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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favorite stories in this weekly newspaper.
It’s an epidemic of loneliness, a drop in youth drinking rates and to love each otherand deteriorating mental health among youth and young adults alike?
At first, the two of them are somewhat controversial. The lack of hard historical data on loneliness has led some to question whether there has been an increase at all, let alone an epidemic. And with the mental health of older people, others argue that a large part of the observed increase in complications is simply picking up cases that previously would not have been detected, while others point out misleading figures.
Skeptics have not been wrong to raise doubts, and there has certainly been some exaggeration. But as time goes by the data and testimony rejoice, there is growing appreciation that the absence of conclusive proof of cause does not mean proof of absence. Indeed, there is a growing sense that these phenomena may not only be real, but are all part of a wider change: the collapse of the individual in the midst of friendship. youth.
Until recently, evidence about loneliness was lacking the weakestbut previous studies have shown that it is decreasing among US high school seniors now show the steep slopes. In the UK and Europe, new data published in 2024 shows a significant increase in loneliness among twenty-somethings. This reflects the ways of socializing, or rather the lack thereof. As the Atlantic’s Derek Thompson wrote last week, we are living more and more the age of anti-socialism. Rather than being a US-specific trend, this is sweeping the western world. The share of young people on both sides of the Atlantic who meet regularly with friends, family or colleagues has fallen significantly. In Europe, the proportion of those who do not socialize once a week has risen from one in ten to one in four.
People in their teens and twenties now spend as much time as someone 10 years older than they did in the past. It’s not that 30 is the new 20, because the 20 is the new 30. Both are innovations welcomed by the public health community, but they hide a dark side.
The methods of time spent alone are almost identical to the methods of mental health, there stress level they are increasing among young people, but not middle-aged or older. Wealth of public health research shows that these two things are not coincidences but are causally related. Time spent alone is strongly associated with low life satisfaction even high mortality.
Some of the most important evidence comes in the form of detailed time-use reports from the US and the UK, which show a marked increase in time spent alone among young people and adults over the past decade. ago, but nothing changes among the older groups. More importantly, this diary data also captures how people feel when they are doing different things with (or without) different people.
Clear and consistent presentation that is, more time spent alone is associated with lower life satisfaction, and people report lower levels of happiness when doing the same task alone compared to a partner. Using the levels of happiness and meaning Americans give to different activities in these records, I find that the decline in young people’s life satisfaction between 2010 and 2023 can be largely explained by changes in the way they spend their time. it.
The most obvious cause in terms of time and age is the proliferation of smartphones and social media, which have become overwhelming. video duration is short. Among the many activities measured in America’s time-use data, private hours spent gaming, browsing social media and watching videos are considered insignificant.
The fact that these details are provided by young people and adults who spend hours glued to their devices highlights the tragedy at the heart of this story: people who are suffering know what’s going on, but seem powerless to do so. prevent that.
The last decade is the story of young people who have withdrawn from the professions that bring them great success, and replaced them – consciously or otherwise – with lighter models. Like the proverbial frog in a pot of water, the damage at any time is too subtle to penetrate, but after a few years we can start crying.
