Posted on 04/30/2026 7:32:21 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
Existential crises tend to arrive when the gap between how life feels and how we thought it would feel becomes too wide to ignore.
For a growing number of Americans, 2026 hasn’t just been hard. It’s been disorienting. A Talker Research survey of 2,000 U.S. adults found that one in three people (32%) say they’re currently experiencing an existential crisis, with younger adults far more likely to feel that way than older generations. Nearly four in ten (37%) say their entire lives feel out of their control...
A separate survey of 5,000 Americans, conducted by Talker Research for Current in December 2025, adds context to how raw the financial picture looks.
In that study, 87% of respondents said the country is in a crisis because of how unaffordable life has become. More than half (52%) said they struggle to pay their bills on time each month, and 50% said they’ve had difficulty affording groceries.
Across age groups, the through line is clear: a loss of agency. When people feel unable to influence the things that matter most, their career, their finances, the broader sense of where the country is headed, the psychological fallout is predictable. Anxiety, helplessness, and that disquieting sense of watching your own life happen to you rather than being authored by you.
Rather than staying stuck, a large majority (79%) said they’re planning some kind of mid-year reset, whether focused on mental health (33%), physical health (33%), or finances (25%).
(Excerpt) Read more at studyfinds.com ...
Yep...nothing like retail therapy to help alleviate my financial concerns.
I live in a house that is 50% bigger than my parents’ home, even though I only make about half of what they made.
While we only have one car (all we need, really) it has heated seats, satellite radio, bluetooth, proximity sensors, auto braking, anti-lock breaks, and a bunch of other tech unheard of in a vehicle 50 years ago.
My entertainment consists of over 50 over-the-air digital channels and about a dozen streaming services (some free) allowing me virtually unlimited viewing options.
I carry a computer and communication device in my pocket with which I can do a video call to someone on the other side of the planet and have access to most of the collected knowledge and art of humanity.
My grocery store carries foods from around the world including fresh fruit from thousands of miles away. My food budget is still only about 10% of my income.
Both of my children have grown to adulthood and had children of their own.
All of these blessings and more are available to modern Americans...but the youth are in an existential crisis.
In the immortal words of Inigo Montoya...
“I do not think it means what you think it means.”
We divide the USA. The south and Midwest form a better union.
You should give head to a shotgun to relieve the pain.
*** A lot of people are having a difficult time at the rising costs for everything. ***
Agree 100%. I am eating more sandwiches and ramen these days than I probably have eaten in my whole life. It is costing $10.00 more to fill my gas tank.
And I really don’t get the disdain towards younger Americans on this site. Many I know work 2 jobs, or an 8 hour work day, then go home to run their home based business, or side gig, sleep 3 or four hours, then do it all over again.
They shop at thrift stores for clothes, and home goods. They realize that they will never have the things their parents had..an affordable house, insurance for their car, and medical costs.. They can’t afford dental care.
I find it depressing that so many people in the US, young and not so young are struggling.
I call BS on this study. First of all, most everybody they asked had NEVER EVEN HEARD of an “Existential Crisis”. Let alone define it or spell it.
Doesn’t Existential simply mean Existing? Why has this silly word been needlessly batted around so much over the last several years. We don’t need to use this stupid and redundant word.
“Existential crises tend to arrive when the gap between how life feels and how we thought it would feel becomes too wide to ignore.”
Lowering your expectations would be the easiest solution to that problem.
And you have full control of that.
Look, if I was gonna divide something I would want to live in an area that was European. My family originally came from Scotland and I I like the people of the UK and Ilook, if I was gonna divide something I would want to live in an area that was European. My family originally came from Scotland and I I like the people of the UK and I understand how they think. It’s nice to be with the people who have a shared history and a bond of blood.
but the way it is now, to maybe carve away a state or something and live in it like you’re living in a cage surrounded by animals. I don’t think that would be a great idea to you? A bunch of illegals breathing more and more every day so 50 million become 60 million or 70 million while my own people push dogs in baby strollers
would a carved away state succeed and do well? Oh of course, my people are a space fairing people. If we would’ve been left alone, we could’ve went to the stars. That’s who we are. But we would just be seen as an ATM.
A Civil War would be great, but no one is willing to do what would have to be done in order to make the country great again
“Third Of Americans Are Having An Existential Crisis Right Now”
“Existential crises tend to arrive when the gap between how life feels and how we thought it would feel becomes too wide to ignore.”
Is this even a “THING”? I guess this is something your shrink would tell you that you have even though you knew nothing about it.
See you next week and we’ll begin to work on it. Be sure to pay the receptionist on your way out.
Like gravitas, you brush the mustache hairs out of the way when you say it, with nose held high.
100% agree with you. I just had my rent raised by a lot. I am on fixed income and I am somewhat down today. The animosity at grouping all the young as stupid and lazy is disgusting.
Behavior is because too many do not want to hear any criticism about how we got got here and how it continues to get worse.
Laziness didn’t cause this. Greed, betrayals, and political ideologies did.
“Its Trumps fault. Dont remember these headlines when Biden was president.”
You may be onto something. Had something like that been reported when Biden was President, it would have been the fault of “capitalism,” and the author would look to Democrats for a solution.
As other FreeRepublicans have posted, some people have unreasonable expectations.
Some people may be dissatisfied because of politics. That was true in the Biden/Obama years also.
Stay the hell off social media. Interact with real people. Get outside and enjoy the beauty. That is a start.
Would they even start a “study” like this in the Biden years and what would it say?
The 24 year old behind me just moved out of her parents and into her first apartment. She pointed out to me that she is now bringing coffee from home in a thermos type container.
I have been giving her grief for spending X amount every week at Starbucks for her multiple coffee drinks.
She also started making a lunch.
The only thing guaranteed in life is death. There’s no guarantee you will have a “better” or “worse” life than your parents. Your life is what you make of it.
That is if you actually believe polls or statistics like these. Who developed the poll...what were the questions...who did they ask...how were the questions asked...etc., etc.
An old customer advised me back in the 1980s that automobiles were the biggest waste of money you will ever spend. They depreciate as soon as you buy them. He was wealthy. He own several lumber yards in MI.
Yet, he drove a Ford.
I drive a 2012 Tacoma and a 2011 Lexus. My wife drives a eight year old Honda CRV. My most expensive vehicle purchase was my 2019 Massey Ferguson 1735 cab tractor. It was $33K. A new one is now $47K. Mine is worth about $30K now used.
You say “Many [young people] I know work 2 jobs, or an 8 hour work day, then go home to run their home based business, or side gig, sleep 3 or four hours, then do it all over again.”
I know many like that (as we all do). Those are not the ones we are laughing at here.
You wrote “They realize that they will never have the things their parents had..an affordable house, insurance for their car, and medical costs. They can’t afford dental care.”
Yet, our three kids are all gainfully employed, two in their mid 30s have their own homes, all have car, home and auto insurance and good medical and dental care. All of their friends do, too.
We raised our kids with wide circles of friends and almost all of their childhood friends are doing well.
I know hundreds of young people through our children and our friends’ children and I just do not see what you are seeing. This is my observation from the San Francisco Bay Area as well as eastern Washington state and North Idaho.
Can you tell us where you see all this misery?
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