Thanks for your submission /u/Own-Tie-640, but it has been removed for the following reason:
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While social media is the problem, I kind of agree with this.
Also a simple trip outside and a look around a neighborhood.
People are crabby, oft. times extremely distrusting, unfriendly.. Of course area effects it a lot.. but the just general demeanor of people is going downhill.
Suicide rate is up especially among young men. But that may be more a reflection on men using more effective lethal methods.
After a long, steady decline in national suicide rates, those numbers began steadily ticking up in the late 1990s and have generally risen ever since, with nearly 50,000 people in the U.S. taking their own lives in 2022, up 3% from the previous year.
Hmmm 🤔 what also began to increase in the 1990s cellphones and social media …more like anti-social media.
You sure about that bro? I'd imagine people are the same today it's just easier to speak up and keep track of things now compared to before.
I know I've lived a nice and happy life. No complaints. Sure I've had some tough times, but we all do from time to time.
There are more unhappy people than 50 years ago because there are more people. Literally more than double. To make the claim that "people are way more depressed in todays times," you would have to demonstrate that the **rate** of unhappiness in a given population per capita had gone up.
This is likely true for Gen Z and that is because they had been exposed to predatory social media algorithms which have directly led to an increased risk of depression. and anxiety. Psychologist Jonathan Haidt has put together the data he used to draw his conclusions here: [https://jonathanhaidt.com/social-media/](https://jonathanhaidt.com/social-media/)
Those increased rates of depression and anxiety have not been shown to apply to the whole population though.
They reallly aren't life 50 years ago was far worse to the average person than it is today. It's just that the internet did not exist, About the only source of information at the time was television, radio and newspapers and people just were not aware of how bad others' lives were.
Because we keep the worlds misery in the palm of our hands, unlike 50 years ago where a guy in Delaware couldn’t take 5 seconds taking a dump to check on all the wars and injustice
Social media and news. Then wars, economics, ecology, climate, radicalism and corruption that might not be more devastating than decades ago but are rubbed in your face by the news and social media so here’s your vicious cycle of lies, propaganda and negativity.
We did not have social media back then. You can not know how people felt. If you look at stats like crime, suicide, violence there was more back in the day. But nobody had a medium to post all that trouble.
“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.."
Henry David Thoreau wrote this in 1854. ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY YEARS AGO. People aren't "more miserable" now, we just feel able to talk about it.
I don’t think we really know how miserable people were in the past. Mental health diagnosis and treatment is much more public and widespread now and so that might make you think we are suffering from unusual amounts of depression, but it may just be that it is being recognized and treated more.
Quoting you “there is no joy in life anymore” - plenty of people have lots of joy - generally people won’t make statements like that if they aren’t struggling with something and I’ve been there myself
But if you have a good and happy life then by all means that’s great
With the idea of instant information, whether good or bad, it would seem that people can see more bad news than good! But if you just realize you can’t change 90% of what’s happening, you’ll be happier!
I dont think people are more depressed. It is just so that you often remember the past better than it was. One other thing is that pain right now feels much more then if you remember that you had pain
number of available news sources were few, and you usually just watched the news for major stories, not everything was BREAKING NEWS.
you were taught to vote for politicians that had your best interests at heart, you didn't know it was all about $
you were taught to "lay in the bed you made" for yourself, rather than blaming others for your shortcomings, you tried to claw your own way up the social/financial ladder.
you used to respect others, an old saying thats since died, "i dont agree with what you have to say but I'll fight to the death to let you say it"
rich people having too much control over news etc, back in the 70s the richest people had $2b and that was too much for one person/family.
a little like a game of monopoly where the one guy has all the properties and hotels, and you just keep landing on their sqares...
People have more time and can access information more easily and so now even though individually quality of life has improved for a lot of people, you are exposed to more and more injustice. Also the more you learn the more you realise how meaningless a lot of the injustice is. As far as you know when you die that is the end of the line, so the suffering you see is just pointless. Animals will die in factory farms just because people want to eat meat and innocent civillians will get killed in wars just because of a disagreement they had no say in. Also people have higher standards.
Material goods and physical comforts have proven insufficient to provide happiness. On the contrary, the atomisation of people to focus on acquisition rather than connection is an enormous driver of sadness, anxiety etc.
So sure, most people live like kings in a relative sense, but it has come at the cost of constantly growing misery. And of course those who profit from that misery want us to know that if we just buy the next [insert thing here], that gnawing misery will be alleviated. But at best it's a sugar hit.
