What Elmo taught us about Americans’ mental health
It started out as a simple question, but it quickly shed light on something much more complicated. In January 2024, Sesame Street’s Elmo made an innocent post on X.
“Elmo is just checking in,” the character said. “How is everybody doing?”
That opened the floodgates. Thousands of people responded, voicing their issues with “existential dread,” mental burnout and overall dissatisfaction with daily life. That inspired Sesame Workshop, the popular kids’ show’s nonprofit, to take a deeper look at the state of well-being in America.
Sesame Workshop teamed up with research company The Harris Poll to survey more than 2,000 Americans aged 16 and older. They asked what people’s well-being priorities for the future are.
Ninety percent said mental health was a big concern, compared to 89% who said the same about physical health, economic security and personal finances, and having “a safe place to call home.”
More than two-thirds (67%) of those surveyed said they wish their parents had been more honest about their own mental health struggles. And nearly three-quarters (73%) of Americans said they wished they’d learned more about how to manage their emotions when they were children — including 84% of parents who took the survey.
Teens’ overall mental health getting better but crisis not over: CDC
The mental health of high school students has improved slightly in recent years, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). However, a share of students still reported feeling sad and hopeless — especially female students.
The CDC conducts its youth risk behavior survey every two years. Between 2021 and 2023, overall reports of poor mental health went down slightly from 42% to 40%. While that may not sound like much, the director of the CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health said it is “statistically significant.”
While girls and LGBTQ+ students are still more likely to report feelings of sadness and hopelessness, the percentage of girls who said they felt that way dropped from 57% in 2021 to 53% in 2023.
The survey also found 20% of teens said they had seriously considered suicide and 9% said they had attempted it. That number is down from a high of 10% in 2021, but still higher than the 8% reported a decade ago.
The survey also found substance abuse is down among teens, as well.
Nearly 50% of insured Americans get surprise medical bills: Study
Nearly half of insured U.S. adults say they’ve gotten a surprise medical bill in the past year for something insurance should have covered. A new study from the Commonwealth Fund shows many of those bills are the result of billing errors or coverage denials.
Still, the study shows less than half of those who were wrongly billed challenged their insurance company or health care provider — even though the study found more than 1 in 3 people who do challenge the surprise charges have their costs either reduced or eliminated completely.
More than half of those surveyed said they didn’t know they had the right to challenge medical billing errors.
The Commonwealth Fund study also said the consequences of coverage denials were apparent, with 60% of people reporting delays in care and 47% saying their condition got worse while waiting for care. Meanwhile, 17% of people said their insurance denied coverage altogether for certain services or procedures recommended by their doctor.
Loneliness epidemic hitting workplaces across the US
Americans are lonely, so much so that the surgeon general has declared loneliness an epidemic. A new study by research firm BSG, TheLi.st and Berlin Cameron showed that 86% of white collar workers between the ages of 18 and 34 said they’ve felt lonely or isolated as a result of their job role, and 76% of those 35 and older said they felt that way.
People considered white collar are workers in office settings, like clerical, administrative, managerial and executive roles, and tend to earn an annual salary. For comparison, blue-collar workers often have to do manual labor and get paid by the hour or by job.
While the rise in remote and hybrid work models can play a role in loneliness, experts said the trend of white-collar workers feeling lonelier has more to do with technology and lack of proper support from their employer. In fact, the study found 65% of white-collar workers believe their employers have a responsibility to address loneliness in the workplace.
The report shows lonely staffers are four times more likely to be dissatisfied with their current careers and three times more likely to feel they cannot be their authentic selves at work. Employees struggling with loneliness are also only half as likely to feel positive about their career prospects compared to workers who say they do not feel lonely.
That study also found younger people reported feeling loneliness more, with 22% of those under the age of 54 saying they experience loneliness daily, compared to 19% of those over 35.
It’s worse for women
Women are even more impacted when it comes to feeling isolated and lonely at work, and studies show that only gets worse as they work their way up.
A similar study conducted by the same researchers in 2023 found 53% of women in the workplace experienced loneliness because of their job. Nearly 60% of those surveyed said their feelings of loneliness and isolation only got worse as their careers progressed.
Additionally, more than half the women climbing the corporate ladder said they declined a job or promotion or even quit because of the negative impact on their personal life. The study found senior-level men are significantly more likely than senior-level women to say their loneliness or isolation decreased the further they have gone in their careers.
How employers can help
Americans spend up to one-third of their week at work, so researchers said it is not surprising their jobs impact their feelings of connection.
The researchers who put the study together say there are ways to employers can help combat loneliness in the workplace, including giving employees more opportunities to interact in person, being transparent, training managers to lead with empathy and respect and creating a collaborative and supportive culture.
