because of social media... step away from your phone folks. http://worldhappiness.report/ed/201...-united-states-and-the-role-of-digital-media/ The rise of digital media and the fall of everything else Over the last decade, the amount of time adolescents spend on screen activities (especially digital media such as gaming, social media, texting, and time online) has steadily increased, accelerating after 2012 after the majority of Americans owned smartphones (Twenge et al., 2019b). By 2017, the average 12th grader (17-18 years old) spent more than 6 hours a day of leisure time on just three digital media activities (internet, social media, and texting; see Figure 5.3). By 2018, 95% of United States adolescents had access to a smartphone, and 45% said they were online “almost constantly” (Anderson & Jiang, 2018). During the same time period that digital media use increased, adolescents began to spend less time interacting with each other in person, including getting together with friends, socializing, and going to parties. In 2016, iGen college-bound high school seniors spent an hour less a day on face-to-face interaction than GenX adolescents did in the late 1980s (Twenge et al., 2019). Thus, the way adolescents socialize has fundamentally shifted, moving toward online activities and away from face-to-face social interaction. Other activities that typically do not involve screens have also declined: Adolescents spent less time attending religious services (Twenge et al., 2015), less time reading books and magazines (Twenge et al., 2019b), and (perhaps most crucially) less time sleeping (Twenge et al., 2017). These declines are not due to time spent on homework, which has declined or stayed the same, or time spent on extracurricular activities, which has stayed about the same (Twenge & Park, 2019). The only activity adolescents have spent significantly more time on during the last decade is digital media. As Figure 5.4 demonstrates, the amount of time adolescents spend online increased at the same time that sleep and in-person social interaction declined, in tandem with a decline in general happiness. Several studies have found that adolescents and young adults who spend more time on digital media are lower in well-being (e.g., Booker et al., 2015; Lin et al., 2016; Twenge & Campbell, 2018). For example, girls spending 5 or more hours a day on social media are three times more likely to be depressed than non-users (Kelly et al., 2019), and heavy internet users (vs. light users) are twice as likely to be unhappy (Twenge et al., 2018). Sleeping, face-to-face social interaction, and attending religious services – less frequent activities among iGen teens compared to previous generations – are instead linked to more happiness. Overall, activities related to smartphones and digital media are linked to less happiness, and those not involving technology are linked to more happiness. (See Figure 5.5; note that when iGen adolescents listen to music, they usually do so using their phones with earbuds). ....
Is their any correlation to the music going from the worst to the best in a short period of time spiking people's happiness. I mean we went from the worst era of music in the late 90's early 2000's to some of the best stuff that is really still in play with certain genres in a really short period of time. Art depicts real life in alot of ways. We went from a period of realizing our lives are a little bit plasticy and cookie cutter to really going through a cultural renaissance. The music of that generation really reflected that realization of the need for change & exploration. Now we have sunken to this place where the modern world has just driven everyone a bit crazy. Everything is on a bit of a loop right now in society & that gets recycled by our technology that thinks we know what we want more than we do. I think this has little to do with politics and more of a cultural societal technology influence.
I've held the view that social media is the devil for a long time. I deleted it for a year and a half in college but it sucked me back in later (I'm weak). I'm only on one social media platform so I've resisted its allures somewhat. *Edit - Also it appears maybe I shouldn't spend so much time on here :/.
Kind of looks like kind of held up when social media eat into social interaction, and then declined when sleep went down.
Its funny to see recessions shine through in happiness rates of teenagers. But you can see the dips in the early '90s and in 2009. Happiness is inversely correlated with illegal immigration rates?
You and others might be interested in these two books. Digital minimalism Irresistible addictive technology
Happiness has a lot to do with generational differences... and other factors. Overall pretty hard to find a specific cause.