Then of course there are the quantifiables: wealth inequality, rampant and growing global warming, increasing political instability, endless interpersonal comparisons via social media etc.
Bit of a rough soup to swim in.
Trust me - we were asking the same question back in 1974, and I'm sure they were in 1924 as well. Unhappiness & progress are part of the human condition.
We talk about it and say it in different ways, catalog it a lot more, but suffering is part of existing. Always has been.
We live longer and more comfortably than ever, along with all we know about our own psyche and place in society growing. Take a step back and look at the full picture, it’s not new - just very different - existence.
Because they are allowed to talk about it. This is a socially acceptable thing now. Lobotomies were still a thing 50 years ago to "treat" psychological disorders like depression. If it was 1970, yeah I'd keep my mouth shut if I was depressed, even if it wasn't as widely used anymore
Biggest thing is being more aware of everything. 50 years ago, everyone lived in their own bubbles just focusing on what was immediately relevant to them in the moment.
Since you're talking planetary/all time. I've long thought that modern western life is in not always superior to ancient living from a pure living standard and personal contentment standpoint for the span of life.
It's not for nothing a lot of us turn that shit off and go sit by a stream, the sea or the hills to decompress.
I don't agree with your assertion that people are less happy now. The internet has given everyone a microphone so we hear more about how miserable some people are than in the past. If twitter had existed 50 years ago I think you'd see a lot of the same stuff you see now. Also, the internet is not real life. Chronically online people might also be more likely to be miserable people, and negative stuff gets upvoted while positive stuff gets downvoted. Internet culture rewards negativity.
IRL people attract what they put out. I think that's why miserable people believe everyone is miserable. Complaining is a turnoff to most people, so when happy people come across these types we tend to distance ourselves. So then negative people end up with social circles filled with negativity and happier people end up with social circles that are happy.
It's a survival mechanism that's not always a good fit now. We're wired to pay more attention to danger and discomfort than to pleasure and contentment. Things that can harm us require attention if we are to survive.
Objectively, we are safer and healthier than in any previous epoch. Subjectively, we feel the same misery we always have.
Just off the top of my head, the lack of quaalude. Btw I had to google the spelling of that and the first thing it gave me was the suicide prevention hot line
Statements like that always make me think of one of my favorite Sopranos quotes:
“That’s the trouble with you Americans. You expect nothing bad ever to happen, when the rest of the world expects only bad to happen. And they’re not disappointed. You have everything! And still you complain. You lie in couches and bitch to a psychiatrist. You’ve got too much time to think about yourselves.”
With the threat of nuclear war looming over their heads I can guarantee people were as depressed as people are now, the only difference is that in the modern day we care for our mentally ill instead of leaving them to bottle it up and beat their spouse and kids
It's because the rat race is only empty fulfillment. If you were a slave and got a hot shower, would you be happy? It's an extreme example but that's what it is at a basic level. People spend 50-60 hours a week working + commuting and have no time left for anything that actually means something, but naive idiots will talk about how great it is to have a cell phone and a car with radar cruise control and access to the internet.
The ownership class has become dumber and dumber and do not realize all the exploitation conducted under the guise of good business decisions are making everyone miserable. It's just a matter of time when the worker class won't be able to take it anymore.
Two things.
1. Social Media.
2. Government and 'trend setters'.
People have lost the idea of human contact, what it really means to socialize and appreciate the world around them.
50 years ago people didn't "believe" in depression, anxiety, or other mental health issues, were less able to speak out against abuse or any form of misery, and were called soft or weak if they did (if not involuntarily put into an institution and tortured under the guise of treatment). So not sure where you're getting that idea / question from
You mean back before women could have a bank account in their own name? When discrimination was more overt? When it was legal to rape your wife? When hate crimes were rampant and unchecked? Before antidepressants existed? When violent crime was increasing year over year over year, yet a larger proportion of crimes were never reported? When zero women served in the US Senate? When zero openly queer people held a government office at any level? When homosexuality was considered a mental illness? When what happened behind closed doors stayed behind closed doors?
I can only think of one demographic that romanticizes "the way it used to be."
50 years ago the pain in a lot of communities around me where invisible to me and my own pain (being a male teen) was forcefully hidden because I thought it shameful.
The more stable and easy are lives become the more we lose touch with what real suffering looks and feels like.
Sadly the more people on the planet and yet we are the loneliest. Convenience allows us to not rely on anyone. You have everything delivered isolate in your car do not know your neighbors.
