According to The World Happiness Report, happiness in the United States is declining. I can think of many reasons this would be so, but digging a little deeper into the survey results yields some interesting age-based differences. Younger people are increasingly less happy, while older people are more so. Loneliness appears to be a major source of that unhappiness. One would think that in this hyper-connected world in which the younger generations are so immersed loneliness would be less of a problem than ever, but that is not the case.

I enjoy social media. When I was first invited to join Facebook, I was delighted to find many of the people I had known throughout the years already there. It was fun to reconnect at some level and see what people would share. I was far more active myself at first. But eventually the newness wore off. I still use it to share things I find interesting and follow people I’m interested in or care about, but it is not a substitute for in-person interaction.

I think this is a problem, especially for the younger generations and especially when they start young. Their ability to form genuine relationships is short-circuited by the insertion of that little screen. It has led to an uptake in abusive and antisocial behavior because one suffers no significant consequence for one’s actions. Relationships are ephemeral, made and broken on the whim of the moment. Our perception of reality is altered because we can’t see through those little screens into the eyes behind them. We need human touch, sometimes even with a little force behind it.

I don’t blame social media for all of society’s ills or even for this one, but I think it is a contributing factor and applaud the efforts being made to shield children from using it too soon. They must learn how to function in the physical world first. Adults are not immune.

I find it interesting that the happiest among us are also likely to be the least addicted to their phones. I think it also has something to do with the fact that as one grows older, one usually comes to a greater understanding of life, what is important and what is not. Happiness has much more to do with what is going on inside us than what is going on around us. And I have to say that the older generations of Americans are more likely to be grounded in Christian principles, whether or not they accept the author of those principles. When we do things God’s way, life works better, and we are more likely to be happy with it.