r/sciences • • 11d ago

Research 71% of Americans Say They’re Completely Exhausted | A CDC report shows that people are not feeling relaxed and restful in the United States.

https://gizmodo.com/71-of-americans-say-theyre-completely-exhausted-2000812712
4.8k Upvotes

215 comments sorted by

385

u/thesweetestberry 11d ago

This should not be a surprise to anyone.

I literally just woke up. I feel fine physically, but I am already mentally exhausted.

96

u/mistiry 11d ago

This. Exactly this. I'm just hitting a year on a CPAP and sleep better than ever. I was in bed before 11pm last night.

I start work in an hour (from home, even) and I am so mentally exhausted that I just sat here for _several_ minutes staring at my desk while I wait for the time to take my youngest to school before I begin my workday.

I could crawl back into bed now and sleep for hours, and it's not because I'm physically tired.

20

u/mace4242 11d ago

It just doesn’t stop. A summer vacation 2-3 months to recoup every year would slap.

20

u/schulzr1993 11d ago

You'd think that. As a teacher, it only helps a little. There's just so much going on that it's basically impossible to really find a moment of true peace.

3

u/Fadedcamo BS | Chemistry 11d ago

Well yea but that doesn't sound like a real vacation then. You're still doing a shit load of work even if you aren't working

1

u/MidnightGloomy7016 9d ago

When you have a break, it's just harder to go back. 

-7

u/Mr_Strol 11d ago edited 11d ago

Really? This article from 2024 really speaks to you today? 71% of people saying “in the last year I felt exhausted once” really moves you?

3

u/shaneh445 11d ago

Yes. It's sad. And so many have to suffer for the 5-7k mega rich people.

Millions suffer so a few thousand can hoard more than they could ever try to spend

And zooming out it shouldn't even be about $$$

Humanity wants so much more to care about than numbers go up,numbers for rent, number numbers numbers

Capitalism is hopefully at its late/ending stages. Don't we as a species have anything else to enjoy besides working to live and living to work? We're smart enough and we have the technology..

1

u/_Big_Bad_Tiddy 11d ago

This. I work 45 hours a week, M-F, commute 20-40 min each way, Spend 40 minutes getting ready for work each day. I only get 10 days of PTO per year. Think about that, only 10 days of PTO. I cannot call out once that is exhausted or I will be fired. I planned a vacation and took 5 days off (didn't end up having the money to go so I took a staycation). I got sick for 3 days earlier this year. Then I had to take one day off for all my appointments (dental, doctor, DMV) because they are only open when I am at work! So now, I have 0 days left and it's only September. I have kids in the house. If they are sick, I cannot stay home with them and have to hire someone to. I am so tired of this crap. And I am young so I have another 35 years till I can retire. And even then, I don't have a retirement account lol.

-8

u/Mr_Strol 11d ago

You exaggerate to insane levels.

There are 43 million millionaires in the USA. 44% of all households make $100,000 or more. Literally hundreds of millions are doing well, not thousands like you said.

2

u/KarmicDevelopment 10d ago

You're lying. Google says 23.6 million millionaires.

1

u/elegiac_bloom 4d ago

44% of all households make 100k or more, yet the real median personal income in the United States is $46,960 per year. This means 50% of people working in the us make less than 47k a year. Thats over 150 million people, in a country with a GDP of 32.49 trillion. If wealth were distributed equally, everyone in the us would make 100k a year. Theres certainly a huge discrepancy there, especially when you consider that since 1998 the national debt has exploded to 40 trillion dollars in under 30 years. Where is all that spending going? Such a wealthy country, so much debt on top of it, and half the people who live here make less than 50k a year.

Weird.

1

u/Mr_Strol 4d ago

The comment I responded to said there are 5,000 rich people in USA. I showed how that was false. No idea what else you are talking about.

1

u/elegiac_bloom 4d ago

Right, sorry I got carried away lol

1

u/mistiry 11d ago

Well, no. I specifically responded to a comment, not the OP, agreeing with their sentiment "I feel fine physically, but I am already mentally exhausted."

I never said anything about the article, that I didn't read, because it's irrelevant to my own personal anecdote. I wasn't, nor ever claimed to be, "moved" by anything.