The order directs Virginia’s Department of Education to help public schools create policies establishing what he calls “cell phone-free education.”
The state is putting $500,000 toward working with parents, students, teachers and community members to develop age-appropriate restrictions during instructional time. They will also develop protocols to help parents contact their kids if there’s an emergency.
We’re establishing cell phone-free education in schools benefiting students, parents and educators across Virginia. This essential action will promote a healthier educational environment where every child is free to learn. https://t.co/A6CA7htBt1
— Governor Glenn Youngkin (@GovernorVA) July 9, 2024
The order cites a teen mental health crisis and deteriorating academic achievement over the last decade as being partly driven by extensive social media and cellphone use. It also said the move will ensure kids spend less time on their phones without parental supervision.
In May, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory on the effects social media has on youth mental health. He’s also pushing to require tobacco-style warning labels on social media sites and apps.
Other states have taken similar action when it comes to phones in classrooms.
In 2023, Florida became the first state to prohibit the use of cellphones or other wireless devices during “instructional time” for K-12 students. In March, Indiana passed a law banning cellphones in class starting this upcoming school year.
Los Angeles Unified School District leaders recently took up a measure to ban cellphones and social media during instruction time. After that, California’s governor said he would also support a statewide ban. In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul, D, is set to announce a bill to ban cellphones in schools later in 2024.
Ohio’s governor also signed a new law in May that doesn’t go as far as to ban phones from classrooms, but it does require all districts create policies that seek to “minimize students’ use of cellphones.” Alabama’s state Board of Education passed a resolution earlier this year to “strongly encourage” districts to limit cellphone use in schools.
Similarly, Utah’s governor sent a letter to his state’s board of education about his concerns over cellphone use in class and said he’d support a ban on the devices in schools.
Federal lawmakers have also taken up the fight, although a federal ban on cellphones in schools is highly unlikely.
In November, Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Tim Kaine, D-Va., filed a bill calling for a federal study on how cellphone use in schools is affecting students’ academic performance and mental health.
Growing concerns over gambling addiction in the military
Concerns over gambling addiction in the military are in spotlight as an Army veteran prepares to release a book about his experience with gambling. Former Army Sgt. David Yeager said his addiction started on a military base in South Korea at slot machines run by the Defense Department and quickly turned into an “obsession.”
Yeager is not alone. A 2021 study out of Rutgers University found active-duty service members and veterans were more than twice as likely to show signs of problem gambling than civilians.
The National Council on Problem Gambling estimates about 56,000 service members meet the criteria for the medical diagnosis of gambling disorder.
Slot machines were banned on military bases within the United States in 1951, and the Army and Air Force started removing them from overseas bases in the 1970s. However, the machines were quickly brought back overseas as a way to help keep service members from getting into trouble off base.
The latest data from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) shows as of 2017, the Defense Department operated more than 3,000 slot machines on U.S. military installations in a dozen foreign countries. The majority were found in Japan, South Korea and Germany. Those machines produce more than $100 million in annual revenue.
The Department of Veterans Affairs said diagnoses of pathological gambling disorders among service members and veterans are skyrocketing, with more people diagnosed in the first half of 2024 than all of 2022. The VA operates two residential treatment facilities for gambling addiction and has partnerships with civilian facilities throughout the country.
Service members are also now screened for gambling disorders during their yearly physical, after a provision was signed into the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) by former President Donald Trump. The Defense Department also said service members with a gambling problem will not be penalized for seeking treatment after they’re screened.
In the most recent NDAA, Rep. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., filed an amendment to stop the military from operating slot machines on all bases. The measure did not make it into this year’s final NDAA, which the House Rules Committee will consider at its meeting next Thursday, July 11.
Understanding moral injury in the special operations forces community
Moral injuries have been around for as long as people have engaged in combat. Historic works like the “Iliad,” the “Odyssey,” and modern blockbusters like “Oppenheimer” also explore the topic.
However, the term “moral injury” has only recently been given a name and started to be understood. That is partially because only 15% of enlisted military personnel ever see combat, according to research from the National Personnel Records Center. The percentage of commissioned officers to see combat is even smaller. But for those that do, it is often a life-altering event.
While war’s physical wounds are easier to see and treat, trauma that can’t be seen often poses the biggest challenge to those affected. Most people know about post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, but fewer know about the diagnosis of moral injury.
“The suffering when things go wrong, and stakes are high, these are invisible wounds but, nonetheless, harm from something seen or done or from something done to us,” Dr. Kari Thyne, an Air Force veteran and associate professor at the Joint Special Operations University, said. “Moral injuries result in emotions such as anger, guilt, shame, self-blame, and sorrow. The effects can remain dormant for weeks, months, years, or even decades; they will not remain dormant forever.”
