To think most people don’t seem happy these days

Yes, there’s been a massive shift since the pandemic. I personally struggle to feel joy at all any more, and many people I know feel the same.

I actually find this era more optimistic and colourful than the oughts. I am not one of those millennials who romanticises the past.

Newspaper archives are easy to consult. Just have a look at the recent past.

Perhaps there was a period of unusual stability and optimism around the noughties / early teens.

But I think that was the aberration.

Wars, disease, terrorism, economic instability and industrial relations problems were absolutely rife in the recent past. The threat of nuclear annihilation was ever present during the Cold War. The past wasn't really a different place at all.

I also had my toughest times in my teens and twenties. I am forty now. I also am lucky in that I look many years younger than my age, so I sort of get the benefits of age and experience without some of the disadvantages. Obviously, I will age at some point, but I feel closer to 30 than 40 and I think that does help.

Yes we’ve all been eating from the apple tree of knowledge. Turns out it’s full of violence, porn and hatred. Even the logo has a bite out of it.

I've noticed a huge shift in attitude with the general public. I've worked in community pharmacy for 16 years (North east) and the shift in behaviour over the past four-five years is unrecognisable. We used to get 3-4 grumpy patients a day, maybe the odd violent / aggressive patient a week....now it's daily. Several times.

Everyone's fed up, the town center which once was a a busy community is run down, shops and coffee shops boarded up, rubbish and litter everywhere. The only shop open is the large tesco and a vape shop.

I'm fed up, little money left to stretch to any luxuries. As the poster said above its just bills / work / pay / bills. It feels never-ending and quite simply bleak.

I actually blame social media, it seems to cause people to feel inadequate, not good enough. Reality tv isn't any better.

Obviously reasons for mood are complex but I've noticed a distinct downward spiral of mental health inverse to the popularity of smartphones and tablets.

@Mum1976Mum
So sorry, that's absolutely awful

This happened for me and my brother in our 20s.

Yes, the last few years have been really difficult for so many reasons. And yet, as a fundamental optimist, I have to believe that ‘although the moral arc of the universe is long, it bends towards justice’. And though that might not help us right now, it does give me some measure of comfort.
I think the UK is going through a kind of identity crisis. But I see a lot of good around me and rather than focusing on the bad, I can choose to focus (mostly) on the good.

I’m going against the grain here but I don’t see a difference to how things used to be. I think people just like to navel gaze a lot more now. There have always been good and bad times and there will always be good and bad times. That’s life.

The more I think about the more in realise it was Brexit that made it nasty. David Cameron has a lot to answer for. His attempt to stay in power ruined our country. It changed the way politics and the media was conducted, allowed Boris Johnson and his self serving government in. Before Brexit it wasn't perfect but if felt like life was getting better, that multicultural UK was positively on the way up and that out kids would have a greener brighter future. Then Cameron whistled his way out of it and left a shit storm of toxic politics that Johnson loved. And brought in a stream of self serving multi millionaires who have done whatever they could to drain our country.
Was there corruption before? Absolutely. Has it increased ten fold since Johnson came in power. Yes.
And none to surprisingly this sort of government has not cared about the most vulnerable. Resulting in a poorer, more anxious and divisive population.

Yes, we've lost our innocence.

I can't say I think that people are especially more down. I think possibly the foul weather might have something to do with it, though. This has been the crappest spring in as long as I can remember. I actually felt that things were a lot better in 2022, because we were finally out of the pandemic. I don't spend too much time thinking about Ukraine or Gaza and actually find that endlessly talking about it is quite annoying and doesn't solve anything.

My parents are also depressed. They are nearly 80 and my Dad’s business, which he was on the verge of selling, slumped away to nothing thanks to Brexit, Covid and Liz Truss. He now has to carry on working to try to build it up again so he can leave my mum comfortable when he dies….which won’t be long as he has terminal bowel and prostate cancer. Imagine having to drag yourself into work every day with that at 78!

My 16yo was telling me about a family who escaped North Korea and their parents gave them tablets to take if they got caught so they’d commit suicide rather than be tortured. We talked about how lucky we are to live in a free country and how we should appreciate what we have because it can go very quickly. I think perspective is important.

That said, we don’t have to live in North Korea to be unhappy, but there’s a lot of good in the UK. I do think we all need a few warm days though for a vitamin D boost!

Life has been unbearable the last few years.it’s just a thankless slog now with nothing nice to look forward to as we can’t afford it. I’m sick of worrying about money. If I didn’t have to stay around for the children there’s no way I’d still be here. Can’t even up my anti depressants any more.

Agreed

I think living on phones and the internet has contributed to this too op.

I feel much happier if I spend a day out in nature.

How old are you? I've found since I've turned 40 mine and my peers' lives have become much less carefree. Ageing parents, peri, divorces, illness, bereavement, infertility. Lots of struggle and unhappiness. Perhaps my friendship group has been unlucky. It's not so much the times we're living in (although that plays a part) as the stage of life I think.

I think people are grumbling more but most people I know seem mostly quite content. I think the deep and meaningful conversations we have are probably a bit deeper, more wide ranging and frequent than a few years ago, not with everyone but some.

We do tend to project our own feelings onto others and misery loves company so if you’re lower than usual other people may seem that way too. I don’t mean that unkindly nor am I saying you’re miserable! I hope you get what I’m trying to say.

Yes, the contrast between the Olympics and Brexit is so stark it's almost not believable, so so sad 😢

I'm not happy, I haven't been for a long time. Maybe a little down since before covid, but certainly afterwards.

Everything feels like a slog, everything is hard work. Don't get me wrong, I'm not adverse to hard work, but this is incessant.

Everything has felt like hard work for a number of years now for little to no reward. Do more with less in every aspect of your life. Food, bills, pay, work...

Sorry, that sounds so doom and gloom, but it feels like there is so little to look forward to, I can't see a light at the end of the tunnel when any of this universal shitshow is going to get better.