The Things We Worry About

Early in my writing career I attended a writers conference in which one of the tracks was titled Advanced Article Writing. One of the classes addressed interviewing. The instructor shared many insights and provided us with tools that I used for decades, including bio sheets and a list of open-ended questions that would get people to open up and share interesting stories and feelings. One of those questions went something like this: "What do you worry about that sometimes keeps you awake at night?"

Worry is one of those things that most of us grapple with at one time or another. Out of curiosity I did an Internet search to see what we worry about today. Pretty quick I came across a list which claims to provide the most recent data on Americans' top fears, based on a survey of 1,008 adults conducted in spring 2024. 

[EdNote: Seems like a small sample size. Am curious what the breakdown is by gender and age demographics. Nevertheless, it's a good starter list of things we're anxious about.] 

Here are the top 10, ranked by the percentage of respondents who reported being "afraid" or "very afraid," along with the corresponding percentages where available. 

Corrupt Government Officials (65%) - Consistently the top fear since 2015, reflecting deep mistrust in government at all levels.

Cyberterrorism (58%) - Fear of cyberattacks, amplified by global conflicts and reliance on digital infrastructure.

Loved Ones Becoming Seriously Ill - A persistent personal concern, heightened by health-related anxieties post-COVID.

Loved Ones Dying - Closely tied to health fears, reflecting worry about losing family or friends.

Russia Using Nuclear Weapons (52.5%) - Driven by ongoing geopolitical tensions, particularly the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Not Having Enough Money for the Future - Economic insecurity, rising from 10th in 2023, fueled by inflation and financial uncertainty.

U.S. Becoming Involved in Another World War (55%) - Tied to global conflicts like Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas.

North Korea Using Nuclear Weapons - Fear of nuclear threats from rogue states, reflecting global instability.

Terrorist Attacks - Persistent concern, with 52.7% fearing attacks, linked to recent world events.

Biological Warfare - Anxiety about biological weapons, re-emerging in the 10 due to global tensions.

Noteworthy Observations:

• All top 10 fears in 2024 were reported by over 50% of respondents, indicating a general rise in fear compared to earlier years when only the top fear exceeded this threshold.
• Six of the top 10 fears relate to war or terrorism, reflecting the impact of global conflicts like Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas. [EdNote: And perhaps the way the media covers them.]
• Economic concerns, such as running out of money, have climbed due to inflation and post-pandemic recovery challenges.
• Climate change, while significant (49% afraid or very afraid), did not make the top 10 but remains a consistent concern.
• Fears like ghosts (10.6%) or snakes (around 30% per earlier surveys) rank much lower, showing that political, global, and personal health fears dominate over traditional phobias.

Many, if not most, of these fears are shaped by current events, media consumption, and social media algorithms that amplify anxieties, according to Chapman researchers. For the full list that this data was taken from, you can visit the Chapman University Survey of American Fears 2024.  

Related Lists

From a psychological health care blog: 
Top Things People Worry About

From a CBD site: What are the top 10 things people worry about?

When I look at this list, it's of a very different character.

Money and finances

Health and safety of loved ones

Job and career worries

Relationship problems

Anxiety and depression

Appearance and weight worries

World events and politics

Covid-19 and pandemic worries

Sleep problems

Death and dying

 

What do you worry about that sometimes keeps you awake at night?

Blues Cruise and Other News

Omelette containing Tiki brat, mushrooms and onion, accompanied by
grape tomatoes, pickled carrot slices and whole grain toast.

The top story in our local Sunday paper is about a couple from our region who went on a cruise a couple days before all the borders were slammed shut. It was a holiday at sea that turned out to be no picnic. Story here. If you are able to open it, my apologies.

It brings to mind the Gabriel Garcia Marquez story Love in Time of Cholera. It's a love story about in which two young people's initial infatuation does not unfold the way our young hero anticipates or desires. Thus, Florentino must wait a lifetime to possess the object of his desire, because Fermina Daza has married a doctor and lost interest in the waves of time that have receded behind her.

The title of the book [SPOILER ALERT] comes from the climax in which the two are finally united aboard a sailing vessel displaying the warning flag indicating contagion on board. They decide to share their love in this floating paradise for ever.

