Sample Synthesis Essays

Picture this: You’ve just returned home after a long day at school, and you greet your mother who is busy changing your baby brother’s sanitary paddings. Your father is covered in soot from his job as a carbon extraction expert, and on the TV, the President is gloating about the military’s latest protective reaction strikes and the casualties alongside them. Your mom tells you that there’s preserved chicken cutlets in the microwave, but you stop to think. What are all these nonsensical terms? Your mom’s just changing your brother’s diaper, your father is just a coal miner, the President keeps greenlighting the bombing of foreign countries, and there’s frozen chicken nuggets for dinner again. This strange language is known as doublespeak, and in this example, it’s used in both good and bad manners. Doublespeak is “language which makes the bad seem good, something negative appear positive, something unpleasant appear attractive, or at least tolerable” (Lutz 26). Returning to the hypothetical above, referring to diapers as sanitary paddings, your dad’s less-than-flattering job as an extraction expert, or frozen nuggets as preserved cutlets really isn’t hurting anyone. However, using doublespeak to make the death of thousands of innocent people sound like no big deal is harmful. Sadly, what the imaginary President said in this scenario echoes the very real words of politicians today. This deceptive form of language has brought great harm to many throughout time, from 4000 years ago up until today, and as individuals, we should do what we can to detect this doublespeak so we don’t fall prey to it.

Often, doublespeak is used by those in positions of power to downplay tragedies, soften harsh topics, or confuse audiences so much that the true meaning of what they’re saying is lost. In Winter of 1988, accomplished linguist William D. Lutz published his article called “Doublespeak”. Lutz wrote his article about 15 years after the Vietnam War, and at a time when both the Cold War and the War on Drugs were raging on. Also, with rising tension in the middle east with the Iran-Iraq war, it’s safe to say that politicians all around the globe had plenty to hide. Lutz studied this rise in political dishonesty, and in his 1989 article, identified four types of doublespeak he witnessed these politicians use: euphemism, jargon, gobbledygook and inflated language. Euphemism is sugarcoating a term to make it sound more appealing, like saying “unlawful and arbitrary deprivation of life” instead of “killing”. Jargon is “the specialized language of a trade, profession or group” (Lutz 27). Jargon can be useful, however it can be utilized to manipulate those from outside groups, such as consumers or citizens. Gobbledygook is overloading a listener’s brain with so much information that they can’t make sense of it all, therefore the meaning is lost on them. Lastly, inflated language is used to “make the ordinary seem extraordinary, the common, uncommon… to give an air of importance to people, situations, or things which would not normally be considered important” (Lutz 27). For example, salesmen could title their used cars as “experienced cars” to encourage their consumers to buy something that sounds high quality but isn’t. Since Lutz published his original article, hundreds of politicians and executives have risen and fallen out of power across the globe, deceiving and manipulating the common folk with doublespeak for decades.

Lutz states in his article that in the ironic year of 1984, the US State Department replaced the word “killing” in their human rights documents with the term “unlawful or arbitrary deprivation of life”. This ultimately let them skirt the criticisms they’d receive for backing countries that approved government-sanctioned killings. To inject a personal experience with political doublespeak, one of Ohio’s biggest conflicts during the recent election was over Issue 1. When I went to the polls, however, the description of the Issue was incredibly long and filled with dozens of lengthy political terms I had never heard of before. I was thoroughly confused, as was my mother and her friend, when they reflected on their experiences when they had to choose yes or no. Another more dire political euphemism is Canada’s program to euthanize the terminally or mentally ill being called “medical assistance in dying”, or MAID for short. In some cases, this human euthanasia is even called “death with dignity” or “dignified death”. “For eight years, [a patient] had been hearing childhood songs playing daily on repeat in his head. Among his collection of diagnoses, he had a history of psychotic episodes from schizophrenia. Medication to quiet the songs had not worked and, at 36, he finally asked for an assisted death at the end-of-life clinic” (Anderssen 2022). Take note of the terms “assisted death” and “end-of-life clinic.” This blend of euphemism and inflated language makes this form of assisted suicide seem like it’s just as tame and acceptable as one being prescribed medicine. From the year 2016 to 2021, over twenty-thousand Canadians have received MAID, some of which had diseases that could be cured, and one must wonder if this number would be lower if Canada’s government ditched the doublespeak and called it as it was: euthanasia.

