Researchers: There are no more crises than before

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Middle East crisis, energy crisis, climate crisis - there is a veritable "polycrisis". This refers to the situation of several crises at the same time that are determining events. But is the world really heading for the abyss, or does it just look that way? One person who knows more about this is Frank Roselieb. He deals with the subject professionally.

SRF News: Is it really the case that we have more crises today than in the past?

Frank Roselieb: The number of crises in German-speaking countries has remained fairly constant over the past 40 years. However, we used to have more operational crises - plane crashes or hotel fires - whereas today we see more communicative crises such as shitstorms. Today, the perception of crises is much stronger than it was a few decades ago.

So is the term crisis being used in an inflationary way today?

In the past, an event was only considered a crisis if many people were killed and injured. Today, this body count has been abandoned - so there is no longer a hard and fast measure of when an event is a disaster or crisis.

In addition, some crises repeat themselves: Pandemic - war - natural disasters. We had the same thing 20 years ago, albeit in reverse order: at the end of this series was the Sars pandemic in 2002, followed by severe flooding on the Elbe in the summer of 2002, the collapse of the New Economy and the terrorist attacks in New York and on the Pentagon in September 2001. The terrorists then also struck in Madrid and London. So the current crises are not that new.

Why is there more rapid and frequent talk of a crisis today?

It used to take longer to notice a crisis - and the next one and the one after that. Back then, you first heard that something had happened while watching TV in the evening. The next day, there was something about it in the newspaper.

Today, it feels like one crisis follows the next.

Nowadays, our cell phones constantly alert us that this or that has happened. And yet the threshold for such breaking news is relatively low. As a result, we have the feeling that one crisis follows the next and we can't even catch our breath. A kind of collective debriefing would therefore be called for. But there are currently no such signals.

Not really. After all, we always try to overcome a crisis. We also have a mechanism built into our bodies to help us withstand crises. These are the three Rs: resilience, redundancy and robustness. Thanks to these automatic mechanisms, many crises eventually resolve themselves.

Given the prevailing sense of permanent crisis, what can we do to remain robust?

You have to communicate with people in times of crisis. A kind of crisis manager has to show them the way so that they can always take courage - that's called the silver lining on the horizon. Communication and leadership are therefore important in a crisis, as is a certain amount of optimism.

You shouldn't lose your basic optimism - it has always worked out well.

In my more than 25 years as a crisis manager, I have experienced several pandemics or plane crashes and helped to manage and deal with the crisis. So far, everything has gone well - regardless of whether it was a war or an economic crisis. This basic optimism should not be forgotten - and should not be lost.

Do we face more crises than in the past?

Climate, wars, disasters - the world and its people are groaning under bad news. A media scientist and a psychologist explain how a healthy approach to the flood of news is possible.

News of deaths and injuries caused by earthquakes, floods, and drought, images of terrorist atrocities and wars - information pours in around the clock. We learn without pause what is happening in the world.

This can affect your mood. In Switzerland, the number of people who consciously avoid news or completely block it out is increasing. This is shown by the latest evaluation of the Research Center for Public Sphere and Society (fög) at the University of Zurich. Nowadays, 43% of the Swiss population inform themselves less about news than the average.

The “Digital News Report” from the University of Oxford concludes: 33% of Swiss  people state that they sometimes or even often actively avoid news.  

Virginia, who only wants to be mentioned by her first name, is one of them. The 37-year-old decided about ten years ago to stop consuming news. “It can’t be that I notice a depressive mood at half past six in the morning,” she says. “Then I stopped and I think my here and now is more relaxed.”  

I hear about the really important things through others. The rest is much ado about nothing.

Virginia is not alone with this attitude. The Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis also resists the flow of news. He recently told the “Tages-Anzeiger”: “I no longer read newspapers. They don’t help me find the energy to do the right things. Since I stopped doing that, I'm three times faster.”

The phenomenon of “news avoidance” is not new. The Swiss author Rolf Dobelli, whose condensed bestselling guidebooks are not uncontroversial, has been advocating for a “news diet” for years. He describes news as “sugar for the mind” that can be addictive, but otherwise does not improve one’s own life.  

And now, in the midst of digital transformation and a flood of crisis messages, the phenomenon is trending again. So it’s time to look at what's behind it.

In addition to the right-wing populist trend of mistrusting established media across the board and embedding reporting in conspiracy narratives in order to create a strong "we are us", further questions arise.

