Link: https://news.gallup.com/poll/715010/life-ratings-young-adults-down-points-2010.aspx

This country is suffocating me to death, and I am in no shape to get out, and everybody around me just says I need to change my attitude.

Seeing stuff like this reminds me that though my attitude might need to change, so does the society that has decided it wants to murder my generation.

It isn't that the people around me are bad, it is that this society is so sick and has been held at a point of exhaustion so long that nobody really has the emotional space for each other, so the more you struggle the more people just see you as harsh self perpetuating noise.

The substantial decline in wellbeing among U.S. adults aged 18 to 29 and, to a somewhat lesser extent, those aged 30 to 44 is likely driven by a confluence of events, many of which have become more dire since the COVID-19 pandemic. Chief among these factors is the rise of clinical depression and loneliness (which has been particularly acute among younger men). These core mental health issues have become a substantial — and defining — issue for younger U.S. adults in the post-COVID era.

Other issues are more economic in nature, including housing affordability, which has disproportionately affected younger Americans and is linked to worse life outcomes. Similarly, increasing fears of losing jobs to AI disproportionately hit those under the age of 45, as does the rising job market pessimism, particularly among those with college degrees. And about half of those aged 18 to 49 doubt that Medicare and Social Security will be available in 10 years’ time — far more than other age groups and likely adding to financial uncertainties. Political and social trust, too, is eroding, with just 14% of those aged 18 to 34 reporting that they are “extremely proud” to be an American, down 10 percentage points since 2025.

In contrast, among those aged 65 and older, the steadily improving thriving rate shows how changes in wellbeing affect age groups differently. Improvements in financial wellbeing among older adults since 2019 — when their thriving rate was still just 45% — constitute a substantial part of the explanation. The already disproportionate wealth distribution among baby boomers (currently aged 62 to 80) has intensified, with median household net worth reaching record highs and total generational wealth increasing significantly. This group is also likely insulated from many of the stressors currently hampering working-age adults and those with children living at home, including affordable housing, basic household expenses, career instability and job market anxiety, economic precarity, and health insurance costs. Mental health, too, is much less of an inhibitor of life ratings. These older Americans are the only ones to see their depression rate drop in recent years — it is currently under 10% and less than half the rate of those younger than 45.

Fuck The USA and for the love of whatever god you worship or don't STOP TELLING ME THIS ISN'T A GENERATIONAL BETRAYAL, I know it isn't as simple as that, we are all individuals but look at the damn numbers and tell me I should waste my time listening to old people lecture me about being happy or finding a place in my society. Things are breaking at an existential point in the US, this is not "just the pendulum swinging" the pendulum broke if it ever existed.....

Nah its probably just the social media making our brains sad right? NOT "Climate Change" or the collapse of health care or the cost of living or the Palestinian Genocide or ICE or the fact that science as a career here has been assassinated while the rest of the country just looked on and said "well things change!".

and fuck you to Bush I hate that so much bad shit has happened since you were in power that sometimes I forget about you and how much I hate you.....

edit I want to emphasize that it isn't just the process of suffocating that is so awful, it is the process of being condescended by generations of people I looked up to for guidance the entire time it is happening that makes it such a special unique sensation that is hard to put into words.

All the people saying "this isn't about the boomers!"... Well?

it is no sign of good health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.

J. Krishnamurti