In another article of Lutz’s, “Doublespeak, the Invasion of Panama, and the Corruption of Public Discourse”, he again details more political backhandedness not only during the invasion of Panama, but also harkening back to Nazi Germany’s “work camps”, Julius Caesar’s “pacification” of Gaul, and even to the records of Thucydides, who wrote about doublespeak he witnessed in a war between Athens and Sparta over two-thousand years ago. As for the invasion of Panama, it’s stated that “…on Wednesday, December 20, 1989, President George Bush addressed the nation from the White House: ‘Fellow citizens, last night I ordered U.S. military forces to Panama.’ In other words, President Bush had ordered an invasion of Panama, in effect starting a war with another country, without following the requirements of Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution. Thus does doublespeak continue, using language to mislead, conceal, evade, deceive” (Lutz 56). Where is the harm if the President only “deployed forces”, not started an invasion? In more recent euphemisms, it’s worth looking at Disney’s stubborn DEI hiring policies. DEI stands for diversity, equity, and inclusion, but it’s the word “equity” that flies over people’s heads. While “equality” aims to give everyone a level playing field, “equity” aims to flip it upside down; equity “[excludes] those with disfavored views or backgrounds. Forcing executives to make hiring decisions based on immutable characteristics instead of qualifications or experience” (Miller 2024). While Disney technically isn’t a political entity, it owns ABC, Vice News and has been a cultural touchstone for over a century, so it’s safe to say that it can effectively sway the hearts and minds of the typical US citizen. By disguising their “equity” as “equality”, they can continue to appear virtuous to the common consumer while firing lifelong employees who don’t deserve it.

But why are these words so harmful? It can be difficult to discern the consequences of doublespeak when it’s first said, but with hindsight, we can observe its effects more clearly. As stated before, doublespeak directly allowed George W. Bush to invade Panama with little pushback, an event which caused the deaths of thousands of civilians. In the case of MAID, it’s described that “[a] patient in his 30s asked for an assisted death, even though multiple doctors said his cancer was curable. Two assessors approved him for MAID. Faced with his adamant refusal to get treatment, and his progressing condition, Dr. Li said she helped him die “against her better judgment.” If MAID didn’t exist as an option, she believes he would have gotten treatment, and still be alive” (Anderssen 2022). If MAID’s solution described death as final and not “dignified”, would this man have been alive today? And arguably the direst of doublespeak’s consequences, it’s contributions to Nazi Germany’s reprehensible actions. “Certainly the doublespeak of Nazi Germany illustrates the ultimate in the corruption of public discourse and the body politic that can occur when doublespeak becomes the normal language of public policy. It was not so long ago that in Germany… ‘resettlement’ meant deportation; ‘work camp’ meant concentration camp or incinerator; ‘action’ meant massacre; ‘Special Action Groups’ were army units that conducted official mass murder; ‘selection’ meant gassing, and the government implemented the ‘Final Solution’” (Lutz 57). With this language, the Nazi party convinced its citizens that “selecting” who they think deserves to die, placing those they “selected” into “work camps”, and putting forth their “Final Solution” was something to be celebrated over. Doublespeak has conquered the connotation of death itself. Or, as it’s sometimes called, “terminal living.”

With doublespeak, failure becomes success, and crime becomes the good deed. It is the close partner of political corruption and has possessed several politicians throughout time at the cost of those living under their power. It precedes horrible errors, white collar crime, and in some cases, death of the innocent. If the politicians themselves aren’t going to hold themselves accountable to the truth, then it is up to us, the common citizens, to render their language ineffective. Political doublespeak should not be accepted, and every common man should try their hardest to pick over every word that exits the mouths of the ruling class. By revisiting their words and consuming unbiased news sources, it is possible to minimize the effects that their deceptions have on their audience. If more people realize the dangers of language, eventually we the masses can grow wise enough to oppose these corrupt politicians and hold them accountable to their words. So, the next time you’re sat in front of your television enjoying adult beverages and preserved chicken cutlets, listening to the talking heads spew their “carefully crafted, nuanced answers”, stop and think about their words. For if you don’t, you will fall victim to the power of doublespeak too.

