SWNYTECH by Max Knoblauch
New York office - 646-873-7565 / usnews@swns.com
Phone batteries dying, sticking to plans, and slow WiFi - these are just some of the modern causes of stress plaguing Americans today, according to new research.
If you care more about your phone than your car, you’re not alone - two in five American millennials (41 percent) said breaking their phone screen would be more stressful than seeing their check engine light come on.
The survey, conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Endoca, uncovered that 30 percent of the 2,000 Americans surveyed find WiFi issues to be more stressful than being stuck in traffic.
If that’s not a clear enough sign that priorities are shifting as millennials age, the study also revealed that one in five millennials find breaking their phone screen to be more stressful than losing their wallet, while one third of millennials said their phone dying when in an unknown area would be more stressful than seeing fraudulent charges on their credit card. The battery level phones begin to stress them out? 23 percent.
Nearly one in five millennials reported that getting zero likes on a social media post would be more stress-inducing than having a big argument with their partner.
Would you do anything to avoid arriving first to a party? Then you may be one of the 22 percent of millennials who say it’s more stressful than a job interview. Or, perhaps you align more closely with the 35 percent of millennials who find sticking to plans more stressful than missing out on them.
While these incidents may seem small to some, the new study found that 58 percent of all Americans say they’re more stressed now than they’ve ever been, with one third of millennials claiming their lives are more stressful than the average person. About one third of stress is caused by the accumulation, or snowballing effect, of everyday micro-stressors such as being stuck in traffic and waiting for appointments.
Approximately half (49 percent) of Americans feel they don’t deal with stress well, and 67 percent would like more ways of dealing with their stress.
“Stress isn’t an abstract issue - it’s a significant problem and doesn’t necessarily have to be caused by one large inciting incident,” said Henry Vincenty, CEO of Endoca.
“No matter what’s causing our stress, we should take care to be proactive about finding solutions before it begins affecting our health.”
Of course, there are real-world consequences to all this stress. Americans lose approximately five hours and 57 minutes of sleep every week to these worries, the equivalent to 12 days per year.
Respondents reported being kept up at night due to various stressors nearly three nights per week, or about 138 nights of sleep impacted every year.
More than one in four millennials report Monday being the night that stress costs them sleep the most often.
How do Americans cope with all the stress? Sleeping (41 percent), confronting issues head-on (36 percent), and exercise (33 percent) were the top solutions, while almost one in ten opt to use CBD products for relief.
Vincenty continues: “Stress may be inevitable, but it doesn’t have to be incurable. Studies have shown that getting enough rest and using CBD products are both excellent natural methods to reducing stress and improving our ability to deal with it.”
TOP 20 MOST STRESSFUL SCENARIOS FOR MILLENNIALS
1. Losing wallet/credit card 50%
2. Arguing with partner 48%
3. Commute/traffic delays 48%
4. Losing phone 44%
5. Arriving late to work 43%
6. Slow WiFi 42%
7. Phone battery dying 40%
8. Forgetting passwords 39%
9. Credit card fraud 38%
10. Forgetting phone charger 38%
11. Losing/misplacing keys 38%
12. Paying bills 38%
13. Job interviews 37%
14. Phone screen breaking 37%
15. Credit card bills 36%
16. Check engine light coming on 32%
17. School loan payments 32%
18. Job security 32%
19. Choosing what to wear 31%
20. Washing dishes 29%