The Simpler Life is a six-part series for C4 that asks whether we have made the right choices about how we live our modern, consumer-focussed Western lives. World renowned psychologist Barry Schwartz will be providing the psychological context that asks ‘Does a Simpler Life make us Happier?’ It does so by building a world in which 25 to 30 British people - selected to represent a diverse range of modern Britain – live the simple life of an Amish community. They will work alongside an Amish family from Ohio who will provide a template of Amish life into which we can set our community, helping the contributors take up the challenge to live substantially from their own land over a period of five months. They will plough the land by horse, plant and harvest their own food, manage their own livestock, establish traditional Amish style cottage industries such as pickling vegetables and making jam, minimise the use of technology while dressing very simply with no make-up or jewellery or fashionable clothes. all in order to building their own community separate from the modern world (they'll even travel to the local town by horse and buggy). Like the Amish they will meet regularly as a community to resolve issues or questions that emerge in the community. And, as they do all that, they will be monitored and measured by Barry Schwartz and a team of scientists to score and evaluate changes in their wellbeing across the period of filming and when they return to their normal modern lives.