Question

People who are single are happier because they are living their most authentic lives without having to worry about someone else.

Comments

This is more of a preference rather than a fact. Everyone can have different styles and opinions, so there isn’t a way to tell if people are happier single unless everyone single feels the same way.

---

This claim is mostly rooted in biased opinion. The BuzzFeed article uses Shani Silver as an example for someone who realized they could be happy and single at the same time. It is true, you can be happy while you're single but it's all about personal preference. I found an article by Psychology Today that gave multiple different examples on how to be happy while single, which I think could be helpful for people who feel like they need a partner to live happily. I would say this claim is misleading. It should be encouraged that people learn to be single and happy, but if someone thought a partner would make them happy, that's their decision to make.
Source: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-angry-therapist/202402/how-to-be-happy-being-single?msockid=0db5e7c7e9996eee0cb5f2c5e8236fcc

---

While I can see how someone may believe that this claim is true, it's important to remember that everything in our lives is based off of lived experience, and from my perspective it seems like this person may have been in a relationship with someone who they were unable to be their authentic self with, and maybe that is the reason they're making this claim. There is also no research to back up this claim. There was never any statistics for this or any reputible sources that I could find.

---

I don't agree. I think that single people may believe that they are happier and believe that they are living a more authentic life, except for most single people, they haven't experienced a real relationship before. An individual may feel more "free" or "independent" being single, but coming from experience, once you have found the right person to be in an romantic relationship with, you start to feel something different. I wouldn't disagree that single people are happy, they do have freedom and essentially less responsibility. However, I believe that being in a relationship and having someone that you can share everything with and be your true self around, brings someone a different kind of happiness. In many ways, a better happiness.

---

In my opinion, this is a claim that you can't really "fact-check". While yes, you can claim that being single can lead to being happier, you can do the same for people who are in a relationship/not single. While the article does explain that in today's modern era, being single leads to "greater happiness", is still suggestive. No matter how many people you interview and how many people claim to be happier single, you can and will still find people who are happier not being single. Happiness is suggestive from person to person, one study with a handful of happy single people is nowhere near enough to make this a proper claim. It's like if I were to ask 10 UO students if they all like pizza, and they said yes. Then I went onto make a claim stating, "the students at the University of Oregon all like pizza". When in reality that is farthest from the truth.

Answer 1

This article isn't very factual. Sure people who are single have a right to be happy, but that generally doesn't mean everyone is going to be. While it did give factual data from census reports of 2019, (https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/08/20/nearly-half-of-u-s-adults-say-dating-has-gotten-harder-for-most-people-in-the-last-10-years/) and (https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2021/10/05/rising-share-of-u-s-adults-are-living-without-a-spouse-or-partner/#:~:text=A%20new%20Pew%20Research%20Center,nor%20living%20with%20a%20partner.&text=This%20share%20is%20up%20sharply%20from%2029%25%20in%201990.&text=Men%20are%20now%20more%20likely,the%20case%2030%20years%20ago.) That comes from a research institution called, The Pew Research Center that shares info about attitudes, trends, issues, etc. These reports don't state how the high rises of "single life" or how "dating has gotten hard" relate to higher rates of happiness, they're just general information done which doesn't really back up the article. The original article tends to be from more of a personal view than from an overall view of everyone. Plus, it seems to lack overall evidence towards the statement of how being single equals "happiness" by giving us stories of other people who are going through these processes, which makes it pretty biased in return. 

Answer 2

I agree with this because yes, single people get more time to focus and work on themselves, but at the same time, having another person who's there for you and to support you tends to create a bigger boost of happiness and mental health. It just differs for everyone.

Answer 3

According to Buzzfeed News, single individuals lead happier, more genuine lives. Since relationships are personal and this is a general statement, I find it difficult to accept this claim right away. I believe that topic is very subjective and subject to bias based on individual experiences, even given the numbers. Upon verifying this claim, I found no further news sources that support it, and buzzfeed isn't a trustworthy news source in the first place.

