What is driving global unhappiness?

JohnR1972JohnR1972
edited August 2022 in General

Gallup recently released the results of their 2022 Global Emotions survey. You can download a free copy of it at https://www.gallup.com/analytics/349280/gallup-global-emotions-report.aspx

The key takeaway from the report (which had a very large sample size and a robust sampling methodology) is that since 2011, the WORLD has seen a dramatic increase in “negative experiences” and “unhappiness” (both terms are properly defined in the report).

I would love to hear your thoughts about what you think is driving this trend. Keep in mind this trend is Global and pre-dates both COVID-19 and the US 2016 Presidential election by several years. This is a serious issue and serious question so please keep responses civil and on topic. I really want to know what you think and I hope the thread doesn’t veer off course and get locked.

  1. What is the biggest contributor to global unhappiness?62 votes
    1. Climate change / environmental issues
        6.45%
    2. Wealth / income disparity
      22.58%
    3. Racial / gender / social inequities
        4.84%
    4. War / threat of war or conflict
        1.61%
    5. Health / nutrition issues
        0.00%
    6. Over reliance on / addiction to technology
      16.13%
    7. Lack of meaningful connection to others
      27.42%
    8. Lack of meaningful connection to nature
        1.61%
    9. Other (please elaborate in the comments)
      19.35%
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Comments

  • [Deleted User]CbaVespa (deleted user)

    I wonder if it has something to do with the accessibility of news and information at our fingers tips 24/7, coupled with the physical disconnection of people to each other (e.g. being on our phones all the time rather than communicating face to face).

  • AGnihonAGnihon

    I can't just choose one. I think the reason negativity is so widespread is because it is all of the above concerns at once rather than just one of them.

  • CC99CC99

    I think all the reasons given are valid, but it may be also that people feel that they don’t have any ability (or means) to change any of these factors that are affecting them.

  • Finnegan2017Finnegan2017

    My thoughts are that it has to do with the overabundance of news and information. We are constantly bombarded with negative news from all over the world. We are just not equipped to handle and process this much information all the time without time to regroup and recover. It can lead to feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, which are reflected in the survey.

  • JohnR1972JohnR1972
    edited August 2022

    @CbaVespa @AGnihon @CC99 @Finnegan2017
    Thank you all for your responses. I have been reading Dr. Neil Postman’s book from 1985 called “Amusing Ourselves to Death”.

    In that book, Dr. Postman discusses the HUGE cultural shift that started when society went from getting our news from word of mouth and local newspapers to getting “news bites” (I.e. just headlines) from the hundreds or thousands of miles away via telegraph. All of a sudden we were flooded with pieces of news (not full details) of stories that didn’t really impact our daily lives. Radio and then television accelerated the phenomenon of bringing us news from around the world, though it was often with little to no context.

    The book was written before most people knew an early form of the Internet even existed and long before we carried smartphones in our pockets to “amuse ourselves to death” at stoplights and when out at dinner with friends waiting for our food to arrive.

  • [Deleted User]Moxytocin (deleted user)
    edited August 2022

    All of this and third wave feminism (and/or fourth?).

  • Minestrone101Minestrone101
    edited August 2022

    Harder to be happy if you're worried about your next meal, and even harder if you're being persecuted, treated unequally, or paid less bc of your identity on top of said financial issues. Even buying cuddles requires a certain level of expendable income.

    Pple are also right about the disconnect. Pple are spending less time in person or outside or exercising and more time on their devices - that and capitalism has commodified every aspect of our life: housing, social media, entertainment, arts and creativity, etc. Case in point, around 1996 Clear Channel Worldwide bought up the majority of radio stations around the US - they use algorithms and test audiences to determine their Playlist vs actual DJs or individual radio stations and music creation is more mass produced and pandering vs. Original now as well (although there are indie sources and social media are kind of grassroots equalizers).

  • AGnihonAGnihon

    @CC99 Very, very valid point! The sense of powerlessness is always a big factor.

  • jdubs55555jdubs55555
    edited August 2022

    We make it a point not to discuss religion here. Don't bring this topic up again.

  • tacpmurgtacpmurg
    edited August 2022

    Not going to be preachy, and this is not about any specific religion, but the lack of God being the center of it all is leading to great fear, loneliness, and negativity, amongst many other feeling like helplessness, powerless, etc. The chipping away at our morals and values and making what is wrong right, and what is right wrong. This is all prophesied.

    Indeed, we should all collectively don our colanders and return to the teachings of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

  • [Deleted User]CbaVespa (deleted user)

    @JohnR1972 - wow! That book is from the 80’s?! So someone back then actually might have seen this coming. Amazing when I think about it.

  • JohnR1972JohnR1972

    @CbaVespa - I 100% agree. I initially read the book around 2000 and I found it interesting but in re-reading it now I find it profound.

    Dr. Postman talks in his introduction about how George Orwell’s predictions about 1984 did not come to pass (“Amusing Ourselves to Death” was written in 1985). But Dr. Postman points out that Aldous Huxley’s book “Brave New World” might have been the more accurate prediction of what the future holds.

