INDIANAPOLIS — From in-flight fights to road-rage shootings and clashes in stands at high school athletic events, it's not all that difficult lately to find examples of anger that has gotten out of control.
"We, as a society, have created a sense of divisiveness," said Broad Ripple resident Jeannine Mecca, who said she's noticed it, too.
A 2019 NPR-IBM Watson Health poll showed 84% of Americans surveyed are angrier than a generation ago.
Then came COVID-19.
"COVID and lockdowns and now war," said another man who joined the conversation — and said the tension has only worsened.
Civil conversation? That can be tough to find, too.
13News asked via social media what’s making us so angry. Most responses boiled down to four themes: political polarization, social media, COVID and financial pressure.
"I think inflation impacts us right now," said Vanessa Enos, a licensed mental health counselor with Community Health Network. "If I can't pay all my bills, I can't meet my needs, and I can become frustrated."
Enos said anger is a response and is often the result of something else going inside of us that's much deeper. In many cases, she said it's worse when our basic life needs aren't being met, like safety and security.
"We are afraid to look at our anger. If I slow down and look at 'why am I really angry?' and address the fact that maybe it's because I'm anxious or sad or I feel shame or guilt about something," Enos said. "But we don't do that because we might have to do some work and change, and we've had so much change the last handful of years in life. It's hard to go internal and do more of that work, but if we're going to change how we act externally, we have to look at what we're doing internally."
Enos said anger can drive us to act fast, so it's important to pause when we're angry.
Don't act out — just think.
"'Why am I angry? What could be happening?" Enos said. "And then, the next step is literally take a moment, and this is where there are a thousand different techniques about breathing, mindfulness, you can go look those up. It's whatever works best for you. But if we just take tiny steps — even if you slow by one or two seconds — you're going to make a better decision than if you just react in that moment to anger."