Why are younger Americans so miserable?

Leanan · News Editor Joined: May 20, 2004 Posts: 4490

A psychologist has written a book called Generaton Me, about why Americans born after 1970 are more confident, assertive, entitled - and more depressed than ever before.

She argues that American young people, unlike their elders, have been raised to value self over family or society. They are told from the time they are small children how special they are. They have very high expectations. But when they leave home, they are often in a for a rude surprise.

Ludi

They've been lied to - been told it's just going to get better and better, when it manifestly is not.

Not surprising they get depressed when they find this out.
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birchm · Tar Sands Joined: Apr 20, 2006 Posts: 40

This assessment is spot on. I grew up all my life thinking about how great all this technology was going to make my life, only to find out that I'd become a slave to the capitalist system which made the mass production of it possible. The stark reality is depressing.

Chaparral

They seem to be a bunch of mollycoddled, entitled whiners; mommy and daddy's little princes and princesses.

It's why I got out of teaching, among other things.
Not all are like that though. There are some, perhaps quite a few exceptions.

TITAN

TV can only do so much child-rearing.

I think the use of 'day-care' should be outlawed. If you can't afford to have one parent stay home, you shouldn't have kids. If the issue is not money and you are worried about your career, you shouldn't have kids. I believe the proper upbringing of children is one of the most important facets of civilization.

My wife does not work and stays home with my daughter and my daughter is, emotionally and psychologically, at least a year ahead of any other children she comes into contact with. She won't be attending public 'schools', either...
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cube · Fusion Joined: Mar 12, 2005 Posts: 3368

PolestaR · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Jun 21, 2005 Posts: 1047

I don't know if its necessarily voluntary raised in the way we were. I don't think parents went out and said "hey kid, you're so special screw everyone else". My parents and most I have seen tell their kids not to be selfish and try to instill those sorts of values into them, but .....

When you live in a world where your next door neighbour has 2 cars, a pool, a boat, a 2 storey house and 5 investment properties, you have bigger personal achievement goals.

Sure if I was living in a crap shack in the country for most of my life, I might think just owning a car and living in a city was something to achieve. But no, I have been force fed through advertising, tv and all the baby boomers who benefited from a peaceful economic boom, a way of life which is relaxing and full of toys.

You look at yourself, your family or loved ones and see when most people are the happiest. It's usually after buying/getting something new. The longer you've waited for it, the happier you are.

How many of us just want to sit on our computers for most of the day web browsing, checking our stocks and relaxing in our beach shack? Most of us. Ask yourself how many people in a country can all make money off the stock market/savings interest as their sole source of income? Who will do all the "real" work when youre in your holiday home shifting numbers from one place to another?

The worst thing I think is the goal of doing "nothing" that most people have. Most people just want to have financial security so they don't have to worry about anything, so they can do whatever they want. Communities cannot support too many of these people.
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Leanan · News Editor Joined: May 20, 2004 Posts: 4490

Jean Twenge, the author of the book, is very careful to say that younger Americans are not selfish.

Cobra_Strike

I feel bad being in this generation, growing up I was always told to take ever more...Then finding I was going to get less, it kind of hurt...But I am not sure that many people can ever come to understand that. Even the fairly smart people on my floor don't want to believe it...even those that understand the issue.
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Zardoz

This is the first generation in the history of the U.S. who will not have it better than their parents. Think of the significance of that.

dr_doom · Tar Sands Joined: Mar 26, 2006 Posts: 38

highlander

Zardoz hits the nail on the head. Actually, I think boomers like me should be depressed when we think about our wasting of our childrens inheritance.
But this November, it will all change. Them democrats will save all our kids entitlements!
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rogerhb

Presumably these are the same psychologists who work for the advertising industry whose job is to make people feel miserable and worthless unless they buy product X (oh, and Y, and then Z, if you do buy Z then we'll start at A again).

I have a couple of kids and I'm appalled at the amount of adverts on TV during childrens TV. Children should not be the purchasing decision makers in a household.

So all your life you are told buy this and that, and if you have good parents they say, no and no again. So you are being "denied your rights to the Consumer Dream" right from a young age.
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Terran

I'm part of generation M.
Generation M has grown up with the expectation that they should be better than their parents, I don't think it's ever going to be true.

We also grown up in a age of high tech electronics, multi-media, internet, computers, countless video games, DVD's, and other techno gadgets, those serve as distractions, which steers away from community, and being active.

Don't forget all the consumerism that follows, you must buy more and more, but the amount of money is decresing. Think about how most of the young people can't get a half decent job, except for working for some corporation in retail, or fast food....

