The folks over at Cold Type (Spence Publishing) have published a link to a Reuters article about how children and young adults in developed countries are more unhappy than their poorer counterparts.  It’s an interesting read.

Cold Type: Why Are Our Young Adults Unhappy?

A few notable quotes from the Reuters article:

“Young people in developing nations are at least twice as likely to feel happy about their lives than their richer counterparts, a survey says.

Indians are the happiest overall and Japanese the most miserable.”

and

“Reasons for unhappiness across the developed world included a lack of optimism, concern over jobs and pressure to succeed.”

and finally

“The happier young people of the developing world are also the most religious.”

In my opinion, most of the unhappiness comes from a lack of contentment with what they have and with what God has provided.  Lack of contentment leads to envy and greed, which then, when those “things” are not attainable or available, becomes unhappiness.

This is so prevalent in our “image” and “gadget” society.  I see it starting up in our 8 year old already with fashion issues.  When Sarah sees that her friends have the latest “cool” or “in fashion” clothing line, she starts to want the same to “fit in”.  And when Mardi and I (the mean parents that we are) don’t succumb to the desire for $100 blue jeans, the lack on contentment sets in and alters Sarah’s mood for the worse.  Luckily, at this age, the mood shift is quickly overcome, but what does the future hold for us?

I’m not looking forward to it.  Check out Cold Types post.

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