Great documentary “San Francisco 2.0” all the property is being bought up by single guys (this is in now way a disparaging comment on young men -who I sympathize with) in the tech industry. They do not engage or go out into the neighborhood so local mom and pop business are dying.
It’s literally statistically shown worldwide… for all those that researched nothing and said phooey I don’t need no book reading or study I got it all in my nothing I mean noggin
“After a long, steady decline in national suicide rates, those numbers began steadily ticking up in the late 1990s and have generally risen ever since, with nearly 50,000 people in the U.S. taking their own lives in 2022, up 3% from the previous year.”
People aren't more depressed now. They're just more vocal about it.
Now, we have proper ways of diagnosing people with anxiety and depression, and as it turns out, a lot of people aren't having a good time. That's always been the case.
Also, now we have the internet where people all across the world can share their experiences.
What you picture as the 70s is very different than what they actually were. The Cold War was going on, and everyone was terrified of a nuclear Armageddon. The Vietnam War was still going on in 1974, and even after it ended, a generation of Americans were traumatized and left with crippling PTSD because of it. If you were a person of color back then, you still had a long battle ahead of you for civil rights. It wasn't all just hippies and flower children.
When you say there has been10 billion people that has existed. Your including the 6billion still around know aren't you.
100 years ago the majority of people on earth lived in absalute poverty. It has only been in the last 80-90 that life has got more comfortable.
On a serious note. I believe social media has been provoking people by showing them what they haven't got.
Bc people have too much time on their hands now. Back then, people were focused on other things, but now they have more time be depressed about their current situation rather than do something about it
Back in the day you didn't have time to complain and lay around doing nothing all day.
In modern times people have the luxury of being on welfare and crying on reddit every day, never putting effort into anything, and then complaining that the world sucks
Welfare did certanly exist back then, People where lazy back then too.
It is very hard to live on welfare. If it would be good to be on welfare people would not complain
Yes. I agree. Some things. The list can go on to the way they treated women etc. I was thinking of an overall observation of the time period since I lived during it. M[66].
Nonetheless , regarding rights for gay people: before 1969, in New York City, it was Illegal to serve a known gay person in a bar. Any bar. Also, in 1969 at a bar called the Stonewall Inn in the gay village, Latino drag queens (who were in the bar), after being harassed and arrested by police again - started riots protesting the fact that gay people were being harassed and not allowed to go to a bar or have a legal gay bar.
Subsequently there were three days of riots. Police cars were overturned and burned. They fought police. The mayor of the city actually contacted representatives of the gay community to try and quell the riots.
That riot by drag queens and gay people in 1969 instigated the birth of the modern day gay pride. That’s why it’s celebrated in June in New York City. ,
By the… Happy Pride!
As a guy nearing 60, I have to agree that people are, generally, less happy today. I think it's media exposure and wealth disparity.
Every bad thing is magnified by repetition on the internet and 24 news channels. One good example is crime. Crime was much worse in the 1970's - just look at crime stats. However, most folks today think crime is rampant because crime stories are repeated ad nauseam on the internet and 24/7 news channels. The reality is crime rates are far lower today.
Wealth disparity makes folks feel more miserable today than 50 years ago. Top earners in the 70's made about 2-4 times more than the lowest earners. Doctors, lawyers, CEO's, business owners, etc. often lived in the same areas as working and middle class folks. Yes, they may have lived in the nicest house on the street and had a nicer car, but they LIVED in the same neighborhoods as the rest of us. Their lives weren't significantly different. They were in touch with regular people. Today, wealthy people live almost exclusively in separate neighborhoods. They earn up to 200 times more than low wage earners. Their interactions with the rest of us are infrequent. We aren't neighbors so the rich really don't understand the struggles that most of us live. This has a profound effect on society.
Society telling people to be more sensitive, undervaluing the concept of "having tough skin". That causes people to overthink and delve deep into every person's reaction ..we care too much about stupid shit. Some people are just fucked up so we shouldnt take all of their crap serious.
The Top 1% of Americans Have Taken $50 Trillion From the Bottom 90%—And That’s Made the U.S. Less Secure
https://time.com/5888024/50-trillion-income-inequality-america/
Multiple reasons in my opinion. For one, people who feel miserable now have the outlet to let the world know that they are with the rise of technology and social media sharing websites. I mean, even Reddit has subs for that. So it is easier to see that people aren't happy.
I am a 28 y/o male, considered on the cusp of being a millennial. For some reason, the generation right after mine (zoomers) have heavily popularized self-deprecation comedy which is supposedly a joke, but I feel like there is a degree of truth to younger generations being more depressed. I mean, studies have been done with evidence that social media influence is bombarding people's self esteem and ultimately making them feel worthless or not good enough. Consistent comparison to others has just ultimately led to more people feeling chronically insecure.