The topic is gaining traction with mental health care providers and the special forces community. At this year’s Special Operations Forces week in Tampa, a panel spoke on the subject and how it is being addressed.
Dr. Erin McFee, a professor of practice at the Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies, said that can make diagnosing an issue even more difficult.
“It’s not a binary, oh, wait, yes, I have moral injury or no, I don’t have moral injury, it’s very difficult to sort of suss out what is and what isn’t,” McFee said. “That confusion can sort of add to the distressing nature of it. And that is also part of the phenomenon.”
Researchers on the topic say a combination of training before entering a combat zone and making additional resources available after returning home. The most important tool to address and manage moral injury is understanding an individual’s ownership of their experiences.
“Individual perception is key, you cannot tell an individual how they feel or what the traumatic experience means to them,” Dr. John Edgar Caterson, a master faculty instructor at the Joint Special Operations University, said. “It is their experience. And they are the own expert of their own individual soul root wounds, invisible wounds, whatever label you want to put on it, but they are the experts of that.”
For all that is known about moral injury, suicides among those that have served, continue at alarming rates. Depending on the factors considered, annual numbers of veterans committing suicide can vary from 17 to 44 lives lost every day. According to the National Institutes for Health, peer mentorship is one avenue for prevention.
Ultimately there are no easy answers when it comes to treating moral injury. However, experts say it starts with information and access to resources.
Addressing moral injury within the special forces: Weapons and Warfare
In this episode of Weapons and Warfare, the focus is on moral injury — a type of trauma that can’t be seen. Host Ryan Robertson delves into the topic, exploring its definition and the level of understanding surrounding it. The episode highlights experts’ insights and the necessary steps to address moral injury within the special forces community.
Also featured in this episode:
A warning from U.S. intelligence that China is attempting to recruit American aviators.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposed terms for a cease-fire.
The commander of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower turned to social media to battle a misinformation campaign from Houthi rebels.
Celebrate Independence Day with America’s patriotically named vessels, vehicles and weapons in this weapon of the week
What you don’t know about white noise that could hurt your child
More than half of Americans use some sort of background noise to help them fall asleep. People use tools like box fans, YouTube videos and designated white noise machines to drown out interruptions that could disturb their sleep. For new parents, the machines can help them, and their newborns, get a good night’s sleep.
However, new research shows many of the white noise machines available are potentially too loud for infants’ ears. A study published in Sleep Medicine measured the decibel levels of 24 white noise machines and apps. None of them are federally regulated.
The study found the devices did not have a decibel cutoff. Research showed a cutoff is necessary to safeguard their children’s hearing.
“Those devices exceeded what is appropriate for hearing health for any individual, just walking around and living their life,” researchers told ABC News.
A separate study by behavioral scientists found that white noise could even be the wrong “color” of noise for sleep. The spectrum of color noise classifies everyday noises and frequencies into colors. A running fan is considered white noise. Blowing wind is pink noise and the rumble of distant thunder is brown noise.
In a recent study researchers found white noise is a harsh frequency that “wakes the brain.” It acts as a stimulant, with minor improvements in task performance.
The researchers suggested if a person chose to use noise while they sleep, they should use pink noise. It is the color that more closely resembles frequencies the brain gives off during sleep.
However, evidence showed that using noise, like many other sleep aids, can be addictive and lead to poor sleep habits. Experts also said stopping any sleep aid cold turkey can have negative effects on everyday sleep quality.
The recommended method to wean a person or their child off of white noise is to decrease the volume incrementally until they no longer need it to sleep.
Supreme Court to issue ruling on Trump’s immunity claim
The Supreme Court will deliver its long-awaited ruling on whether former President Donald Trump is immune from being prosecuted. And after his debate performance last week, President Joe Biden’s future as the Democratic nominee remains a topic of discussion within his party. These stories and more highlight The Morning Rundown for Monday, July 1, 2024.
Supreme Court to issue ruling on Trump’s immunity claim
There will be a ruling on whether former President Donald Trump has immunity from criminal prosecution today, Monday, July 1. That is one of the opinions left as the Supreme Court wraps up its current term, extending its rulings into July.
Chief Justice John Roberts announced on Friday, June 28, the highly anticipated decision concerning the former president and all remaining opinions will come down starting at 10 a.m. EST Monday.
The court will decide if the former president is immune from being prosecuted in the federal election interference case where he’s accused of conspiring to obstruct the 2020 presidential election. Trump has argued he should be immune from any official acts taken while in office, saying future presidents would not be able to function without immunity.
