By Rachel Sincore, NACAC Communications
NACAC CEO Angel B. Pérez asks researcher Arthur Brooks how college admission counseling professionals can combat feelings of burnout.
MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 8 — Arthur Brooks gives all his students the same exam — a test to see if they know the meaning of their lives.
The exam only consists of two questions: Why am I alive? And for what would I give my life?
Brooks, a leading expert on the science of human happiness, teaches at Vanderbilt University (TN) and Harvard Business School (MA). He was the opening keynote speaker at NACAC Conference 2026 in Minneapolis on Oct. 8.
There are no right or wrong answers on this exam. To pass, students simply need to have answers to these questions. If they don't, they fail the test.
Twenty years ago, Brooks saw on average an 85 percent pass rate and a 15 percent fail rate. But beginning in 2008, those figures started to change. Now, he sees about a 50 percent pass rate and a 50 percent fail rate — a trend that's permeating society at large. It's a sign that more people are lacking meaning in their lives, and it's creating a mental health crisis. Rates of clinical depression have tripled, and rates of generalized anxiety have doubled. Loneliness, self-harm, and drug and alcohol abuse also have increased.
"Why do we have a meaning crisis? It's because we aren't even looking," Brooks said to the 5,600-person crowd at NACAC Conference 2026. "We've effectively turned it off."
In 2008, smartphones were introduced, which researchers now know have fundamentally altered people's brains. Smartphones effectively eradicated boredom and, with it, time for the right side of our brains to wander with imagination, creativity, and questions of "why."
"When we do anything that isolates one side [of our brains], we're going to struggle," he said.
But Brooks, a self-declared hopeful person, has hope for the next generation, and he believes college admission counseling professionals can help.
"I'm talking about this with you because you have the potential to turn this [awareness] into something great," he said. "You're entrepreneurs in the lives of the people you serve."
For happier lives, Brooks first recommends less screen time. Go without your phone for the first hour of your day, when you're eating, and for the last hour of your day, and research shows your mood will improve — especially when you use these times to let your mind wander or connect with others in person.
Brooks also recommends these four things for happier lives.
- Believe in something bigger than yourself, whether that's faith or philosophy.
- Tend to your family; don't ignore these relationships.
- Develop and invest in meaningful friendships.
- Engage in work that serves.
The best rewards in life come with a bit of struggle, whether it's experiencing boredom, stress, or anxiety.
"The struggle is proportional to the sweetness," he said. "One of the great misunderstandings is that things that make you anxious or sad are naturally dangerous. If you never feel those things, you're not functioning properly or you're not pushing yourself hard enough."
But even in the face of negative emotions, we have the choice to feel joy.
"You have options; you can manually override it," he said. "You don't have to give into the animal impulse of being skeptical or hostile; you can choose to give into the moral value of joy and happiness."
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