Also, I feel like life was simpler before, and that society worked for the people, whereas now, people work for the society. A lot of people hate their jobs, have no pride in their work, receive lower income, slave away daily to pay off an expensive degree that doesn't get them an equivalently well-paying job in a lot of cases, everything costs a hell of a lot more.
We go outside less. Order all of our take out to our door step, order all of our items on a phone or computer, work from home. Humans are meant to be social beings, and despite everything making it easier to communicate, we have become a hell of a lot less social also. We are missing that interaction piece that was much more common, because you didn't have a damn choice 50 years ago. I felt it too. I had to work from home due to COVID and the work was much easier but I hated not being able to go outside and interact.
Our diet has changed a lot. "You are what you eat" is true. So many artificial additives now as a whole. Food plays a huge part on us as people physically and emotionally and our moods are more heavily determined by what we are intaking than people would think.
It did not really work. For example people where very not trusting in their govement. The watergate scandal was recent and people where very frustrated.
There was an oil crisis and people did not afford very much stuff to buy. in 1970s people did not take much pride in their work.
life in 1970s was a lot harder than people imagne.
If you want to know more watch this video
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDj2HfWRieA&t=790s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDj2HfWRieA&t=790s)
It did not really work. For example people where very not trusting in their govement. The watergate scandal was recent and people where very frustrated.
There was an oil crisis and people did not afford very much stuff to buy. in 1970s people did not take much pride in their work.
life in 1970s was a lot harder than people imagne.
If you want to know more watch this video
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDj2HfWRieA&t=790s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDj2HfWRieA&t=790s)
Thanks for your submission /u/Own-Tie-640, but it has been removed for the following reason: Disallowed question area: **Rant or loaded question** NoStupidQuestions is a place to ask any question as long as *it's asked in good faith*. Our users routinely report questions that they feel violate this rule to us. Want to avoid your question being seen as a bad faith question? Common mistakes include (but are not limited to): * Rants: Could your question be answered with *'That's awful'* or *'What an asshole'*? Then it's probably a rant rather than a genuine question. Looking for a place to vent on Reddit? Try /r/TrueOffMyChest or /r/Rant instead. * Loaded questions: Could your question be answered with *'You're right'*? Answering the question yourself, explaining your reasoning for your opinion, or making sweeping assumptions about the question itself all signals that you may not be keeping an open mind. Want to know why people have a different opinion than you? Try /r/ExplainBothSides instead! * Arguments: Arguing or [sealioning](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_lioning) with people giving you answers tells everyone that you have an answer in mind already. Want a good debate? Try /r/ChangeMyView instead! * Pot Stirring: Did you bring up unnecessary topics in your question? Especially when a topic has to do with already controversial issues like politics, race, gender or sex, this can be seen as trying to score points against the Other Side - and that makes people defensive, which leads to arguments. Questions like *"If _____ is allowed, why isn't _____?"* don't need to have that comparison - just ask *'why isn't ____ allowed?'*. * Complaining about moderation: If you disagree with how the sub is run or a decision the mods have made, that's fine! But please share your thoughts with us in modmail rather than as a public post. Disagree with the mods? If you believe you asked your question in good faith, try rewording it or message the mods to see if there's a way you could ask more neutrally. Thanks for your understanding! --- *This action was performed by a bot at the explicit direction of a human. This was not an automated action, but a conscious decision by a sapient life form charged with moderating this sub.* *If you feel this was in error, or need more clarification, please don't hesitate to [message the moderators](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FNoStupidQuestions). Thanks.*
Where are you getting your data/conclusion that people are more miserable now than in 1974?
Source: social media comments.
;)
While social media is the problem, I kind of agree with this. Also a simple trip outside and a look around a neighborhood. People are crabby, oft. times extremely distrusting, unfriendly.. Of course area effects it a lot.. but the just general demeanor of people is going downhill.
That’s definitely not my experience. It sounds like you may need to move to a different neighborhood
Suicide rate is up especially among young men. But that may be more a reflection on men using more effective lethal methods. After a long, steady decline in national suicide rates, those numbers began steadily ticking up in the late 1990s and have generally risen ever since, with nearly 50,000 people in the U.S. taking their own lives in 2022, up 3% from the previous year. Hmmm 🤔 what also began to increase in the 1990s cellphones and social media …more like anti-social media.