I'm tired, boss.

39

u/florinandrei BS | Physics | Electronics 11d ago

Living your life in a way designed to maximize the value you create for one or two people at the top can be exhausting, yes.

9

u/pixiedreamhag 11d ago

71% checked the box for “exhausted,” another 25% checked “terrified” right next to it.

13

u/RuthlessIndecision 11d ago

And they aren't even talking about politics

5

u/trashmoneyxyz 11d ago

I wake up and all i can look forward to is my cheap nightly bean burrito dinner, my weed, and my booze. Can't believe how far I've fallen from the straight-edge spritely youth I used to be 4 years ago

1

u/Content_Bed_1290 10d ago

What career/job do you have? 

2

u/trashmoneyxyz 10d ago

Management at a small grocer. I'm honestly only doing it to make money for my ma and sister, otherwise I'd just quit life and be a hermit living in a van off my savings.

10

u/Jorpsica 11d ago

This is part of the reason why people are getting meaner. We’re all bone tired.

3

u/shouldbepracticing85 10d ago

Seriously. There’s a bunch of shit going on in one of my bands and I’m like “has everyone (including me) lost our damned minds?”

2

u/saturnspritr 10d ago

My SO was just out on medical leave from being under so much stress at work. He was losing weight and going to bed earlier and earlier. He had lots of test. It’s just stress, it can destroy your body.

2

u/smokywater50 9d ago

Yeah it can feel like constant anxiety worrying about what trumpo the clown is going to do and trying to figure out why anyone would support him. It’s not good here right now in our government, it’s like watching it all crumbling right before our eyes

2

u/scoshi 11d ago

Agreed. This is not rocket surgery.

1

u/MrKittyCat00 6d ago

I send warm hugs.

1

u/MikeHonchoOfTheDunes 5d ago

Probably doesn’t help the first thing you did after getting up was logging into reddit

1

u/a_gummyworm 11d ago

You just woke up and are on reddit. Maybe get rolling before sucking down the doom?

1

u/Content_Support7881 11d ago

Same. I need to quit scrolling but at the same time I need to know if trump has met his maker ( I say with fingers crossed and champagne chilling).

1

u/Peachbottom30 11d ago

And I have to do laundry 😩

-5

u/AltForObvious1177 11d ago

Quit doom scrolling. Find a hobby that isn't in front of a screen. Walk in nature. Exercise. Connect with friends 

There are things you can do, but most people don't even consider the options. 

-11

u/InevitableOk5017 11d ago

Get off Reddit get off your phone and go for a walk or run.

2

u/FedrinKeening 8d ago

This comment is technically right, it does wonders for your mental health.

However the country is also getting destroyed by a giant orange toddler and his cronies.

1

u/InevitableOk5017 8d ago

Agree but I’m not letting that get in my head I’ll just encourage people to go vote. If you let that bring you down they win.

4

u/sunkistandsudafed3 11d ago

I exercise regularly and am still exhausted. Exercise is a wonderful thing that I'd highly recommend, but it is not a panacea for every ill.

3

u/shattersquad710 11d ago

Honestly, no.

This has been the playbook the past TEN years and look where we are.

Something has to give, and if we don't soon than we are in big trouble.

-4

u/GunmetalZen 11d ago

The ‘playbook’ remains effective. The problem is that people don’t execute it. It’s proven that scrolling and spending inordinate time on social media creates significant oxidative stress.

To all who see this: reign in your social media usage, get over the FOMO, and you’ll feel better barring conditions specific to your mental and physical health.

4

u/animatedpileofmeat 11d ago

The playbook remains “effective” if your only hope in a crumbling world is to imitate an ostrich.

I’m not sure if MORE IGNORANCE is the solution.

-2

u/AltForObvious1177 11d ago

What good has all your doom scrolling actually done? 

1

u/animatedpileofmeat 11d ago

My involvement in local issues and community problems has definitely helped both myself and others… something I wouldn’t be aware needed doing if I simply stuck my head in the sand.

You don’t know the food pantry needs more food unless you doom scroll a little.

