Buy Experiences, Not ThingsLive in anticipation, gathering stories and memories.By James HamblinIn the journalPsychological Science last month, Gilovich and Killingsworth, along withCornell doctoral candidate Amit Kumar, expanded on the current understanding that spendingmoney on experiences “provide[s] more enduring happiness.” . . .Essentially, when you can’t live in a moment, they say, it’s best to live in anticipation of anexperience. Experiential purchases like trips, concerts, movies, et cetera, tend to trump materialpurchases . . .Experiential purchases are also more associated with identity, connection, and social behavior.Looking back on purchases made, experiences make people happier than do possessions. It’skind of counter to the logic that if you pay for an experience, like a vacation, it will be over andgone; but if you buy a tangible thing, a couch, at least you’ll have it for a long time. Actuallymost of us have a pretty intense capacity for tolerance, or hedonic adaptation*, where we stopappreciating things to which we’re constantly exposed. Phones, clothes, couches, et cetera, justbecome background. They deteriorate or become obsolete. It’s the fleetingness of experientialpurchases that endears us to them. Either they’re not around long enough to become imperfect,or they are imperfect, but our memories and stories of them get sweet with time. Even a badexperience becomes a good story.When it rains through a beach vacation, as Kumar put it, “People will say, well, you know,we stayed in and we played board games and it was a great family bonding experience orsomething.” Even if it was negative in the moment, it becomes positive after the fact. That’s alot harder to do with material purchases because they’re right there in front of you.* hedonic adaptation returning to a stable emotional state after a high or low