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Young people feel less happy than older generations. After all, they are recently facing a condition similar to a “mid-life crisis”.
This conclusion was reached after conducting global research, and US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy confirms: “It is really difficult for young people.” They become less happy as they suffer the “equivalent of a midlife crisis.” The Guardian writes about it.
Since 2005, people aged 15-24 were considered happier than older generations in the US. However, this trend changed dramatically in 2017, approximately the same situation is observed in Western Europe. Vivek Murthy compares the deterioration of the mental state of young people with the use of social networks.
Allow children to use social networks – it's the same as giving medicine, the safety of which has not been proven. The failure of governments to better regulate social networks in recent years – it's crazy, – says Murthy.
According to Murthy, American teenagers spend an average of about five hours a day on social networks. A third of children use gadgets at night as well.
He called on the authorities to immediately adopt legislation to reduce the harm to the psychological health of young people caused by social networks. This could be addressed by including time limits or eliminating the endless scrolling features of social networks.
A new report indicates that the happiest population in the US is people over 60 – for this age group, the United States ranked 10th in the world ranking of the level of happiness. At the same time, in the age group under 30 years old, he is on the 62nd place – after Guatemala, Saudi Arabia and Bulgaria.
The World Happiness Report 2024 does not reveal the causes of the youth crisis, but it comes amid concerns about the impact of rising social media use, income inequality, the housing crisis and fears of war and climate change.