People avoid news because it puts a lot of emotional strain on them and they need a break.

Is it my responsibility to find out in real time what is happening in the world? And how quickly and intensely do I have to expose myself to the suffering of this world? In short: What is still bearable so that I as a person remain healthy and capable of acting?

Media researcher Anne Schulz has been studying the reasons why people are "news-deprived", i.e. consume less news than average, for several years. Or why they become "news avoiders" who selectively avoid news.

"People avoid news because it puts a lot of emotional strain on them and they need a break to recover,” says Anne Schulz, who works at the Department of Communication and Media Research at the University of Zurich. This is partly understandable. Schulz herself is among the selective news avoiders: "I consciously inform myself with breaks in between."

But what about the people who completely close their eyes to the news and withdraw from the world? "I don’t feel like I’ve missed anything. I hear about the really important things through others anyway and the rest is just much ado about nothing," says Virginia. This also means that she leaves voting to others.

Connecting with society - much ado about nothing? When thinking about a common public sphere, which should be the basis of a democracy, it seems important to talk about the world we live in.

"The danger is that we lose a common ground and society becomes fragmented,” says media researcher Anne Schulz. "By accessing different information channels with various contents and sources, it becomes difficult to have a discussion as a society."

People want to be informed, in the sense of a civic duty.

Especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, information from alternative media has increased. On the other hand, trust in traditional media is declining. "If people don’t participate at all, it can be assumed that they're looking for other sources of information," says Schulz.

On social media or in chat groups, there are usually no journalists who check and edit the content. "People then build their opinion on this information or go to the ballot box equipped in this way," says Schulz.

A social divide can already become visible in everyday situations. Virginia knows this when she sits at the table with friends and acquaintances. "I just sit there and think: I don’t know what to say about this topic." She knows the reason for this: She isn't informed.

Claire Micallef

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But she also thinks: "Nice, I can just sit there and don’t have to join in and be part of this value game." From the position of the excluded, Virginia draws something positive. In her "cocoon of self-chosen naivety", as she calls it, she seems to be doing well.

As a mother, Virginia is a role model for her two children. How does she explain her reality armour to her family? "I still want to give my children something, because I don’t want my husband to bear all the responsibility alone. I would like to be informed. But to a healthy degree.

Jannis Behr, chief psychologist at the University Psychiatric Clinics (UPK) Basel, has been looking into what a healthy middle way might be. He has taken a close interest in the motive why people consume news in the first place.

"People want to be informed, in the sense of a civic duty," says Behr. In a democracy, news creates the basis for votes, elections and political engagement. "Curiosity is a basic human motive", says Behr. The problem is the current negative connotation of curiosity, which represents a stress factor.

Stress is caused by the feeling of being left alone with all the bad news. "So-called factual knowledge is passed on. At the same time, I'm not told how to deal with all the feelings that have arisen," says Behr.

When it comes to war, for example, it could be helpful to know how and what you can donate or how I can take concrete action in my neighborhood. "This way, you can overcome powerlessness and helplessness", says Behr.

On the other hand, there are those who lose themselves in the flood of news, constantly updating the live ticker or staying up all night to follow a presidential election. "Doomscrolling", the excessive consumption of negative news, is also not new. It resembles the addictive behavior criticised by Rolf Dobelli (sugar for the mind), which can become problematic especially on social media, where cooking videos pop up next to corpses of children.

This can cause that the digital snippets of information no longer trigger anything in you. Cynically speaking: to satisfy the addiction, it needs suffering on the other side of the world. It is important to develop a balance. A "selective time window", as psychologist Jannis Behr calls it, can be helpful. Conscious news consumption begins with the question: "With what purpose do I want to get which information?"

One could try not to leave the sole responsibility for broadcasting to the media, even if news floods are lurking everywhere, says Behr. Instead: Take action and decide what and how much information you consume. Only in this way do we remain touchable and capable of acting as human beings in the end.

"I stopped consuming the news"

Has the world gone off the rails?

The fear for the future of the planet is increasing, a condition that particularly affects young people.

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Climate anxiety or eco-anxiety: concern about the fate of the planet, increasingly confronted with the threatening consequences of climate change. A new, increasingly common fear, especially affecting young people.

This psychological condition, which is not yet to be found in textbooks, is described by Alexia Tissierès (a young affected person) with feelings like "anger, sadness, helplessness and injustice". One is afraid for one’s future or, as other young people say, one is afraid of having no future at all.

