taxpayer on All Facts Matter

[taxpayer]

I think there's considerable research showing that for most people, happiness increases with age. (I see an article asserting this at https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/312512).

In which case it is "normal" for young folks to be unhappy.

That said, improved passing on of wisdom would be a good thing.

[Peter Nayland Kust]

There is something to be said for that, and I do believe that experience teaches us a certain contentment with our lives.

However, that lack of life experience is going to be more or less a constant in every generation. All things being equal, we should be seeing approximately the same levels of happiness and unhappiness in every generation. The data does not show that.

Instead, the data shows levels of unhappiness increasing in each subsequent generation. Some of the studies done show Gen Z members self-assess their mental and emotional states significantly worse than millenials did at approximately the same age/stage of life. While self-assessments are notoriously imprecise, the data does show a distinct downward trend across generations with regards to mental and emotional health.

Mental health issues and crises are undeniably on the rise, and they are happening with greater frequency among younger individuals. There is more unhappiness in evidence than can be explained by a lack of life experience.

It is normal for young people to be "unhappy" to a degree. It is not normal for young or old people to have their lives and activities impaired by that unhappiness.

It's one thing to be dissatisfied with one's life and from that derive motivation to make changes and grow. It is quite another for that dissatisfaction to render one unable to cope, unable to adapt, unable to make changes and grow. We are seeing more and more of the latter case among young people, and that's a problem.

It is a fixable problem, but it is a problem nevertheless.