Alright, let's talk about one of my favorite topics.
Parents feeling extremely stressed because they have Children.
[LAUGH] Alright, seriously, let's talk about it.
So parents are generally the demographic known to have a lot of stress,
especially in a country that provides absolutely no support for parents.
But a new survey gives us insight into just how incredibly stressed they are,
especially as a result of the pandemic and the disruptions that it's brought forth.
So this is the annual stress in America poll that was conducted by the american
Psychological Association.
Let's take a look at how Americans are feeling in general.
This isn't just parents, this is Americans in general.
It shows that 87% of them agree the rise in prices of everyday items due
to inflation, gas prices, energy bills, grocery costs was a source of stress,
followed by 81% on supply chain issues, 81% on global uncertainty.
80% are stressed about potential retaliation from Russia,
and 80% are worried about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
I gotta say this is the first time in a long time that Americans are actually
paying attention to a war and are concerned about it.
Now the researchers say, it is rare for
so many people to be stressed about the exact same things.
Plus the negative effects of the pandemic do persist close to two thirds of adults,
63% said that their life has been forever changed by COVID-19.
In addition, the survey revealed widespread grief and sense of loss,
continued hardships for vulnerable populations.
Concerns for children's development among parents and
entrenched unhealthy coping habits.
So I wanna get to parents specifically in just a moment but brief comments from you.
>> Okay, so I'm apparent, but I'm not stressed but I'm unusual.
But I understood from this story.
It's a really important and interesting one why people are stressed.
I have an interesting theory.
Facebook, so why was Facebook >> No, I agree with you.
It's not just Facebook though.
I think most social media, twitter and Facebook being at the top of that.
>> I'm just saying Facebook symbolically.
But social media because before if you wanted the news,
you would turn on prime time news at 6:30 but a lot of people didn't, right?
But now it's in your feed, news is in the feed everywhere and
all the social media and you can't avoid it.
So now everybody's getting the news and so when they get the news was like, wow,
I didn't know the world was that depressing.
It's been that depressing for quite some time.
Now of course Trump took it to a totally different level because he would
constantly jolt you like, okay, you should put bleach in your body to fight Clorox.
And like one, trauma after another and one insanity after another and
then we get rid of Trump.
But then dammit the Covid's here and that's traumatic and then a war starts and
that's traumatic and you can't get rid of it because it's in your feed.
>> Yeah, that's true.
I do think that things have gotten significantly worse in recent decades,
certainly the last decade.
Because think about it, I mean we're dealing with so many massive crises.
One after the next after the next.
You have September 11th,
you have the violation of our civil liberties as a result of September 11th,
you have economic collapse followed by, again, one catastrophe after the next.
We're dealing with the global pandemic.
A lot of these things, a lot of these crises that would happen once in
a half century are now happening back to back to back.
>> World is moving fast.
>> The world is moving faster.
People are more aware of it.
And there's no support for people, especially parents.
So let's get to the parents, the parents were more likely than those who
are not parents to list money, 80% versus 58%.
The economy 77% versus 59%.
And housing costs 72% versus 39%.
As significant sources of stress.
>> A real quick, and I just got to say,
of course I'm a parent where are we more stressed about money.
Of course we are- >> Because it ain't just about you, right?
You brought life into this world and you're responsible for these people.
>> And you have more costs.
>> Exactly, exactly.
And by the way, that's not surprising given the cost of childcare in
America at just over $1,300 per month families and infants.
Families with infants would need to pay nearly $16,000 per year on
average to cover the true cost of childcare.
Not only is this approximately 21% of the US median income for
a family of three, but it also comes at a time when families can least afford it.
Which is why it was so important to pass the build back better agenda.
But corporate democrats screwed you.
And of course republicans were never in favor of social spending any way they
wanna force you to have that baby and then they wanna abandon you and
your family as they've done for decades.
>> I wanna say one more thing about this overall.
I think I underestimated how stressed people are because I don't
take it personally because I have to cover the news.
So as I get furious on air and you see it and I care a lot,
I don't take it home with me, but a lot of other people do take it home with them.
And and so since I'm inclined the way that I am, I didn't realize to what degree
it was creating actual stress in people's personal lives, right?
And so that was interesting.
And then I think that the COVID lockdowns did affect Children and
then hence parents more than we anticipated.
So that's real too.
And so that caused some of this as well.
I hope we figure out what to do about it because this is a serious
problem in America.
We can't have this many people stressed and depressed.