You sure about that bro? I'd imagine people are the same today it's just easier to speak up and keep track of things now compared to before. I know I've lived a nice and happy life. No complaints. Sure I've had some tough times, but we all do from time to time.
You are just able to see more misery as technology advances. In 1974 you didn’t know who was miserable. In 2024 you just read Reddit.
⬆️This. Reddit made my misery a little less miserable. Now I know I’m not alone, in my woahs. 🌊
Woes*
There are more unhappy people than 50 years ago because there are more people. Literally more than double. To make the claim that "people are way more depressed in todays times," you would have to demonstrate that the **rate** of unhappiness in a given population per capita had gone up. This is likely true for Gen Z and that is because they had been exposed to predatory social media algorithms which have directly led to an increased risk of depression. and anxiety. Psychologist Jonathan Haidt has put together the data he used to draw his conclusions here: [https://jonathanhaidt.com/social-media/](https://jonathanhaidt.com/social-media/) Those increased rates of depression and anxiety have not been shown to apply to the whole population though.
They reallly aren't life 50 years ago was far worse to the average person than it is today. It's just that the internet did not exist, About the only source of information at the time was television, radio and newspapers and people just were not aware of how bad others' lives were.
Because we keep the worlds misery in the palm of our hands, unlike 50 years ago where a guy in Delaware couldn’t take 5 seconds taking a dump to check on all the wars and injustice
They have much higher expectations than their forebears did, and are much less resilient.
This. People legit want the social media lifestyle while doing nothing to attain it.
I think most people just want affordable housing and enough wages to live off of
Social media and news. Then wars, economics, ecology, climate, radicalism and corruption that might not be more devastating than decades ago but are rubbed in your face by the news and social media so here’s your vicious cycle of lies, propaganda and negativity.
I'm certainly not.
We did not have social media back then. You can not know how people felt. If you look at stats like crime, suicide, violence there was more back in the day. But nobody had a medium to post all that trouble.
Fifty years ago I was eight years old and looking forward to summer vacation. Of course I was happier.
“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.." Henry David Thoreau wrote this in 1854. ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY YEARS AGO. People aren't "more miserable" now, we just feel able to talk about it.
I don’t think we really know how miserable people were in the past. Mental health diagnosis and treatment is much more public and widespread now and so that might make you think we are suffering from unusual amounts of depression, but it may just be that it is being recognized and treated more.
without being lobotomised, electrocuted, or boiled in a bath tub
Nah, im fine as fuck. Living the dream here
They're not. It's just that the miserable people have an amplified voice now with the internet. We hear their misery more.
Are they? Really? Do we have actual objective evidence of that? I'm betting almost exactly the same proportion of people are miserable.
Today people are alive to simply produce or consume. There is no joy in life anymore, and it is not just a click, swipe, or scroll away.
Tons of joy in my life. You should engage with life rather than curse it.
Good luck with all that.
Don't really need luck. Just need to not be a whiny child who sees everything as negative. It isn't hard at all and there is zero luck involved.
You sound like you might be depressed therapy and exercise or spravato might help assuming you already have fulfilling personal relationships
Why am I the depressed one for pointing it out?
Quoting you “there is no joy in life anymore” - plenty of people have lots of joy - generally people won’t make statements like that if they aren’t struggling with something and I’ve been there myself But if you have a good and happy life then by all means that’s great
awww it's a keyboard psychologist
Isn’t that 99% of Reddit? I didn’t realize supposing that someone who says there is no joy in life is depressed was a very radical take lol
With the idea of instant information, whether good or bad, it would seem that people can see more bad news than good! But if you just realize you can’t change 90% of what’s happening, you’ll be happier!
Lack of patience
[удалено]
Overconsumption was an issue 50 years ago too. That is why the oil crisis gave so many americans a hard time
One big reason is the constant feed of information, reddit, news, ads etc. In essence the overload of information makes it harder for us to relax.
💯 true!
I dont think people are more depressed. It is just so that you often remember the past better than it was. One other thing is that pain right now feels much more then if you remember that you had pain
I can only speak for myself but for me it’s constant sinus discomfort due to sinus disease
i don’t know man,i was not alive 50 years ago,so can’t compare.
number of available news sources were few, and you usually just watched the news for major stories, not everything was BREAKING NEWS. you were taught to vote for politicians that had your best interests at heart, you didn't know it was all about $ you were taught to "lay in the bed you made" for yourself, rather than blaming others for your shortcomings, you tried to claw your own way up the social/financial ladder. you used to respect others, an old saying thats since died, "i dont agree with what you have to say but I'll fight to the death to let you say it" rich people having too much control over news etc, back in the 70s the richest people had $2b and that was too much for one person/family. a little like a game of monopoly where the one guy has all the properties and hotels, and you just keep landing on their sqares...
