I believe this is connected to stagnant wages (which starts in 1970s for Americans), with a catch. My hypothesis: 1. Counterintuitively, bad economic circumst

I believe this is connected to stagnant wages (which starts in 1970s for Americans), with a catch. My hypothesis: 1. Counterintuitively, bad economic circumstances don't lead to chronic stress. People in countries with objectively terrible economic conditions are not more stressed or unhappier. It is simply: 'life'. 2. Caveat: Bad economic conditions do cause chronic stress where the media is projecting an illusion of rising success and wealth for the average person. This is because large numbers of people begin to feel left behind, even though most of their 'successful' peers are probably in debt to their eyeballs. Chronic stress is caused by the constant reminders in the form of fraudulent statistics, advertisements and social conditioning by fictional television shows that cause them to compare their circumstances to largely imaginary ideals. My solution, which sounds drastic but I believe it to be meritorious, is to ban television (but we can keep the Nature channels). I believe a large number of social ills shall mostly disappear once this is accomplished. Supporting evidence: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2009/03/fijian-girls-succumb-to-western-dysmorphia/ http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2009/03/fijian-girls-s...