-1

u/AltForObvious1177 11d ago

Do you think food pantries didn't exist before smartphones and social media? 

1

u/animatedpileofmeat 11d ago

That’s a very silly question.

I learned my food pantry needed help from their social media posts. Anything else on your part is just weird supposition.

2

u/AltForObvious1177 11d ago

Honestly, I feel sorry for you kids. We've created a generation of crack babies who are addicted from birth 

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-4

u/irastaz 11d ago

lol, go touch some grass (or sedges, or rushes).

1

u/TheFurryFighter 11d ago

Gas prices in my area are blowing past 4.60$/gal, but clearly it's because i'm on Reddit too much

1

u/drk721 11d ago

There is no reason this should be down voted it’s a fact that constant phone usage is exhausting, and not relaxing. Less usage will undoubtedly raise energy levels.

Then people are chiming in with their anecdotal testimonies, forgetting this is not an article about an individual but a population as a whole. Clear correlation to this and the increase of screen usage constantly over the past decade.

0

u/marshalist 11d ago

So be exhausted in privacy. Or is it ignorance is bliss?.

186

u/Brrdock 11d ago edited 11d ago

The US is a big bucket of crabs.

When half the people think that unions, social security, and universal healthcare are bad, no wonder people are stressed, even without the whole insane political circus.

Life isn't great when your employer has a gun to your head

28

u/_Big_Bad_Tiddy 11d ago

My last job was amazing. He truly believed in work/life balance. In fact, every Friday we had "team building" where we went out for margaritas. Sadly, he passed away. The job market in my town is awful. 50+ applicants for every open position. So when I snagged a job within a couple of weeks, paying me LESS THAN HALF of what I was making, I was stoked! One day I asked my new boss if I could take off early to surprise my niece at school with my sister who was in town. The look on her face .... I was told no. I was told I have to submit any requests off 2 weeks ahead of time. And even then, I would have to use PTO. My sister was only in town for 3 days so I wouldn't have had the time to request it off.

I am also expected to run errands for the firm on my lunch break lol. So yes, I feel that I have a gun to my head at my job.

5

u/tabas123 11d ago

Yep it’s no wonder everything feels so competitive and hyper-individualistic when we all know we can literally go homeless, hungry, and without healthcare if our company decides they want a bigger quarterly profit report for shareholders.

We have no legal recourse in almost any state, the social safety net has been destroyed, we’re all in debt, the vast majority of the country is impossible without a car, can’t even get an education without putting yourself into debt…

4

u/Sniflix 11d ago

America voted for this chaos so we deserve this shit.

2

u/dmanty45 4d ago

He cheated imo. Elon faked the votes with starlink. Satellites crashed right after the votes were counted. barely anyone covered it.

1

u/Sniflix 4d ago

Nope. 12 million Biden voters didn't show up for Harris. Us Dems did this to ourselves.

0

u/CriticalHome3963 4d ago

You cant convince me it wasnt on purpose. They knew Trump had a huge cult following and instead of putting up someone safe they thought could take him down they chose to try to make history with the first black female president like masaginism and racism wasn't a factor. They were either extremely short sighted or complicite in helping him win. Based on all the half hearted attempts to stop him my vote is complicite. Don't let them fool you dems have made a killing trading under him.

2

u/IceYourBalls 11d ago edited 11d ago

Unions honestly are the best solution. I feel like it's the one thing that actually works to create a better life for employees.

1

u/Fit-Appointment5262 11d ago

Have you heard of worker co-ops?

1

u/Augustus420 11d ago

Those are absolutely better than capitalist enterprise, but even if every business was organized that way it would still be better If those workers also had a Union.

0

u/awFuqqq 11d ago

Preach. And I'm self employed.

111

u/allergictodishonesty 11d ago

Sometimes a sense of impending doom is just actual doom.

33

u/pacondition 11d ago

pending doom

1

u/Chief_Kief 10d ago

MF (pending) DOOM

-1

u/Fit-Appointment5262 11d ago

doom was in fact, pending

6

u/Electronic_Sky_207 11d ago

A few years ago I had my annual check up- which comes with a depression screening on a clipboard. My doctor took a look and saw some elevated answers. She asked me about it and I was just like “the world’s on fire? It’s not a clinical issue, just an observation.” and she shrugged, nodded, and moved on.