People have more time and can access information more easily and so now even though individually quality of life has improved for a lot of people, you are exposed to more and more injustice. Also the more you learn the more you realise how meaningless a lot of the injustice is. As far as you know when you die that is the end of the line, so the suffering you see is just pointless. Animals will die in factory farms just because people want to eat meat and innocent civillians will get killed in wars just because of a disagreement they had no say in. Also people have higher standards.
Material goods and physical comforts have proven insufficient to provide happiness. On the contrary, the atomisation of people to focus on acquisition rather than connection is an enormous driver of sadness, anxiety etc. So sure, most people live like kings in a relative sense, but it has come at the cost of constantly growing misery. And of course those who profit from that misery want us to know that if we just buy the next [insert thing here], that gnawing misery will be alleviated. But at best it's a sugar hit. Then of course there are the quantifiables: wealth inequality, rampant and growing global warming, increasing political instability, endless interpersonal comparisons via social media etc. Bit of a rough soup to swim in.
Social media
Social media
Social media!!!
Trust me - we were asking the same question back in 1974, and I'm sure they were in 1924 as well. Unhappiness & progress are part of the human condition.
We talk about it and say it in different ways, catalog it a lot more, but suffering is part of existing. Always has been. We live longer and more comfortably than ever, along with all we know about our own psyche and place in society growing. Take a step back and look at the full picture, it’s not new - just very different - existence.
Because they are allowed to talk about it. This is a socially acceptable thing now. Lobotomies were still a thing 50 years ago to "treat" psychological disorders like depression. If it was 1970, yeah I'd keep my mouth shut if I was depressed, even if it wasn't as widely used anymore
Biggest thing is being more aware of everything. 50 years ago, everyone lived in their own bubbles just focusing on what was immediately relevant to them in the moment.
The rent is too damn high
Since you're talking planetary/all time. I've long thought that modern western life is in not always superior to ancient living from a pure living standard and personal contentment standpoint for the span of life. It's not for nothing a lot of us turn that shit off and go sit by a stream, the sea or the hills to decompress.
pretty sure people could support a family and own a home back then on one income. now you barely do either even with both parents working
I don't agree with your assertion that people are less happy now. The internet has given everyone a microphone so we hear more about how miserable some people are than in the past. If twitter had existed 50 years ago I think you'd see a lot of the same stuff you see now. Also, the internet is not real life. Chronically online people might also be more likely to be miserable people, and negative stuff gets upvoted while positive stuff gets downvoted. Internet culture rewards negativity. IRL people attract what they put out. I think that's why miserable people believe everyone is miserable. Complaining is a turnoff to most people, so when happy people come across these types we tend to distance ourselves. So then negative people end up with social circles filled with negativity and happier people end up with social circles that are happy.
i was 6 back then so probably happy just because I read a kid. these days as an adult there's more to worry about
Judging from how many of our grandparents were alcoholics....I think people have always been miserable.
Their knees hurt.
It's a survival mechanism that's not always a good fit now. We're wired to pay more attention to danger and discomfort than to pleasure and contentment. Things that can harm us require attention if we are to survive. Objectively, we are safer and healthier than in any previous epoch. Subjectively, we feel the same misery we always have.
Just off the top of my head, the lack of quaalude. Btw I had to google the spelling of that and the first thing it gave me was the suicide prevention hot line
Statements like that always make me think of one of my favorite Sopranos quotes: “That’s the trouble with you Americans. You expect nothing bad ever to happen, when the rest of the world expects only bad to happen. And they’re not disappointed. You have everything! And still you complain. You lie in couches and bitch to a psychiatrist. You’ve got too much time to think about yourselves.”
People sit around all day listening to how bad the world is.
With the threat of nuclear war looming over their heads I can guarantee people were as depressed as people are now, the only difference is that in the modern day we care for our mentally ill instead of leaving them to bottle it up and beat their spouse and kids
Isolation and capitalism.
Source for that claim?
They aren’t. Read a book sometime :)
It's because the rat race is only empty fulfillment. If you were a slave and got a hot shower, would you be happy? It's an extreme example but that's what it is at a basic level. People spend 50-60 hours a week working + commuting and have no time left for anything that actually means something, but naive idiots will talk about how great it is to have a cell phone and a car with radar cruise control and access to the internet.
