I don't think it's a downward spiral, I think the human race has always been this way. You're just getting to that age that you're starting to realize all of the shit that truly happens in the world.
Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cozy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendor of their own - Bertrand Russell