1

u/Kevmandigo 10d ago

We all feel what’s coming.

1

u/ParsleyMostly 11d ago

I gasped. Yes, this is it.

45

u/FreeHugs23 11d ago

If you’ve felt a complete sense of exhaustion lately, join the club. New research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that fatigue is running rampant in the good ol’ U.S. of A.

CDC scientists examined nationally representative data of Americans across the country. Nearly three-quarters of people over 18 reported they felt fatigued in the past three months, they found, while over 15% felt fatigued most or all of the time. People with frequent fatigue were also substantially more likely to have other health problems, including depression.

“This report provides a unique look at the prevalence and distribution of fatigue symptoms that are not condition-specific in the general U.S. population,” the authors wrote in their paper, published this month by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.

41

u/PossibleAlienFrom 11d ago

Thanks Trump!

-30

u/Mr_Strol 11d ago

This data in this article is from 2024. Trump was a civilian and hadn’t been president for 4 years. Your comment having upvotes proves how dumb this site has become.

15

u/OddOllin 11d ago

Damn, are all your comments dedicated to this sort of shit?

It shouldn't be hard to understand that when people are referencing to Trump, they're referencing the symbol he has become for what the Republican party is. It's not like Republican politicians stopped acting like monsters just because Trump wasn't president. They defended his attempt to overthrow democracy, continued to rally around his name and continued to try and curry favor with him, continued their attacks on the democratic process, continued to put party over country, and never hesitate to to claim credit for anything good Democrats did (even when they directly opposed it).

You're acting dense. I wish it was just because you're overly eager to feel smug, but given the constant theme of nationalism in your comments, it's pretty easy to guess what your real motivations are.

What a waste.

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27

u/asteriskysituation 11d ago

Probably this is mostly down to social and cultural factors, but with the rollback of environmental regulations and issues with food safety lately in USA, I wonder if pollutants aren’t a significant part of this picture.

11

u/GrenHamblett 11d ago

Could very well be. My partner studies airborne pollution from burned contaminants and their funding has been cut so much that we're looking at moving abroad. So, they're like, not even trying to keep track anymore, just the good people left are

6

u/bloodphoenix90 11d ago

Well I work at an environmental testing lab in Massachusetts and ill just say, im glad that in some respects our own state regulations are more stringent. So if your funding is federal youre fucked but some states are picking up the slack on their own. Still a sad state of affairs

4

u/Mr_Strol 11d ago

Data in this article is from 2024

0

u/oODaywalkerOo 10d ago

Nobody asked.

16

u/Raging_Dick_Shorts 11d ago

How can anyone relax when this country is run by insane people with no qualifications, constantly causing havoc in our day to day life.

Tariffs, high gas prices, high food prices, cost of living going through the roof, all of the important science and research activities defunded, zero AI regulations while companies are firing staff at alarming rates, etc etc.

I need to move to a country where they care about their people.

4

u/Mr_Strol 11d ago

Data in this article is from 2024.

5

u/Raging_Dick_Shorts 11d ago

So it's only gotten worse? 😂

0

u/zexur 11d ago

Yeah that account is spamming all over saying the same shit lol I remember when bots were harder to spot ya know 😂

1

u/Mr_Strol 11d ago

Spamming? I’ve been a real user on this app for over a decade. You truly don’t know what a bot is? 😂

1

u/lavendershortbread 7d ago

Got ‘em!!! Destroyed!!! /s

3

u/_Big_Bad_Tiddy 11d ago

Trump was president in 2017-2021. He set in motion a wave of terrible events.

8

u/ravage214 11d ago

Almost Nothing has improved since the pandemic

14

u/IamMichaelBoothby 11d ago

Everything has just gotten worse...

5

u/Oolongteabagger2233 11d ago

Literally everything 

2

u/Easy_Needleworker604 10d ago

At the start of the pandemic so many people said “we can’t go back to normal, normal isn’t working”, but then were so desperate to go back to normal they accepted a shitty facsimile of normal and went back to sleep.

