NEW YORK, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- Americans have become very mean and social trust is plummeting, as generations are growing up in a morally inarticulate and self-referential world in a culture devoid of moral education, The Atlantic reported on Monday.
Two-thirds of American households gave to charity in 2000, but fewer than half did so in 2018, said the report. Nurses are leaving the profession because patients have become so abusive, and at the far extreme of meanness, hate crimes rose in 2020 to their highest level in 12 years, it added.
"The rising rates of depression have been well publicized, as have the rising deaths of despair from drugs, alcohol, and suicide," it noted. "The percentage of people who say they don't have close friends has increased fourfold since 1990."
"More than half of all Americans say that no one knows them well. The percentage of high-school students who report 'persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness' shot up from 26 percent in 2009 to 44 percent in 2021," it added. ■