My interest in Marquez stemmed from having seen his name on a list of authors influenced by Jorge Luis Borges, whose magical realism influenced a host of authors including Umberto Eco, Carlos Fuentes, Italo Calvino an myself.  A Colombian author of both fiction and non-fiction works, Marquez received a Nobel Prize "for his novels and short stories, in which the fantastic and the realistic are combined in a richly composed world of imagination, reflecting a continent's life and conflicts."

Another of his best known works is 100 Years of Solitude, a multigenerational novel on the order of Thomas Mann's Buddenbrooks.

In addition to novels, Marquez also wrote short stories and non-fiction works. Because of his significance, I acquired and read his News of a Kidnapping, a journalistic recounting of the kidnapping, imprisonment, and eventual release of a handful of prominent figures in Colombia in the early 1990s. (Picture Dan Rather or Ted Koppel being kidnapped.) My interest, in part, was peaked by the mysteries surrounding Pablo Escobar and the Medellín Cartel. I found it a compelling read at the time, bringing to mind a number of other stories, and the Johnny Depp film Blow.

* * * *
In other news.... from the FWIW Dept.

WHO Deletes Misleading Tweet That Spread Paranoia About COVID-19 Reinfection

Michigan Gov. Rolls Back Some of State's More Insane Coronavirus Restrictions

The Lamp of Liberty

Keep in mind that worrying diminishes the strength of our immune systems. Gratitude strengthens it. Relax. And have a safe week.  

Why Is Virtual Reality Something We Should Be Worried About?

This past week I picked up a book of essays that have been bound together under the title, What Should We Be Worried About?

The book is filed in a section of the library dealing with futurism, artificial intelligence and similar themes. Futurism is a theme that has interested me on and off as far back a Toffler's 1970 classic Future Shock. In fact, that period of history was awhirl with books on Armageddon and the end of the world. Population Bomb, The Late Great Planet Earth and the findings of the Club of Rome were just a few of the high profile titles.

This book is a bi-product of The Reality Club that John Brockman formed in 1981, which evolved into a new face called The Edge. It's a place where intellectuals and scholars can explore ideas. In 2014 the idea they explored was this one: What should we be worried about?

With nearly 500 pages of short essays, many by people familiar to the broader public, there's plenty of material to chew on. It would be a great book for late night college bull sessions (if kids still do that sort of thing) or for philosophy club discussions. What's this world coming to? Inquiring minds want to know.

Earlier today I pulled a page from the January/February edition of Popular Science because it contained an article and infographic titled Virtual Reality Gets Real. The graphic provides a timeline of key VR milestones from the past (1992's Sensorama Simulator) to the future where people could develop bonds with virtual humans. In 2002 VR was already being used to help people with PTSD.

This book from the Edge has an essay by Milhaly Csikszentnihalyi that begins with his pointing out that it doesn't take much imagination to think of many things to be worried about tomorrow. Ultimately he selected The Triumph of the Virtual as his theme. His big fear here is that children will grow up to be adults without the ability to differentiate between reality and imagination. What will be the effect on democractic societies?

Of course the case can be made that television has been a medium for distracting rather than informing the masses, for manipulating rather than mobilizing us for good. The dark side of VR is more potent than just an occasion for pornographic sideshow circus fairylands.

Another essay in this book discusses the darker aspects of technology as it related to the formation of children's minds and perceptions.

On the positive side of the ledger I've read that VR has been used as a distraction for burn victims to help them through pain and personal horrors. Like most emerging technologies there will be positive, interesting and unforeseen negative aspects. (DeBono's PIN Method.)

VR has been getting extensive publicity this year since the CES Show in Vegas and especially in light of the purchase of Oculus VR by Facebook. One result was that I headed over to Best Buy recently to see what those VR Goggles looked like. What I saw looked undramatic at best, especially compared to the GoPro videos that produce such visually stunning images, especially when mixed with imagination. (I love the GoPro vid taken from the shoulder of a bald eagle in flight.

My guess is that there's a fairly massive hunger being created for the possibilities of VR. What will happen in this field will be anyone's guess, and we're sure to find out. That is, unless some of the other fears outlined in this book come to pass. What is it that keeps you up at night?