It turns out that forcing people to hide in their homes and limiting their interactions with the rest of the world for two years had a negative effect on the way we view ourselves and each other. Americans are unhappier than they’ve ever been, according to a recent study, with more than 30% of young adults describing themselves as “not too happy” and 22% of adults 35 years and older saying the same.
Unhappiness has been steadily increasing since the 1970s, but the pandemic exacerbated the crisis in a way that has never been seen before. Suddenly, people across the board — old and young, college-educated and working-class, employed and unemployed — were reporting similar levels of dissatisfaction. Even now that the world has reopened and normal life has returned, many people still cannot shake themselves of the feeling that their lives have been irreversibly uprooted.
The only ones who seem able to pull themselves out of the pandemic slump are the married and religious. Indeed, unhappiness rose just 8 percentage points for married young adults, versus 18 percentage points for the unmarried. And among those who attend religious services at least two times per month, unhappiness rose only 4 percentage points, whereas those who attended less often experienced a 15 percentage-point increase.
These results should not come as a surprise. Marriage and religion are two of the most reliable buffers to life’s many adversities. They provide security, hope, and support in a world that often lacks all three.
It should go without saying, then, that the more detached our society becomes from these vital institutions, the unhappier it will be. That’s especially bad news for young adults, 60% of whom are unmarried and irreligious, according to the Institute for Family Studies.
How can we change this?
Well, for starters, perhaps we can agree never again to shut down churches and other religious centers forcibly out of fear of a virus.