The events of recent years - such as long periods of drought, heavy rainfall or untamed forest fires - intensify and fuel these feelings. Eco-anxiety is not to be confused with shock, the fright caused by an unusual natural event. Eco-anxiety is something "insidious, that lingers in the present and future" of the person affected. Michele Mattia, psychiatrist and psychotherapist explains.

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"Climate anxiety is a constant phenomenon,” Mattia continues, “it affects our daily life, our way of thinking and does not let us rest, even when we go to bed: It is a constant thought,” without beginning and end.

The problem should not be trivialised, but recognised and addressed. In this sense, the family plays an important role in the first steps of the therapeutic process. At the same time, it can be useful to take care of the environment with small gestures or to turn to groups that advocate for its protection.

In Switzerland, there are numerous cultural initiatives to reconnect with nature in a healthy way. Erwan Tréguer, a sophrologist, offers mindful walks in the forest. Included in the excursion is a meditation, with which he accompanies the participants on a path of acceptance. "Over the centuries, life has experienced many collapses, followed by richer and more complete rebirths,” says the sophrologist.

If this is not enough, one should turn to a specialist who helps the patient develop "cognitive strategies to reduce the effect of anxiety," explains Michele Mattia. That is, to recognise the feeling and limit it to a well-defined part of our mind to ensure that it does not completely take over our thoughts.

Anxious about climate change

Swiss youth seek ways out of mental health crisis

At the Under-24 Council of the Future, 80 young people from across Switzerland are working out political proposals on improving mental health. Participants, who were chosen by lot, are hoping to influence official politics.

If there had been a council of the future in his young days, it would not have concerned itself with mental health. This is the comment of the grey-haired expert to whom young people between 16 and 24 ask their questions. But one can see from the faces of the participants that they are fully aware of the responsibility they are taking on here.

Annabel Lewis from Geneva voted for the mental health focus. “I knew that mental illness affects young people – but the figures we are seeing are thought-provoking,” she says.  One out of five people is affected by mental illness. That means every Swiss young person likely has a peer who is struggling psychologically.

The Under-24 Council of the Future met in autumn 2023 for one weekend each in Zurich, Lausanne and Locarno. They heard information briefings, they discussed, and at the end they formulated their suggestions to the political level as to how Switzerland can better deal with the issue of mental health.

The Council of the Future is a citizen assembly or panel. This is nothing new either in Switzerland or elsewhere in the world. In recent years such groups have emerged as a trend in the development of democracy.

The trend began in Europe with the Irish citizen assembly We The Citizens. The Irish citizens chosen by lot were to come up with positions on polarising issues through a discussion process, called deliberation. Surprising for many, one of the recommendations of this Irish panel was for a liberal abortion law – and in 2018, in the traditionally Catholic country, almost two thirds voted in favour. Up till then in Ireland there had been no movement on the issue of abortion for a long time.

After the Irish citizen assembly had thus got the country out of one political cul-de-sac, there emerged further such panels chosen by lot, including national climate change councils in France, Germany, and Britain.

Councils of citizens often find themselves dealing with climate change issues. NGOs and activists like Extinction Rebellion have been calling for these councils to be involved in decision-making on climate change policy. The three citizen councils recently organised in Switzerland – in the municipalities of Winterthur, Uster and Thalwil – dealt with sustainability and climate policy.

On the other hand, the Council of the Future, whose members belong to the same generation as Greta Thunberg, has taken up a different topic which was not a major political issue until now: mental health.

This was decided by a representative survey of 20,000 young adults around Switzerland. Over 40% voted to focus on mental health. In second place, with 20%, came sustainability.

How the Under-24 Council of the Future works

In all, 20,000 of the 800,000 people in Switzerland between 16 and 24 received an invitation. Of these, 1200 indicated their interest in the Council of the Future. The council members were chosen by lot from this pool in a manner representative of the population groups men, women, French Switzerland, Ticino and German Switzerland, with or without Swiss citizenship. In order that there be no financial barrier to involvement, the participants receive a daily allowance equivalent to those on Swiss military and alternative service, at least CHF69 per day.

The Under-24 Council of the Future project is run by the Swiss UNESCO Commission together with the Swiss Society for the Common Good, which (among other things) manages the Rütli, the site where, according to hallowed myth, the Swiss confederation began. The project enjoys broad support ranging from the federal government to Switzerland’s national broadcaster (to which SWI swissinfo.ch belongs).

