Young people are becoming less happy than older generations as they suffer “the equivalent of a midlife crisis”, global research has revealed as America’s top doctor warned that “young people are really struggling”.
Dr Vivek Murthy, the US surgeon general, said allowing children to use social media was like giving them medicine that is not proven to be safe. He said the failure of governments to better regulate social media in recent years was “insane”.
Murthy spoke to the Guardian as new data revealed that young people across North America were now less happy than their elders, with the same “historic” shift expected to follow in western Europe.
Declining wellbeing among under-30s has driven the US out of the top 20 list of happiest nations, the 2024 World Happiness Report revealed.
Social media is what’s making us aware of all those things concurrently. Continuously.
It is (that, and 24/7 news). I’m not qualified to debate the health effects of social media on the adolescent (or adult) mind, but I still find it disingenuous and tone deaf to blame it instead of the problems it’s merely highlighting.
Maybe in the younger people, pre-teens, teens, it has a bigger impact. They might not pay as much attention to politics and the news.
However, on social media you only see the positive parts of people’s lives. You don’t see the negative parts so often. People’s lives look so much better than ours. Plus there’s all the bullying aspect.
When you’re a teen with self esteem issues, these things can really get to you.
Then again, like you said, I’m no expert.