Works Cited

Anderssen, Erin. “Canada Will Soon Allow Medically Assisted Dying for Mental Illness.

Has There Been Enough Time to Get It Right?” The Globe and Mail, The Globe and Mail,

1 Dec. 2022, www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-maid-canada-mental-health-law/.

Lutz, William. “Doublespeak, the Invasion of Panama, and the Corruption of Public

Discourse.” The North American Review, vol. 275, no. 2, 1990, pp. 56–57. JSTOR,

http://www.jstor.org/stable/25125171. Accessed 16 Nov. 2024.

Lutz, William. “Doublespeak.” Public Relations Quarterly, vol. 33, no. 4, Winter 88/89

1988, p. 25. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=

4475151&site=eds-live.

Miller, Ian. “Disney Doubles Down on DEI With New Job Posting.” OutKick, OutKick,

28 Aug. 2024, www.outkick.com/analysis/disney-doubles-down-dei-new-job-posting.

Tolerating a Partial Buy-In: Should We Attempt to Reduce Internet Addiction?

by Peter Garver

Imagine sitting at home one evening and losing your connection to the internet. Everywhere – on your phone, your computer, your smart TV. You can still make phone calls, the power is still on, but there are no apps, no websites, no games, no social media, even no texting. Does this scenario make you a bit uncomfortable? Maybe more than a little? That’s a normal response for people living highly connected lives today. In a 2016 book, scholar Mary Aiken described a colleague who attempted to conduct a study in which participants would not have access to their phones for several days, but was unable to do so, because no one was willing to give their phone up for that long (627). Constant connectedness has a lot to offer us, but it is worth considering its negative aspects as well. While the internet, mobile phones, and social media can be valuable and enriching tools, using them without considering the ways that they alter our ways of thinking, and specifically the ways that they are engineered to keep us constantly engaged, is a dangerous choice for us as individuals and as a society.

The only reason it is worthwhile having a discussion about the risks of online life is that there can be great value in online life: otherwise it could safely be treated like heroin use and regulated with a simple goal of reducing harm. In his essay ““We Are Here For You”: The It Gets Better Project, Queering Rural Spaces, and Cultivating Queer Media Literacy,” Mark Hain describes the It Gets Better Project, a series of videos that was created in 2011 in the wake of a series of publicly acknowledged teen suicides with the goal of mitigating the loneliness and hopelessness that queer teens feel in communities that are not accepting of them (526). Hain focuses on the videos created by people living in rural spaces, and the positive effect that they could have on teenagers in rural communities who are in the process of forming identities and determining how they fit into the world (532-538). He contrasts this with his own teenage years, in which the only examples he had of queer identity came from mainstream media (529-532). Through this contrast, Hain demonstrates the value of online life both in its ability for two way communication, even in the mostly one-way medium of YouTube, and also in its ability to host content that has a very small audience, such as his example of videos specifically directed at queer rural teenagers. This is a small and very specific example of the power of connectivity and online community, and it rules out the option of dismissing the value of online life altogether.

Having established that there is value in connectedness, it may be worthwhile to consider that there should be limits on connection. That is to say, that being disconnected sometimes may be healthy for our minds. In “Growing Up Tethered,” Sherry Turkle discusses texting, collecting testimony primarily from young people who are frequent texters. Turkle suggests that constant connectedness through texting may change the way people’s brains develop in several ways. She suggests that the ability to contact multiple people at any time may lead to a tendency to seek validation for one’s thoughts through others, rather than examining their feelings on their own (583). She also considers the stress of forming online personas, and quotes from interviews with young people who feel that online social media networks demand high levels of engagement which can be a source of stress and consume a lot of energy (588-590). One of the students Turkle interviewed, a high school senior named Brad, became disillusioned with online life and took a break. When he attempted to re-enter online life without fully committing himself, he found it difficult, because as Turkle describes it, “Facebook … does not easily tolerate a partial buy-in” (589). The side effects of engagement, including shifts in our perception of our own thoughts and stress about an added workload of keeping up appearances on social media, have a cost that should be weighed against the benefit of the connectedness and community that it can provide.

