Happiness, it has long been believed, follows a curve: It’s high when one is young, dips in midlife, and then rises again as one gets older.
Scratch that – it may no longer be true.
A new research paper based on findings from six English-speaking countries suggests young adults are much less happy than generations before them.
The United Nations-commissioned study published by the United States-based National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) reveals a consistent drop in life satisfaction and happiness among young adults in the last decade. Co-authored by San Diego State University psychologist Jean Twenge and Dartmouth University economist David G Blanchflower, the research looked at data collected from 11 surveys across Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the US.
But studies from other parts of the world appear to suggest that these results broadly also hold true there.
The conclusions of the study by Blanchflower and Twenge upend the long-held belief that happiness follows a U-shaped curve.
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How significant is this shift – and what’s driving rising unhappiness among youth?
What has the research found?
The researchers say a decline in unhappiness is especially apparent in younger adults and adolescents aged 12 to 25, many of whom are facing depression and psychological distress at rates that are much higher than those who are just several years older.
Meanwhile, older adults still experience increasing life satisfaction with age.
The shocking shift has raised concerns that younger generations are facing unprecedented challenges in a post-COVID world, especially with the rise of digital technology and economic uncertainty.
What’s behind this generational downturn?
According to the study’s findings, there is a clear correlation between a decline in happiness and increased internet usage, in an era of smartphones and social media. That, say the researchers, is the main point of difference between younger generations today and those before them.
The internet is the “main contender” for blame, Blanchflower told Al Jazeera. “Nothing else fits the facts.”
In 2024, a Pew Research Survey found that three in four American teenagers felt happy or peaceful when they were without their smartphones. Researchers behind a 2024 study showing that British teenagers and preteens were the least happy in Europe also concluded that social media was a key reason.
Blanchflower’s assertion appears to be backed up by research in other nations worldwide, including the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, where more and more youths are gaining access to smartphones.
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Blanchflower, who worked on a similar study that surveyed African countries, titled The Mental Health of the Young in Africa, published by NBER in December 2024, said while about half of the huge continent’s population has never used the internet, those who have are likelier to show “mental health problems”.
“The absence of the internet might help explain why the mental health of young Africans has been declining less than elsewhere,” the study said. “However, there are dangers on the horizon as the sales of smartphones explode.”
The research paper evaluated studies across dozens of African countries that all showed a U-shaped happiness curve, suggesting a correlation between low internet access and higher happiness levels among youth.
“It is clearly a global trend, principally for those who are internet-connected,” Blanchflower said.
According to Blanchflower, there is also evidence that the happiness levels of middle-aged people who are using smartphones are lower compared with their predecessors in earlier generations at the same age who did not use smartphones or the internet.
What else is driving the decline?
Yet the internet and smartphones might not be the only drivers behind the happiness decline among youth.
The study suggests economic hardships and loneliness might also be a contributing factor.
“A number of cultural forces may be at work that have had a negative impact on life satisfaction and views of society, including declining in-person social interaction, increased social media use, and increasing income inequality,” the study says.
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The World Happiness Report in 2024 showed that globally, young people under the age of 30 have witnessed a dramatic decline in happiness since the COVID-19 pandemic. The fall in happiness is particularly sharp in the US, which fell out of the index’s 20 happiest countries for the first time since the report was published in 2012.
The authors of the study say more research will be needed to understand why youth appear to be increasingly unhappy, in order to help policymakers devise concrete steps to reverse this shift.
However, Blanchflower is doubtful about the prospects of reversing this trend.
“The concern is the decline in the wellbeing of the young continues,” Blanchflower said. “It is spreading around the world.”
He urged people to “get away from their phones” and interact with others.