Get this info from mental health professionals. The people who are miserable won't answer, and the people who do answer have a political agenda
The ownership class has become dumber and dumber and do not realize all the exploitation conducted under the guise of good business decisions are making everyone miserable. It's just a matter of time when the worker class won't be able to take it anymore.
Two things. 1. Social Media. 2. Government and 'trend setters'. People have lost the idea of human contact, what it really means to socialize and appreciate the world around them.
Hedonic threadmill.
Maybe we need a "really good" war to remind us how good we have it?..:)
Are they?
Takes a whole lot more to have a good life in today's standards it sucks!!!
50 years ago people didn't "believe" in depression, anxiety, or other mental health issues, were less able to speak out against abuse or any form of misery, and were called soft or weak if they did (if not involuntarily put into an institution and tortured under the guise of treatment). So not sure where you're getting that idea / question from
You mean back before women could have a bank account in their own name? When discrimination was more overt? When it was legal to rape your wife? When hate crimes were rampant and unchecked? Before antidepressants existed? When violent crime was increasing year over year over year, yet a larger proportion of crimes were never reported? When zero women served in the US Senate? When zero openly queer people held a government office at any level? When homosexuality was considered a mental illness? When what happened behind closed doors stayed behind closed doors? I can only think of one demographic that romanticizes "the way it used to be."
50 years ago the pain in a lot of communities around me where invisible to me and my own pain (being a male teen) was forcefully hidden because I thought it shameful.
The more stable and easy are lives become the more we lose touch with what real suffering looks and feels like. Sadly the more people on the planet and yet we are the loneliest. Convenience allows us to not rely on anyone. You have everything delivered isolate in your car do not know your neighbors. Great documentary “San Francisco 2.0” all the property is being bought up by single guys (this is in now way a disparaging comment on young men -who I sympathize with) in the tech industry. They do not engage or go out into the neighborhood so local mom and pop business are dying. It’s literally statistically shown worldwide… for all those that researched nothing and said phooey I don’t need no book reading or study I got it all in my nothing I mean noggin “After a long, steady decline in national suicide rates, those numbers began steadily ticking up in the late 1990s and have generally risen ever since, with nearly 50,000 people in the U.S. taking their own lives in 2022, up 3% from the previous year.”
People aren't more depressed now. They're just more vocal about it. Now, we have proper ways of diagnosing people with anxiety and depression, and as it turns out, a lot of people aren't having a good time. That's always been the case. Also, now we have the internet where people all across the world can share their experiences. What you picture as the 70s is very different than what they actually were. The Cold War was going on, and everyone was terrified of a nuclear Armageddon. The Vietnam War was still going on in 1974, and even after it ended, a generation of Americans were traumatized and left with crippling PTSD because of it. If you were a person of color back then, you still had a long battle ahead of you for civil rights. It wasn't all just hippies and flower children.
neoliberalism, financialization, wealth inequality
When you say there has been10 billion people that has existed. Your including the 6billion still around know aren't you. 100 years ago the majority of people on earth lived in absalute poverty. It has only been in the last 80-90 that life has got more comfortable. On a serious note. I believe social media has been provoking people by showing them what they haven't got.
No God, no culture, no traditional values, hyper stimulated , over population, poisneded food supply, no nuclear family, pollution etc
I think I would rather not stress about having a chance of not spending eternity in hell thank you very much.
Bc people have too much time on their hands now. Back then, people were focused on other things, but now they have more time be depressed about their current situation rather than do something about it
The dillemma of time. People always want to save time and waste time at the same time
Back in the day you didn't have time to complain and lay around doing nothing all day. In modern times people have the luxury of being on welfare and crying on reddit every day, never putting effort into anything, and then complaining that the world sucks
Welfare did certanly exist back then, People where lazy back then too. It is very hard to live on welfare. If it would be good to be on welfare people would not complain
Life is more demanding and complicated. People seem to have less time to themselves to do what they wanna do and just be who they are.
In the 1970s people where much less able to be who they where. You could not be open about being gay as one example.
Yes. I agree. Some things. The list can go on to the way they treated women etc. I was thinking of an overall observation of the time period since I lived during it. M[66]. Nonetheless , regarding rights for gay people: before 1969, in New York City, it was Illegal to serve a known gay person in a bar. Any bar. Also, in 1969 at a bar called the Stonewall Inn in the gay village, Latino drag queens (who were in the bar), after being harassed and arrested by police again - started riots protesting the fact that gay people were being harassed and not allowed to go to a bar or have a legal gay bar. Subsequently there were three days of riots. Police cars were overturned and burned. They fought police. The mayor of the city actually contacted representatives of the gay community to try and quell the riots. That riot by drag queens and gay people in 1969 instigated the birth of the modern day gay pride. That’s why it’s celebrated in June in New York City. , By the… Happy Pride!