    Postman said that Orwell envisioned a future where the truth was hidden from us while Huxley envisioned a future where truth was irrelevant. Postman went on to say that Orwell envisioned a world where people were controlled by inflicting pain upon them whereas Huxley envisioned a future where people were controlled by inflicting pleasure on them.

  • SSRequiescenceSSRequiescence
    edited January 17

    Edited for privacy.

  • MikeGirardMikeGirard
    edited August 2022

    Predatory ruling class that has swapped out pacification through palliation, for constant fear mongering, distraction, surveillance, censorship, endless war, and dividing people into ever more rarefied, narcissistic grievance cults. The global sense that everything is uniquely going to hell is a function of this. People would feel a lot better if they put down their phones and stopped shrieking hysterically about The Current Thing for a week.

    Edit: this is an impulsive take on misery in the US, not in the world at large, though I think ruling class predation is the overarching global problem.

  • JohnR1972JohnR1972

    @SnshineScarlett @Mike_Girard
    Thank you for you posts. My thinking is very much in line with yours.

  • achetocuddleachetocuddle

    People are happier when they have purpose and/or have something bigger than them (whether it be belief in a Supreme Being, a cause that is meaningful, etc)

    People are happiest when things don't come too easily. They can't be in true need, but if very much is handed to them without striving for it, that reduces happiness. People with a lot of toys (including adults), knick-knacks and basically useless plastic items tend to be unhappier, altho they may be too busy to recognize their unhappiness.

    People are happy when they feel their life is important or it matters, which goes back to feeling like you have a purpose. The purpose doesn't have to be important. It can be something silly to you or I. The purpose only has to matter to that individual.

  • DaringSprinterDaringSprinter
    edited August 2022

    It might be instructive to look at the bright spots. Which are the happiest countries on Earth?

    For the fifth year in a row, Finland is the world's happiest country, according to World Happiness Report rankings based largely on life evaluations from the Gallup World Poll.

    The Nordic country and its neighbors Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Iceland all score very well on the measures the report uses to explain its findings: healthy life expectancy, GDP per capita, social support in times of trouble, low corruption and high social trust, generosity in a community where people look after each other and freedom to make key life decisions.

    Denmark comes in at No. 2 in this year's rankings, followed by Iceland at No. 3.
    [source]

    At this link, you can play with Gallup's interactive emotion map: https://news.gallup.com/interactives/248240/global-emotions.aspx

    Look what a low percentage of Finland's population felt anger, how many people in Indonesia and Malaysia felt well-rested, how many people in Iceland felt enjoyment. If you compare them to the countries where people felt worse, maybe you can figure out what Finland, for example, is doing right.

    Some hypotheses can be discarded immediately—for instance, the god idea. Just take a look at Saudi Arabia, or Uganda, or Burundi. Drop that idea. New hypothesis!

  • sunnysideupsunnysideup

    Assuming USA-

    Hmm- social media and news at our fingertips 24/7 probably adds to anxiety. Lack of critical thought leading to spread of fake news. Online dating dating is a constant depressant for those it doesn't work for, particularly average/below average guys.

    We are getting better at reporting and diagnosing mental health issues.

    Less in person replaced by more virtual and online interactions may not be great for our health since its probably in person interaction that’s more fulfilling but the replacement of in person with virtual
    Makes in person harder to come by.

    Dating has changed because many women make good money and can take care of themselves. This may confuse gender roles in dating, which seems to have not changed despite this.

    Conservative and mysoginistic men having to deal with women being able to do what whatever they want.

    Mental health of men seems to be an afterthought.

    Religion probably used to bond people together and give them higher purpose, but since people seem to be less religious, this looks like its been replaced with politics. And now the left and right cant talk without tears or anger.

  • CuddleDuncanCuddleDuncan Mod
    edited August 2022

    I didn't download the fresh report because I couldn't face the form. But you don't need to do the form to get last year's report, and since we are talking about trends over the last decade, here are a couple of comments I found interesting ....

    [things which] may be contributing to this global rise in negative emotions: increasing global hunger, a lack of freedom, rising corruption and income inequality ...

    Negative experiences go down when literacy rates go up and when countries have more people using the internet.

    Gallup, 2021, Global Emotions

  • MikeGirardMikeGirard

    People who say we need faith in a supreme being to be happy should explain why those happiness heavy hitters, the Nordic countries, also score high for atheism.

  • JubalJubal

    I agree with the posters on the topic of information overload. It's not that things are really any worse. In many ways, things are better for humanity than ever before. But we're overwhelmed and bombarded with so much worldwide 24/7 "dirty laundry" (thank you Don Henley!!) that it FEELS like things are going to %&#@!

  • TheFunCartelTheFunCartel

    I am seeing so many 20-somethings who are well educated moving back home because of crushing student loan debt, eye-popping rent everywhere, and everything else going up to record highs. They see hopelessness and greed everywhere. This is driving things a lot for the younger generation and they are justified in their fear, anger and anxiety. The older generations are wracked with fear for their children and their children’s children.

    Putting down phones is nothing more than putting one’s head in the sand. The problems are still there and not improving even if you can’t read about them immediately. Thank goodness I am not starting out as an adult. The landscape is infinitely more perilous than it was 40 years ago.