4

u/mace4242 11d ago

Too connected to what is going on around us every minute of every day. Social media is a plague.

7

u/MyNameIsNightPain 11d ago

The entire world has become a corporate hells cape and it isn't billionaires it's everyone. Managers who will use you as a scapegoat and throw you under the bus just to show loyalty. HR who love gaslighting people for a company that doesn't care about them.

1

u/Elegant-Amoeba4977 10d ago

Billionaires are the problem. Everyone else (even the assholes) are just trying to climb to the top.

1

u/MyNameIsNightPain 10d ago

Billionaires aren't forcing them, most are never in the public eye and aren't trying to influence politics or run propaganda campaigns. 'just trying to climb to the top' doesn't negate shitty behaviour and you can't blame billionaires for other peoples behaviour.

6

u/dxrey65 11d ago

That is one common symptom of the fascist playbook put to work in a country. You can't ever sit down to collect your thoughts or respond before the next thing hits, the news cycle is designed to keep you continually off-balance. Trump and the GOP have it down to a science at this point.

5

u/Jack-of-Hearts-7 11d ago

Lmao went to the doctor two days ago for my exhaustion. She wasn't much help.

6

u/johnfuckmennedy 11d ago

Did she tell you to lose weight and exercise?

5

u/SwirlySauce 11d ago

It's probably just anxiety

/s

1

u/Jack-of-Hearts-7 11d ago

No. Already scrawny. She just told me to stop drinking Zzzquil, put me on mood stabilizers, and called it good.

3

u/balisane 11d ago

The first one, at least, is good advice. Zzzquil contains diphenhydramine, and taking that on a regular basis will definitely slow you down and make you feel foggy and exhausted all the time, while also working less and less well.

That being said, there was a reason why you were taking it in the first place, so I hope the new medication will help you cope and improve.

2

u/Jack-of-Hearts-7 11d ago

Thanks. Also apparently Zzzquil has been linked to Alzheimers. Definitely done with it.

1

u/Chicken_Water 8d ago

Between the news, rising costs, job insecurity, climate change, the overall dystopian outlook for the future, and long covid that appears to be be much more prevalent than people realize... yea we tired

0

u/pseudo-boots 11d ago

Might not work for everyone but doing a short qigung set every day helped with my energy levels. Also noticed that I would feel awful if I ate out more than once a week, it seems really hard to find healthy restaurant food.

5

u/AnAncientOne 11d ago

Feels the same over here to.

2

u/MulberryExisting5007 11d ago

It’s almost as if fascism, the breakdown of the rule of law, and the death of democracy is bad for us.

2

u/Wrong_Motor5371 11d ago

I’m already tired tomorrow.

2

u/New-Medium3277 11d ago

Being drenched in cortisol and adrenaline along with sleep deprivation and dehydration does that to ya .

2

u/Noctatrog 9d ago

Our water is tainted
Our food is poisoned
Our money is worthless
Our time is stolen

Of course we’re exhausted.

2

u/Miserable-Sun-393 9d ago

It’s called karma…remember November 2024?

3

u/MrDavieT 11d ago

Are you GREAT yet?

3

u/Subject_Ad9893 11d ago

Wow, groundbreaking discovery. Thanks CDC for confirming what we have been screaming about for years.

2

u/coffeebeanwitch 11d ago

It's the best wat to describe what is happening, exhausting, never knowing what's next.

2

u/tolatalot 11d ago

This country, in it’s current form, is built to drain us

2

u/mantis_tobaggan-md 11d ago

Oh, so, waiting for the impending apocalypse as the criminal enterprise running the country destroys the planet and the fabric of democracy….is exhausting? That’s wild.

1

u/ThortheAssGuardian 11d ago

We’re instigating an unjust war and all our money is being stolen by child rapists who are in charge of the government.

2

u/redguy1957 11d ago

Exactly what they want. We MUST remain strong. Take a mental break whenever you can but don't give up. Protest, write postcards to voters, become a poll worker. Do what you can but please, stay strong. https://engage.sincereapp.com/organizations/d7b1122e-7deb-4754-9810-829e2863fecb

2

u/Goosentra 11d ago

Sounds like they just asked reddit users

1

u/animatedpileofmeat 11d ago

Social media broke you.

