Thread by @OrthodoxConsGrp

By utilitarian measures, the world improving. On the question of meaning, they’re unraveling.

/ An important thread

The rise in depression and anxiety strongly points to a lack of meaning. As can be seen here, the NHS worryingly reports a rise since the 1990s.

digital.nhs.uk/data-and-infor…

Infact, mental health problems are particularly endemic among young people, according to the NHS.

Coincidentally, they are the portion of the population who have only ever experienced this modernity.

england.nhs.uk/wp-content/upl…

According to Anne Case and Angus Deaton, deaths of despair killed 158,000 people in America in 2017.

foreignaffairs.com/articles/unite…

According to the IFS, deaths of despair are also on the rise in Britain.

Ask yourself, does this really indicate to us that human society is improving?

ifs.org.uk/publications/1…

In 2018, 18,417 people died from deaths of despair in the UK.

ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulati…

A 2014 study by Oishi and Diener would suggest lack of meaning is the predominant cause.

researchgate.net/publication/25…

The UK is second-from-last on the meaning in life for students table. The U.S. is in last place.

You’d be forgiven for forgetting that rich, secular, market-economy, Western liberal democracies are the best a human being could want.

read.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/pisa…

The British Social Attitudes survey has shown a marked decline in religiosity since 1983.

bsa.natcen.ac.uk/latest-report/…

52% of Britons are non-religious. For young British people (16-29) this rises to 70%, with 59% never attending a religious service.

stmarys.ac.uk/research/centr…

Religion has a variety of health benefits. Key among which are mental health benefits- according to a study from the Mayo Clinic.

mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-…

A 2015 review of the literature on religion and mental health reinforced knowledge of the beneficial effects of religion on mental health.

researchgate.net/publication/28…

A study from Pew found that across the board, in almost every country tested actively religious people are considerably more likely than their less-religious peers to describe themselves as “very happy”.

pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019…

A study from Stanford University backs this up and finds religious teens are smarter (and more conscientious and cooperative) than non-observant teens.

osf.io/preprints/soca…

As a case study for these claims.

The most actively religious nation in Europe- Greece (96% believing and 93% regularly practising)- also has the lowest suicide on the continent. Indeed one of the lowest in the world.

greekcitytimes.com/2018/10/31/gre…

Another 2015 review of 3,000 articles notes the “positive effect” of religion on a range of physical and mental health results.

omicsonline.org/open-access/ro…

Maria Archer of the Institute for Family Studies provides further studies of how religion provides a sense of meaning to our lives, by giving a sense of community oriented to an idea of truth.

ifstudies.org/blog/the-posit…

Religiosity is also correlated to fertility rates.

Something, with our aging population, we desperately require.

link.springer.com/article/10.100…

Fertility rates across the Western and developed world have crashed. bbc.co.uk/news/health-46… This has led to rapidly ageing populations in what the CSIS calls the greying of great powers. google.co.uk/amp/s/www.csis…

In Britain, our fertility rate is now 1.7. Replacement is 2.1 children per family. ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulati… The fertility rate across Europe averages 1.59. data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.D…

In 2015, more people died than were born in Europe.
google.co.uk/amp/s/phys.org…
Eastern Europe is rapidly depopulating. mercatornet.com/mobile/view/th…

In a refreshing spell of good news, Viktor Orbán’s Hungary continues to have some success in attempting to promote families and curtail the problem.

They still have a long way to go though.

Silence on this issue in the West.
ifstudies.org/blog/is-hungar…

Falling fertility rates will obviously make it harder to mantain our economies and welfare states. Fewer births will also mean smaller families, and more loneliness. We already have a loneliness epidemic, but it will worsen drastically.
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

While mental deprivation plays a role in deaths of despair, meaning deprivation is equal to and more important.

We are witnessing a mass tragedy. Our economic system, social order and way of life have not improved to give people a greater sense of belonging and purpose.

This thread was compiled by the fantastic @intothefuture45, with a some *minor* contributions from @tomcolsy99_.

Do follow him, for more of this!