Are Young Adults Facing Life Problems that make them Unhappy?

A sad generation of people trying to survive through smiling faces and pretty pictures on social media, overly saturated with life problems that constantly put young adults at the edge. You can never detect the problems one is battling in a time where everyone is faking a smile just not to be caught out of position, while there are a lot going on within. The world has become increasingly open for advancement from different spheres of life, the advancement in technology, lifestyle, financial consciousness, self-discovery, growth etc. Contributes to how people view the world, as they are core tenets of how people understand life and its challenges. The psychological effects these life problems put a mark on their stronghold.

Continuous evolution of social media has made life more accessible, you can literally see how life goes from different climes, people began to show high degree of attachment and glued to their phone to the point that they start to make most of what they see on the internet. The generations before were more relaxed and less pressured due to certain kind of contentment they lived with, and there were more direct communication with people as opposed to digital communications which appears to bring connectivity at long distances, yet, people still long closeness and body language when they communicate. Increase in phone addiction has created mental toll which many are struggling to escape, the captivity of these life problems have compounded woes.

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In a survey published on December 2024, titled “The Mental Health of the Young in Africa” by National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), has enumerated that those who use the internet are more likelier to suffer mental health problems. The work expanded “The absence of the internet might help explain why the mental health of young Africans has been declining less than elsewhere,” the study said. “However, there are dangers on the horizon as the sales of smartphones explode.” “A number of cultural forces may be at work that have had a negative impact on life satisfaction and views of society, including declining in-person social interaction, increased social media use, and increasing income inequality,” the study reveals.

This unhappiness is generally centred around the wellbeing of young adults, the expectations envisaged on their timelines when they are not met it pushes them into mental crisis, facing the difficulties of handling life problems. It is more expensive than before to live in this present time, majority of the conversations centred around financial freedom, while higher degree of people are yet to gain financial intelligence, this is because it is not about how you start accumulating wealth but how you manage it and grow from the one you have already. When fear of not meeting life expectations creep in or they felt that they are not in the position they should be, sadness and low self-esteem become the order of the day.