Reasons to be cheerful

news the other day, it struck me that I need a gloom-reduction strategy. I recently reviewed a number of fitness applications, some of which were quite good, so this set me to wondering, Is there an app for that? An app that claims it can reduce your gloom, cheer you up? A quick Internet search for " apps for cheering you up " revealed a long list of offerings. Sadly, though, most of these " cheerfulness " apps did not satisfy my needs. For starters, they confuse being cheerful or cheered up with cheerleading. I was hoping to have my mood lifted, my mind distracted into positive thoughts away from the gloomy news. I was not signing up to do " cheer work. " An example is the Cheers app [1], which was launched a couple of years ago. A social-network-like " positivity app, " Cheers allows one to share images of things that are mood improving. Others can view and " like " your offerings, and thus you build a " cheerfluence " rating. Sound familiar? Images plus a social-sharing platform plus the ability to like things plus a competitive score or rating. This is the current Internet's formulaic reduction of human sociality. Easy to implement and familiar to engage with, this formula is the irresistible go-to place for unimaginative development roadmaps and business models. That said, experiences such as those provided by the Cheers app are somewhat amusing and potentially uplifting. But are humans really that simple? Is a picture of a puppy and approval in the form of a thumbs-up all it takes to create a positive outlook, a " sunny " disposition? This seems like eating a gummy bear when you are hungry, rather than something nourishing and sustaining. And is gaining a high cheerfluence rating really so meaningful that it will turn my day around? Am I being cynical in thinking that the engineering of our mental health probably does not reduce to this one-size-fits-all formula? I'll wager that being gamified into being your own and everyone else's cheerleader, if it works at all, has limited impact. To quell my curiosity, I asked about 30 of my friends to participate in a non-scientific poll. The question I posed to them: " What cheers you up?' " Answers included family, supportive and/or embracing settings (e.g., the company of friends and family), milestones sought or achieved (e.g., …