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Young adults and mental health: Is more childhood independence the answer?

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Re: Young adults and mental health: Is more childhood independence the answer?

#331

Post by Fricken »

I think more independence in childhood would be great.

However, my theory is that the rise the mental health issues in young adults these days are the problems or people who've spent too much time with their faces in media and not enough in reality.

The nature of the affliction was something one would commonly see in nerds, and now nearly every kid is a nerd. Too much of their cognitive development was formed while engaged with media, and as such reality can seem hopelessly dismal and depressing.

Re: Young adults and mental health: Is more childhood independence the answer?

#332

Post by jacooper »

iopq wrote: post #222
anonzzzies wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Outside the people on HN etc, aren’t people objectively worse off payment wise than in the 80s? Cannot buy houses and having to live with their parents? Sure we live longer and healthier (well, this is also mostly the well off people) and we have tremendous tech advancements, but isn’t everything owned by a few people? I have to pay monthly for my car seat warmer. Movies and music that I bought are removed without me…

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N actually very wrong, the real median household income is much higher

Purchase power is a more useful metric here

Re: Young adults and mental health: Is more childhood independence the answer?

#333

Post by dopeboy »

granshaw wrote: post #255
thebigman433 wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I teach outdoor ed for a program where kids come for a week at a time, so I get to see thousands of kids per semester. I would very much agree with this statement. Overall, Ive experienced that today's youth is largely very empathetic and kind, much moreso than I was as a kid, but anxiety absolutely plagues them. A very notable exception to this is the rich/well off kids Ive been with. They very much do not show the…

But I bet the wealthy kids have far less anxiety too?

I’d wager more. Heightened expectations and the resources to meet them = a lot of studying, extracurricular activities, etc.

Re: Young adults and mental health: Is more childhood independence the answer?

#334

Post by dopeboy »

silisili wrote: post #197
alfor wrote: post #192

Wait to see what will happen in the next few years. With cellphones, videogames and the pandemic kids have almost zero free play outside with other kids. I don’t know how to change this, even if I become strict with my kids, there is no kids outside anymore. It’s going to get much worse.

Noticed mostly the same. I still think it's a win, our kid seems much happier and more outgoing than a lot of others that end up over. Further, she tends to find friends with similar minded kids, I guess because they don't have much in common with someone glued to their phones. I've had to actually ban kids from our house for their shitty attitudes and/or social media addiction, which may or may not be related. I don…

I respect the heck out of that - it takes guts banning your kid’s friends.

Curious - how did you carry this out? You told your child to stop inviting them or you asked the problematic kid’s parents?

Re: Young adults and mental health: Is more childhood independence the answer?

#335

Post by JKCalhoun »

comfypotato wrote: post #326
rychco wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The stereotypical American helicopter-parent/soccer-mom can be viewed as a direct result of poor zoning practices & the resulting suburban sprawl. A typical child is completely incapable of going anywhere without the guidance of a car-driving parent. It is unlikely, either on foot or bike, that they are able to get to school, get to/from sports practice, meet with friends, shop at local stores, run errands, have a pa…

There’s something to be said here for neighborhood interactions among children of varying ages. I used to enjoy playing around building forts in the suburbs with some other young guys in friend’s neighborhoods that had lots on kids in the same age ball-park. It’s not life-changing autonomy, but it was definitely free from any sort of helicopter parents for afternoons at a time.

My 10-speed bicycle in 1978 (and on) was what gave me autonomy. As did my high-rise, banana-seat bike before that.

My daughters had bikes since even before the age when I had got my first bike but they seemed to rarely ride them.

Re: Young adults and mental health: Is more childhood independence the answer?

#336

Post by dopeboy »

daxvena wrote: post #162

As a youngish adult (27) this is some of what I feel: - Climate change is slowly creeping up on us and corporations keep on trucking along with an endless growth mindset, not caring about the consequences of what is essentially a cancer - Somehow I lucked out and ended up turning my favourite hobby into a job that pays really well, but something feels empty. I don't feel like I'm working any harder than people in low…

This is an excellent summary of the current state of affairs from the ground level.

Do you see your peers growing out of social media? Or do you think it will be a permanent fixture in their lives?

Re: Young adults and mental health: Is more childhood independence the answer?

#337

Post by JKCalhoun »

bobsmooth wrote: post #257
rychco wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The stereotypical American helicopter-parent/soccer-mom can be viewed as a direct result of poor zoning practices & the resulting suburban sprawl. A typical child is completely incapable of going anywhere without the guidance of a car-driving parent. It is unlikely, either on foot or bike, that they are able to get to school, get to/from sports practice, meet with friends, shop at local stores, run errands, have a pa…

Are all suburbs like this? There were plenty of things in biking distance in my neighborhood.

I could bike (or even easily walk) to a drugstore and grocery store in the neighborhood where I grew up. A "five and dime" store was within biking distance as well.

Where I live now? Nope. Some kind of generic suburbia park is about all a kid could ride to in this neighborhood. And although I have been here less than a year, I do not recall many kids on bikes. It's sad.

Re: Young adults and mental health: Is more childhood independence the answer?

#338

Post by sideshowb »

iopq wrote: post #219

The government doesn't allow more independence. For example, letting kids walk to school by themselves. When I was a kid (around 10 years old) I would stay out by myself until way past dark, sometimes outside for 8+ hours without supervision. Meanwhile: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/04/13/parent... https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2643217/Father-fine...

As the daily mail article doesn't mention the age of the child, it's worse than useless in this discussion imo

Re: Young adults and mental health: Is more childhood independence the answer?

#339

Post by dopeboy »

doublepg23 wrote: post #128

Kind of surprised I don't see 20-somethings commenting. mid-20-something here AMA

How would you describe your mental health? How would you describe, on aggregate, the mental health of your peers?

If you could waive your magic wand to help your generation, what one thing would you ask for?

Re: Young adults and mental health: Is more childhood independence the answer?

#340

Post by sideshowb »

shadowgovt wrote: post #106

More childhood independence, literally doing anything at all about the impending environmental catastrophe previous generations created and then birthed them into... Definitely one of those things.

Why not both?
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