There is no doubt that the past few years have been extremely tough for today's youth, with wars, disasters, conflicts, and struggles all being significant challenges they have faced. Based on this, new research has shown that young people are less happy than older generations, but the difference is that disasters are not the cause.
The U.S. Surgeon General stated that the failure of governments to better regulate social media has become "insane," negatively affecting the peace of mind of the younger generation. Dr. Vivek Murthy revealed that a new global study explained how young people are less happy than older generations because they are experiencing what equates to a midlife crisis. The Surgeon General warned, "young people are truly suffering," emphasizing that allowing children to use social media is like giving them a medication that has not been proven safe.
Murthy pointed out that the failure of governments to better regulate social media in recent years has been "madness," according to the Guardian newspaper. He also discussed new data showing that youth across North America are now less happy than the elderly, with a similar "historical" shift expected in Western Europe. He confirmed that the 2024 World Happiness Report showed a decline in well-being among those under 30, resulting in the U.S. dropping out of the list of the twenty happiest countries.
After 12 years in which individuals aged 15-24 were measured as being happier than older generations in the U.S., it seems this trend reversed in 2017. Murthy described the report findings as a "red flag that young people are indeed suffering in the U.S. and now increasingly across the globe," noting that he is still waiting to see data proving that social media platforms are safe for children and teenagers, and he called for international action to improve the real social connections of youth.
He clarified that the belief that children in certain parts of the world are already suffering from what equates to a midlife crisis requires immediate political action. He also stressed that the decline in well-being in North America (which includes Australia and New Zealand) contradicts the established idea that children start their lives with greater happiness before slipping down the U-shaped curve toward midlife crisis before they choose "well-being."
Murthy mentioned that American teenagers spend nearly five hours daily on social media on average, with a third of them staying up until midnight on school nights with their devices. He urged for legislation "now" to mitigate the harm to youth from social media, including restricting or removing features such as like buttons and infinite scrolling.
Young Brits under 30 ranked 32nd in the happiness index, behind countries such as Moldova, Kosovo, and even El Salvador, which has one of the highest homicide rates in the world. In contrast, Brits over 60 reached the top 20 list of the happiest older generations globally. This came after Britons earlier this month, including teenagers surveyed, expressed that they expect their lives to be worse than the previous generation.
The World Happiness Report is an annual measure of well-being across 140 countries organized by the Oxford University Centre for Wellbeing Research, Gallup, and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. The measure has shown concerning declines (in youth happiness), particularly in North America and Western Europe. Additionally, the U.S. dropped eight places in the overall happiness ranking, now standing at 23rd, but when only individuals under 30 were considered, the richest country in the world ranked 62nd – behind Guatemala and Bulgaria.
When only considering opinions from those aged 60 and above, the U.S. was in 10th place among the happiest countries. The report found that, for the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, happiness has declined across all age groups, but especially for youth, to the extent that young people now, in 2021-2023, are the least happy age group, whereas in 2010, they were happier than those in midlife.
The report does not reveal the reasons for these changes, but they come amid growing concerns about the impact of increased social media usage and income inequality.
