As a society, we’re laughing less and worrying more than ever before.

Google Trends reveals that the search terms ‘anxiety’ and ‘humour’ switched places in 2007. With the term ‘funny’ on a clear downwards trajectory since 2016.

As Mark Twain once said, a day without laughter is a day wasted.

But that’s not all, there’s been a significant rise in mental health issues over the past twenty years, especially among young people.

And while the root cause of this is unknown, there’s a clear correlation between increased smartphone and social media usage, while this won’t be the only factor, the pattern cannot be denied.

As advertisers, we have a unique role in society where we can shape perceptions and provoke change. Impacting consumers' behaviours and habits, hopefully, for the better.

Yet the reality is, although there is work to be done to improve the mental health of the general population and ensure humour is a part of everyone’s day-to-day life, we need to look closer to home first on the changes needed.

In what is a clear sign my posts are becoming too long; I’ve put my full thoughts in an article below, talking through the current mental health issues we see within the general public and the advertising industry.

Read it hereLaughing Less, Worrying More: The Mental Health Challenge in the Digital Age and the Advertising Industry's Role