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.