Brad’s discovery about the difficulty of partially engaging with Facebook is neither unique to Brad, nor to that platform, and this is at least partially because the companies that host social media networks and other online services can only make money when we engage with their services, whether their income comes from advertising or from the sale of data. Evan Kindley examines this situation in “Quiz Mania,” an excerpt from a 2016 book. Kindley considers the phenomenon of online quizzes, popularized by the site BuzzFeed in the 2010s. These quizzes are valuable to BuzzFeed and to other sites that make them, and Kindley discusses two key aspects to their value: their ability to draw people in, and the data that they generate (509-512). The quizzes have been optimized, by trial and error, to maximize engagement; the quick feedback loop of internet development and deployment meant that the staff of BuzzFeed was able to determine what worked and what didn’t work very quickly, and push their future quizzes in a direction to get more people to complete them (511). The data that the quizzes generate can, in aggregate, create a profile of a person’s personality that might be valuable if sold to potential employers or other potential buyers (512-513). Creating a quiz that generates both high levels of engagement and valuable personal data is obviously desirable, but if the first page of a quiz stated plainly “The presentation of this quiz is designed to make you want to complete it, and the questions are designed to generate valuable information about you that we can sell to third parties without your knowledge,” it is likely not as many people would complete it. Online companies work constantly to increase our engagement in the pursuit of profits, and they do so without disclosing their intentions to us, which for the most part deprives us of the ability to make an informed choice in the matter.

BuzzFeed optimizes their quizzes to maximize profit, without warning us or considering whether it is in our best interest. They are not alone, of course. In her article “Designed to Addict,” Mary Aiken describes both compulsive responses to ordinary internet activities such as checking email, as well as games and websites that are optimized to maximize engagement and keep users coming back. Near the beginning of her article, Aiken explains that it is known in behavioral psychology that intermittent reinforcement is an effective way to get people to continue an activity or to repeat it, and that it is more effective than being rewarded every time (618). She explains how this is exploited by lotteries and casinos to keep people gambling, and also how it is exploited by game developers and social networking sites to keep people engaged (618-619). She also explains how social networking sites and games trigger the reward system in the brain in various ways, meeting various innate needs with different types of notifications (619). Aiken gives some scientific support for the addictive nature of online activity by discussing the “seeking” system in the brain, which is controlled by the neurotransmitter dopamine and leads people to seek out novelty and explore, but in a modern context makes people vulnerable to addiction, and identifies this problem as particularly acute on the internet, which she describes as “infinity in terms of seeking” (619-620). She cites various studies that place the incidence of internet addiction, which can be defined in different ways, between 1% and 15% of people, but also quotes research stating that while 98% of respondents knew that texting while driving was dangerous, 75% still did it (625-627). By the time she concludes with the story of the research study that failed because no one would give up their phone, she has made a convincing case that internet use can be addictive, and that this is in part because some people choose to make it more addictive for business reasons.

We have learned from Mary Aiken that we are innately susceptible to addictive and compulsive behaviors online, just because it is seemingly infinite and always accessible. In her article, as well as in Sherry Turkle’s and Evan Kindley’s, we see evidence that these behaviors are profitable for internet companies and are encouraged, perhaps through simple trial and error (as in Kindley’s BuzzFeed example), and perhaps through more intentional means, as is done in the gambling industry. But as much as we may be in danger of manipulation, Mark Hain’s article reminds us that the internet offers types of connectivity and community that have never been possible before, and may give us a chance to imagine ourselves as part of a community when we have no other way to feel like we belong. Taken together, these articles give me the impression that neither of the extreme choices are good – we should not eliminate the internet (as if we could), and we should not allow it to be a complete free-for-all for our attention, as it is now. Alcohol, tobacco, and gambling are all highly addictive, and all are at least regulated in their ability to advertise to children, and there has been education provided for adults on how addictive they can be. It is, however, perfectly legal to give a child a phone with Facebook and Candy Crush on it, and there has been no widespread discussion of what effect this might have on the child during their childhood or in the long term as they mature. I think it would be very helpful to have a public discussion about online activities that promote addiction and consider at the very least a warning label system, and since unfortunately there is no money to be made in keeping people from getting addicted to phones, this would probably have to occur by a government mandate. I’m not sure what it would take to make this happen. Mary Aiken’s essay begins with the story of a 22-year-old mother who accidentally killed her child in 2010 when he interrupted her during a game of Candy Crush (615). This, apparently, was not enough to start a discussion. I would like to hope that something will be, because if we wait until a supermajority of the population has fully bought in to addiction to apps and games, there may be no one left to vote in favor of trying to find a happy medium between the infinity of the internet and the reward systems of our brains.

