To think most people don’t seem happy these days

I think we are in an age where it is socially unacceptable to say you are happy or doing okay. Not everyone is struggling to make ends meet. Lots of people have things to look forward to.

Misery does love company and is contagious. So you end up with people who, objectively, have nothing to be miserable about being infected with the same malaise.

Exactly this.

@Countrydiary - I prescribe a large dose of sunshine, weeks on end,
whole body exposure when appropriate and available, apply sparingly
during midday, increase hydration, efficacy of prescription more apparent
during summer months, apply subtle pressure with NHS representative
for a satisfactory resolution.

Agree op and the weather doesn't help either.

Yanbu but we all voted for this shit show so we should not be surprised.

This might have improved your life for you, but do you think your behaviour makes your friends, relatives and colleagues and others around you feel happier, good about themselves and more connected? Probably not.

And that's part of what's gone wrong in the world: too many people only out for themselves.

Also Brexit, Covid, cost of living, phones to some extent and people not bothering to connect with life in person - but mainly this shitty awful government and all the division they have caused.

I am not saying things aren't bad in the UK, but things are bad almost everywhere. Some of my friends and family in Asia are experiencing 40 degree heat, with people dying of heat stroke. That's grim weather for you! Which puts the endless rain here in perspective.
Meanwhile the ones in the US worry about guns.

I'd agree people are finding it harder.

1. I think COVID made people reassess their lives and be less accepting and accommodating of others. More selfish. If everyone is (or a higher percentage of people are) selfish then society can't function in the same way it did before.

1. The weather plays a massive part and that's on us - climate change means longer and harsher and wetter winters. Particularly this year when we are yet to have a summer really. Warm springs mean people get into gardens, plant flowers which uplift moods.

That said, some things haven't changed. There has always been a divide between rich and poor at certain times in an economic cycle. The gap narrows, and widens and repeat. However, social media and the openness of people to outwardly discuss their emotions and mental health then impacts others who are drawn down into the negative spiral.

In 30 years time, sociologists are going to have a field day.

@BobbyBiscuits not just Monday - it is cool damp, 7deg, cloudy grey sky, we
can near the Monday morning roar of traffic on the A road, headed for the motorway, birds chirping, refuse lorry, usual Monday morning gearing up sounds.
You paint a gloomy picture.
We will all feel better when the sun appears, warms us, vitamin D, turn our heating off at last, when May and June gardens delight us, butterflies, bumble bees, hollyhocks, when in warmth and sun, living is easier.
Many of the situations you list we can do nothing about, constructively.
We wake up every morning in a first world, tolerant, beautiful country, a temperate climate, world renowned culture, art, music, literature, architecture, humour,
a (mostly) civilised Island/s with much to be thankful, wherever we live, we are here!

I think the NHS falling apart is a massive factor, I have so many little niggly things that make life materially worse and I’m waiting for investigations. I’m generally healthy overall, none of this is life threatening but it wears you down. Put that over a whole population and no wonder everyone is depressed!

Nobody is really happy at this point in time. There's too much poverty, inequality, war, pain, illness, greed, pollution, lack of ambition, depression in this world.
But maybe it's just because it's Monday morning.

I think it takes effort to be happy, just like anything else that you want. It is not just presented to you. I think happy is also an internal thing. I've made lots of effort to manage my mental health and anxiety, and now that it is, I feel happier.

I've lived in other countries and I think the UK is a bit of a nightmare to live in TBH. It costs a fortune, there isn't anything to do that doesn't cost money, the taxes are high, bills are massive, mortgages/rent are high and we pay more for things than other countries do. Our lives are a cycle of get up early, commute, work long hours, commute back, repeat. People don't seem to have many hobbies, and they don't have family bonds like other cultures do. Our media is a negative loop and it all adds up to making people really miserable. Our people have no end of illnesses clogging up the NHS which are stress related.

I'm on a course at the moment about stress. I'm not necessarily in a bad place, but I'm always looking at ways to keep it down. It is a constant work in progress.

I feel happier as I get older as I give less of a shit, and I'm doing what I want to do, not what anyone else wants me to do. I try not to listen to the news, and get involved in bullshit. I have thought long and hard about who I love and care about and I just focus on them.

I totally agree with this unfortunately. What’s the point? I do think living in the UK is a factor - grim weather, everything is ridiculously expensive, NHS on its knees, prisons full to the brim, housing crisis. I’ll definitely be encouraging my kids to move abroad when they are older.

I was miserable pre covid, I’m miserable now. Not much changed, my life has always been hard and shit.

the only change is that since I got to my mid ish 40s (44 now), I’ve had some sort of personality transplant. I take no shit. I used to smile and take all sorts, mainly from family and now I will happily tell someone they are being an arsehole and they need to stop. I don’t feel the need to act happy now, or keep the peace. If I want to cry, I’ll just cry, when ever.

