Young people are becoming less happy than older generations and tend to face a state similar to midlife crisis earlier. This is evidenced by global studies, and US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy confirms: "young people are really struggling."
The Guardian writes about it.
Murthy argues that allowing children to use social networks is like giving medicine that has not been proven safe. He said the failure of governments to better regulate social media in recent years was "madness".
Deteriorating mental health among people under 30 has pushed the US out of the top 20 happiest nations, according to the 2024 World Happiness Report.
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.
The annual happiness report showed "disturbing declines in happiness among young people, particularly in North America and Western Europe," said Professor Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, director of the Oxford Center for Well-Being Research.
"The idea that children in some parts of the world are already going through a state similar to a midlife crisis calls for immediate action," he said.
Murthy called such figures "alarm bells" and said he was still waiting for data to prove that social networks are safe for children and teenagers. At the same time, he called for international action to improve social connections in real life for young people.
British under-30s are ranked 32nd out of 143 countries, behind countries such as Moldova, Kosovo and even El Salvador, which has one of the worldʼs highest murder rates.
Instead, Britons over 60 made it into the 20 happiest older people in the world. Earlier this month, a majority of British teenagers told pollsters that they expect their lives to be worse than those of the previous generation.
The US dropped eight places in the overall happiness ranking to 23rd place. However, when such a study was conducted only among people under 30 years of age, the United States ranked 62nd, behind Guatemala, Saudi Arabia and Bulgaria. If only the opinions of people aged 60 and over were taken into account, the US would be the tenth happiest nation in the world.
The report does not reveal the reasons for this phenomenon, but it is likely that it is happening against the background of excessive use of social networks, uncertainty about the future, the housing crisis, instability in the world, fears about war, climate change, etc.
Since 2012, the annual report on happiness has been prepared by the UN unit for finding solutions for sustainable development in the world.
Finlandʼs ambassador to London Jukka Siukosaari said his countryʼs recipe for happiness was to achieve a "safe environment" — ensuring relatively equal incomes for citizens and opportunities for people to express themselves culturally.
"It all starts with a high level of trust between citizens and the authorities," he said.
A positive emotional state in childhood can predict the level of life satisfaction in adulthood, the report says. Previous research has shown that teenagers and young adults who report higher life satisfaction earn significantly higher incomes in later adulthood, even despite differences in education, intelligence, physical health, and self-esteem.