Hacker News Reader

If it was COVID, though, wouldn't we expect to see the same thing in other countries?

We do see it in other countries. But even if we didn’t see it, it could still be that the situation in the states was at such a precarious position that COVID tipped it there (more) than in other places, making it more visible. Also other places such as Europe in general have bigger safety nets so the fallout of the damage is less.

You do. I don't live in the USA and things are worse since lockdown.

Don't believe the propaganda that Nordic people are happiest. I reckon it's probably one of the Pacific islands.

>You do. I don't live in the USA and things are worse since lockdown.

Yep, this. It's been worse everywhere since then. I didn't know how much I'd be missing the days of 2014-2018 right about now. If only I knew how good we had it.

>Don't believe the propaganda that Nordic people are happiest.

When you have the highest rates of suicides, coffee, alcohol and antidepressant usage, you're only left with the happy people ;)

Those happiness studies are more about cultural norms of communication and how questions about emotions translate into various local languages. They have little to do with happiness itself and say more about how cultures shape languages.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com