Happiness, we have been believing for a long time, follows a curve: it is raised when you are young, plunges into the forties, then goes back as you age.
Get that – it may not be true.
A new research document based on the results of six English -speaking countries suggests that young adults are much less happy than generations before them.
The study of the United Nations published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), based in the United States, reveals a constant drop in satisfaction and happiness of life in young adults in the last decade. Co-author by the psychologist of the State University of San Diego, Jean Twenge and the economist of the University of Dartmouth, David G Blanchflower, the research examined the data collected from 11 surveys through Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.
But the studies of other parts of the world seem to suggest that these results are there too.
The conclusions of the study by Blanchflower and Twenge have changed the longtime belief that happiness follows a U -shaped curve.
What is the importance of this change – and what stimulates growing misfortune among young people?
What has research found?
Researchers say that a decrease in misfortune is particularly apparent in young adults and adolescents aged 12 to 25, many of whom face depression and psychological distress at much higher rates than those who have only several more years.
Meanwhile, the elderly always experience growing life satisfaction with age.
The shocking change has raised concerns that the younger generations are faced with unprecedented challenges in a post-comfortable world, in particular with the rise of digital technology and economic uncertainty.
What about this generational slowdown?
According to the results of the study, there is a clear correlation between a drop in happiness and increased use of the Internet, at a time of smartphones and social media. It is that researchers are the main difference between the younger generations today and those who preceded them.
The Internet is the “main competitor” to blame, told Al Jazeera in Al Jazeera. “Nothing else corresponds to the facts.”
In 2024, a Pew research survey revealed that Three out of four American teenagers I felt happy or peaceful when they were without their smartphone. Researchers behind a study in 2024 showing that British adolescents and pre-adolescents were the The least happy in Europe Also concluded that social media was a key reason.
Blanchflower’s assertion seems to be supported by research in other countries of the world, including the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, where more and more young people have access to smartphones.
Blanchflower, who worked on a similar study that questioned African countries, entitled the mental health of young people in Africa,, Posted by Nber in December 2024,, Said then that around half of the enormous continent population has never used the internet, those who have been more likely to show “mental health problems”.
“The absence of the Internet could help explain why the mental health of young Africans has decreased less than elsewhere,” said the study. “However, there are dangers on the horizon as smartphones sales explode.”
The research document has evaluated studies in dozens of African countries which have all shown a curve of U -shaped happiness, suggesting a correlation between low internet access and higher levels of happiness among young people.
“This is clearly a global trend, mainly for those connected to the Internet,” said Blanchflower.
According to Blanchflower, there is also evidence that the levels of happiness of average age who use smartphones are lower compared to their predecessors in generations before the same age which did not use smartphones or the Internet.
What leads to the decrease of others?
However, the Internet and smartphones may not be the only engines of happiness declining among young people.
The study suggests that economic difficulties and loneliness could also be a contributory factor.
“A certain number of cultural forces can be at work that have had a negative impact on life satisfaction and the views of society, in particular a drop in social interaction in person, increased use of social media and an increase in income inequality,” said the study.
The World World Report in 2024 has shown that in the world, Young people under the age of 30 have attended a spectacular drop in happiness from the Pandemic COVID-19. The fall of happiness is particularly clear in the United States, which fell from the 20 most happiest countries for the first time since the report was published in 2012.
The authors of the study say that more research will be necessary to understand why young people seem increasingly unhappy, in order to help decision -makers to design concrete steps to reverse this change.
However, Blanchflower doubts the prospects of reverse this trend.
“The concern is the decline in young people’s well-being,” said Blanchflower. “He spreads into the world.”
He urged people to “move away from their phone” and interact with others.