The steering committee of the Under-24 Council of the Future includes members of all parties, or almost – only the seat for the right-wing conservative Swiss People’s Party is still vacant. Co-project-leader Che Wagner is optimistic that this will soon be resolved, as they are in contact with potentially interested representatives of the party.

Seventeen year-old Lewis from Geneva voted for the mental health focus. The Council of the Future member does not see herself really as a political person.  She saw the call to join the Council of the Future as an opportunity to get to know Swiss politics more deeply.  Lewis has not made up her mind and is open to considering all suggestions that come up. She feels that mental health as a topic should get more exposure in the school system.

“In school, mental health has not been an issue so far, which is why people of all ages find it hard to talk about,” says Lewis. “Yet mental health should not be a taboo topic and I would favour it being more talked about in the school environment. Those affected would then be freed of stigma and be more likely to seek out therapy resources.”

Lewis believes that Switzerland should spend more money on this – increasing therapy resources and making the topic a more open one. She is Swiss but also a British citizen. Her Geneva world is very international – but in the Council of the Future she encounters very different social worlds.

In terms of education and social milieu, the gathering does reflect the range of Swiss society. A carpenter from Emmental is a member of the Council of the Future. “I never would have met him otherwise”, reflects 18-year-old Wesley Meldau from Zürich.

Meldau sees his involvement in the Council of the Future as an opportunity to information, hearing different views – and then coming up with suggestions. “I hope we can make practical proposals to the politicians, and that the politicians will hear us,” he says.

“I hope and believe that the new parliament will take the work of the Council of the Future seriously", says co-project-leader Che Wagner. “I am happy the young people voted for mental health, because the issue belongs neither to left nor right, and people have not already made up their minds.”

Young people not a part of Swiss politics

There are already quite a few youth parliaments in operation, and every year in November there is a federal youth session, where young people go to the federal parliament house for four days and work on developing positions for youth on political issues.

So is a project like the Council of the Future needed? “We are reaching young people who would not be politically involved otherwise by means of this Council of the Future”, says co-project-leader Lara Oliveira König. “The choosing by lot is what makes the difference, for that way we have reached young people who don’t feel the urge to take part in youth parliaments or sessions.”

Both of the co-project-leaders are clear that the younger generation in Switzerland is not really much a part of politics here. Only 23% of the 800,000 16- to 24-year-olds and 37% of adult Swiss citizens under 24 have so far participated in Swiss democracy.

The Under-24 Council of the Future project enjoys widespread support in political and government circles. Yet many – as appeared in the welcoming speeches on opening day – regard it as a tool of civic education and participation, rather than a democratic innovation in its own right.

At any rate, the participants want their ideas to be heard. So the important question is – as with all such citizen groups – what will happen with the proposals that come out of the Council of the Future.

One negative example was provided by the Citizen Convention on Climate in France. At the outset, President Emmanuel Macron promised to bring all proposals from the group “unfiltered” to be voted on in parliament or by the people at large. He then torpedoed some ideas he personally didn’t like. Finally parliament passed a climate change law that the Citizen Convention on Climate strongly disagreed with.

So there is one citizen assembly which found that, in end, it wasn’t listened to. Will it be different in Switzerland?

Update - Under-24 Council of the Future calls for regulation of social media: At the end of November 2023, the Council of the Future presented its proposals to the public. First and foremost is the call for more prevention in the mental health sector. It also wants a national law to regulate social media platforms. This should include youth-friendly versions of all platforms and effective control of age limits. The Council of the Future is also calling for platforms to take more responsibility for the content they host.  The young adults' committee also wants a new school subject called "Psychology and personal development". In the world of work, it wants stronger protection against discrimination for mentally ill people, as well as clear rules on when to answer emails outside of working hours, for example.  The intensively discussed proposal of a general four-day working week did not receive the necessary majority in the Council of the Future.

Find out where you stand

In French-speaking Switzerland, a network is preparing for a "collapse"

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The network Solaris, which originated in France during the pandemic, has rapidly expanded in Switzerland. Around a hundred groups have joined in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. They are preparing for future systemic failures. According to RTS, an organisation dealing with cult issues has taken notice of the network.

They are men and women who believe that a major collapse is imminent. “It's the end of a human era that has nurtured  predation and suffering,” you can hear in the video presenting Solaris, and "the beginning of an era that will nurture fraternity, respect and love for living beings.”

