Summary
A UN-commissioned study finds that youth happiness has declined sharply over the past decade in English-speaking countries.
Traditionally, happiness followed a U-shape, with youth being a peak period, but it now increases with age instead.
Researchers link this shift to social media, cyberbullying, and reduced social interaction.
The mental health crisis may have significant consequences that affect education, workforce participation, and productivity. The UN is investigating whether this trend is a global phenomenon.
For people who want data and the paper, it looks like this paper was compiled from a lot of different sources and seems pretty reputable, my only concern is the lower sample size for some of the newer surveys from recent years on just some of the data, but the trend does seem believable considering the older data from the 70s/80s was already showing the trend.
It really seems like it’s not as much fun being a kid anymore, imo it’s kind of a cop out to blame social media when it’s the stuff they learn about the world through social media that makes them depressed. But if kids are getting depressed about our reality then reality has to get better for them to get better.
https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w33490/w33490.pdf