Can money buy you happiness?

Whenever people say, “Money can’t solve all your problems,” I’ve always disagreed. Bored? Buy a new game to entertain yourself. Sick? Pay for the best medical care in the world. Need to go somewhere? Buy a private airplane and get there real quick. However, as I pondered whether happiness could be purchased, I concluded that money couldn’t buy happiness but could replace it.     First of all, how would I define happiness? Is it being entertained? Perhaps loved? I’m not a philosopher, so I will just say that whenever I smile and feel joy, I am experiencing happiness. Have you ever played a game with an infinite money hack? I imagine that would be how it feels to buy happiness with money. The first few moments would be bliss; you could do whatever you wanted, purchasing everything you couldn’t and conquering levels without effort. But pretty soon, the game you once loved quickly becomes dull, as you no longer have an objective to work towards, and eventually, you delete the game as you are no longer entertained. The same thing will happen if you try to gain happiness by purchasing objects; you will enjoy the beginning, but soon the joy will fade away. So why do I say money can replace happiness? That’s because buying physical objects is not the only way to achieve happiness.     I’m the happiest not when I’m alone playing games or watching videos, but instead, I feel the most joy when I’m spending time with the people I love, like friends and family. While I believe it is impossible to “purchase” friends and family, it is possible to buy fake ones, especially fake friends.     My grandmother really values money; it almost seems like she views money and affection as two of the same. While she is not rich, she is probably considered relatively wealthy compared to the others in her rural Chinese town. Often, I would see her post photos of her friend group on WeChat and talk about how she is getting so much retirement benefit, and so she is paying for everyone. Adding to the fact that she would just randomly send me money, making excuses such as “I’m just seeing if WeChat allows me to send money,” it really seems like she is just giving people money in exchange for their affection.     While I don’t think this a good way of making friends, I feel like this makes them care more about what you have than who you are as a person. I can’t deny that one thing I do know for sure about my grandma is that she is indeed happy. I can’t say how exactly she feels, but from her grandson 7000 miles away, it seems like she was able to buy happiness.