No wonder most of the people my age are so unmotivated, I'm ashamed to be a part of this generation. I always look at my fellow peers in a condescending manner, unless they change I always will. No wonder we're also the most medicated generation, look all the doses of Adderall, Ritalin, and not to mention all the SSRI's including Prozac, and other anti-depressants.
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MattSavinar · Elite Joined: May 09, 2004 Posts: 1990

I wrote this a while back, seems relevant:

http://lifeaftertheoilcrash.typepad.com/life_after_the_oil_crash_/2006/03/energy_availabi.html

I've long suspected that "happiness" is correlated in some way with increases in personal energy availability. Regardless of how high or low you are on the energy-totem pole, you feel happy if you perceive things are moving up. The faster they are moving up, the happier you feel. You feel depressed if you perceive things are at a standstill. You feel anxiety if you perceive things are moving backwards. Intuitively this makes sense as energy is the basis for life and your emotions likely evolved to help keep you alive. Thus, it's only logical that energy availability and emotional state are linked in some way.

I don't know if this is the type of thing you can prove definitively but the following is an interesting data point from a recent Los Angeles Times article entitled "Utopia Lost":

According to the National Opinion Research Center, American happiness peaked between the mid-1960s and 1973.

Of course increases in per-capita energy availability were at their highest from 1950 to 1970:

In 1950, the U.S. population was 152 million people. 34.62 quadrillion BTUs of energy were consumed that year. That's 223.7 million BTUs per person.

In 1970, the U.S. population was 205 million people. 67.84 quadrillion BTUs of energy were consumed that year. That's 331 million BTUs per person.

So from 1950 to 1970, the number of BTUs per person increased by a whopping 48%.

In 1990, the U.S. population was 250 million persons. 84.7 quadrillion BTUs of energy were consumed. That's 339 million BTUs per person.

So from 1970 to 1990, the number of BTUs per person increased by a paltry 2%.

In 2004, the US population was 293 million persons. 99.74 quadrillion BTUs of energy were consumed. That's 344.4 million BTUs per person.

So from 1990 to 2004, the number of BTUs per person increased by only 1.6%

Energy stats from EIA, population stats from U.S. Census

If increases in personal energy availability and happines are indeed linked, it may come as little surprise that happiness peaked back around 1970 as that's around the time increases in per-capita energy availability peaked.

These numbers, however, don't control for a variety of factors, not the least of which is personal net-energy or EROEI. A good measure for that might be how many hours does the average person have to work to obtain a BTU of energy. If, for instance, the total number of BTUs available to you increases by 25% but only after you put in 100% more hours in the workforce, you might not be too happy about your situation. I suspect increases in personal net-energy availability are probably more closely related to happiness then just personal energy availability.

While I don't have the numbers here at my fingertips, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess the average American has been working increasingly more hours per BTU of energy consumed since the 1970s. This seems to be what most people "feel" which is it has gotten harder to get ahead in America during the last 25-to-35 years. (If somebody out there wants to research the hours-per-BTU stats and post it in the comments section be my guest.)

Obviously, happiness is a complex concept. I'm not contending increases or decreases in per-capita energy availability are the only factor or even the determining one when it comes to happiness. Just pointing out I think there is some type of significant connection between the two.

This brings up another point I'm hoping to explore in more depth which is the "cure" to Peak Oil Depression (P.O.D.) I don't think it lays in being "prepared" in an absolute sense as none of us will ever feel truly prepared. (From the article in Fortune Magazine, even billionaire Richard Rainwater seems a bit unsure as to how to prepare himself for this situation.) Rather, the key to kicking P.O.D. is finding things that your subconscious perceives as improving your chances of survival (your energy availability) in a post-cheap oil world. If your subconscious perceives you are moving in an upwards direction, it will release the happy hormones like dopamine to keep you moving in that direction.

If it perceives you are at a standstill, it will cause you to feel depressed. This has the effect of temporarily shutting you down which prevents you from wasting any more energy/time on endeavors unlikely to improving your chances of survival. This I think is why so many people experience depression upon finding out about these matters. All of a sudden commuting two hours a day to a job likely to disappear in a post-cheap oil world doesn't seem like it's going to improve your chances of surviving. The solution is to find something, even a hobby or side job, that you percieve will benefit you in a post-cheap oil world. Obviously that is easier said than done as you are probably working more hours than ever just to put some BTUs on the plate.

That's my two cents on psychological preparation, buy with it what you can.

Research Credit for "Utopia Lost": Leanan of Peak Oil.com