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From eroding social connections to growing economic disparities, modern society faces unprecedented challenges. Join us as we examine concerning trends affecting our daily lives, from digital privacy concerns to institutional distrust. What changes have you noticed in recent years? Share your thoughts below!
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00:00In the last 10 years, more than half of the new wealth created globally has gone to the richest 1% of humanity.
00:07Welcome to WatchMojo.
00:08And today we're counting down our picks for the biggest issues plaguing society today.
00:13So the equal opportunity wasn't there, income wasn't there, hope wasn't there, health wasn't there.
00:19You know, all of us would look at that and say, what should we do to lift up society?
00:24Number 10, we're addicted to our phones.
00:27Dr. Anna Radovic's research points to other potential problems.
00:31Some people have talked about the Internet and device use having similar addictive properties as things like alcohol use or drug use,
00:42where if you don't use it, you feel like you're in withdrawal, you feel irritable, like you can't get to it.
00:48This may sound a little funny coming from a YouTube channel, but just ask Dr. Brent Nelson,
00:53psychiatrist and chief medical information officer for Southern California-based Newport HealthCare,
00:58who says that smartphones have wide-reaching changes all over the brain.
01:02It creates a dysfunctional relationship.
01:04When we think of families and friends, if they're telling you that you're not paying attention to me,
01:10it's actually a breakdown in communication.
01:12Having those cell phones next to the bed, Tom, has been clinically shown to disrupt sleep.
01:18More than anything, people start to feel agitated and moody when they can't put the phone down.
01:23According to Dr. Nelson, a smartphone-addicted brain is working way harder than it should
01:27when you're scrolling away the hours, leading to what's popularly known as brain rot.
01:32According to the Toronto Star, research shows phone use interferes with concentration and sleep
01:38and is correlated with higher rates of depression, anxiety, stress, and loneliness.
01:42While we're by no means saying that all phone use is bad,
01:46your mental health will likely thank you for cutting down on screen time.
01:50For an adult, it's more likely to say,
01:52OK, I've been on my phone for two hours now, it's time to go to sleep.
01:55A young person may lack that ability just by very nature of their age.
02:00Number nine, the quick but far from painless death of in-person culture.
02:05Well, this had all of us talking.
02:06A new study looking at the pros and cons of remote work.
02:09Economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York say young workers may be missing
02:13the power of proximity like this, like this.
02:17It probably goes without saying that, like Thanos snapping his fingers in Avengers Infinity War,
02:22the COVID-19 pandemic changed the world we knew almost instantly.
02:26Perhaps the biggest change was the remote work boom brought on by social distancing.
02:30I think this sort of captures something that maybe some of us know intuitively,
02:34but it's been tough to measure, right?
02:35Which is that a lot of career development, and especially early career development,
02:41comes through these sort of informal channels.
02:43As such, while Americans have increasingly spent less and less time in each other's physical company
02:49over the years, The Atlantic's Derek Thompson pointed out that FaceTime dropped a whopping 30%
02:54from 2003 to 2022.
02:56Similarly, a 2024 Preply study found over 50% of Gen Z remote workers in Canada felt that
03:04their social skills had taken a turn for the worse since the rise of telework.
03:08In other words, we could all benefit from touching grass a little more often.
03:11An American study of career success at a U.S. tech firm, pre-COVID,
03:16found that the more often someone worked from home, the less likely they were to see pay increases.
03:22Number 8.
03:23Our data is for sale.
03:24The last time you shopped online for a pair of shoes, did the ads follow you for days or even weeks?
03:30Well, your Internet provider knows far more about your browsing habits than Google, Facebook, or Amazon.
03:36And now that provider can legally sell that information without your permission.
03:40Big Brother is watching.
03:41Well, not exactly anyway.
03:43As noted by security.org, many of the useful services and apps we take advantage of on a daily basis
03:49are nominally free, like Google Maps.
03:51But the hidden cost is that we, as users, pay for them in the form of data.
03:56Location data typically comes from apps that log the movements of a person's phone.
