No, Everything’s Not OK. From Suicide to Despair, American Life Is Crushing Americans — And We Don’t Talk About It Enough
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See that chart above? That’s the US suicide rate. And what it shows is a steep, steep rise — and big problem. “Available data suggests suicides are more common in the U.S. than at any time since the dawn of World War II.” — that’s how the AP puts it.
This is a portrait of a trend. The growing despair of American life.
American life is different. Americans face a unique set of stressors — too many of them. All of them. Every aspect and domain of American life is stressful — in an almost singular way, unlike other societies, even poorer ones. We’ll come to steps to take — but first, I want you to really understand the problem. Let’s talk about these things social scientists call “stressors” for a moment.
What’s the single biggest predictor of suicide? Loneliness. A lack of social connections. The research demonstrates this over and over again. What’s true about American life? It’s incredibly isolated — and only growing more so. There’s talk of a “loneliness epidemic.” But that’s the tip of a very big, bleak iceberg. Americans have fewer friends thane ever before. How bad is it? “Per the shocking study, nearly half of all Americans — 49% — reported having fewer than three close friends.”
Those are dire, dismal statistics. It’s hard to overstate them, so let me put them in a little more context. This is part of what by now is a well documented, slow, ongoing catastrophe — the erosion of social capital. Social bonds and ties in America have ruptured and sundered. The eminent sociologist Robert Putnam discussed this way back in the 90s, in has now-classic book “Bowling Alone.”
America’s almost unique in this way. You see, there are plenty of poorer nations — but America’s singularly isolated. There’s almost no other country like America socially — or maybe anti-socially is a better way to put it. Even in poorer countries, communities, neighborhoods, friends — people are rich in these ways, and they form crucial support, especially in difficult times, both materially, emotionally, and psychologically. I’ll come back to all that — but first…
