I read an interesting email yesterday in which the annual global survey for 2019 placed the U.S. at 19th overall in terms of happiness… its worst rank in the history of the annual report. Canada dropped to the ninth position.
The World Happiness Report of 2019, developed by the U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network, focuses on how community harmony is shaped by “technologies, social norms, conflicts, and government policies.”
The email sent out by Crux makes an interesting suggestion as to what may be happening. The article concludes with this statement, “There are studies that link more time spent using digital media to a decrease in happiness. Think about it… The more time young people spend online, the fewer chances they have for the kind of face-to-face interactions that older generations experienced when they were young. The report also notes that young people are spending less time at church, reading books, and even sleeping.”
I am not sure whether what is cited in this email is the reason, or perhaps the symptom of something else, which is causing the trends which are taking place in North America. When something, whatever it might be, including technology, replaces what are staple, universal basic actions in how humanity was created to behave, live and thrive, there will always be negative consequences. This is true in every area of life, including the spiritual realm. As Earl Nightingale wrote many years ago, “We get what we think about most of the time.” What destination is your focus driving you? Is that where you really want to be?