Stress Check: How Cultural Stress Is Impacting Health and Longevity, and What We Can Do About It

Abstract

Our phones recognize our face shapes better than our friends. Digital consumption is replacing human touch. Even when we’re together, we are texting rather than talking. If personal connection was classified as a sustainable resource, we could hypothesize that it is non-renewable and fleeting—fast. How is it that, in this age of being more connected than ever, we are at our loneliest? Advances in technology, enhanced screen time, and digital interconnectedness have collectively created a false sense of connection and a new type of stress: Cultural Stress (CS) and its pervasive, recognizable syndrome classified as Cultural Stress Anxiety Syndrome (CSAS).