Report finds falling happiness among youth of North America and western Europe, but rise in sub-Saharan Africa and eastern Europe

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.

  • conditional_soup@lemm.ee
    10·
    8 months ago

    Real talk, as a parent, it distresses me to think about my kids’ future. Shit’s going to start going sideways fast by the time they’re adults. They’re going to have to deal with so much awful bullshit because of a bunch of rich/old fucks making decisions that they are beyond the consequences of. I wonder if they’ll have kids, but I doubt it; I sometimes feel guilty having brought them into this, and I wouldn’t blame them for not wanting to have their own when things start really falling apart. I’m just trying to appreciate the good times while we have them, and being cognizant that they’re not going to last.

    I’m trying to be politically active, trying to make a difference where I can to make sure they inherit a better world, but it’s damn hard to find the time.