I would like some of that "happy" please. It sounds nice
this post was submitted on 14 Jul 2024
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ITT: A bunch of folks who didn't read the article.
The article didn’t say young people were doing worse than before, which it seems like all of you assumed.
The reason the study found for why youth is no longer one of the “happiest times” is because they showed that people only do better and better as they age. So whereas before your youth would be comparatively happier to your 'mid-life crisis', they’re saying that crisis doesn't occur anymore and we just get happier and happier into midlife and old age. So your younger days didn't get worse, they just aren't as great in comparison because the rest of your life gets so much better as time goes on.
Sounds crazy, I know. But that's what the article was actually saying.
That's part of it, but the charts also show higher despair and lower satisfaction among younger people. For example:
Thank goodness at least I personally am a happy young adult.
I'm planning on being one in another 20 years or so
Weird article. I think if in your middle aged years you are the most unhappy, its because you have not made the right decisions for yourself. Too many people chase the things they are told will make them happy rather than what they like and know made them happy. Doing what you are "supposed" to do. Alternative paths have their hardship but for me at least, I don't have the kind of complaint I hear from others. You always have to make some kind of compromise...
It is also the time in people's lives where they have the most responsibility. Even if you've made the right choices in life, that's when people are their busiest.
But my point is that, that is due to one's choices. You don't actually have to get married, have kids, get on the career treadmill. But also some do not even get to have these choices, so have no choice but to follow a non-traditional path. People with disabilities, people who living in places where they are displayed due to political instability, poverty, war etc.
Someone growing up in Ukraine right now, probably wont consider this to be the happiest time in their lives. A person with a disability struggling to establishing independence over even basic life activities. People who just say f--k it.
The worst part is the title is probably wrong.
It's always funny how triggered some people get whenever there's even the hint of a suggestion that their precious smartphones might be problematic.
That's a profoundly ignorant perspective. Yeah, MAYBE cell phones play a role, but they're hardly the only thing that's changed about society.
I never said they were the sole problem or the only thing that has changed. You are proving my point here with your reaction.
"Someone things I'm wrong, therefore I'm right."
Yeah I've got literally nothing left to say to you.
Yes, yes, keep replying to tell me you have nothing left to tell me.
We've reached full Reddit replacement. Good job.
They both agreed with each other but were arguing with a strawman. One said
their precious smartphones might be problematic.
The other said
maybe smartphones play a role
Which mean the same thing.
Yeah it's the technological tool that's the problem. Definitely not rising cost of living, political insanity, civil unrest, climate change, the slow stripping away of rights, war. But sure the problem is some nerd swiping up on their phone or playing video games or watching Netflix or literally any other distraction from hell world.
Big tech are absolutely evil pieces of shit beholden to the economic system that allows them to thrive to the detriment of humanity, but to blame a magic brick in your pocket like "yeah THIS, this must be why everyone is miserable (especially youth because please think of the children)" is just an incredibly narrow way of thinking, albeit a somewhat effective boogeyman, to distract from gestures broadly how badly we've fucked up and how much worse it's getting as the century progresses.
I never said they were the sole problem or the only thing that has changed. You are proving my point here with your reaction.
This is just a reminder to be nice on our instance - this could be read as hostile or not extending good faith to the other user.
I never implied that you said they were the only problem, nor am I proving your point because you perceive me to be "triggered" by the critique that aspects of phones are contributing factors, which I also did not disagree with. I'm simply stating that there are much larger and central factors that are contributing to unhappiness such as political, social, and economic instability, and that people who focus on other people's contrary reactions to the popular talking point that "phones are bad" are not having a discussion in good faith.
As a person who's not a young adult anymore I'm not sure how or if it ever was. My young adulthood was full of angst, rumination, poverty, debt, etc. Looking back there were definitely good things that I miss, but I'm in such a massively better financial and mental place these days that I can't imagine going back.
Don't forget five to seven hours of homework a night.
Why are you doing 7 hours of homework as an adult?
College. But fine to seven hours every night is absolutely an exaggeration.
Never experienced that so-called 'happy'. What is it? Is there still some left?
It's this thing that lots of money gets you.
Yeah, no
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