The network is spread across the entire French-speaking part of Switzerland. On the Solaris website, 110 cells are listed, from Geneva to Porrentruy, via Sierre, Payerne, and Neuchâtel. They vary in size, with about ten members in the smallest to almost 90 in the largest cells.

A “cell,” as Solaris calls it, is a group of people in close proximity. Together, they prepare for future “systemic failures”: blackouts, shortages, disasters of all kinds. The idea is to create a network of mutual aid and local solidarity, a kind of “internet-human,” as Solaris defines it, to be able to react quickly in the event of a collapse.   

>> Map of cells in French-speaking Switzerland:

The movement originated in France at the end of 2021, in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. Its founder, Frédéric Vidal, estimates that it now includes more than 50,000 people in France. It then quickly spread beyond the borders and is now represented in about twenty countries, including Switzerland. According to RTS estimates, about 2,000 members are active.   

Solaris has no legal structure, no hierarchy. Each cell operates independently and organises itself as it sees fit. A directory lists the names, addresses, skills, and resources of each member, who can be called on when needed.

One of the main tasks of the cells is to set up radio or walkie-talkie networks to compensate for possible communication failures. 

Most of the exchange takes place via the messaging app Telegram, as RTS research shows. Here, members share tips and tricks for self-sufficiency: for example, how to collect rainwater, stock up on supplies, or start with permaculture.   

A network infused with conspiracy theories

At first glance, the network appears to have good intentions that align with common sense. It presents itself as non-political and non-religious. However, the RTS investigation shows that it is anything but harmless.




The Centre intercantonale d’information sur les croyances (CIC) in Geneva pays particular attention to this issue. The CIC is a private foundation that provides information on religious and spiritual movements, such as sects.   

Due to several requests from individuals concerned about the development of Solaris in French-speaking Switzerland, the CIC has written a 22-page report on the movement.   

In this document, which is available to RTS, Solaris is portrayed as being heavily influenced by conspiracy theories. These theories are allegedly represented by Solaris founder Frédéric Vidal.




The man presents himself as a former journalist. For ten years, he was the author of the blog “Urantia Gaïa” under the pseudonym “Le Passeur”. The Blog had strong conspiracy undertones and was discontinued in 2022. In several of his statements, Vidal invokes the existence of a “global conspiracy of the elites” and “paedosatanic ruling classes”.

Coronasceptics, climate sceptics, anti-LGBTs

This rhetoric of mistrust towards society and its institutions is also found among certain members of Solaris in French-speaking Switzerland. For the research, RTS has taken a close look at a dozen Telegram groups of the cells.

While many of the conversations are quite harmless, conspiracy theories are also being shared. These include coronasceptic, climate sceptic, and anti-LGBT comments.   

Manéli Farahmand, director of the CIC, said in an interview with the RTS show “La Matinale”: “It is the intersection of various ideas and discourses that can pose a problem to which we need to pay attention to. In particular, the idea of transition, withdrawial from the world, the collapse of civilization, which is associated with a struggle for survival.”

In its conclusions, the CIC states that while the movement may remain completely harmless, there are indicators of a risk of drifting, which should be taken very seriously and monitored in the future. “Is there a call for civil disobedience, violence, hate, are there forms of discrimination in the discourse, a call to gather violently in public space?”, asks Manéli Farahmand. “I think it's important to observe how these indicators develop and what they mean for collective or individual actions.”   

So far, only calls for demonstrations against the Covid-19 measures have been forwarded to the groups.   

As part of its research, RTS has tried several times to make contact with Solaris Suisse Romande and has directly approached several local cells. However, without any success.

Fear of the collapse

In the event of a crisis, the Swiss are willing to give – despite the rising cost of living.

Caritas, the Chain of Happiness and the Red Cross registered record donations for Ukraine in 2022. The Swiss also agreed to respond to the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. However, this solidarity is at the expense of other institutions. For example, Telethon, which supports people with rare genetic diseases, recorded a 30% drop in donations last year. The decline in donations for long-term cooperation is worrying the sector.

Wars and crises are the subject of a lot of media attention, so donors may be more likely to give money in these cases and may not give money to other scopos that are less in the spotlight. As the cost of living increases, people look more closely at where to give money.

Various fund-raising humanitarian organizations have raised more money than ever in recent years, especially in 2022, when the war in Ukraine began.

Recently, the Chain of Fortune organized a day of gathering.

Crises build solidarity

Crises are omnipresent at the moment. Wars, climate change and pandemics characterise our times. Is the world going crazy or does it just seem to be that way?

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