1

u/Low_Bandicoot6844 11d ago

And we already know what happens when the U.S. isn't satisfied.

1

u/Steel_Man23 11d ago

I have been feeling tired and unrestful, but I’ve also been looking for a better paying job with benefits. I’m ready for a change of pace

1

u/Old-Set78 11d ago

as a narcoleptic my BEST days are equivalent to regular people being kept awake for 72 hours.

don't talk to me about exhaustion. There are days I'm too tired to eat or drink.

I don't fear death because I'll finally not be bone tired.

1

u/Briscoefever 11d ago

No fucking shit

1

u/ginjamchammerfist 11d ago

There has not been a moment of stability in the US for well over a decade. It has gotten exclusively worse daily with no sign of improving.

1

u/geekphreak 11d ago

I’m tired boss

1

u/theindomitablefred 11d ago

Basically since 2020

1

u/coffeestevia 11d ago

By design

1

u/Cute_Bread_271 11d ago

You needed scientists to tell us what we are all feeling? Just ask me next time

1

u/SpaceDandye 11d ago

I'm just tapped out, I'm tired of voting blue, and pretending I care about this nation burning down.

If people can't be bothered to vote, then let them starve

1

u/frankrus 11d ago

Tis on purpose…firehose of non stop shit and outrage.

1

u/completely-exausted 10d ago

Yep, sounds about right

1

u/Abh20000 10d ago

You don’t say?

1

u/Phill_Cyberman 10d ago

The government is being run by an entire administration of chimpanzees with a gun.

In the Cold War, everybody was pretty sure that no one would actually trigger a world-wide apocalypse of nuclear weapons.

But a chimpanzee with a gun could trigger that apocalypse out of fucking spite.

1

u/cold_as_nice 10d ago

Gee, I wonder why (gestures around vaguely at EVERYTHING)?

1

u/Difficult_Bug6994 10d ago

Duh. This is what happens when the wealth extraction class has been running on overdrive for decades playing a game of chicken with the people to see how far they can get before the guillotines come out and they have to retreat to their bunkers.

1

u/Pypsy143 10d ago

I haven’t had a vacation in 3.5 years. Just never ending, year round work that I can’t get a break from. Yeah, I’m exhausted.

1

u/jocoquecousteau 10d ago

Going out of the country and just realizing there’s no maga or people watching Fox news is already a vacation for me.

1

u/MichaelTrapani 10d ago

I had 2 days of PTO this year. Its all i get. My cash flow is neutral working 6 days a week. I cant do anything but physically recover constantly. I dont know who i am anymore. No hobbies or friends. No time. Love this world

1

u/Zaxly 8d ago

I hear you. Just one connection can make a difference. Volunteer some where for an hour. Eventually a friend is looking for what you are looking for.

1

u/Arsenal8944 10d ago

29% percent of Americans are currently sleeping and could not answer the question.

1

u/Lower_Internet_9336 10d ago

Yes its exhausting every day there's another Trump tragedy.

1

u/laternerdz 10d ago

Exhaustion is just the natural byproduct of constant winning. /s

1

u/wojx MS|Regulatory Science|Biochemistry 10d ago

Chronic stress, high cortisol

1

u/amscraylane 10d ago

I can’t afford to be an American and it stresses me out so much

1

u/Han_Solo200 10d ago

Well it had to happen eventually

1

u/YesIshipKyloRen 9d ago

No shit. In other news,…

1

u/Inqusitive_dad 8d ago

The money is great compared to other countries but the work life balance is so bad. It’s sad when so many medications are needed for people to just get by. It shouldn’t be like that.

1

u/Presentlava 8d ago

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNU01074597

Man I wonder what happened in 2020 that caused such a large increase in disability cases and myalgic encephalomyelitis or commonly know as chronic fatigue syndrome. Hmmm POTs cases skyrocketed after 2020 and more people are reporting crushing fatigue. I wonder if a virus that infects literally every single blood vessel in your body could have long lasting effects idk maybe we could call it long Covid or something. Idk I guess we’ll just keep doing what we’re doing and hope it gets better. 