Works Cited

Aiken, Mary “Designed to Addict” From Inquiry to Academic Writing: A Text and Reader,

edited by Stuart Greene and April Lidinsky, Bedford / St. Martin’s, 2018,

pp. 614-627.

Hain, Mark “’We Are Here For You’: The It Gets Better Project, Queering Rural Space,

and Cultivating Queer Media Literacy” From Inquiry to Academic Writing: A Text

and Reader, edited by Stuart Greene and April Lidinsky, Bedford / St. Martin’s,

2018, pp. 525-540.

Kindley, Evan “Quiz Mania” From Inquiry to Academic Writing: A Text and Reader,

edited by Stuart Greene and April Lidinsky, Bedford / St. Martin’s, 2018,

pp. 508-514.

Turkle, Sherry “Growing Up Tethered” From Inquiry to Academic Writing: A Text

and Reader, edited by Stuart Greene and April Lidinsky, Bedford / St. Martin’s,

2018, pp. 578-591.

“Tolerating a Partial Buy-In: Should We Attempt to Reduce Internet Addiction?” by Peter Garver is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

One of the few commonalities among humanity is the simple quality of being alive, living, and breathing. Every person experiences life, but what differs among them are the principles by which they live. These guiding principles are innumerable and range from conscious and desirable to hidden and unwanted. They constantly complement and conflict with each other, manifesting in a person’s actions, interests, and behaviors. However, this range of life principles, motivations, and behaviors can be consolidated into two fundamental modes of living: the “having” mode and “being” mode, explored by Erich Fromm in his To Have or to Be? The “having” mode is a fixation on possessions, and by extension, power. Dominating in an increasingly commercialized and industrialized society, the “having” mode measures social status, individual control, and fulfillment by the number of possessions one has, both material and nonphysical, rather than their personal abilities and character. Conversely, the “being” mode is an appreciation for active experiences, human capabilities, and life itself. It promotes behaviors that “give expression to one’s faculties [and] talents,” which are solely intended to develop one’s character and interests (Fromm 72). Value is not placed in possession or ownership, but instead in experiences that promote personal expression and lead to the enjoyment of human existence. Therefore, the mode of living most conducive to leading a happy and fulfilling life is the “being” mode because it allows people to focus on their well-being, promotes healthy behaviors, and encourages people to express their true passions.

Erich Fromm differentiates between the “having” and “being” modes in “A First Glance” of To Have or to Be? A modern, common interpretation of “having” and “being” initially suggests that they are inseparable from each other. “Being” seemingly requires one to have things, and so much personal value is tied to the value of one’s possessions. However, the distinction between “having” and “being” dates back to antiquity as it is found in multiple religious doctrines. Buddhism and Christianity both teach against material desire to achieve a higher, purer state of spiritual being. The more modern works of Master Eckhart and Karl Marx concur with these teachings, emphasizing a rejection of all possessive urges in favor of personal development and strong character. Fromm further exemplifies this distinction by pointing to poems by Basho, Tennyson, and Goethe, in which each poet uniquely responds to encountering a flower. Tennyson plucks the flower to learn more about it and peer into the functions of nature and creation, killing it in the process; Basho, however, simply observes the flower and takes satisfaction in its presence. Goethe bridges the two previous approaches by initially feeling compelled to pluck the flower, but after considering its livelihood, replants it to preserve its life. Tennyson merely desires to possess the flower for intellectual gain, while Basho and Goethe value the flower’s life and free themselves from possessive desire. Thus, a key distinction between “having” and “being” is a focus on nonliving external things versus a focus on life and the person. A “having” lifestyle is intertwined with a commercialized and industrialized society, where there is a never-ending need to attain property and gain power, and where the value of a person is tied to their possessions. In contrast, the “being” mode values one’s abilities, character, experiences, and relationship with the living world. Selfish desire is disregarded, and property ownership is irrelevant. Satisfaction is drawn from existence itself, which motivates people to constructively exercise their human abilities for the sake of personal development and well-being. In effect, the “being” mode aligns with human nature, as people embrace their natural capability to develop skills and knowledge for personal growth. Thus, a great contrast between “being” and “having” is one of following reality and human nature versus following societal constructs and superficial egos.

