How Big a Problem is Anxiety? Response

How Big a Problem is Anxiety?

According to Robert L Leahy, in 2008, everyone has a 17% chance of getting extreme anxiety. Many of the problems that cause anxiety were mentioned in the article are still present today. Unrealistic expectations of appearance, material items, health, work and finance. Its a lot to deal with. These trends may have actually grown since 2008 on. 

I can think of plenty of things to be stressed about that I've gotten used to. The idea of constant terrorism since my generation is the generation after 9/11, unrealistic body and fashion standards which may be more heightened since I live in California, the increasing population of California and how its getting more crowded as house prices go up. Especially for young adults who don't understand the world well, all these things appear confusing and dangerously close. 

An interesting factor that I find less relevant today, is the effect that "bad news" has on us. TV's popularity is slowly declining and more and more people use the internet for endless entertainment. Bad news still gives people anxiety of course, but now people get more news from handheld devices rather than TV stations. However, the constant stream of messages we get from media and all the different distractions we have each time we check our phone makes the real world seem not so bad. We focus less on the bad news and all the other attributes of anxiety and devote ourselves to entertainment. Sad about something? You can go watch YouTube or Netflix, listen to music from different streaming services, go on Instagram and SnapChat, there's so many other things that are better than hearing something you don't want to hear. 

So does having our phones next to us at all times limit the amount of stress and anxiety we deal with? Probably not, there's new things to worry about. Your social media accounts and personality, the constant idea of strangers connecting with you, addictiveness to a game, anxiety didn't go away, it just took another form. With anxiety comes negative physical and mental barriers, even the midst of our technology and advancements, are we less able to chill than people who had black and white TV's in the 50's?