We Only Wanted Their Happiness Essay

To hedonists, happiness is the ultimate goal of human life. They believe that maximizing pleasure will simultaneously unlock happiness. Although both emotions involve positive feelings, pleasure is short-lived and externally motivated, while happiness represents long-term, internal satisfaction. By extension, feelings of pleasure simply provide glimpses of happiness. In the short story “We Only Wanted Their Happiness” by Alexander Weinstein, the parents and children reflect psychological hedonism and Freud’s pleasure principle as the desire to increase pleasure and decrease pain dictates their actions. Contrary to hedonistic beliefs, this does not bring them happiness. Enticed by instant gratification, the parents disregard the consequences

As dopamine addicts, these children indulge in the virtual world only to lose sight of reality and reject all forms of pain. In “We Only Wanted Their Happiness,” a craving for pleasure drives the parents and children to become short-sighted and ruthless individuals that inevitably seal their door to happiness.

The parents facilitate their children’s use of technology to relieve short-term personal discomfort. In the beginning, the parents were well aware of the chip’s ramifications as they spent “hours repeating [the] reasons” why connecting to the technology was dangerous for their children (2). However, they were also “exhausted from all the [children’s] pleading.” They had to decide between two conflicting actions; agree and alleviate their pain, or refuse and protect their children (3). The two options encapsulate the tension between the unconscious id that operates using the pleasure principle and the conscious ego that aims to make reasonable decisions with its reality principle. The parents eventually succumb to the lure of pleasure and grant their children's wishes “simply to get them to stop asking” which can give the parents “a couple hours of uninterrupted scrolling” (2-3). The parents only realize later that they sacrificed their

From the limitless consumption of pleasure via their chip, the children develop a dopamine dependency, and they take unethical measures to preserve this delight. At first, they irritate their parents through persistent crying and yelling to pay for upgrades that perpetuate their constant indulgence in the virtual world (7). However, once the parents threaten the children’s link to the virtual world and subsequently their ability to seek pleasure, the children become “furious” and “retaliate” with harmful intent (14). The children deliberately gather “databases upon databases of [their parents’] most shameful secrets” to coerce their parents into returning their connection to the virtual world (15). This act of blackmailing displays the children’s lack of morality as they purposefully inflict anxiety and fear onto their parents. Furthermore, the children smile once they hear their parents' pleas, indicating that they relish the distress of others (19). The children’s lack of remorse highlights that the prioritization of pleasure-seeking can foster a twisted moral compass and disregard for the pain of others; a dominant id can dwarf one’s superego. By turning against their family, the children exploit others with delight and ignore how interpersonal relationships contribute to happiness. The selfish pursuit of pleasure