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.

    • nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      18·
      3 months ago

      Yeah I feel like its not social medias fault as much as it’s a condition of the poor state of society, kids just happen to learn about that state on social media.

    • Neato@ttrpg.networkEnglish
      11·
      3 months ago

      I see all the declining birth rates and negative population growth and totally commiserate with them. I wouldn’t want to have kids in this world either. I wouldn’t want to create someone that would inherit this grim outlook. Thankfully, we aren’t but that was personal reasons. I know lots of people still having kids with the biggest reason people don’t outside their desires being financial. At least among fairly privileged people in the US.