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Everyone I relate to these days talks about how stressed they are. Finacial stress, relationship stress, school stress, work, etc. I do not remember a time when everyone was so stressed... and this is coming from almost all ages from middle school age up to retirement age people.

So, my question begs... are we emotionally weaker as society might have been a few decades ago?

Or, do we have more factors in our lives to stress us out?

Somewhere in between?

I think we’re more honest about feelings than in the past and we are under a lot more pressure and have more factors than in the past.

the-real-steve wrote: ↑Wed May 07, 2025 5:34 am Everyone I relate to these days talks about how stressed they are. Finacial stress, relationship stress, school stress, work, etc. I do not remember a time when everyone was so stressed... and this is coming from almost all ages from middle school age up to retirement age people.

So, my question begs... are we emotionally weaker as society might have been a few decades ago?

Or, do we have more factors in our lives to stress us out?

Somewhere in between?

I think there’s a lot less hope and trust in God’s providence because it’s not preached.
I think mass media manufactures stress to promote agendas.
I think that there’s a lot of boredom that seeks out excitement through headlines.
I think a lot of people say they’re stressed because it’s the thing to say in social settings.
I think children are saying it because their parents are saying it.
I think a lot of folks in the US don’t know or remember what true stress is. True stress is watching family and home wash away in floods. True stress is finding their corpses after a flood or tornado.
True stress is having bombs drop around you. True stress is starvation. True stress is realizing in your last moments on earth that there is God and divine judgement.

the-real-steve wrote: ↑Wed May 07, 2025 5:34 am So, my question begs... are we emotionally weaker as society might have been a few decades ago?

Yes.

The more one fights for control, the more stress.

We live better then Kings of just 100 years ago.

One more- true stress is having to care for a sick family member with a terminal illness. True stress is being tortured and hanging on a cross for the sins of the world.
The antidote is to practice gratitude. Practice trust in God. Say I trust you Jesus instead of I’m so stressed. Practice praise of God and all he’s given me. Thank him for all my blessings.

Robert wrote: ↑Wed May 07, 2025 8:15 am

the-real-steve wrote: ↑Wed May 07, 2025 5:34 am So, my question begs... are we emotionally weaker as society might have been a few decades ago?

Yes.

The more one fights for control, the more stress.

We live better then Kings of just 100 years ago.

Really?

May I suffer like this —

the-real-steve wrote: ↑Wed May 07, 2025 5:34 am Everyone I relate to these days talks about how stressed they are. Finacial stress, relationship stress, school stress, work, etc. I do not remember a time when everyone was so stressed... and this is coming from almost all ages from middle school age up to retirement age people.

So, my question begs... are we emotionally weaker as society might have been a few decades ago?

Or, do we have more factors in our lives to stress us out?

Somewhere in between?

I would answer a 'maybe yes' to whether we are emotionally weaker. I think that a high level of self-centeredness and a strong will are common factors in stress-generated anxiety and depression and emotional weakness, and that our society seems to be creating a lot of people with those characteristics. The reason I say 'maybe' is because I have no way of knowing for sure whether there is more of this today than in previous decades. I suspect there is but I don't know for sure.

My answer to the second question is yes. We have more layers of complexity to our lives than previous generations. Because of interconnectedness we have much broader (if shallower) circles of acquaintance, quicker access to massive amounts of information, and because of technological advances our work and actions have exponentially more effect, to the good or bad. And we're doing all of this with the same physical and mental faculties that we had generations ago. We have very human limits, and I think that these limitations crash with modernity in ways that create higher levels of stress.

However, as I interact with old order groups, horse-and-buggy Mennonites in particular, who don't engage with technology and the Internet nearly to the same degree as most people, I am amazed at the instances of depression and uses of antidepressants. Somehow not being online and farming on a small scale and living by centuries-old traditions doesn't exempt one from stress, either. I know less about the Amish, but they have their problems with this stuff as well, and I know they have their own organizations and institutions to deal with anxiety/depression.

What we don't know is whether we are seeing actual increases in stress levels or just more awareness of things that have always been there, and we just didn't have name tags for these things.

In my view, one practical answer to this problem is that we have GOT to raise kids who learn to obey, trust, and respect others whether they feel like it or not, or else we are going to raise a whole generation of self-centered people who cannot deal with real life.

Szdfan wrote: ↑Wed May 07, 2025 8:46 am

Robert wrote: ↑Wed May 07, 2025 8:15 am

the-real-steve wrote: ↑Wed May 07, 2025 5:34 am So, my question begs... are we emotionally weaker as society might have been a few decades ago?

Yes.

The more one fights for control, the more stress.

We live better then Kings of just 100 years ago.

Really?

yeah but the king on that painting didnt' have running water or an iphone

mike wrote: ↑Wed May 07, 2025 8:57 am

Szdfan wrote: ↑Wed May 07, 2025 8:46 am

Robert wrote: ↑Wed May 07, 2025 8:15 am

Yes.

The more one fights for control, the more stress.

We live better then Kings of just 100 years ago.

Really?

yeah but the king on that painting didnt' have running water or an iphone

Apparently, running water and iPhones go along with being more stressed.

(As a point of order, the Romans did have running water. They built such municipal plumbing systems as far away as Britain.)

Szdfan wrote: ↑Wed May 07, 2025 8:46 am

Robert wrote: ↑Wed May 07, 2025 8:15 am We live better then Kings of just 100 years ago.

Really?

May I suffer like this —

Well, that's from 300+ years ago. There might have been rather a low point 100 years ago when the French no longer had kings.

JohnH wrote: ↑Wed May 07, 2025 12:21 pm As a point of order, the Romans did have running water.

So did the 16th century Augsburgers, thanks to Marpeck.