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Teen mental health is plummeting and social media is a major contributing cause [pdf]

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Re: Teen mental health is plummeting and social media is a major contributing cause [pdf]

#191

Post by tehbeard »

irrational wrote: post #163
spencerchubb wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the mental health crisis is exacerbated by other stressors, how does that explain the following? 1) The crisis started suddenly in 2009, 2) It affects girls far more, and 3) It is occurring in many countries. Haidt brings up those points in the testimony to rule out other factors and prove that social media is specifically to blame.

2009? You mean right after the 2008 housing bubble burst and the recession set in?

And, I'd argue, when we saw social media and big tech start to lean towards ML/algorithm driven techniques for content curation.

At college my social feeds where friends and clubs I picked, by university 3-4 years later, Facebook et. al was feeding me a lot more other stuff intermixed with friends posts.

Re: Teen mental health is plummeting and social media is a major contributing cause [pdf]

#192

Post by annyeonghada »

sibeliuss wrote: post #178
rektide wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed a whole lot. Social media is the new whipping boy, but no one is willing to confront that much of what it shows us is a genuine & real reflection, is just connecting us more accurately to the real state of things. I think there's an incredible resillience especially in youth to not get bogged down in or at least to tangle with & find peace with the sad scary backdrop of the world. When they have elememts of ho…

This is an easy thing to test: 1. Kid seems happy, does stuff 2. Kid gets phone for birthday 3. Kid seems sad, and no longer does anything other than sit in his room scrolling through tiktok It's an extraordinarily depressing situation and anyone who denies this obvious truth is DELUSIONALLY BLIND

This is what happened to me at 14: the first time I've ever had an Internet connection at home. I am now 27 and it's really a downward spiral. I'm starting to think that the only solution, at least for me, would using Internet only for 10 minutes a day and only to download offline all the things I would like to read.

Re: Teen mental health is plummeting and social media is a major contributing cause [pdf]

#194

Post by nivenkos »

tgv wrote: post #167
paxys wrote: post #68

Social media definitely amplifies it, but consider the economic and social environment that teenagers have lived through their entire lives. Multiple major recessions, a global pandemic, rising inflation, housing and education getting more expensive by the day, prospect of a mountain of debt right after graduation, climate that will be unlivable in a few decades, political extremism becoming the norm, and massive gov…

> Multiple major recessions One. They lived through one major recession, and here it wasn't really major, and is not something they lived through recently. They were younger than 6 when it started. I've lived through two. The 80s weren't a happy time, and there are no signs that that had such an impact on teen mental health. If it did, it would be proof that the impact of a major recession is temporary. > prospect of…

> Situation wrt to teen mental health is similar in Europe, but there's a much smaller graduation debt.

But Europe has far lower professional salaries than the US.

Also economic conditions definitely have a big impact, I could finally buy a small flat after years of renting and it's such a great change to be able to make changes in your own home and buy your own things.

My father did that at 23, not 30.

Re: Teen mental health is plummeting and social media is a major contributing cause [pdf]

#196

Post by moonchrome »

Semaphor wrote: post #182
tgv wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Multiple major recessions One. They lived through one major recession, and here it wasn't really major, and is not something they lived through recently. They were younger than 6 when it started. I've lived through two. The 80s weren't a happy time, and there are no signs that that had such an impact on teen mental health. If it did, it would be proof that the impact of a major recession is temporary. > prospect of…

> Situation wrt to teen mental health is similar in Europe, but there's a much smaller graduation debt. We have other issues here, though (speaking for the situation in Germany). I’m quite some time out of my teens at 36, but for many years now I’ve been told that all that tax (technically not a tax) I pay for my pension will not result in me getting any meaningful pension. For people who are currently teenagers it p…

You think teenagers are thinking about pensions... If they are they are probably already having mental issues because that's not something someone pre 20s should be concerned about.

People in this thread need to stop projecting their problems and worldviews as universal social issues.

Re: Teen mental health is plummeting and social media is a major contributing cause [pdf]

#197

Post by NalNezumi »

mlindner wrote: post #157
paxys wrote: post #68

Social media definitely amplifies it, but consider the economic and social environment that teenagers have lived through their entire lives. Multiple major recessions, a global pandemic, rising inflation, housing and education getting more expensive by the day, prospect of a mountain of debt right after graduation, climate that will be unlivable in a few decades, political extremism becoming the norm, and massive gov…

This is just wrong. Teenagers don't know or care about recessions or inflation as it doesn't affect them. Nor do they know about the cost of housing and education. Teenagers don't care much about the government either. Social media blows up the fear about climate change (it definitely will not be "unlivable") and political extremisism. Being misinformed about things you can do nothing to change isn't good for mental…

When I was a teenager and 2008 housing crisis happened I cared quite a lot about it. Sure it never affected me personally or anyone around us, but I spent a lot of time watching documentaries and reading articles around it and got upset and cynical about the world/regulatory authorities. It wasn't social media, but ease to pirate movies and looking for documentaries recommendations online that led me to it.

This notion that "it doesn't directly affect teens so they don't care" is a painfully naive narrative. If anything teens have A LOT of time and energy and little clue what to do with it. So many naturally find something to care/obsess over, with or without social media. (although it is probably amplified by it)

Re: Teen mental health is plummeting and social media is a major contributing cause [pdf]

#198

Post by Semaphor »

moonchrome wrote: post #196
Semaphor wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Situation wrt to teen mental health is similar in Europe, but there's a much smaller graduation debt. We have other issues here, though (speaking for the situation in Germany). I’m quite some time out of my teens at 36, but for many years now I’ve been told that all that tax (technically not a tax) I pay for my pension will not result in me getting any meaningful pension. For people who are currently teenagers it p…

You think teenagers are thinking about pensions... If they are they are probably already having mental issues because that's not something someone pre 20s should be concerned about. People in this thread need to stop projecting their problems and worldviews as universal social issues.

It’s a decently big issue that’s affecting you more the later you were born, we already heard about it when we were teenagers, but now it’s far more prominent in the media than it was back then.

Re: Teen mental health is plummeting and social media is a major contributing cause [pdf]

#199

Post by kabouseng »

paxys wrote: post #68

Social media definitely amplifies it, but consider the economic and social environment that teenagers have lived through their entire lives. Multiple major recessions, a global pandemic, rising inflation, housing and education getting more expensive by the day, prospect of a mountain of debt right after graduation, climate that will be unlivable in a few decades, political extremism becoming the norm, and massive gov…

Imagine you were born in 1900.

When you're 14, World War I begins and ends when you're 18 with 22 million dead.

Soon after a global pandemic, the Spanish Flu, appears, killing 50 million people. And you're alive and 20 years old.

When you're 29 you survive the global economic crisis that started with the collapse of the New York Stock Exchange, causing inflation, unemployment and famine.

When you're 33 years old the nazis come to power.

When you're 39, World War II begins and ends when you're 45 years old with a 60 million dead. In the Holocaust 6 million Jews die.

When you're 52, the Korean War begins. When you're 64, the Vietnam War begins and ends when you're 75.

A child born in 1985 thinks his grandparents have no idea how difficult life is, but they have survived several wars and catastrophes.

--Quoted from somewhere

Re: Teen mental health is plummeting and social media is a major contributing cause [pdf]

#200

Post by nsenifty »

carlivar wrote: post #71

Working for Facebook/Meta, Snapchat, TikTok, etc. is today's equivalent of working for a tobacco company.

Why not add cellphone manufacturers? If social media is equivalent of tobacco, the cellphone is the pipe/cigarette/.
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