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Teenagers are growing more anxious and depressed

economist.com

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Re: Teenagers are growing more anxious and depressed

#91

Post by chongli »

jghn wrote: post #65
std_throwaway wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In the adult world it's not like your mom can call your boss and complain about the fact that you got a bad review or something (at least not successfully...). Don't be so sure about that. Parents are starting to talk to university professors on behalf of their adult children.

That was the point they were making

Yeah. At universities the parents are the customers so of course they're going to be the ones complaining. There's no risk of this happening at work because nobody is paying to be there.

If your parent calls your boss they can threaten to fire you and there's nothing mom or dad can do about it.

Re: Teenagers are growing more anxious and depressed

#92

Post by eeZah7Ux »

throwaway413 wrote: post #41
dazc wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So all she needs now is 4K a month? Have you thought of what you'll do when she hits reality and comes back begging for forgiveness?

I bounce between forgiving and forgetting - and telling her to fuck off. And 4K just for bills. Not including the every-other-day $200 trip to Whole Foods for shit to juice.

> I bounce between forgiving and forgetting

You need to talk to a psychologist.

Re: Teenagers are growing more anxious and depressed

#93

Post by hliyan »

timthelion wrote: post #19

I believe that social media is a symptom, not the cause, of the great loneliness that our modern aloneness has caused. We are alone much of the time, especially in American suburbia. Even when we are in the city filled with people, these people are just blank faces whom we do not know. We are seeking any form of connection that we can get. And when the only connection to others that we have is through the computer, w…

I too agree, but I believe the root cause is the scale, speed, complexity and volatility of modern life: there is a great deal of information overload and rapid changes which overwhelm a lot of us.

Humans evolved in environments that usually involved absorbing a limited amount of fairly stable information, and dealing with communities of limited size (say, less than 100?), also fairly stable. Now we have to process thousands of faces (some in person, some through media), millions of pieces of information (news, commercials, trivia, education, business emails, social media feeds) and thousands of different micro-skills (learn the latest feature in smartphones, adapt to your bank changing its electronic banking policies, based on latest research now you need to learn to look for a low-carcinogen version of your favorite food, etc.)

I wonder whether this is what's causing many people to zone out, some to retreat into private shells and a few to resort to senseless armed violence...

Re: Teenagers are growing more anxious and depressed

#94

Post by greeneggs »

brndnmtthws wrote: post #85

If you take a train or a bus, or are in any other public space, you may notice that a bunch of people (young and old) spend their time staring into their phones. And most of the time, if you glance at their phone, you'll see they're on Instagram. They're staring into this machine fantasizing about some image of how great life is, meanwhile their real life is passing them by. And they wonder why they're not getting al…

Or, perhaps they are being inspired. Planning their own art or adventure. If you're sitting on a train, why not? (Is reading a book equally objectionable, or is going to a museum?) It's rather offensive to judge people about whom you know nothing. (As is quoting President Trump as if he is an authority on anything.)

Re: Teenagers are growing more anxious and depressed

#95

Post by osrec »

Comparatives are too easy to draw these days because of social media. Everyone has an image of the most popular/successful person in their face all the time. It's hard not to compare yourself! And when you fall short in comparison, it makes you feel unhappy. Then it makes you feel like you need some moonshot idea to elevate your standards - that puts pressure on you and invariably drives anxiety. I see growing levels of anxiety in the interns I hire - and ironically, I see them resorting to social media to find solace of some kind!

Re: Teenagers are growing more anxious and depressed

#97

Post by brndnmtthws »

greeneggs wrote: post #94
brndnmtthws wrote: post #85

If you take a train or a bus, or are in any other public space, you may notice that a bunch of people (young and old) spend their time staring into their phones. And most of the time, if you glance at their phone, you'll see they're on Instagram. They're staring into this machine fantasizing about some image of how great life is, meanwhile their real life is passing them by. And they wonder why they're not getting al…

Or, perhaps they are being inspired. Planning their own art or adventure. If you're sitting on a train, why not? (Is reading a book equally objectionable, or is going to a museum?) It's rather offensive to judge people about whom you know nothing. (As is quoting President Trump as if he is an authority on anything.)

Are you a FB employee or something? Sounds like you're making an ad sales pitch.

Re: Teenagers are growing more anxious and depressed

#98

Post by c0nducktr »

brndnmtthws wrote: post #85

If you take a train or a bus, or are in any other public space, you may notice that a bunch of people (young and old) spend their time staring into their phones. And most of the time, if you glance at their phone, you'll see they're on Instagram. They're staring into this machine fantasizing about some image of how great life is, meanwhile their real life is passing them by. And they wonder why they're not getting al…

That's very likely a part of it.

https://www.rsph.org.uk/about-us/news/instagram-ranked-worst...

Re: Teenagers are growing more anxious and depressed

#99

Post by gonehome »

greeneggs wrote: post #94
brndnmtthws wrote: post #85

If you take a train or a bus, or are in any other public space, you may notice that a bunch of people (young and old) spend their time staring into their phones. And most of the time, if you glance at their phone, you'll see they're on Instagram. They're staring into this machine fantasizing about some image of how great life is, meanwhile their real life is passing them by. And they wonder why they're not getting al…

Or, perhaps they are being inspired. Planning their own art or adventure. If you're sitting on a train, why not? (Is reading a book equally objectionable, or is going to a museum?) It's rather offensive to judge people about whom you know nothing. (As is quoting President Trump as if he is an authority on anything.)

At the risk of generalizing from anecdotal evidence - Instagram seems to be the worst by far for this kind of thing.

All images, little content and no good way to really communicate. The heavy users I’ve known just endlessly scroll through images of attractive ‘influencers’, dogs, makeup ads, or just photos posted by friends (mostly using it to show off as mentioned in the article).

While Facebook will have discussion and links to interesting articles depending on your network, Instagram doesn’t seem to have much of that.

I have a bias though because out of all the social apps I find it to be incredibly banal and boring.

Re: Teenagers are growing more anxious and depressed

#100

Post by SolaceQuantum »

brndnmtthws wrote: post #85

If you take a train or a bus, or are in any other public space, you may notice that a bunch of people (young and old) spend their time staring into their phones. And most of the time, if you glance at their phone, you'll see they're on Instagram. They're staring into this machine fantasizing about some image of how great life is, meanwhile their real life is passing them by. And they wonder why they're not getting al…

You realize back in the older days people did the exact same thing with books and newspapers? At least with phones we can talk with people we’re meeting up with.
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