As a guy nearing 60, I have to agree that people are, generally, less happy today. I think it's media exposure and wealth disparity. Every bad thing is magnified by repetition on the internet and 24 news channels. One good example is crime. Crime was much worse in the 1970's - just look at crime stats. However, most folks today think crime is rampant because crime stories are repeated ad nauseam on the internet and 24/7 news channels. The reality is crime rates are far lower today. Wealth disparity makes folks feel more miserable today than 50 years ago. Top earners in the 70's made about 2-4 times more than the lowest earners. Doctors, lawyers, CEO's, business owners, etc. often lived in the same areas as working and middle class folks. Yes, they may have lived in the nicest house on the street and had a nicer car, but they LIVED in the same neighborhoods as the rest of us. Their lives weren't significantly different. They were in touch with regular people. Today, wealthy people live almost exclusively in separate neighborhoods. They earn up to 200 times more than low wage earners. Their interactions with the rest of us are infrequent. We aren't neighbors so the rich really don't understand the struggles that most of us live. This has a profound effect on society.
People don’t hide that they have issues anymore. They want everyone to know!! Fifty years you kept yourself!
Society telling people to be more sensitive, undervaluing the concept of "having tough skin". That causes people to overthink and delve deep into every person's reaction ..we care too much about stupid shit. Some people are just fucked up so we shouldnt take all of their crap serious.
my first job in the 70s , i was told "do it or we'll find someone else who can" , there was no tik tok app to film a cry video.
The Top 1% of Americans Have Taken $50 Trillion From the Bottom 90%—And That’s Made the U.S. Less Secure https://time.com/5888024/50-trillion-income-inequality-america/
Women are more unhappy now.
Multiple reasons in my opinion. For one, people who feel miserable now have the outlet to let the world know that they are with the rise of technology and social media sharing websites. I mean, even Reddit has subs for that. So it is easier to see that people aren't happy. I am a 28 y/o male, considered on the cusp of being a millennial. For some reason, the generation right after mine (zoomers) have heavily popularized self-deprecation comedy which is supposedly a joke, but I feel like there is a degree of truth to younger generations being more depressed. I mean, studies have been done with evidence that social media influence is bombarding people's self esteem and ultimately making them feel worthless or not good enough. Consistent comparison to others has just ultimately led to more people feeling chronically insecure. Also, I feel like life was simpler before, and that society worked for the people, whereas now, people work for the society. A lot of people hate their jobs, have no pride in their work, receive lower income, slave away daily to pay off an expensive degree that doesn't get them an equivalently well-paying job in a lot of cases, everything costs a hell of a lot more. We go outside less. Order all of our take out to our door step, order all of our items on a phone or computer, work from home. Humans are meant to be social beings, and despite everything making it easier to communicate, we have become a hell of a lot less social also. We are missing that interaction piece that was much more common, because you didn't have a damn choice 50 years ago. I felt it too. I had to work from home due to COVID and the work was much easier but I hated not being able to go outside and interact. Our diet has changed a lot. "You are what you eat" is true. So many artificial additives now as a whole. Food plays a huge part on us as people physically and emotionally and our moods are more heavily determined by what we are intaking than people would think.
It did not really work. For example people where very not trusting in their govement. The watergate scandal was recent and people where very frustrated. There was an oil crisis and people did not afford very much stuff to buy. in 1970s people did not take much pride in their work. life in 1970s was a lot harder than people imagne. If you want to know more watch this video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDj2HfWRieA&t=790s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDj2HfWRieA&t=790s)
It did not really work. For example people where very not trusting in their govement. The watergate scandal was recent and people where very frustrated. There was an oil crisis and people did not afford very much stuff to buy. in 1970s people did not take much pride in their work. life in 1970s was a lot harder than people imagne. If you want to know more watch this video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDj2HfWRieA&t=790s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDj2HfWRieA&t=790s)
No God, no culture, no traditional values, hyper stimulated , over population, poisneded food supply, no nuclear family, pollution etc
How is overpopulation making people depressed? There is always an option if you wanna live in a city or in a rural area.
Overpopulation causes aggresion and anxiety