5 Happiness Myths Keeping You Miserable | Laurie Santos' Last Meal (Live at SXSW 2025)
LAST MEAL with Tom NashShow Notes
Yale happiness expert Dr. Laurie Santos reveals why everything you think about happiness is wrong - and what actually works.
In this live conversation from SXSW Austin 2025, psychology professor and Happiness Lab podcast host Laurie Santos breaks down the biggest myths keeping you miserable:
1) Why money stops making you happier at $100k (not $10 million) 2) How spending on others beats spending on yourself 3) Why rumination and worrying actually make problems worse 4) How your phone is stealing 30% of your social connections 5) The counterintuitive way thinking about death improves your life
Dr. Laurie Santos is a Yale psychology professor, host of The Happiness Lab podcast, and researcher specialising in human happiness and wellbeing. Santos shares research-backed strategies that actually move the happiness needle, from her "junior faculty lasagna" last meal choice to practical tips for breaking phone addiction.
Key Topics:
* Happiness science and psychology * Money and materialism myths * Social connection and loneliness * Technology's impact on wellbeing * Mortality and meaning *Evidence-based happiness strategies
Follow Laurie: https://www.instagram.com/lauriesantosofficial/ Follow Tom: https://www.instagram.com/djhookie/
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction at SXSW 5:10 Laurie's Last Meal choice 8:12 Death anxiety and happiness 15:30 Money can buy happiness (Kinda) 22:00 How phones can make us miserable 29:00 The biggest happiness myths 37:00 Why rumination fails 45:00 Personal Deep Dive
#HappinessScience #Yale #Psychology #SXSW #LastMeal #WellbeingResearch
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