Does ‘cultural drift’ explain why we are less satisfied with our lives?

As we feel the pinch of increasing financial pressure, Australians are less satisfied with their lives today than they were in the pandemic. This was the finding of research by KPMG, as reported by this masthead last week.

More than half of Australians struggle to make ends meet and afford the basic costs of living – and the impact should not be minimised when it comes to health and happiness.

“Chronic financial strain can undermine wellbeing because it creates uncertainty, reduces feelings of control and consumes mental bandwidth,” says Dr Tim Sharp, psychologist and founder of The Happiness Institute.

The report reveals something more significant than financial stress alone.

We are dazzled by the idea that more money might buy us more satisfaction, but research consistently shows that once basic needs are met, more money does not reliably buy it, or happiness.

In fact, we may compromise how we feel about our lives if we give too much weight to such extrinsic, uncontrollable factors as money, at the expense of what really can aid life satisfaction and buffer us from the economic miseries.

When a study tracked American values over two decades, the only “value” that had become more important was money. Factors such as patriotism, religion, children and community involvement declined in value.

Associate Professor Dan Fassnacht doesn’t know whether Australians are following suit or whether financial stress has a way of narrowing our focus.

However, he says: “There is a kind of cultural drift away from the very things that protect us when times are tough. Meaning, community and connection are psychological buffers. When we erode those in favour of financial striving, we lose the scaffolding that holds us together during hard periods.”

Fassnacht co-authored a paper, published in Nature Mental Health, that surveyed 122 international experts in economics, psychology, medicine, philosophy and other disciplines about essential factors for mental wellbeing.

“Money did not make the list,” says Fassnacht, the co-lead of the Be Well Lab at the University of Sunshine Coast.

Interestingly, mental wellbeing doesn’t require us to feel good all the time.

“Negative emotions are functional – they are signals, not failures. Sadness, anxiety and dissatisfaction exist to prompt us to pay attention and make changes,” Fassnacht says.

The pain of loneliness can signal that we need to reach out to others, join a club or prioritise our relationships – somewhat counterintuitively, negative emotions can help us feel better in the long-run.

“Research consistently shows t