The world happiness report shows the U.S. broke a new record low, and young people under 30 are driving the downward shift. A headline in Fortune magazine reads: “America’s hopelessness crisis may have less to do with the economy and more to do with Gen Z’s mental health, new survey shows.” The article goes on the say, “The United States is consistently the most popular destination for people around the world looking to leave their home country. However, recent surveys suggest that many Americans are losing faith in the future of the nation.”
So why are people, especially youth, apparently less happy today than in past generations? Is there a relationship between mental health and hope? It’s a fact, more than ever before, youth today are constantly bombarded by media—much of it negative messages and negative images. “We live in a media-saturated world where we are constantly exposed to negative news and grievance-focused social commentary.” Add to this the constant barrage on social media, and a dramatic decline of true physical person-to-person and group interaction, in favor of spending time with mobile devices.
When the mind is exposed to the corruption in today’s world on TV, movies, online, social media, billboards, magazine and a host of other sources, is it any wonder what the results will be? How can a mind grow positively in a negative environment?
It’s a fact of life that our bodies are the result of the food we eat. The same is true in the mental arena. What we feed our brain determines the outcome—what we think and how we feel. Thoughts determine feelings. Negative thoughts result in negative emotions, even despair and depression. Could a sense of hopelessness stem from the negative mental content consumed by people today?
The Bible provides optimum mental food for humans. It’s the “living word” of God, our Creator. Yet, how many people today read the Bible and follow its advice? How many “feed” on the word and focus on eternal realities? “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you!” Isaiah 26:3 NLT
Over the past two decades Christianity has been declining in America. According to Pew Research, in 2007, nearly 80% of Americans identified themselves as Christian. Today that number has dropped to about 60%. Also down significantly are the number of Americans who pray daily. About 44% say they pray at least once a day. Those who say they attend church services at least once a month hovers just above 30%. However, those statistics have a great discrepancy when it comes to age. Younger Americans are far less religious than their parents and older generations. Also fewer youth raised in religious homes have remained religious. Plus about 35% of adults (or 90 million Americans) no longer identify with the religion of their upbringing. Those who no longer claim to be religiously affiliated has nearly doubled during the past decade.
The global religious world has also changed over the past decade. Although Christians are still the world’s largest religious group, that percentage did not keep pace with global population growth. Muslims are the fastest growing group. Over the past ten years the number of Muslims increased by nearly 350 million—more than all other religions combined. A quarter of the world’s population is religiously unaffiliated. That group increased more than all other groups except Muslims.
So has a decline in religious interest had any effect? Yes, there are indications pointing at a decrease in hope. There has been an increase in death and despair—also an increase in suicide, drug overdose and alcohol-related deaths. Some surveys suggest a decline in mental well-being. And a general increase in pessimism about global challenges is contributing to a sense of hopelessness. In short, this world needs Jesus more than ever before.
At LifeTalk, we still believe Jesus is the answer to the hopelessness in our world today. Hence our goal is to connect people with Christ. If you concur with our mission, we invite you to participate in helping us reach more people with the Good News of the Gospel. Join us in reaching a lost world, mired in hopelessness. Here are three specific things you can do:
1) Pray for those caught in a cycle of hopelessness and bombarded by the negative influences of this world. Please also pray for LifeTalk Radio. And if you have a prayer request, please let us know. Share your prayer requests online any day, any time. Or call our prayer hotline: 1-800-775-HOPE (4673).
2) Share LifeTalk Radio with others. Invite them to listen to words of hope and songs of encouragement. Help them tap into a positive media environment. Exposure to positive content will have positive results. Souls will be uplifted and hope can be restored. An easy way to invite others to listen is to send (email, text or post) a beautiful eCard available free at: lifetalk.net/ecards.
3) Please become a LifeTalk partner and participate financially to keep LifeTalk on the air. Your faithful support makes a difference and helps reach people around the world through radio. Thanks for being or considering becoming a LifeTalk partner.
Sources:
www.pewresearch.org
www.axios.com
fortune.com