  • sdcuddleguysdcuddleguy
    edited August 2022

    I chose “other”. I genuinely believe that a core work ethic has been replaced by levels of entitlement. So you have so many people now living disappointed because they’re not always being handed what’s due to them VERSUS a real sense of accomplishment and pride in knowing they’ve worked hard to earn whatever it is they seek.

    I know to many this will make me sound like a grumpy old man - maybe I’m getting there, not sure!

    Think about what we see so much of now though…. Initiatives to raise wages more so than plans to help people become qualified to earn more, wiping out debts, cash handouts and then moratoriums on evictions and foreclosures…. Just on and on and on handouts coming from all directions. How could many help but to feel entitled. Yet when those who worked hard to own rental properties, or those who’ve become educated enough to lead financial institutions, and more to see their efforts negated because of the handouts…. It’s a culture that on the surface seems helpful and possibly needed, but it’s not the roll your sleeves up and do what it takes culture that America got to here with and without a return to that I’m worried we will see more unrest and unhappiness.

  • MikeGirardMikeGirard
    edited August 2022

    @funcartel 'putting down phones' makes sense if your response to worsening social conditions - which I implicitly acknowledged - is logging on to jump up at every shiny little crisis bauble the media dangles in front of you and shriek Nazi at anyone that hasn't canceled Dr. Seuss. One week it's all needles in the screen name. The next it's Ukrainian flags. All in line with establishment doctrine, but dressed up as #Resistance.

    Being on social media is, for most people, hiding ones head in the sand, though wallowing in shit is more apt. It's all reaction to decontextualized images and headlines, pursuant to clout and dopamine chasing. It does nothing to remedy the social ills you name and that no one denies. And it clearly works against the solidarity needed to get the vampires off our necks. More to the point, it makes people less happy and less healthy, according to research. Meaning you're going to be less resilient when your landlord raises the rent.

    So I stand by it. Put down your phone and do something in real life to improve conditions, if only in small ways.

  • sunnysideupsunnysideup
    edited August 2022

    @Mike_Girard in response to the supreme being there, there needs to be some type of replacement for that higher purpose. Not all cultures are great at this.

  • TheFunCartelTheFunCartel

    @sdcuddleguy You are somewhat close to my age and if you are a dad then you should know the economic conditions the kids face today are much worse than they were back in the day. Wages have hardly moved the needle for a couple of decades while rent, food and the cost of goods have gone up steadily. Ironically, corporate profits are hitting all time highs in recent years. I do not want to hear about work ethic or pull yourself up by your bootstraps because that is a simplistic, dismissive view of the situation. There are people with professional careers having to do side hustles and teachers on food stamps. This was not happening when I was young.

    Our wealth disparity is now greater than it was in France right before the French Revolution. That is a fact.

  • TheFunCartelTheFunCartel

    People who say we need faith in a supreme being to be happy should explain why those happiness heavy hitters, the Nordic countries, also score high for atheism.

    Absolutely! 💯

  • DaringSprinterDaringSprinter

    @sdcuddleguy: When did this "core work ethic" exist, I wonder? People have been complaining about how it's not around anymore for a very long time.

  • sdcuddleguysdcuddleguy
    edited August 2022

    @FunCartel actually, when I was my daughter’s age 40 years ago it was much worse.

    https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/01/11/economy/inflation-history/index.html

  • KempistKempist
    edited August 2022

    Here are the ten unhappiest.
    Zambia
    Malawi
    Tanzania
    Sierra Leone
    Lesotho
    Botswana
    Rwanda
    Zimbabwe
    Lebanon
    Afghanistan the unhappiest.

    The twenty happiest
    Finland
    Denmark
    Iceland
    Switzerland
    Netherlands
    Luxembourg
    Sweden
    Norway
    Israel
    New Zealand
    Austria
    Australia
    Ireland
    Germany
    Canada
    United States
    United Kingdom
    Czechia (Czech Republic)
    Belgium
    France

    Considering the happiest are rich countries and the unhappiest are mostly poor countries wealth inequality is the most obvious explanation for happiness on the country level. Also many of the poor countries are war torn and dangerous. Without basic necessities or safety it's difficult just to survive.

    The causes of unhappiness are different for people living in rich countries and they shouldn't be dismissed as first world problems. Struggling to get by with always changing economic conditions - inflation, low wages, job loss due to technology and offshoring of jobs, and health insurance and health costs . Drug addiction. Mental illness. Loss of connection to other people and nature . Expectation to succeed socially and economically, and the unhappiness felt by comparing and falling short in this regard.

    Then there's the great leveler sickness and death. Despite on average people living longer few are unaffected, either themselves or family members, by all these young people (under 70)
    in poor health condition or dying from overdosing on drugs, cancer, heart attacks, strokes, viruses and more. You can live in the richest or most happiest country and be rich but when that happens to someone close you'll never be as happy and carefree again. And with diminished belief in an afterlife it's only worse. The last sentence only refers to this paragraph. I realize that many of the happiest countries in this study are among the least religious, and I don't feel like getting into another religion debate :)

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