Without Presidential Immunity, a President of the United States literally could not function! It should be a STRONG IMMUNITY, where proper decisions can be made, where our Country can be POWERFUL and THRIVE, and where Opponents cannot hold up and extort a Future President for… pic.twitter.com/QurlpNbBoK
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) June 30, 2024
A federal appeals court rejected Trump’s claim in February. The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case a few weeks later. During arguments in April, the court focused in on deciding which acts are private and which are considered part of the role of president.
In a decision on Friday, the Supreme Court limited obstruction charges that have been brought against Jan. 6 rioters. Former President Trump is also charged with obstruction in this federal case.
The justices will also issue a ruling on when it comes to states passing laws to regulate how social media companies moderate content on their platforms.
Biden’s future as candidate being discussed after debate performance
The fallout from last week’s presidential debate continued to make headlines over the weekend, with President Joe Biden’s future as a candidate being questioned following his debate performance. NBC News released a report on Saturday, June 29, that said the Biden family would discuss the future of the president’s reelection campaign during a previously planned weekend family gathering at Camp David.
Biden’s campaign said the report was false, calling it “100% media-fabricated” and said Biden will be the Democratic nominee.
Biden advisers told CNN the president’s family at Camp David, including the first lady and son Hunter, encouraged him to stay in the race.
Those advisers said there were talks about whether the aides who helped prepare the president should be fired, after some Democrats blamed Biden’s performance on his prep for the event.
Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., said it was a case of “preparation overload” and the president should continue to run on his record.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., meanwhile, has admitted there are ongoing serious conversations in the party following the debate.
“I mean, this is what a real political party looks like, and this is what a real political party does,” Raskin told ABC News. “Obviously, there was a big problem with Joe Biden’s debate performance, and there is also just a tremendous reservoir of love for Joe Biden in our party. So, this makes it a difficult situation for everybody, but there are very honest and serious and rigorous conversations happening at every level of our party, because it is a political party, and we have differences in point of view.”
Raskin said whatever Biden decides, the Democratic party will be unified.
Biden himself has spoken out about his debate performance. At a rally in North Carolina on Friday, June 28, he said he doesn’t debate as well as he used to but knows how to get the job done. And then he told supporters during a campaign fundraiser in New Jersey over the weekend, “I understand the concern after the debate. I get it. I didn’t have a great night, but I’m going to be fighting harder.”
DOJ offers Boeing plea deal in connection with 2 deadly plane crashes
The Justice Department is giving Boeing the chance to avoid trial in connection with two 737 Max crashes that left a total of nearly 350 people dead. The DOJ has offered Boeing a deal that would include three years’ probation, a fine and a corporate monitor to ensure safety compliance in exchange for a guilty plea to criminal charges.
Families of the victims of two fatal Boeing crashes are tonight furious at the prospect of a "plea deal", between the U-S Justice Department and the aviation giant. #9Newspic.twitter.com/yYG6cPTdcM
The potential plea deal comes after repeated safety failures at Boeing that have resulted in multiple federal investigations. The DOJ said in June the safety failures were a breach of the terms of a 2021 agreement in which the company avoided criminal charges for two fatal crashes.
If Boeing agrees to plead guilty, a judge will have to sign off on the deal.
The lawyer who represents 15 families of those killed in the plane crashes called this a “sweetheart deal” and said they will object to it.
U.S. military bases in Europe on alert amid possible terror threat
— Stars and Stripes (@starsandstripes) July 1, 2024
According to the Army, Charlie “applies when an incident occurs or intelligence is received indicating some form of terrorist action or targeting against personnel or facilities is likely.”
One U.S. Official told Fox News that intelligence points to an attack on U.S. bases over the next week or so.
Hurricane Beryl barrels through Caribbean
Hurricane Beryl is now a major Category 3 storm after it picked up power and speed on Sunday, June 30, over the Caribbean. It was previously a Category 4 hurricane, becoming the earlier Cat 4 in the Atlantic on record.
The storm is expected to make landfall in the Windward Islands Monday, July 1, morning. The hurricane’s eye is forecast to track just south of Barbados with 130 mph winds, bringing up to six inches of rain.
And while it’s too soon to know for sure — Beryl, or remnants of the storm, could reach southern Texas by the weekend, bringing heavy rain to the area.
Biles returned to competitive gymnastics last year after withdrawing from the team final and individual all-around at the 2020 Olympics. Biles said she was suffering from the “twisties” — a mental block that causes gymnasts to lose their body position — and taking an extended break to prioritize her mental health.
At 27 years old, the four-time Olympic gold medalist who’s also the most decorated gymnast ever, will be the oldest female American gymnast to compete at the Olympics in 72 years.