America is going downhill. Well, so is the world, but that’s a lot to tackle in one article. From the 24-hour depressing news cycle to overworked employees, American society is deteriorating, fast. Here are some reasons why.
Everyone is Fighting About Everything
The old adage, “Why can’t we all just get along?” is relevant here. No matter where you go, someone has a problem with someone or something. Social media hasn’t helped. Rather, it has divided people even more on both big political issues and topics that don’t matter (remember The Dress?). Why can’t people have reasonable discussions? Everyone is so worried about retorting that true listening doesn’t take place. If you spend your time worrying about what everybody else is doing, you will not have energy left to care about things that really matter to you (and you’ll also be in a perpetual bad mood).
We’re all Overworked
People are working longer hours just trying to make ends meet. We are now in the digital age where people are expected to be available 24/7. Anne Peterson’s How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation goes into more detail about that. This article appeared in Buzzfeed and went viral earlier this year. A poor work-life balance leads to health problems later in life by increasing stress levels. One study from Medical News Today says, “Individuals who work 55 hours or more per week have a 1.3-times higher risk of stroke than those working standard hours.”
The 8-hour workday began in the 1900s and was implemented to make sure employees weren’t working too hard. However, we are slowly drifting away from that, with employees working longer hours. In a 2014 Gallup poll, the average number of hours Americans worked per week was 47, but many said they work 50. In more competitive industries such as tech and finance, professionals work over 60 hours a week. A Bloomberg Businessweek story from 2017 discussed American factories where employees work more than 12 hours a day at least six days a week. Add to this the fact that not everyone is paid well and many people have to work multiple jobs to support their families.
The United States is among the countries with the worst work-life balance. Other countries, such as France, have laws to help employees achieve a better balance. For instance, France passed a law that allows employees to ignore work email when they aren’t in the office. They also have 25 mandatory vacation days. In contrast, the United States has 0 federally mandated vacation days.
Marketing and Advertising are Everywhere
The bombardment of advertisements (a.k.a. “ad clutter”) is a serious problem. You can’t go anywhere without seeing an ad. Some states, like Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, and Vermont have banned billboard advertising, which is a step in the right direction. However, São Paulo, Brazil has banned billboards, business signs, and handing out pamphlets on the street. This had positive effects on the city because it freed up space for street artists and made disintegrating buildings more visible, which showed that they needed to be repaired.
Estimates of how many ads we are exposed to in a day range from hundreds to thousands, although we only remember a couple. Ad clutter is distracting, unappealing, and can have harmful effects on our lives. For example, it can create unrealistic expectations of things like body image and make people feel worse about themselves. It also creates unnecessary needs. Ads clutter our lives with unceasing messaging and make websites run slower when there are too many. I’m not saying remove ads completely (I understand the importance of advertisements to business and the economy), but I think it’s a little over-the-top to see a Chevy ad on my Amazon box.
Everyone is Reliant on Technology
Many people are addicted to technology. In a 2013 British study, 51% of people surveyed admitted they suffer from “extreme tech anxiety” when away from their devices. This shouldn’t be happening. Some people scoff at the idea of not having technology, thinking, “How did people even get around with maps back in the day?” “How did they wait to call their friends until they got to a landline or payphone?” Worse yet, “They mailed letters?” This epidemic continues to worsen, especially with introducing children to technology at earlier ages. Some say the addiction erodes social skills, and people have become more impatient because they expect everything instantly.
American society is deteriorating in many ways, but all hope is not lost. These issues are combatable if we take a step back, realize it’s happening, and implement solutions at the personal level for the greater good.
