What Elmo taught us about Americans’ mental health

It started out as a simple question, but it quickly shed light on something much more complicated. In January 2024, Sesame Street’s Elmo made an innocent post on X.

“Elmo is just checking in," the character said. "How is everybody doing?”

That opened the floodgates . Thousands of people responded, voicing their issues with “existential dread,” mental burnout and overall dissatisfaction with daily life. That inspired Sesame Workshop, the popular kids’ show’s nonprofit, to take a deeper look at the state of well-being in America.

Sesame Workshop teamed up with research company The Harris Poll to survey more than 2,000 Americans aged 16 and older. They asked what people’s well-being priorities for the future are.

Ninety percent said mental health was a big concern , compared to 89% who said the same about physical health, economic security and personal finances, and having “a safe place to call home.”

More than two-thirds (67%) of those surveyed said they wish their parents had been more honest about their own mental health struggles. And nearly three-quarters (73%) of Americans said they wished they’d learned more about how to manage their emotions when they were children — including 84% of parents who took the survey.

It also turns out kindness really is key . When asked, 91% of respondents said kindness is essential to the well-being of society.

Meanwhile, 82% said their own mental well-being would improve if kindness were more common and 89% said a kinder society would be better for children.

However, more than half of those surveyed (55%) said they believe “being kind is not a priority to most people.”

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