International Press Release Submissions

The mystery of Gen Z’s unhappiness. It’s not just social media

For the first time since its publication, the World Happiness Report (WHR) provides a comprehensive analysis of happiness trends across generations, giving separate rankings by age group. Gen Z’s wellbeing is down in the Anglosphere, Western Europe, and South Asia but up in Central and Eastern Europe. Notably, the USA has fallen out of the top 20 ‘happiest countries’ for the first time, driven by a significant drop in the wellbeing of Americans under 30: it now ranks 62nd in the world for the young! But why are young adults in the West so unhappy? Social media has been publicised as the cause of the decline in Gen Z’s mental health and happiness, but it can’t be the only reason. For Mental Health Awareness Week, we looked into this drop – and find it’s a mystery.  Dr Michael Plant, Research Director at the Happier Lives Institute and Fellow at the Wellbeing Research Centre, Oxford University, points out the problem without laying all the blame on social media: “Over the past 20 years, we have seen young people become less happy in North America and Western Europe. But, over the same period, youth wellbeing in Central and Eastern Europe has gone up by more. Social media is everywhere. I expect it’s one cause of reduced wellbeing, but it’s hard to see how it could be the only culprit.” What does explain the drop in Western countries? Researchers aren’t sure.“There is no consensus among academics regarding the role of social media, at least from a global perspective. Interestingly, regions like Central and Eastern Europe, with similar levels of social media use, exhibit divergent wellbeing trends. In general, it is not clear yet what is driving negative and positive trends in different parts of the World, and this is partly due to limited data availability in non-Western countries,” says Dr Jose Marquez, a WHR chapter author on youth wellbeing. Prof Lara Aknin, Co-Editor of the WHR, emphasises the multifaceted nature of the issue. “Pinpointing a single …


Source: MyPR International

Rethinking happiness: are the Nordic nations really the happiest?

As we celebrate International Day of Happiness on March 20th, the World Happiness Report releases a new set of international rankings. Dr Michael Plant, Research Director at the Happier Lives Institute, an organisation that connects donors, researchers, and policymakers with the most cost-effective opportunities to increase global wellbeing, questions how much the World Happiness Report tells us about happiness. Dr Plant argues that while the World Happiness Report may crown the Nordic nations as champions of life satisfaction, it leaves open the question of which countries enjoy their lives the most. “The World Happiness Report compares countries by their life satisfaction. But life satisfaction isn’t quite the same thing as happiness. ‘Happiness’ generally refers to how good or bad you feel, not how satisfied you are with life,” says Dr Plant. “Research shows that while measures of day-to-day happiness and life satisfaction generally go together, some things matter more for one than the other. For instance, income and employment status affect life satisfaction more than happiness, whereas health problems, loneliness, and personal safety impact happiness more.” “The World Happiness Report is — with apologies to my colleagues — a bit of a misnomer: ‘World Life Satisfaction Report’ would be more accurate,” Dr Plant remarks. “While it’s a great source of information on life evaluations, it doesn’t have detailed information on how people experience their lives. Unfortunately, there’s no global survey of happiness.” As a result, Dr Plant also urges caution on thinking that we should imitate the societal structures of the most satisfied nations: “It has almost entered into folklore that the Nordics have the best quality of life. Hence, we should be more like them – have generous welfare states, raise taxes, sport excellent beards, go skiing, be sensible, and learn about ‘hygge’ and ‘lykke’.” “But, I don’t think it’s clear whose example to follow if we want …


Source: MyPR International

Making your donations count: A guide to effective charitable giving this holiday season

With the biggest generosity event of the year – Giving Tuesday – coming up on November 28th, now is the perfect time to reassess our giving strategies. Since its inception in 2012, Giving Tuesday has become a worldwide movement that inspired $3.1 billion in charitable giving last year alone1. But most donations still come from the heart, not the head. Enter "effective giving" – an evidence-based philosophy that analyses how to do the most cost-effective measurable good per dollar donated. Much like savvy investors who select stocks, effective givers rely on data, efficiency benchmarks, and concrete impact assessments to guide funding decisions. Why does strategic giving matter? When donations pay for nice-sounding but ineffective programmes, it takes money away from initiatives that make a real difference in people's lives. Groups working to address nutrition, homelessness, global wellbeing, illness, and other critical issues end up severely underfunded because giving often prioritises heart-tugging stories over evidence-based solutions. Independent research reveals vast differences in impact between the most and least effective philanthropic interventions. For instance, in a study of different health treatments, the least effective HIV/AIDs intervention, which was still effective, was 1,000 less cost-effective than the best one2. More people slip through the cracks when donations chase emotions rather than wise investments in proven programmes. "We have the opportunity – even obligation – to give smarter," says Dr Michael Plant, Oxford philosopher and founder of the charity evaluator, Happier Lives Institute. "There can be a big difference between what we believe will help people most and what really does. That’s why we need to do the research into wellbeing, to find out what those things are, then change what we do." Some ways to maximise your impact without spending more this Giving Tuesday (and beyond), include: Committing to regular giving for …


Source: MyPR International