Media, Technology, and Stress At America's 250th

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The United States is in a strange position. Even as we prepare to celebrate our 250^th anniversary we are dissatisfied with how things stand. A recent Pew Poll indicated that 69% of Americans don’t like the way things are going right now. But that has always been true in this country. Historians believe that only 30-40% of American Colonists actively supported the Revolutionary War, with 20% remaining loyal to the crown, and the remainder being neutral or disengaged.

During the Civil War 698,000 Americans died, making it the deadliest war in US history. In 1964 only 58% of Americans approved of the Civil Rights Act while a Gallup poll in 2020 indicated that 67% of Americans supported the Black Lives Movement. While it may feel that we have never been this divided, clearly it has happened before.

We are also very concerned about the cost of living. According to a YouGov poll 63 % of Americans believe our economy is going in the wrong direction. A review of historical trends indicates that such indices have fluctuated significantly. However, it is hard to make economic comparisons across time.

Comparing Wealth and Quality of Life Across History

Even the richest revolutionaries lacked the amenities we consider essential today including running water, electricity and medical care. We do know that during the Great Depression almost 25% of Americans were unemployed while in May 2026 the US unemployment rate was 4.3%. This doesn’t mask the reality of the economic and social inequities that have long plagued the country, but it does suggest that things have been worse before.

The way we get information about the world has also changed drastically in the last 250 years. During the revolutionary war hand-written dispatches and printed materials used to convey information were limited by the speed at which they could be disseminated by horse or ship.

Compare that to today, when we can fly across the country, use our phone to talk to people anywhere in the world and follow breaking news 24 hours a day. So why do about 75% or us report that our levels of stress have increased in the past 5 years despite the many technological breakthroughs that have purportedly made our lives easier?

How the Human Brain Processes Threats and Information

The answer lies in the way our brains experience the world, and process information. The bottom line is that our brains evolved multiple strategies to keep us alive. Our sensory systems provide us with information on the changing environment around us.

Structures like the amygdala generate survival-based emotions including fear, anger, and even affection to motivate behavior. Neurons found in the cortical layer of our brain, generate and manage thoughts, goals, and decisions and our behavioral choices.

Not surprisingly, this process is biased to prioritize information regarding things that might threaten our survival. Throughout much of history threats to human survival involved physical challenges such as finding enough food, dealing with predators or other hostile humans and coping with unfavorable weather. Certainly, the iconic accounts of George Washington’s struggles at Valley Forge encompass all of these risks.

However, in the technologically driven, globally connected modern world we find ourselves dealing with different kinds of stress. While our daily lives are relatively stable, we are surrounded by media images of disaster, catastrophe, and problems in places where we have no experience or control. Our politicians and pundits argue incessantly about things that might affect our lives, but we don’t know who is telling the truth.

Artificial Intelligence allows us to create pictures that lie as much or more than words. In short, our media rich environment fueled by people trying to manipulate our behavior in ways that benefit them frequently short-circuit our thought processes. And we spend a lot of time consuming information that has been created by others, rather than experiencing situations for ourselves. The resulting echo chamber of doom can feel emotionally overwhelming.

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From a survival point of view, rapid emotional responses to immediate threats keep us alive. But in complicated situations we need to take time to gather and assess evidence before we act. When we don’t do this, we make false assumptions, escalate conflicts and get caught up in details instead of seeing the big picture.

The bottom line is that we are using a brain operating system that evolved to make sense of specific sensory input, to cope with a technological world full of illusions. Trying to sort through a constant stream of negative, contradictory information makes it difficult to know what is true, or to feel that we can make things better.

How Americans Can Adapt and Build Resilience

Fortunately, the human brain is incredibly adaptive, making us resilient. We don’t have to accept that the way things are is the way they will always be. Surely a species that can travel to the moon can learn to manage the impact of technology on our beliefs and choices.

We all need to become more media literate. Rather than consuming only information we agree with we need to listen carefully to people we disagree with and to think critically about our own beliefs. We need to spend more time paying attention to what we have in common with others and less time magnifying our differences and taking cognitive short-cuts, even when our brains are programmed to do the opposite.

As we celebrate the 4^th of July this week, we need to remember that we are extremely lucky to be living in a relatively prosperous country where we can air and debate our disagreements openly. Certainly, people are willing to risk their lives on a daily basis to join us here. If there are things we don’t like, we need to get involved in advocating for change.

The Founding Fathers didn’t have all the answers, (and weren’t listening to all of the diverse voices around them) but they were willing to look for solutions to the problems they saw. Today it is up to us to make sure the United States continues to be a place that values the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness for all.