04:01Often people aren't even aware of the terms and conditions of these programs allow the information to be collected.
04:06The data is then sold to aggregators, who in turn sell it to advertisers looking for consumer trends.
04:11Just by simply using ubiquitous social media platforms like Facebook, X, and Instagram,
04:16we agree to privacy policies and allow these services to sell off our personal data to third-party advertisers.
04:22Computer security researcher Christopher Boyd may have summed it up the best in saying that, quote,
04:27When a product is free, the commodity is you and your data.
04:31This is something that consumers are not necessarily aware of.
04:36And a lot of the companies say that this is anonymous data.
04:40But what we were able to show was that you could identify people in it.
04:44Number seven.
04:45We don't trust our institutions anymore.
04:47A new survey from the Pew Research Center finds the nation increasingly distrustful of the federal government.
04:54The findings released today show that about one-quarter of Americans trust government to do the right thing,
05:00always or most of the time.
05:02A whopping 73 percent do not.
05:06And those surveyed blame members of Congress.
05:08The Pew Research Center determined that in 2023,
05:11public trust in the American federal government was at an all-time low, at just 16 percent.
05:16That failing trust, a trend which Pew says began with the escalation of the Vietnam War,
05:21is due to several factors.
05:23Said businessman Richard Edelman in January of 2025,
05:27these factors include the Great Recession, rise of populism,
05:30and the lasting aftershocks of the COVID-19 pandemic.
05:33Our studies show that trust in government falls when the economy is difficult
05:38and people don't think that government is effective in dealing with it.
05:42They fall at times of unpopular wars, Vietnam, Iraq.
05:46And now, I think the fall, the tumble, and the concern here with government is gridlock.
05:51People are skeptical of scientists, and as a result are increasingly looking to alternative
05:56and occasionally disreputable sources of medical information.
05:59All hope is not lost, though.
06:01According to Pew, a large majority of Americans still trust in small businesses,
06:05police officers, and public school principals.
06:08Only 25 percent have a favorable view of Congress.
06:12Ninety percent of the people who ran for re-election got re-elected.
06:17Number six.
06:18Civility has seemingly evaporated.
06:21We are the divided states of America.
06:23When you have such a divided society,
06:25and you have very hostile, anger-infused rhetoric stemming from political elites…
06:31The division between parties slowly has been trickling down from D.C.
06:35It's the classic age-old question.
06:37Why can't we all just get along?
06:39In our gradually more polarized society,
06:41it seems like the answer is more elusive than it's ever been.
06:44As living conditions for everyday Americans and regular folks around the world
06:48have become more and more difficult,
06:49it becomes proportionately more difficult to show civility
06:52to people whose viewpoints differ significantly from our own.
06:55Since President Trump was elected, has the overall tone and level of civility in Washington
07:00gotten worse?
07:01Seventy percent.
07:03Stayed the same.
07:04Twenty improved.
07:05Six.
07:05Stu, I guess no surprise here.
07:08To some, it would seem that polite debate and well-thought-out discourse
07:11is no longer enough for their voices to truly be heard.
07:14And when we can't agree with each other about issues that are personally important to us,
07:18we get peeved.
07:19Jeff Worrell is an at-large city council member in Carmel.
07:22He noticed a change in tone during the city's last local election cycle.
07:26Very inflammatory advertisements, postcards in citizens' mailboxes,
07:33half-truths, lies sometimes.
07:36Number five, the ongoing homelessness crisis.
07:39Any and everywhere you go, in and out of stores, homeless, homeless, homeless.
07:42What was once largely confined to the city's notorious skid row
07:46can now be seen all across Los Angeles.
07:49Hundreds of homeless encampments have sprung up,
07:51including this one in the shadow of City Hall.
07:55It's just like, you know, like the world's just caving in on you.
07:59For a problem that most of us encounter every day,
08:02it seems like frustratingly little is being done
08:04to combat the growing wave of homelessness.
08:06In the United States, the problem of homelessness
08:08has accelerated drastically following the COVID-19 pandemic.
