Edward Conard

Top Ten New York Times Bestselling Author

  • “…a comprehensive explanation of the modern economy.” - Julian Robertson, Founder, Tiger Management
  • “…challenges misconceptions that distort our economic debates.” - Arthur Brooks, President of the American Enterprise Institute
  • “…a must-read for serious students of economic policy.” - Glenn Hubbard, Dean, Columbia Business School, and former Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers
  • “…reminds us that inequality sends a signal of what society lacks most, in America’s case, entrepreneurship and risk taking.” - Lawrence Lindsey, CEO, The Lindsey Group, former Director of the National Economic Council
  • “Unintended Consequences should be read by anyone who takes for granted the superiority of progressive taxation and has not thought carefully about the trade-offs involved.” - The New Republic
  • “…challenges misconceptions that distort our economic debates.” - Arthur Brooks, President of the American Enterprise Institute
  • “…serious thinking for serious thinkers. …a thought-provoking blueprint for growing middle- and working-class incomes.” - Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts
  • “…a comprehensive explanation of the modern economy.” - Julian Robertson, Founder, Tiger Management
  • “Unintended Consequences offers deep and well-argued analyses on almost every issue.” - The New York Times
  • “A full-throated defense of economic dynamism.” - The Wall Street Journal
  • “…a very valuable contribution.” - Larry Summers, former Secretary of the Treasury and director of the National Economic Council, president emeritus, Harvard University
  • “Unintended Consequences is full of substance, it is one of the must-read books of the year, and once I finish it I will be giving it a second read through right away.” - Tyler Cowen, Professor, George Mason University
Upside of Inequality Oxford Unintended Consequences

AI Summary. The share of US high school seniors describing themselves as "very happy" peaked at 24.8% and remained around 24.4% before falling to 11.4% at its low, recovering only to 12.7%, well below the 17.9% recorded before the pandemic. The decline coincided with smartphones and social media becoming pervasive.

Jean Twenge Generation Tech
Date Posted:
Is Database:
Database

According to a long-running survey, the number of high school seniors reporting they were “very happy” fell from 24.8% in 2007 to 17.9% in 2019 and 12.7% in 2023. Jean Twenge cautions, “The constant pressure of social media [is] a trap of unhappiness.”

Why has the share of teens describing themselves as very happy fallen?

Core argument: The share of U.S. high school seniors describing themselves as "very happy" peaked at 24.8% in 2007 and was still 24.4% in 2012, before falling to 17.9% in 2019 and 11.4% in 2021, per Monitoring the Future.

Happiness has been measured in exactly the same way among high school seniors (17- and 18-year-olds) since 1976 in Monitoring the Future. The happiness item (“Taking all things together, how would you say things are these days – would you say you’re very happy, pretty happy, or not too happy these days?”) thus gives us the longest-running view of any indicator of psychological well-being among adolescents. By 2007, 24.8% of high school seniors said they were “very happy,” the highest ever recorded (before or since). Happiness stayed fairly high even through the years of the Great Recession (2007-09) and was at 24.4% as recently as 2012. That, as it turned out, was the end of an era. As smartphones and social media became pervasive in the 2010s, teen happiness plummeted. Teen happiness fell precipitously during the COVID years – only 11.4% of high school seniors described themselves as “very happy” in 2021. Coming out of the pandemic in 2023, that increased to 12.7%. But that is still much, much lower than the 17.9% of high school seniors who said they were “very happy” in 2019.

Takeaways by Macro Roundup® AI

  1. The share of U.S. high school seniors describing themselves as "very happy" peaked at 24.8% in 2007 and was still 24.4% in 2012, before falling to 17.9% in 2019 and 11.4% in 2021, per Monitoring the Future.
  2. Teen happiness stayed fairly high through the Great Recession of 2007–09 but fell in the 2010s as smartphones and social media became pervasive, according to Monitoring the Future.
  3. Monitoring the Future has asked high school seniors the identical happiness question since 1976, providing the longest-running indicator of adolescent psychological well-being, with the 2023 reading of 12.7% still well below 2019's 17.9%.

Related Articles:

  • The Troubling Decline In Conscientiousness — Survey data show adults in their twenties and thirties increasingly report being easily distracted, careless, less tenacious, and less likely to make and keep commitments, a decline in conscientiousness. The same data show rising neuroticism and lower sociability, with young adults — long the most extroverted group — now reporting the most introversion.
  • US College Students’ Well-Being — A study of US college students finds moderate-to-severe depression reported by 26% of students at one elite institution, 22% reporting moderate-to-severe anxiety and 10% contemplating suicide. Poorer mental health is associated with being female, little exercise, low grades, and financial aid; financial stress is associated with higher suicidal thoughts.
  • The Anti-Social Century — Americans spend less time with other people than in any period with reliable data back to 1965, with in-person socializing down more than 20% from 2003 to 2023 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' American Time Use Survey. Among unmarried men and people under 25, the decline exceeded 35%.
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