Happiness levels low?

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Ever since my early teens I've often heard the message "According to polls, levels of happiness have been dropping in recent decades/years." or something along those lines. I'm not sure if it's true or if it's complete BS that people are using to further their own political agendas, but if happiness levels are low I think I have an idea of what the cause might be.

You see, we in the developed world have an obsession with shopping. We love to buy things we see in commercials. We love to surround ourselves with our toys and materials. It could be that our obsession with shopping has made us callous and indifferent to the suffering that happens around us. Perhaps we're so obsessed with material thet we've forgotten about compassion. Materials are bad substitute for happiness that should come from doing nice things for others. As I know personally, callousness also spreads like a virus. When people don't care enough about the suffering of others, other people become callous and indifferent themselves out of anger - even people who never were obsessed with shopping to begin with.

Or it could be that people are just jerks who like being mean to one another - in that case we're screwed and there is no solution.

Does any of this make any sense?

What you say reminded me of an interview I heard on NPR with Barry Schwartz who wrote about more choice meaning less happiness.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO6XEQIsCoM

The 80's were more materialistic.
I believe these may be useful:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Planet_Index
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_national_happiness

I have to agree, choice is responsible for a lot of the issues.

Choice may appear to be a good thing... But when there are two things you want, and can only buy one... buying one means you do NOT buy the other. Your mind has to create reasons why you don't want the one you don't pick, or else it has to "suffer not having what it wants" More cognitive dissonance either way.

Ignorance IS bliss.
But I will sacrifice my happiness and bliss for knowledge any day.
The key is, we need to install into ourselves the ability to feel pleasure from acquiring knowledge and enough to offset the dissonance that results from increasing choice, knowledge and other such dissonance creating factors in our evolving society and species. Until we do, we are doomed to misery.