To think most people don’t seem happy these days

[Babyitaintovertilitsover]

Just genuinely happy, like lots used to be

I feel like most people I know are not truly happy, they can laugh or smile at times, but something just isn’t right…am I imagining this? I don’t remember it being like that pre covid

Yes, we've lost our innocence.

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.

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.

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.

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

@Mum1976Mum
So sorry, that's absolutely awful

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.

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.

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 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.

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

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.

@CurlyhairedAssassin Yes I agree, innocence has been lost since covid, when I look back it actually seems split between then and now and seemed different before, like looking back to a sunny, rosier youthful time or something, really strange.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

Social media / internet iPhones.

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.

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’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.

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.