For decades the midlife crisis has been etched into the fabric of our society. An accepted throwaway phenomenon used as an excuse for impulsive acts and semi-breakdowns.

But while happiness was once considered to diminish in our middle age and then return to us in older years new research suggests our satisfaction steadily improves throughout our lives. In a paper commissioned by the UN Dr Jean Twenge and Prof David Blanchflower found a mental health crisis among young people is infiltrating our communities.

Analysing responses to surveys in the US, UK, Ireland, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, the study found that life satisfaction and happiness had fallen among young people over the past decade. The study highlights the rise of smartphones and social media as a main issue raised by responders. It comes at a time where almost one in eight people aged between 16 and 24 in Wales and England are not in work, not in training, and not in education according to government figures.

Last week I interviewed a head teacher renowned for his strictness who told me a major issue among young people today is that they're obsessed with themselves. Not in an egotistical way; he meant they were too involved with their own thoughts, with their place in the world, and with achieving happiness. He believed it had led not just to a crisis in a lack of motivation among young people but also in the numbers of young people diagnosed with mental health conditions – what he called “over-labelling”.

“I’m reading a book at the moment called Generations and it paints a picture of just how different life is now for young people,” he said. “They’re having to navigate things now that we never had to think about. 'Me' is my biggest problem and it's the same for all of us.

“If we’re bringing up a generation that is constantly focusing on themselves all of the time to me that’s a huge issue. If we stop being so obsessed with ourselves maybe we’d be a bit happier. I don’t think we’re doing young people many favours in our approach. We’ve told young people to focus on themselves but it’s making them miserable.

“We live in a day and age now where we tell young people: ‘Be whatever you want to be that makes you happy’. And: ‘The most important thing is that you’re happy’. We’ve rammed this down their throats, this obsession with being really happy, and yet they’ve never been more entertained but they’re bored and they’ve never been more indulged but they’re unhappy. It’s not working.”

This concept of being obsessed with achieving an ultimate happiness as a result of reaching a goal resonated with me because it took me until the end of my 20s to begin to fully appreciate my rather mundane life and all the brilliantly boring things that happen in it. This week I had a free coffee from collecting enough loyalty stamps at my favourite coffee shop and I sat in the park a stone’s throw from my flat on a warm afternoon and realised how lucky I was to be so close to a nice field.

I moved back to Cardiff not long after graduating and got a job as a local reporter for a few papers across south and southeast Wales. I’d just........

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