So if you asked someone about me, they would definitely say that I have changed and blame covid.

When actually, I snapped about a year ago after a life time of being a walk over my whole life after a pretty horrific time with my health and sitting next to my dad for three days as he died horrifically of thirst - dementia, he had it for 3 years before Death and it wrecked me.

I realised life is too fucking short to take other peoples bullshit or to hide my emotions. Fuck it, don’t like me, don’t speak to me, I give no fucks.

I’m 48 and I’ve never felt a general malaise like this before. Climate change, the threats from North Korea, China and Russia, the rise of anti-social behaviours, Brexit…but I sense that the two biggest factors are knowing our freedoms could be taken from us at anytime and the ever present worrying about money (for many people). Life’s always been a bit shit, but the cocktail of crap going on now is unprecedented. I’m glad more than half of my life is over, quite frankly.

Yes, I agree that people don't seem as happy as they used to. Life is a struggle for all of us in one way of another but as covid managed to disrupt the social.fabric of our society for many of us, we now feel more isolated/ lonely / we work at home more and it has definitely reduced my social interaction.

We had only recently moved to another part of the country when the pandemic happened. I felt i was forging some social contacts but during covid they all fell away and I'm left with that feeling of I can't be bothered to try and make new friends again, which isn't probably healthy but it feels too.much like hard work for diminishing returns. I think I've come to the realisation that many people are a bit superficial these days and lack depth. Which hasn't made me feel better about life tbh.

I think so. It feels more pressurised now, more miserable. Col and wages not increased as much, means money feels tight. And the weather, and no sign of anything getting any better. All feels a bit grim.

Social media / internet iPhones.

While I agree with what you say, there is no need for any of us to be constantly bombarded with news. I don't get constant pings on my phone, and get my news from very short hourly bulletins on the radio, the TV news in the evenings, and my local news from trips to the library to read the paper. While technology is here to stay, how much we use it is up to each individual. Just because we can get constant pings with news doesn't mean we have to, it is possible to opt out.

My opinion the British public is at rock bottom. Greedy, small minded right wingers seem to dominate. I don’t feel the same sense of social responsibility that I used to.

I can't remember the last time I felt proper joy.
I mostly feel a bit flat/numb.
I think for me the past 4 years have been a slog mentally and physically (middle aged and working 1 full time job and 1 part time job to keep us afloat) and I have just run out of steam.
I remember being a teenager in the mid/late 90's and being told by school and my parents that if I 'just worked hard enough' I could have nice things and go on holidays etc....22 years so far of working hard, the nice things I used to be able to afford (with just one job!) are pretty much just a memory now.

People keep talking about how we know much more now, but I am not sure this is true for many of us. I remember when everyone used to have a daily newspaper, and more educated people would often have a couple of newspapers every day. I used to read far more international news thirty years ago than I do now. And the coverage on TV news used to be more graphic than it is now.

I think what has changed is hope and a sense of trust. People can bear a lot if they feel hope that things will get better. And people feel more secure if they can largely trust our government and institutions. I think most people have lost a sense of hope. And the trust in government and institutions seems pretty low these days for good reasons.

I do think smartphones and social media have a lot to do with it. We are so much more aware now of bad things happening around us, both locally and globally. Bad news was just naturally easier to avoid before the internet. If you didn't see the news on TV that day or read a newspaper you really weren't aware of what was happening. You'd be out shopping or gardening or in a cafe with friends having a lovely time, and no-one would be any the wiser about developments in the world unless it was major news and on newspaper stands or someone said "have you heard? The Twin Towers have been bombed" for example.

Now people have constant pings on their phone every hour of every day of some disaster or tragedy happening somewhere, we've got 24 hour news channels with all sorts of analysis and commentary about what everything will mean for us, sometimes for days on end. It's just this never ending sea of bad things washing over us. It's unavoidable now. And people just seem to expect bad news now so have started to catastrophise things which actually aren't that bad.

There is just too much anxiety-inducing information being thrown at us constantly. We don't NEED to know half the stuff that's getting rammed down our necks. It's just making us miserable. You see documentaries about tribes in the Amazon or Africa and you can bet most of them won't be worrying about the state of the world economy, because they're too busy focussing on what's happening in front of them. During World War II people at home had to wait until evening news bulletin on the radio for the latest updates, or for the evening newspaper to come out. They weren't being bombarded by bad news updates every minute of every day. For them, no news was indeed good news, a lot of the time. And I think people were happier for it

We just need to go back to simpler times.

My life is a lot harder than it was a few years ago. Both DH and I working all hours.

Also very tough bringing up young adults in this economy and always trying to model positivity for them.

Its not just Britain. have family and friends in another country and they are beginning to feel the terrifying effects of climate change.