Answer 4

The claim "People who are single are happier." made by this article is a dangerously subjective claim that cannot be proven either right or wrong. Aside from the subjective claim the article does not explore both sides of the argument throughly enough for author to have reliability. The article explores the struggles of dating but does not explore any counter arguments about contentment and happiness within relationships. Overall the article was mostly unreliable as the author takes true facts and twists them into one thought process without substantial backing. I would consider this article to be much too subjective to be true as well as construed in a misleading way in order to guide readers into one idea.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0265407515597564

Answer 5

Although this statement might feel true to most, it is more of an opinion rather then a fact that can be proven by supporting evidence. Of course people can find happiness in a relationship, but also some people are happier being on their own and not with someone. The claim itself is lacking a lot of supporting and substantial evidence. The claim of stressing or worrying about others might be true at times, but someone can have these same feelings for someone not being in a relationship. The article also never shows any numbers proving people are happier in relationships. All together, this claim might be a fact for one person but could be false to the next person.

Answer 6

This article shows that single people nowadays are happier and overall enjoy life when single. The happiest singles enjoy strong social relationships with their friends and family, high self-esteem, and favorable personality traits. the article links data of the happiness of singles.

https://spsp.org/news/character-and-context-blog/walsh-kaufman-single-people-happiness-stereotypes

Comments

Hi Riley, thanks for your answer. Although, I wonder whether being single or in a relationship is the absolute determining factor of whether an individual is happy or not. Wouldn't you agree that certain events in our lives such as a well spent vacation, lottery win, family member loss, or even a barista greeting us by name for our daily morning coffee would affect how happy we are on a daily basis? It's also said that a relationship should only be a part of your life, rather than the main focal point of everything you think about. So how could something which shouldn't drastically impact our lives be the determining factor of our everyday happiness and state of mind?

Answer 7

I agree with this claim. This author did a good job of using other research and putting it in the article. After reading this it makes sense and as a reader, you create a better understanding for the pros and cons of the claim. A topic that is missing in this article is that they are missing the point on how it makes single people happy it could just be a "better decision" for the readers of this article. Individual preferences and experiences play a significant role in happiness, making it essential to consider a broader range of studies on life satisfaction across different relationship statuses for a more nuanced understanding.

Answer 8

This article explains that being single in today's society leads to more happiness and are living their most authentic lives. The claim that "single people are happier" is based on what others have experienced after they had been on dates or in relationships that have not been good for them mentally. Although yes, being single can be more beneficial to your health and can make you feel like your life is better, the article by Anna Brown doesn't support that claim. The article by Natalia Sarkisian and Naomi Gerstel, provided says that marriage is not what most people nowadays all looking forward to or ever want, doesn't prove that they are happier. In the Bible, it states that men shouldn't be alone and that the women can be his helper, not saying anything about how the women is happier without taking care of a man.

I believe that this claim is just based on what people have said and they don't provide the correct data to support their claim.

https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/08/20/nearly-half-of-u-s-adults-say-dating-has-gotten-harder-for-most-people-in-the-last-10-years/

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0265407515597564

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%202%3A18&version=ESV

Answer 9

While the article you listed was a credible source citing similarly reputable sources and information, its argument appears more nuanced than asserting that single people are objectively happier than those in relationships.

Instead, a variety of messages are communicated: Dr. Bella DePaulo asserts that people that are "single at heart" and enjoy solitude and its benefits of mobility can be just as fulfilled as those in relationships. Shani Sliver asserts that single people should not undergo societal stigma or be pressured if they do not want to change their relationship status.

 While a variety of narratives normalizing and affirming single lifestyles are represented, these reiterate the article's message that "some people are happier" staying single, not all people. This would be an overgeneralization not directly supported by the data or expertise featured in the passage.

Reference: the above article link

Answer 10

The claim you make is sort of stated as a fact more of an opinion. There can be up to hundreds of factors leading into the conclusion that a single person may be happier than people in a relationship. One of the main things stated in the claim/article was that money is a huge problem. They claim that the financial burden that a romantic partner brings is significant and decreases happiness. I do not think this is true. Of course it depends on the situation but material possessions and money is not at all the biggest problem in this world. If you are spending money on someone but they happen to be a person you enjoy spending your time with and having company, then the burden just cancels out. This claim also depends if you are a happier person alone or with company. Humans are a varying species and every single one on the planet is unique. Refer to this article for more information on both sides of the argument. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/single-life-happiness-1.7135837