The “being” mode produces a more fulfilling lifestyle because its focus promotes well-being and healthy behaviors. To live in the “being” mode is to embrace life, reality, and human nature by enjoying active experiences and appreciating existence as a living being. Its focus is thus placed on the person and their life, rather than any external nonliving factor, bringing one greater “insight into the reality of [oneself], of others, [and] of the world around [them]” (Fromm 81). A focus on external factors, like material possessions, detracts from the person, bringing one out of touch with their character by spawning false egos and conflicting behaviors, and causing one to be consumed with negative behaviors of greed and envy that deteriorate one’s health and happiness. Focusing on the living person, contrastingly, prioritizes the active understanding and development of one’s human qualities, character, emotions, and life perspective. The experiences lived under the “being” mode maintain this focus and nourish their participants’ characters and mentalities, improving their overall health, well-being, and therefore sense of fulfillment. In the real world, this idea is exemplified by the positive impacts of parks, which offer the experience of “being” by providing a oneness with life and nature. Environmental experts Lincoln R. Larson, Viniece Jennings, and Scott A. Cloutier studied data from forty-four American cities in search of a connection between the amount and availability of public parks and the population’s well-being, categorized into “physical, community, social, financial, and purpose” factors, self-reported by participants. The study found a positive correlation between the quality and expanse of a city’s park system and “multiple aspects of health and wellbeing” in that city’s population (Larson et al.). This correlation indicates that a greater ability to experience parks improves the health and wellness of their beneficiaries. In other words, a greater embracement of “being” experiences prompts greater personal nourishment, bringing positivity, health, and satisfaction to one’s life and giving merit to benefits of the “being” mode’s focus. As a result, the “being” mode sponsors health and well-being because its practice of experiencing, existing, and manifesting human nature places a focus on the “being” person that nourishes their character and mentality. Since one develops their characteristics and emotions by “being,” experiences of “being” translate into healthy behaviors that promote wellness and positive outlooks that are fulfilling in modern life.

Additionally, “being” is a more fulfilling mode of life because it allows one to exercise their true passions and capabilities, bringing greater personal enjoyment and development. Since the “being” mode focuses on life, experiences, and human nature, a key practice of living in the “being” mode is the “productive use of [one’s] human powers” by manifesting “one’s faculties, talents, [and] the wealth of human gifts with which . . . every human being is endowed” (Fromm 72). When one lives in the “being” mode, they are motivated to utilize the full extent of their human potential, driving them to complete activities that engage their broad range of human capabilities. When one follows their passions, they act upon these motivations and desires as they apply their unique skills and abilities to nourish their specific interests, personal qualities, and overall character. Value is placed in exercising these human capabilities; thus, as one follows their passions, one attains fulfillment and enjoyment in life. In practice, this connection between following passions and finding happiness in life has measured results, which are found by analyzing hobbies. Heidi Godman, executive editor of the Harvard Health Letter, reviewed a multi-year study of 93,000 retirement-age people across sixteen countries, in which their hobbies and well-being were assessed. Upon review, people with hobbies “reported better health, more happiness, fewer symptoms of depression, and higher life satisfaction” than those without hobbies (Godman). To further support this correlation, Godman points out that many of these hobbies allowed their enjoyers to express, challenge, and relax themselves, all of which “are linked to good mental health and well-being.” Hobbies are a manifestation of personal passions, and partaking in these hobbies is strongly correlated with feelings of enjoyment and fulfillment. As one follows their passions through hobbies, they engage their human skills and abilities for the sole purpose of personal growth, interest, and enjoyment. As value in the “being” mode comes from the full exercise of human capabilities for self-development, one can therefore find fulfillment in life by constructively engaging in their passions via hobbies. Additionally, since the values of the “being” mode are centered on the person, not external possessions, the fulfillment one receives from engaging in and developing their passions is much more meaningful. Thus, by following passions in the “being” mode, one can derive significant satisfaction, growth, and fulfillment, making the “being” mode the most conducive for a fulfilling life.

