moment really does make people happier / Advanced
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 Living in the moment really does make people happier
Level 3 Advanced

5 Adjectives and nouns

Match the adjectives in the left-hand column with the nouns in the right-hand column to make expressions
from the text.
1. broad a. wellbeing
2. scant b. activity
3. mental c. achievement
4. religious d. evidence
5. daily e. category
6. cognitive f. tradition

6 Word-building
Complete the sentences by using the correct form of the words in brackets at the end of each sentence.

1. Even the most _______________________ tasks failed to hold people’s full attention. [ENGAGE]
2. People use the ability to focus on things that are not happening right now in ways that are often not
_______________________. [PRODUCT]
3. It can be _______________________ to focus on things that are not happening right now. [DESTROY]
4. The researchers found that being distracted is a major cause of _______________________. [HAPPY]
5. The researchers plan to study mental wellbeing with greater _______________________. [ACCURATE]
6. Researchers are looking for new _______________________ from all over the world. [PARTICIPATE]

7 Discussion
Do you agree with the results of this research? Why? Why not?

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NEWS LESSONS / Living in the moment really does make people happier / Advanced
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 Living in the moment really does make people happier
Level 3 Advanced

KEY

1 Key words 4 Find the word

1. distracted 1. living in the now

2. consistently 2. extol
3. wellbeing 3. scant
4. focused 4. focus on
5. reminisce 5. waking hours
6. engaging 6. the other way round
7. anticipate 7. come at a cost
8. random 8. whip out
9. drift off
10. cognitive
5 Adjectives and nouns

2 What do you know? 1. e

2. d
1. F 3. a
2. T 4. f
3. F 5. b
4. T 6. c
5. F

6 Word-building
3 Comprehension check
1. engaging
1. a 2. productive
2. b 3. destructive
3. b 4. unhappiness
4. c 5. accuracy
6. participants
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NEWS LESSONS / Living in the moment really does make people happier / Advanced
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