It’s sad to admit it. The new generation is not only dissatisfied with life but is unhappier than previous ones.
Today’s youth are not happy and experience similar negative emotions as older people going through a midlife crisis.
This is not a random conclusion.
It comes from a major study published last week in the USA, adding to several others saying exactly the same thing. For several years, data in the USA showed that people aged 15 to 24 were happier than older ones.
This trend dramatically changed in 2017. The same goes for Europe, with estimates suggesting this will become more pronounced in the next one to two years.
These are not just feelings or thoughts, said Vic Murphy, an American physician and one of the heads of the study. Today’s youth are genuinely unhappy and have shaken mental health.
And the reason behind the widespread unhappiness is simple: increased, almost obsessive use of mobile phones, and especially activity on social media.
It is estimated that almost all children today have smartphones. Many get their first one by the age of 11.
According to a study by the Pew Research Center, one in two teenagers is “almost constantly” online. Non-stop.
The effort for more likes and shares, the constant posting of retouched but perfect photos, bullying, and all kinds of negative comments cause tremendous anxiety in children, which they cannot handle.
They are constantly fed with an extremely addictive and often extremely unhealthy “diet” of content from which it is extremely difficult to disconnect, while being forced to create the same content on social media.
Easy solutions do not exist. How can children disconnect from a world that is constantly connected?
How can they abstain from their mobile phones when they depend heavily on them to carry out a multitude of daily activities?
American social psychologist Jonathan Haidt in his book “The Anxious Generation” proposes four measures: more unsupervised play and more childhood independence, no smartphones before the age of 14, no social media before the age of 16, and finally, schools without mobile phones.
As impossible as it may seem, we must detach children from screens. Otherwise, we risk leaving them stuck in anxiety and unhappiness.
