This study https://www.spring.org.uk/2024/12/age-most-depressed.php shows people getting more miserable towards middle age, then getting happier. The happiness graph makes a smile shape of course.

Under late-stage capitalism, yes.

I don’t know about others, but as I grow older and realise I have progressively less time left, I grow less patient of other people’s bullshit. Some people may consider it a symptom of diminished happiness, but it’s more a degradation of my social filters.

Idk, am 43 and more happy with each year that goes by

I am not. My life is progressively happier since my early 20s and really starting getting better at 35+ when I started focusing on myself and excluding more friends/partners who were dragging me down.

But everyone around me is getting more miserable, old or young. And I hate it and I hate them for it.

Increasingly I just detest socialization, because all it is is me listening to other people complain, and them telling I’m a jerk for being happy when the aren’t. All weekend I had to listen to people whine about their bodies, whine about their kids/spouses, and then brag about how rich they are and then lecture me how ignorant and stupid I am for not being as rich as they are.

the older you get, the more health problems you have, and let me tell you, health problems can make you involuntarily unhappy.

I mean I didn’t start feeling any form of happiness starting from probably my teen years till I started going to therapy last year (I’m 30). Even now it’s mostly fleeting and half the time I feel like I’m just masking when I’m around others.

The older i got, the happier i became. Despite physical aches and decline. Mentally, i’m much stronger now. And i don’t care should people not really like me, or have whatever opinions about me. Also, being kind to others makes you happier.

For most people life sucks and then you die.

Anyone can find happiness with their lot in life, no one truly understands why some of the worst experiences lewd to positive outcomes, but the typical result is misery.

As you age you have more experiences to compare reality to. Many of those experiences wouldn’t be a recognizable experience to the other people that shared that time and space. We create our own reality in our minds that usually is shared in a comprehensive enough way to recognize and agree with, but each person’s experience and interpretation of that shared experience is their own.

Whether crows are wonderful exciting and creature to behold, or dive bombing poop monsters waiting to target you is your own mind interpreting what you see.

These experiences shape how you look at the world and you repeat many of them in some ways reinforcing the held interpretation of it

Its a very easy to find pattern in historical records that older people(generationally) see the new world that has been shaped by younger people is harder to understand. And while some people do find this exciting and energizing, most people will find it a burden or a corruption of what they understand.

Things change. Viva mutator, non tolitur.(I don’t know if this is a real quote but I always remember it from some fiction book I read that explained this translated “latin” phrase as life is changed, not ended)

How you can enjoy your life while living through some of the worst experiences or on going conditions is beyond my understanding, but you won’t stop finding people that are amazingly happy in spite of this. Maybe a very small amount but you won’t ever stop finding more if you put enough time in.

I’ve become progressively more apathetic as I’ve aged. The highs aren’t as high, but the lows aren’t as low either.

Very much no, it’s easier to be happy when you’re older if you do the work to be happy in general. Being happy and naive to your surroundings isn’t the same as being aware of your situation and confident in yourself.

if you’re from a loving, supportive family: Yes for a time you can get unhappy as you age. You get more and more responsibilities. And by Responsibilities I mean you are expected to do things without praise. Like taking care of yourself and then a family. No one claps for you getting groceries or taking out the garbage. (Though if your in an abusing family this is very different : you can get happier as you get closer to the age to escape)

Then, once you adapt to this and you become self reliant for approval, it gets easier. You get happier in more self sustaining ways in which you get hobbies. Embrace the freedom of choices.

Then one day responsibilities get lighter. Like maybe someone who’s been very reliant on you develops their own independence and leaves.

And then you’re even more happier than ever. Happy for them. You helped get them there and grow. Also happy for yourself as you get more free time to do stuff for you.

Like imagine being that person you wanted to grow up to be as child with no parents or other responsibilities to stop you from doing things you wanted to do. And the best thing: you have the confidence and life story to know you’re entirely capable now.

That’s if you’re doing this self development thing right.

I’ve known ppl who don’t ever develop personal acceptance and end up in earlier life cycles of constant dependencies on others around them and bouncing back into depression. constantly reliving a specific age: like remarriage / recapture a prom night experience / doing something just to get dad approval like that’s the happiest they ever could be. And it always includes seeking approval. Someone else has to be a centric piece to their happiness. Someone else always has to act a part.

Tldr: Look after your mental health. Roll the hard six. Sometimes discomfort is growth. If this is something you can’t live with: talk to a professional to help you get there cuz this is part of being human and your brain will trick you into doing some meaningless, wasteful shit if you don’t trick it first.

There are many people who never find a moment of peace in their lives and may become more vocal as they age. For most people, in my observation, there comes a point where they move past their easier life and live with a sense of peace or accomplishment.

My unhappiness peaked in highschool. Although current events have me closer to that level than I’ve been in a long time. Having friends that don’t suck now helps a lot.