Nowadays, as you walk around Istanbul, you see many unhappy and hopeless faces. Happiness seems to be in short supply probably for many obvious reasons. Looking back fifteen years when I first arrived in Istanbul, people seemed a lot more content. Of course, a lot has changed since then, but really it is really sad to see the transition. Let’s look at some brief underlying points of this change.
Economy
- Employment: rising unemployment, underemployment, stagnant wage growth, age discrimination, poor salaries and so on..
- Credit: rising NPL’s, higher rate of delinquencies, high rates, and reluctant banks willing to lend.
- Money: lower purchasing power, inflation, and dollarization (loss of confidence in Turkish money)
- Taxes and regulation: higher income, consumer, and usages taxes along with increased regulation and bureaucracy.
Urbanization
- Population: the sheer number of people has increased beyond what the city hand handle so there are many problems associated with this.
- Traffic: epidemic in proportion with long commute times resulting in more stress and anxiety
- Poor infrastructure: lack of roads and adequate sidewalks make it difficult to go anywhere
- Lack of green: Limited number of parks and places to enjoy the outdoors.
- Noise and pollution: constant noise from array of sources; plus, trash from littering bother people. Also, exhaust and cigarette smoke add to view that the environment they live in is dirty.
Media
- Mainstream TV/radio media:
- Mainly bad news, focusing on crime, traffic accidents, terrorism, death, blaming someone/something for a problem, etc..
- Promoting political polarization is all too common. For example, showing one side as positive, but the other is shown negatively.
- Newspapers: Similar to the above; however many heavily supported by the government promoting more intense polarization. Thus, more misinformation and distrust.
- Internet: Censored and monitored, makes people feel uncomfortable and paranoid
Government and Politics
- Rule of law: many are frustrated and unhappy with the legal system being unfair and unjust.
- Limited representation: many people believe they are not fairly politically represented
- Istanbul Voting system: Irregularities and corruption during the election process resulting in lack of confidence.
- Overall lack of confidence: many view the system as corrupt so they believe only “bad people” succeed.
- Presidential system: Many perceive that they live in a dictatorship so they believe the system is flawed and unreliable.
- Education: Oversized classrooms, unfair exam system, and state sponsored religious education create anxiety and suspicion.
Furthermore, many have lost faith in their country and see a limited future. Thus, many want to immigrate to other countries for a better future.
Some negative effects I have noticed with this hopelessness are as follows:
- increase in smoking
- less respect for others
- more hatred
- stereotyping
- Lack of care
- More dishonesty
All in all, unhappiness and hopelessness have increased quite a bit and there are no signs of it getting better anytime soon. In my own personal view, I don’t see a happiness getting better anytime soon due to the scale of pending issues. This is an objective observation based on sound fundamental explanatory research.