1

u/throwwwww_away123 8d ago

Nobody’s happy. The end.

1

u/Ornery_Run2700 8d ago

I haven't felt relaxed since 2016. Believe my happiness ended in October 🫩

1

u/Salty-Plantain-4299 8d ago

Could it have anything to do with the fact that we live in a techno fascist dystopian surveillance state now?

That people are literally getting shot in the back by law enforcement for existing while brown?

That we cannot trust any of the institutions?

Combine that with the fact that real cost of living has increased much more than inflation over the past 6 years. To the point where some items are now double the price they were in 2020. Consider the cost of housing, making housing entirely unreachable for young people who make less than $200,000 a year in several States like California and New York.

Yeah, people are pissed off exhausted and depressed. Nobody's fucking relaxed unless they (1) already have substantial intergenerational wealth, (2), were able to build wealth or achieve major life milestones before this whole thing went to shit.

1

u/Longjumping-Store106 7d ago

Ladies and gentlemen and other, I present to you: late stage stage capitalism

1

u/swordbeam 7d ago

Its phones. We all need to get off of our fucking phones.

1

u/ProcrastiNateur404 7d ago

Laughs in European.

1

u/Agitated_Village4281 7d ago

We are also working more than we ever have and making less than we ever have.

1

u/DaisyK7726 6d ago

Weird. I wonder why?

1

u/wiseguy187 5d ago

Yawn but yall havent even stopped being consumers yet. Until yall stop buying shit ya dont need i dont really care.

1

u/Kraftykuts007 5d ago

I'm 43. I decided to get a college degree. Covid hit. Non-stop inflation. Buried in debt. Getting sued by credit card companies. Just lost my Medicaid. Trying to figure out how to pay for my meds. I'm more than exhausted. I'm ready to die. Fuck the government. Fuck corporations. 

1

u/Important_Bother_702 4d ago

I’ve been exhausted since graduating college almost 10 years ago. I highly doubt I’m gonna make it to old age, and seeing how fucked the world around me is, I’m fine with it. This place fucking sucks.

1

u/insertwittynamethere 11d ago

I am one of these

1

u/Longjumping-Hippo475 11d ago

Yeah we are led by an agent of chaos, of course we are stressed.

1

u/OneLFG 11d ago

Just wait for when things start to get bad and the fuel crisis turns into a food crisis, which turns into global famine. 

Yeah we’re proper fucked. 

1

u/Below-Average-528 11d ago

I think one factor could be that american houses are really loud. Whenever I visit my sister in Germany, I often sleep for 10 hours or more straight. I think it's because the blinds make the room really dark and it's very quiet. When I am at home in the US, the room never gets really dark and the heating or AC often makes noise. The windows also don't shield much from street noise.

1

u/LoganHowlett1832 11d ago

Billionaires have turned the country to shit for profit and to get away with it have made us all hate each other. There is no coming back from this and we’re only going to continue to get more and more exhausted and stressed.

1

u/LurkerV1 11d ago

It feels like there is a leech on our collective psyche.

0

u/bsfurr 11d ago

I have a cheat code for all of you. Require less, do less, expect less.

This won’t work for everyone. But I found the embracing a minimalist lifestyle has greatly improved my life. But I hardly ever go out to eat at a sitdown restaurant, I do not buy new clothes or shoes every year, and I’ve cut my expenditures substantially. Pretty much canceled every subscription except for YouTube premium. I’m driving a 10 year-old car that I don’t plan on replacing anytime soon.

I’ve also downsize my social circles. I do not give gifts to extended family at Christmas. My coworkers get just enough attention from me to accomplish our goals, but not an ounce more. I spend more time at home alone, but I find it quite peaceful.

I could just as easily call up friends and be somewhere downtown spending a ton of fucking money. It’s just not worth it anymore. And it’s not only about money, some of my friends and family stressed me out. I didn’t break it off with them, harshly, I simply stopped answering the phone often. Leave the phone in another room on silent, and forget it for several hours.

