For over thirty years, Finland has run a survey called the "Youth Barometer", which surveys ages 15-29 and asks questions related to their life satisfaction. In the last decade alone, the amount of people who answered 9 or 10 for general life satisfaction dropped from over 50% to 30%.
Seven out of 10 young people said they have experienced pressures to get a job, and there were also various kinds of pressures concerning studies. Half of respondents said they faced pressure to look good, get an education, have an outward mindset and have the resources to meet up with friends.
And more than half said they experience uncertainty due to the global political situation, attitudes of society and finding work. Fair enough, the unemployment rate is 11% in Finland and much higher among young people. Attitudes of society has degraded heavily in regard to factors that improve wellbeing. And the global political situation is a shitshow.
But it is the next bit that raises questions in me.
About half of the respondents identified themselves as belonging to at least one minority group. Eighteen percent described themselves as belonging to a sexual minority, while 14 percent said they were part of a linguistic minority and the same proportion said they belonged to a neurological minority.
The linguistic minority makes sense, since 11% of the entire population is part of a linguistic minority and 6% of Finns are Swedish speakers, a national language, but a minority.
But it is the half identified themselves as belonging to a minority group which first raises a few questions, because if we wanted to get technical, 100% of us identify as a minority. I identify as me, the only me out of eight billion people. And then there is the "sexual minority component where 18% identified as a sexual minority. Really? And 14% identified as a neurological minority. I am not sure what constitutes the label neurological minority, but 18% is about what is held either side of the first standard deviation. Perhaps 18% consider themselves idiots?
There were major differences between genders in these self-identifications. For example, eight percent of men, 24 percent of women and 87 percent of non-binary people reported that they belong to a sexual minority.
8% of men identify as a sexual minority, which again makes some sense, since the estimate is that about 5% of men are gay. However, 24% of women identify as a sexual minority? Really?? And this is how they identify themselves remember, that a quarter of all women believe that their sexuality is in a minority group. And the funny one is that 87% of non-binary respondents identified as belonging to a minority, which means since there was 2300 respondents, 1 in 8 were non-binary people didn't see being non-binary as being a minority, or they didn't understand the question.
It is noted toward the bottom of the article that the decline trend started before smartphones and social media, however it has dropped off a cliff since the uptake. And I believe that the other cited factors, like political uncertainty and social attitudes have been greatly amplified over the last two decades due to social media and constant access through smartphones.
Yet, I think that the biggest problem facing young people is indicated in the various identity insights. Identity has become the driving force of pretty much every factor of our public lives and of course, it impacts on our personal perceptions of the world, and ourselves. We have been encouraged to fragment ourselves across multiple identity points, often in conflict with each other, so that we are easier to manipulate and control. And it is working.
The complex identity matrices that people have built and try to maintain despite all of the internal and external conflicts, creates a huge amount of cognitive stress that will of course lower quality of life, as it will not only meet cognitive dissonance, it will cause social resistance also. Rather than encouraging people to come together regardless of differences to be friends, work and collaborate, we have created an environment that splinters people into groups based on individual identity points. Using an individual identity point can unify those with that perceived trait, but the problem is that people have multiple identity points that become non-negotiable barriers to interaction. As a result, no one feels they belong anywhere. because as soon as they find a supportive environment for a single trait, they will find that same environment unsupportive for another identity label they hold.
The more identity points we have of ourselves, the harder it becomes to find a life that fits our matrix. The broader, more open and accepting we are, the easier it is to be part of a life of value. For me, I am (or at least was) a social butterfly, able to flit from one group or context to the next, always being able to find points of unity that allowed for discussion and cooperation. However, to be this also has to come with the acceptance that I am not going to like all traits about another person, and that even if I don't like some traits, it doesn't mean we can't work together, or even be together. But, in the world where everyone expects that their life should be perfect, that there should be no conflict with the people around them as friends, colleagues or lovers, it is impossible to have a lasting and rewarding relationship with anyone.
There is an infinite amount of divisional labels we can create that separate us from others and we are leaning into creating and using these to make ourselves feel special, without having to do anything special. However, to do special things we really need to learn how to work together, learn from each other, welcome new ideas and perspectives, and explore how to make something special. It is not that it is all about achievement that changes the world in some way, but even at the simplest forms of a good life, we need to work with others.
Young and old on average, we are all becoming more stressed, more depressed, more disconnected, more lonely, more tired, more ill and the list goes on. The more we identify with the labels, the less we are going to end up doing with others, because they will challenge our perception of ourselves and we can't have that. Because if our identity is broken, who are we then?
We are falling into the trap of narcissism of small differences, creating an infinite loop of conflict that is spiralling out of control. Rather than unifying, we are dividing ourselves more and more and as a result, we are breaking down, getting burned out, because our human needs are increasingly going unmet. The world is stressful, but the biggest problem we have when facing it, is that we are choosing to do it more and more alone.
I am a minority of one.
It is not enough.
Taraz
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