However, some may argue that the “having” mode will produce a more fulfilling life because owning more possessions allows one to better function in modern society. To live in the current post-industrial world, one must own possessions, including food, cars, houses, money, and more. Since possessions seem necessary for survival, livelihood, and control, it would seem that the more property one owns, the more successful and powerful they will be in modern life. Indeed, those who live in the “having” mode are motivated to attain more property for this purpose, as those with property are “admired and envied as superior beings,” assigning life value directly to the value of one’s possessions (Fromm 58). Thus, living in the “having” mode would produce a more fulfilling life because greater power, comfort, value, and success in modern society can be derived by working to acquire more property. However, there are inherent flaws with the “having” mode that make its practices and values weaker than that of the “being” mode, thus preventing the “having” mode from producing a fulfilling life. To acquire possessions in the modern world, whether it is food, real estate, vehicles, or education, one must have a constant income of money, regardless of social class. To receive a constant income, one must dedicate a massive portion of their lives to capitalistic labor, where one works with the sole purpose of attaining property. Therefore, to derive value from life in the “having” mode, one must commit themselves to tedious labor that focuses on property instead of the person, leaving their true skills, passions, and capabilities unutilized and underdeveloped. Contrarily, in the “being” mode, value in life is derived from constructive practices that are exclusively for developing and manifesting one’s abilities and passions, thus nourishing one’s character. Since a person in the “having” mode is entirely focused on acquiring external possessions and gaining social power, they are not working to develop their capabilities or passions, which prevents growth, a positive change in character, and any escape from envy, greed, or jealousy, thereby depriving themselves of any personal fulfillment despite an increase in property value. The value one derives from the “having” mode via property acquisition is entirely external and does not directly benefit the person, while value derived from the “being” mode is solely for the benefit of the person, nourishing their human traits, capabilities, and interests and bringing fulfillment through personal development and satisfaction with human existence. Therefore, the “having” mode cannot provide one with a more fulfilling modern life than the “being” mode.

Between the “being” mode and “having” mode, the “being” mode clearly provides a path that yields a more fulfilling life, since it actively promotes one’s health, well-being, and personal passions. The “being” mode values life, human nature, and experiences, giving the “being” mode an inherent focus on the person over external factors. Since all experiences in the “being” serve the person and nourish one’s character, the well-being and health of the person is naturally promoted by the “being” mode, thus bringing a greater sense of fulfillment to one’s life. The “being” mode also encourages one to constructively utilize their human abilities, allowing them to follow their passions for their own personal interest and development. From doing this, they derive personal value from the “being” mode, yielding satisfaction from their interests and thus fulfillment in their life. The “having” mode is antithetical to the healthy fulfillment of life and the person-centric approach of the “being” mode. Its focus on acquiring property detracts from the character of the person, focusing on power and material goals. It derives its value from a quantity of property, not from a person’s character or exercise of their capability, and it causes people to be greedy, envious, and untrue to themselves, putting them out of touch with their mind and emotions. “Being” is a quality of truth, of finding and maximizing human ability, and of being in connection with oneself and the nature of the world. Value is directly found in the person, and “being” nourishes one’s health and passions, bringing true, meaningful fulfillment to their life. In a modern world, “being” is much more challenging than the trap that is “having,” a mode that is so intertwined and rooted in a capitalistic, individualist society. With these circumstances, the question remains: how can one balance the virtues of “being” with the pressures of “having” in the modern world?

Works Cited

Fromm, Erich. To Have or to Be? 1976. New York, Continuum, 1997, pp. 13–17, 57–64,

71–81, giuseppecapograssi.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/erich-fromm-to-have-or-to-be-

1976.pdf. Accessed 23 Feb. 2025.

Godman, Heidi. “Having a Hobby Tied to Happiness and Well-Being.” Harvard Health,

Harvard Health Publishing, 1 Jan. 2024, www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/

having-a-hobby-tied-to-happiness-and-well-being. Accessed 9 Mar. 2025.

Larson, Lincoln R., et al. “Public Parks and Wellbeing in Urban Areas of the United

States.” PLOS One, vol. 11, no. 4, 7 Apr. 2016, p. e0153211, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/

pmc/articles/PMC4824524/, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0153211.

Accessed 9 Mar. 2025.

“The State of Being Versus Having” by Anthony Schmitz is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.