Why Are We All So Angry?

If it seems to you that people are angry all the time, that they are angrier perhaps then they have ever been before, that you often find yourself angry, you are not alone and you are not wrong.

In a recent NPR/IBM-Watson poll, a rather astonishing 84% of Americans felt they were angrier than their parents were a generation ago.

You can see the signs of this innate anger everywhere you look. Our politics are poisoned with anger and hostility. Political parties no longer seek compromise to solve problems, but rather are dedicated to playing a winner take all game in which the goal is to destroy the opposition. But our anger is not limited to our politics, it infects us all on a daily and personal basis.

People are constantly seeking opportunities or excuses for being outraged, annoyed, angered or abused. “You are a racist. You are a sexist. You are anti gay, anti trans, anti whatever you like, and I feel personally threatened.”

This never ending anger is tied to a concurrent uptick in our general state of unhappiness.

A 2020 poll by NBC News found that only 14% of Americans considered themselves to be “very happy,” while 50% found themselves to be isolated.

“Research by the Social Market Foundation and the Centre for Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE) found that although in 1957 life expectancies were lower, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was lower, more hours were worked in a typical week and few households had central heating and less than half owned a television, levels of public happiness were at a height never reached again.”

What has happened to make us all so angry and unhappy?

I think the answer may be found in the last sentence from the study above: “less than half owned a television.”

In 1957, people were still not awash in media, at least not the way they are today. Television was just getting started. People then still lived, for the most part, in the real world.

A lot has changed since 1957, particularly in our exposure to media — to time spent watching films, TV and video. Today, the average person spends an astonishing 8 hours a day, every day, watching media — on TV sets, on pads and on phones.

And what are we watching? Netflix, TV shows, commercials, Facebook, Instgram and TikTok, among other stuff. A lot of platforms, but they all have one thing in common — everyone, on all of these platforms, is living a great life.

You rarely if ever see people on Netflix or in TV commercials for that matter, living in small houses, wearing old shabby clothes, driving old beat up cars, eating crap meals or being unhappy. Ever.

Facebook and TikTok and Instagram are and endless reservoir of ‘friends’ on amazing vacations, eating remarkable meals, having lovely children and adorable pets and living a dream life.

In fact, everyone seems to be living a dream life — except for you.

You know the truth of what your life is like, and it doesn't hold a candle to the people who populate your media-driven world. Something is clearly wrong. You have done something clearly wrong. You are inadquate. You are a failure — or someone has rigged the system to deny your your just due.

Of course, no one on social media ever posts that their life is crap. That would seem contrary to the whole point of the thing. Instead, we spend endless hours crafting stunning selfies of our selves, using as many filters as necessary, taking as many shots as necessary to get it right. The image that we project on social media is one of perfection — both physical and lifestyle. “Look world. I’m beautiful, I’m rich, I’m happy, I’m amazing.”

Well, why not? Because the commercial media world to which we are exposed and with which we spend never-ending hours, days, weeks and years also communicates to us that pretty much everyone else is young, physically attractive, happy and rich.

That it is fiction makes no difference. Every contestant on The Bachelor or The Bachelorette is beautiful, as is everyone on Love Island. Every charcter in every sit com or drama or commercial for that matter, lives in a a beautiful home, drives a new car (which is always pristine — ever see a bag of potato chips or an empty coffee cup?). In Friends, which aired 25 years ago, how in the world did these people pay for their New York apartments, as none of them ever seemed to go to work? In the Meaghan/Harry docuseries on Netflix, no one seems to have a job there either.

Meanwhile, there you are slogging it away at some 9–5 job you can’t stand. According to a recent Gallup poll, 85% of people hate their jobs. Ever see someone on TV or on Facebook or on TikTok who just hates their job? In fact, ever see anyone on TikTok who is actually at work?

So media, social media, commercial media, have created a false world where a) no one works. b)every one is beautiful. c) everyone is happy. d) everyone is living an amazing life.

Except for you.

And me.

And the rest of us in the real world.

Through our media, we have created a massive disconnect between the real world as it actually is and the perceived world that we spend 8 hours a day in.

And that is why we are so unhappy. And angry.

And probably ready to vote for anyone who says they can fix it.

But that is all nothing but more mindless entertainment made of illusions and lies.

If you found this interesting, check out my new book, The Rise of the Mediaverse — How The Truth Died.

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