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We’re staring at our screens on average 6 hours a day, and arguably more as we age. Yet, this may not be good for our economic health. One reason is that the constant connectivity may be skewing our economic perceptions, and the media is playing a central role. While it has always tended to prioritize negative news to grab attention, this negativity has increased.3 Today, we are being fed negative news at a greater frequency, with access 24/7 via our phones — no longer limited to the morning paper or evening news.

As we look ahead to a new year, the sense of uncertainty many of us feel today may not be entirely new. While Canadian consumer sentiment recently turned negative, and the number of times “uncertainty” appears in the Canadian press reached its highest level since the pandemic,1 consider that we’ve been here before.

When ChatGPT reached 100 million active users in just two months, it highlighted the accelerating pace at which technology is transforming the world. Consider that it took the social media platform Instagram 2.5 years to reach the same user base and the internet 7 years to acquire 50 million users.

It may seem implausible, but some researchers believe that the first person to live to 150 has already been born. Our lifespan, and more crucially, our “healthspan” — the period in which we are in good physical and mental shape — continues to extend.