Most children are happy, but material deprivation catches up eventually

As for kids being happy - they just have near infinite energy to spare. As your responsibilities increase and your infinite energy begins to whither, it's a different dynamic.

   > As a teenager, it becomes about the mating ritual.

The mating ritual is about differentiation and perhaps the easiest way to express that is through the application of money (which takes the place of effort). Although I would dispute the assumption of a 'quality' mate. Such judgements are difficult if not impossible during one's teen years given a lack of experience both of one's self and of one's self in the context of another. The entire concept of "cool" is, at its heart, this sort of mating ritual.

That said, I observed that there were many different groups at my high school, each with their standards of 'cool' and thus various ranking systems. Atheletes, band members, socialites, all had their 'most' and 'least' cool members. For athletes (as an example) their physical prowess had little to do with their financial standing[1].

I continue to think that it is important to "catch" emergent materialism in children and to hold it up to the light and show them what it is, nothing. Talk to them about whether or not having the latest phone changes who they are, or changes the way other people are. This is exactly when people start developing a sense of how to measure themselves in the world and if you let them believe that they are measured by what they own, they will have a very hard time ever measuring up.

[1] Or their success fitness as some succeeded in later years and some didn't.

I still find your pre/post teenage hood split interesting, a lot of things change in one's mind, things get stiffer and more extreme (IMO people are less religious and communautarian), less creative and free.

Out of curiosity, I had a look at some of the metrics on Wikipedia for comparison. Colombia ranks 4th according to the adult "happiness index" (after Germany) but 80th on the inequality-adjusted human development index and 98th on the standard HDI--compared to Norway which ranks 1st in both metrics. I can't say I know what this means, but from what I understand, I'd imagine that countries higher on the HDI index therefore have more equal access to services adults find important (like healthcare) and more equal income (and therefore purchasing power) and "should" be happier. Likewise, these countries ought to have greater access to material goods. (But, there's also the issue of who they interviewed, their income levels, etc.)

I could be completely wrong, but I just can't imagine that owning a plethora of things necessarily equates to increased happiness.

It takes a lot of deliberate mental practice to learn not to care about what others have or what they might think of you, and few people bother.

Which begs the question: who really are the smart ones? :-)

Smarter people might have a tendency, more than others, to brood and worry over existential questions and matters that happen to be depressing. But worrying about things that are out of their small hands isn't exactly productive, or smart.

If you can find some people to do stuff with that you like, it's quite fun. A lot more fun frankly - as a child, you can only do so much. As an adult with a career in IT, you can do a looooot more. Plus you get to have sex, aw ye!

If you're bored, you haven't found the right people and it likely means you have trouble getting along with them to begin with, so work on that.

Adults are driven by our evolution to be useful to the community. Games are designed to allow humans (particularly kids) to master skills. Adults ideally should have already mastered much of the needed skills. Hence games cease to be interesting the more one gets older (in general -- there are always plenty of exceptions).

With abstract questions, you can sit around wondering for eternity. Unless you come to recognize that you're not getting anywhere (life will remind you soon enough) and do something concrete instead :)

If you replace wisdom with 'competence' it becomes much more down to earth. When somebody else is feeding, clothing, scheduling, teaching etc and all you have to do is use your base instincts, it's easy to be competent, you don't need to do anything.

When you have to feed, clothe, schedule, teach etc yourself AND others AND then some, it can be quite a challenge.

Children are not competent at much of anything, so there you go :)

From chapter 20:

    Other people are joyous, like on the feast of the ox,
    Like on the way up to the terrace in the spring.
    I alone am inert, giving no sign,
    *Like a newborn baby who has not learned to smile.*
    I am wearied, as if I lacked a home to go to.

    Other people have more than they need,
    I alone seem wanting.
    I have the mind of a fool,
    Understanding nothing.

Commentary: http://www.centertao.org/tao-te-ching/dc-lau/chapter-20-comm...