Happiest states

"Health Buzz: America's Happiest States and Other Health News
Posted March 11, 2009
The States With the Happiest Residents

Looking to get a little happier? Relocating to Utah will give you the best chance at bliss, according to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index released today and reported by the Associated Press. In general, folks surveyed out West had the highest sense of well-being, while more of those living in the South and Midwest reported being in the doldrums. West Virginians were the worst off, followed by those living in Kentucky and Mississippi. And after Utah, Hawaii and Wyoming were the next best places in the contentment ranking." (http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/brain-and-behavior/2009/03/11/health-buzz-americas-happiest-states-and-other-health-news.html)

How's that as a counter to the "mormons are the most depressed people" urban legend?

Hey, now that you mention it...Hawaii and Wyoming have sizeable Mormon populations, too....

There was also this:

"Oklahoma, Utah Lead the Pack in Cell Phone-Only Households

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Trendy California isn't a trendsetter when it comes to relying on cell phones. And while the 1987 movie "Wall Street" helped introduce the then-brick-sized mobile phone to popular culture, New York and other Northeast states lag in dropping landlines. Surprisingly, Oklahoma and Utah lead in going wireless, according to federal estimates released Wednesday." (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,508927,00.html)

Perhaps, if we use the same kind of logic as the "mormons are the most depressed people" people, we could come to some interesting conclusions by joining these two studies. Perhaps cell phones make people happier? Or, even better, landlines cause depression (and the lack thereof, naturally, lead to happiness?)

What I didn't see covered in that last study was people like me--I have neither a landline or a cell phone; I use VoIP technology and have for years.