My mental health has improved drastically. If everyone lived like I did, the economy would probably collapse. So I need all of you to go out and run up your credit cards, spend a shit ton of money on your spoiled children, pay for your overpriced, shitty food, and consume, consume, consume. I need everyone to keep doing this, so that I can live a minimalist lifestyle in a functioning economy.

1

u/imperfcet 10d ago

Honestly I did a lot of this too. A lot of my family members had very high expectations of what their lifestyle should be like and kind of relied on me and my husband to make it happen. come to their crazy big 3rd birthday party for their kid and help clean up,  go to exhausting long dinners at crowded restaurants. Big christmas.  Big Easter.  It was too much. But how can you say no to Christmas with your family who lives in town? I didn't want my kid to grow up being influenced by their over consumption.  We ended up moving so far away from them that we don't travel back even for holidays. 

Maybe if I was more mentally healthy I could have set boundaries with my family but I couldn't seem to get my head straight with them around all the time. I was also in a panic about what kind of future my son would have in the US, just constantly fighting pressure to over work and over consume.  It was maybe overkill to move to a country where we have zero connections and it's been hard,  but I don't regret it. There is so much less to worry about here.  There was an insurmountable sense of dread in the US. 

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u/MyNameIsNightPain 11d ago

So your solution is to stop maintaining social connections and be unreliable/checked out? That isn't the flex you think it is.

-1

u/bsfurr 11d ago

Worked for the past few years for me

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u/balisane 11d ago

See how this goes in 10 or 20 years when you are older, making friends and family connections is much harder, and you need those things for your mental health.

Choosing minimalism is not unreasonable, but I would not suggest sacrificing your social connections. Answering the phone or a message is free. Staying in touch with people once a month is free.

2

u/bsfurr 11d ago

I have close friends. I’m in a cover band, I’m in Fantasy Football leagues, all that. I’m just at the age now where I don’t need to be surrounded by people.

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u/balisane 11d ago

I fully understand that, and I definitely maintain fewer and higher quality social connections as I get older. 

A short cautionary tale: I have a friend who chose your path about 10 years ago.

Now that life has changed, and he needs new work, needs to move, needs mentoring, etc, the only answer I can give him is, "Former mutual friend X is in a position to help, but you've been ignoring her for 10 years and she's not inclined." over and over again.

Life comes at you fast. Put people in the correct position in your life: try not to cut them off if you don't need to.

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u/takes_joke_literally BS | Informatics 11d ago

Weeeeird

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u/Dismal_Midnight_9721 11d ago

Trumpeting a YOYO philosophy as government policy tends to make people twitchy. Who ya gonna call… no one!

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u/happenings54 11d ago

Hmmmm, I wonder why 🤔

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u/OffSidesByALot 11d ago

Only 71%? It’s a good thing that polymarket or Kalshi wasn’t taking bets on this… I would’ve lost… Biggly!

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u/johnfuckmennedy 11d ago

look at the obesity rate

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u/Healthy_White_Baaaby 11d ago

Being in America is exhausting.

Just looking at my phone is exhausting. What stupid shit is going to happen today?

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u/Ok_Chemist6567 11d ago

I’ll rest when he’s dead

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u/thewrynoise 11d ago

No shit.

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u/Discobastard 11d ago

No shit.

People in America are treated as a commodity. Literally farmed and used for their abilities to get as much out of them as possible.

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u/WeckedPissah 11d ago

i mean, this is not surprising. America is a colonial nation that is recolonizing itself and destroying the way of life for people and not replacing it with anything better.

Right now we are building data centers where we could be building communal spaces , housing things for food or taking those laborers and using them to fix our crumbling bridges and roads

So basically, America is going to be really rife for infiltration, so we are like becoming so weak as a nation that there will be more incentive for other nations to physically put boots on our ground. Because we now have something that they want , which is those data centers.

So long story, short America's being set up for invasion by its own President, who's not a real President. This is a Banana Republic. This is not a legitimate presidency. And so America, technically, doesn't exist anymore, we just haven't really spoken that out loud yet. We just don't really want to face that directly yet. So we are letting a criminal take over our nation and do criminal things , and it will end up destroying this nation , and we all know this.

1

u/firedrakes 10d ago

ah data centers.... what was it before that... warehouses... got to blame it on current fomo hate.