08:12Homelessness in the United States has reached a record high.
08:15That's according to a new report from the federal government,
08:17which found Massachusetts was among the states
08:20with the biggest jump year to year.
08:22WBZ's Julie McDonald says this report puts some hard numbers
08:26on a problem that many communities are struggling with.
08:29The reasons for this are nuanced and complex,
08:31but key among them are lack of affordable housing,
08:34as well as individual factors like mental health
08:36and substance use disorder.
08:38To that end, 2023 brought never-before-seen levels of homelessness
08:42in Los Angeles and New York City,
08:44and the following year saw it rise by a record 18%.
08:47While the solutions to problems like homelessness may be clear,
08:50implementing them is unfortunately a completely different story.
08:54Tony, encampments can be cleared now in cities like Sacramento
08:57from anywhere.
08:59Before this ruling, it was only on critical infrastructure.
09:02But even with those changes,
09:04advocates say the need for housing and long-term solutions
09:07is still unchanged and very needed.
09:10Number four, rampant inflation.
09:13Americans are feeling like,
09:15just as the embers of inflation are still kind of smoldering,
09:19that it could ignite and there could be inflation again.
09:23Don't worry, you're not imagining it.
09:25Things are definitely more expensive than they used to be.
09:28During COVID, inflation at one point reached a rate of 9%,
09:31a record high for the generation.
09:33As noted by NerdWallet,
09:35prices in America surged more than 26% on average
09:38from 2019 to 2025.
09:40Consumer prices actually rose.
09:42And we look at consumer prices, as you know,
09:44two ways.
09:45One, all of them.
09:46And the other, when you take out food and energy,
09:49what we call core, which is this blue line right here.
09:51And core is running now at about 3.3%.
09:54It's gone up for four months in a row.
09:57It is the highest it's been in over a year.
10:00Specifically, groceries were up by 29%,
10:03rent by 32%,
10:04and gas by a whopping 37%.
10:07The result of supply chain disruptions,
10:09the Russian invasion of Ukraine,
10:11and myriad other factors,
10:12inflation is a problem,
10:14as long as wages fail to keep pace.
10:16At this rate,
10:16the gulf between rich and poor only continues to grow.
10:19There's uncertainty today with President Trump's tariff plan,
10:23as Americans are worried about the increased cost of living
10:25that is expected to come.
10:27Customers at Living Fresh Market in Forest Park
10:29are grabbing all the everyday goods they can
10:32before prices start to rise,
10:34and the store is getting ready, too.
10:36Number three,
10:37things are more polarized than they've ever been.
10:39So if you look at studies about the kinds of people
10:41that run for Congress,
10:43they're increasingly being drawn from people
10:46who are more on the extremes rather than the middle.
10:50According to a study by Pew Research Center,
10:52liberals and conservatives have viewed each other
10:54with growing disdain over the years.
10:56Most of these intense partisans believe
10:58the opposing party's policies are so misguided
11:01that they threaten the nation's well-being.
11:03Media outlets also benefit
11:04by turning increasingly partisan,
11:06generating an us-versus-them mentality.
11:09We spoke to, you know,
11:10a family in which a pair of half-sisters
11:13are entirely estranged from their third sibling
11:17and simply will not communicate with that person,
11:20believing that she is somehow, you know,
11:23under the gauze of some sort of conspiracy.
11:26Said Dr. Lucas Wolfe,
11:28researcher at the Department of Psychology
11:30at the University of Bath,
11:31this polarization, quote,
11:32means people become pessimistic about the future
11:35because the division in society
11:36stands in the way of compromise and cooperation
11:39for a better future.
11:40As such, it's best to view all media
11:43with a critical eye
11:44and interrogate why certain talking points
11:46feel true or false to you.
11:48Jerry Leveser has felt the impact
11:51of this growing polarization
11:52in her own community
11:54and even her own family.
11:56I do have a brother
11:58who is very liberal,
12:01so we just don't talk politics
12:03at all, ever.
12:05Number two,
12:06the proliferation of fake news
12:07and disinformation.
