Wellness is a modern way of life that seeks health and happiness, and has become a social value that emphasizes natural and human-centered elements. Science and technology have also reflected these changes and are developing to make human life more enriching.
Nowadays, modern people love the word wellness. Since the recent arrival of wellness culture, wellness has quickly become a social and cultural trend. The word “wellness” itself has become a tool for marketing and advertising. Many restaurants are serving healthy food, and the recent surge in yoga, fitness, spa, and mountain climbing is also a product of wellness marketing. For such a young culture, it is surprising how easily most people seem to accept and recognize the value of wellness.
The word “well-being” directly translates to “living well”. This may seem like a rather vague concept, as the definition of well-being varies from person to person, but there is definitely a common concept that most people can easily recognize in modern society. How do we understand the common concepts of ‘well-being’ and ‘living well’ that have been quickly and naturally adopted by modern people?
Originally, ‘wellness’ was a way of life that the middle class in the United States chose as an alternative to advanced civilization, embracing naturalism and New Age culture. It is true that the concept of well-being, which is being developed in Korea, is somewhat distorted as a culture enjoyed by the upper class. However, I believe that the culture of well-being is common to all countries where it has been established, as people have begun to recognize values such as nature, leisure, health, and tradition as conditions for a truly good life instead of the complex, busy, and hectic life that modern high-tech civilization has created.
We can see that the culture of well-being, which originated in the United States and has been successfully established in Korea, is more prevalent in well-off countries than in poor countries. I think it is the result of developed countries that have found economic leeway due to rapid technological and industrial development in the wake of the industrial revolution, taking a step back from blind development and starting to think about how to truly live well. In this changing social atmosphere, I think the values of science and technology have similarly changed.
Since the Industrial Revolution, science and technology have been developing rapidly, and the first priorities were efficiency and safety. Transportation vehicles such as cars, trains, and airplanes were prioritized to move cargo and people faster and safer, and machines and robots were prioritized to work more accurately and quickly to produce things efficiently and in large quantities. Therefore, people were initially satisfied with the lives that were being made more efficient by the rapidly advancing technology. However, nowadays, science and technology that simply emphasizes efficiency and safety are no longer recognized as good as they used to be.
As efficiency and safety are no longer enough, eco-friendly and human-centered factors that reflect the value of well-being have begun to emerge as important. In fact, the importance of eco-friendly and human-centered factors is becoming increasingly important in developed countries. Even if they are less efficient, many people are more interested in eco-friendly and human-centered technologies and recognize them as sustainable.
Companies are looking to create low- or zero-emission vehicles, and are focusing on manufacturing methods that use materials that are environmentally friendly and harmless to the human body. Ergonomic design that is comfortable for people to use and takes health into account is becoming more important. In the case of chairs alone, even if they are somewhat inefficient in terms of mass production, there are many new designs that take into account the curves of the human body, and in the case of beds, the A-model advertising phrase “Bed is science” is becoming popular, which shows that science and technology are increasingly being developed in a form that can be well integrated with human life by considering many human factors.
For another example, robots that used to work alongside humans in dangerous environments such as factories and construction sites are now being asked to provide various services in everyday environments where humans live in symbiosis with humans. Examples include cleaning robots, home service robots, and medical robots.
This emphasis on nature-friendly and human-centered elements in science, engineering, and technology is aimed at minimizing people’s negative perceptions of advanced technology and ensuring that it will continue to play a natural role close enough to people in the era of well-being.
As wellness-oriented lifestyles become more and more popular, people’s consumption patterns are also changing. For example, many people are choosing environmentally friendly products, seeking out organic food, and reducing their use of plastic. This is more than just about personal health; it’s a movement to protect the planet and create a sustainable future.
Wellness is also strongly linked to mental health. Modern people are turning to meditation, yoga, and psychological counseling to manage stress and find peace of mind. These activities play an important role in the well-being of modern people, who are looking for peace of mind and happiness beyond just physical health.
As times change and people’s values of well-being change, it is only natural that the direction of technology will also change, because technology is, after all, created by people and developed for the benefit of people. I look forward to seeing what kind of technologies will be developed that will naturally integrate into our daily lives and support a wellness-oriented life, and how people will react to them.
In conclusion, I think the answer to the question of what true well-being is is that it changes with the times and the values that people value. Humans will continue to develop and utilize technology in line with their own values of well-being in order to live better. At the same time, well-being will become more than just a fad, but a sustainable way of life, pursuing both individual happiness and the health of society as a whole.
