1st Session

small talk

- Please introduce yourself to members.

- How old are you? and what feelings do you have about your age?

- What do you do for your youth? Why is youth important to you?

- What will you do as you get older?

Study Finds Ages When People Are Happiest

Do you ever think you were happiest as a child? A new study has found this may be true ― but while you may be less cheerful as you get older, you may also be more satisfied with life.

Researchers in Germany and Switzerland looked at data from previous studies with a total of over 460,000 participants. They were interested in how satisfied people said they were with their lives, and also in something called "positive affect" and "negative affect.“

Positive affect is a term used in psychology to talk about how people feel cheerful and happy emotions, while negative affect is used for feelings like anger, fear and sadness.

It was found that while people tended to be most cheerful as children, they became more satisfied with their lives as they got older ― until they got very old, at which point they became less satisfied and less happy too.

From the data, the researchers found that life satisfaction decreased from age 9 to 16, then increased a little until age 70, and decreased again until age 96 ― the oldest age for which data was available.

But positive affect ― or cheerfulness ― decreased almost continuously from age 9 to age 94.

Negative affect went up and down between ages 9 and 22, but then decreased until age 60. After that, it increased again until age 87.

The researchers noted that changes in life satisfaction tended to be smaller than changes in positive and negative affect.

The decrease in life satisfaction between ages 9 and 16 were probably due to the physical and social changes of puberty, the researchers said.

Meanwhile, the decrease in satisfaction and increase in negative affect among the very old were likely connected to the health problems of old age, as well as decreasing social interaction.

- Is there a particular relationship between life satisfaction and affect?

- How was your puberty? and are you afraid of getting older?

- What kind of person do you want to become as you age?

- What can we do to age gracefully?

2nd Session

small talk

- Please introduce yourself to members.

- Do you like reading books? or do you like movies more than books?

- What is your favorite book? If not, what genre do you mostly read?

- Have you borrowed any books from the central library in PNU?

S. Korean adults read books less than ever before: report

Nearly 6 out of 10 South Koreans read less than one book in a year, a recent report by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism showed Thursday.

According to the report, 43 percent of the population read at least one book between September of 2022 and August of 2023. This was down 4.5 percentage points compared to the previous results of the biennial study released in 2021, and was the lowest figure since the government commenced the study in 1994.

The percentage of those reading at least one book a year was 86.8 percent in 1994, but has decreased almost every year since.

For the 2013 report, the ministry started including e-books in the survey, after which the figure rebounded to 72.2 percent from 66.8 percent in the previous report in 2011. However, the active reading population has decreased every year since then, with the most recent survey showing only 32.3 percent of South Koreans have read at least one paper book per year.

The most dramatic drop was found among the 60 and above age group, 15.7 percent of whom said they have read at least one book in a year. This marked a substantial drop from 23.8 percent in the previous study.

The younger population tended to read more, with 74.5 percent of the 19-29 group having read a book in the surveyed year. The figures for those in their 30s and 40s were 68 percent and 47.9 percent, respectively.

The leading reason given by respondents for not reading was "having no time for it due to work" at 24.4 percent, followed by "I use smartphones and other mediums besides books" at 23.4 percent, and "I don't have a habit of reading" at 11.3 percent.

- Excluding books for homework and assignments, how many books did you read last year, and why?

- Why is the reading volume lower among the people?

- How can we encourage people to read more books?

- So, do you think that reading many books is important these days?