Would be interesting to check the numbers when controlling for income/affluence. Intuitively I actually think that the "always online" thing is a big part of it

Would be interesting to check the numbers when controlling for income/affluence. Intuitively I actually think that the "always online" thing is a big part of it, but don't have any numbers to back that up. There's a few things that happen on social media that make me think this. First, there's a lot of "aspirational" content - "unboxing" expensive clothes, cars, etc. People hanging out in fancy houses or going to exotic locales. All of this is classic marketing stuff and IIRC has been linked to unhappiness in the past. Second, there's constant political hyperbole online. Though maybe it's just the filter bubbles I hang out with. It's difficult to be happy when it seems that everyone is trying to convince you that the world will end if the next election doesn't go a certain way. Finally, and this probably applies to younger people more, there's a flood of unrealistic body/face imagery on social media. While there were examples of this before (fashion/fitness mags) it seems harder to escape now. It's especially bad when you hear stories of people getting plastic surgery to look like the facetune version of themselves[1]. Now the aspirational image is not someone else - it's literally yourself run through photoshop. [1] https://time.com/5357262/snapchat-plastic-surgery/ https://time.com/5357262/snapchat-plastic-surgery/