12:09A new survey reveals
12:10where more than Gen Z teens get their news,
12:13and according to Deloitte,
12:15it's mainly on social media.
12:16On those platforms,
12:17a CBS News investigation found
12:18misinformation about the conflict
12:20between Israel and Hamas
12:21is widespread,
12:22and it can be tough
12:23to distinguish what's real.
12:25There are more problems
12:26with social media
12:27than just being addicted to it.
12:28Arguably the most worrying one of all
12:30is its effectiveness
12:31in spreading information
12:32that's patently false
12:34or actively malicious
12:35to scoop up a few bucks
12:36in advertising revenue.
12:38Other times,
12:38it works in favor
12:39of partisan politics.
12:41U.S. President Donald Trump
12:42has often dismissed criticism
12:44of him by labeling it fake news
12:46or as an intentional hit job.
12:48Yeah, this was the first time
12:48that Americans really had
12:49to reckon with the power
12:51of lies to move virally
12:55over social media.
12:57You know,
12:57what happened with the internet
12:58was it lowered the barriers
12:59to entry to political communication.
13:01A recent Dutch study
13:03found that, quote,
13:04radical right populists
13:05are using misinformation
13:06as a tool to destabilize democracies
13:08and gain political advantage,
13:10said one of their authors.
13:12Fake news hurts us all
13:13and leaves us prone
13:14to increased polarization.
13:16Yet another reason
13:17to buck up on media literacy.
13:19The first step is having awareness
13:21of how susceptible we are
13:23to misinformation
13:24and disinformation.
13:26Before we continue,
13:27be sure to subscribe to our channel
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13:36If you're on your phone,
13:37make sure you go into settings
13:38and switch on your notifications.
13:42Number one,
13:43increased income inequality.
13:45$465 billion.
13:47That's how much richer
13:48Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos,
13:50and the world's richest man
13:51got in the last four years,
13:52according to a new report
13:53from the UK-based
13:54charity organization Oxfam.
13:56That amounts to $14 million per hour.
14:01Oxfam says,
14:02on the other hand,
14:02nearly 5 billion people
14:04are poorer
14:04than they were four years ago.
14:06Simply put,
14:07there's no two ways around it.
14:09The rich are getting richer than ever,
14:10and the poor
14:11are getting poorer than ever.
14:12According to a 2024
14:13Congressional Budget Office report
14:15that looked at household income
14:17in 2021,
14:18the top 1% of households
14:20made more than six times
14:21as much total income
14:22as the bottom quintile
14:24of households
14:25and has become more pronounced
14:26since 1981.
14:28Diamond recently wrote
14:30an opinion piece
14:30for the Washington Post
14:32aimed at the next American president,
14:35stressing the need
14:36for national unity
14:37and equal opportunity for all,
14:40warning that
14:41the American dream
14:42is disappearing for many
14:44because opportunity
14:45is not shared equally.
14:46It's not limited
14:47to the U.S. either.
14:49Statistics Canada
14:50has noted that
14:50income inequality
14:51in America's neighbor
14:52to the north
14:53has reached its highest levels
14:54in history.
14:55Knowing that, then,
14:56makes it all the more apparent
14:58as to why people
14:59are just fed up.
15:01People are not making enough money.
15:03They're working
15:04the two or three part-time jobs.
15:05They may not have full benefits
15:07or health care
15:08to provide for their families,
15:09and they still haven't recovered
15:11from the effects of the pandemic.
15:13With all of that having been said,
15:15what are some things
15:15that make you smile?
15:17Be sure to let us know
15:18in the comments below.
15:19If something seems
15:20too good to be true
15:21and sort of flatters
15:22your biases,
15:24you know,
15:24it's something delightfully negative
15:26about a public figure you hate
15:28or something unbelievably great
15:29about someone you like,
15:31you know,
15:31do a simple fact-chat.
15:32This is not the U.S.
15:32organization that makes you smile
15:33on a public figure and see
15:34The U.S.
15:35of C.W.
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