Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The teen mental illness epidemic began around 2012

jonathanhaidt.substack.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 565 posts

Re: The teen mental illness epidemic began around 2012

#61

Post by mmcgaha »

goodpoint wrote: post #26
arp242 wrote: post #2

Another possible explanation is that we are simply diagnosing these kind of mental health issues better – due to decrease in stigmatization and/or more attention to it – but that our treatment is worse than doing nothing, and is leading to higher rates of self-harm and suicide. I have no idea if that's the case – and if it is a factor at all it probably doesn't account for all of it – but it seems something worth exp…

> I benefited more from the occasional swift kick in the backside and being told to "man up" Practically you are saying that pedagogy and psychology are wrong and harmful on a fundamental level. Either you are in denial or a whole field of science is wrong.

Are you suggesting that people should ignore their personal experiences if they do not align with what the science tells them? Why would you declare that anyone is in denial about their own reality?

Re: The teen mental illness epidemic began around 2012

#62

Post by sublinear »

benrhodesuk wrote: post #37

While I don't doubt that social media can have a negative impact on teens... my own experience as the parent of a teen is slightly different and doesn't point to social media as being a driver. At least in my case. I have a teenager that struggles with anxiety, low self-esteem and depression. He's incredibly smart and is an honors student in high school. BUT he also thinks he's terrible and he's incapable of acceptin…

I struggled similarly when I was in school.

As an adult I realized my attitude came from simply not having any example or basis for what I was doing. All I had were long term goals that always seemed just beyond the horizon.

In that situation almost any expectations will seem lofty and it's just as easy to feel either pride or shame regardless of what is actually accomplished.

This is not easy to deal with, but it is possible. As they say, you should surround yourself with people you can look up to. That's how you grow.

Re: The teen mental illness epidemic began around 2012

#63

Post by macspoofing »

Social media, and smart phones are partially (or even largely responsible) ... However I wouldn't discount 'social contagion' as a contributing factor since 2012 was around the time focus on "mental health" (specifically focusing on 'mental health' and related issues) came into wide prominence, especially amongst the younger crowd.

Re: The teen mental illness epidemic began around 2012

#64

Post by Broken_Hippo »

willcipriano wrote: post #6
brodouevencode wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The increase in suicide rates for both genders (but especially females) are astounding. I really don't believe that any changes in treatment have been so radical as to cause this to manifest the way it has.

Tell someone with an issue with their physical condition that it is because of diet and lack of exercise and many would change habits, tell them it's due to a incurable but perhaps treatable cancer and some will chose suicide. Tell kids that they are unhappy due to choices made in day to day life and they might change those choices, tell them it's due to a incurable but maybe treatable issue with their brain and some…

Tell kids that they are unhappy due to choices made in day to day life and they might change those choices, tell them it's due to a incurable but maybe treatable issue with their brain and some will chose suicide.

The thing you are trying to say isn't really true, though.

Tell some kids that it is all their fault, and some kids will commit suicide. Some of the kids already think this way and someone telling them this stuff is just going to intensify it.

Especially considering that getting treatment isn't such a stigma now, a lot of the folks being told that it is the cause of the disease will feel relieved and certainly not choose suicide even if they refuse medication.

So no, that probably isn't the issue.

Re: The teen mental illness epidemic began around 2012

#65

Post by treis »

ch4s3 wrote: post #28
MisterBastahrd wrote: post #20

So 2 years after Instagram was created, and a few years after touchscreen cell phones became commodity devices.

I don't recall anyone I knew using Instagram very much in 2012, people still used facebook a lot back then and Instagram felt really niche. It hit 110 million users in 2013, which is around when I recall people I knew starting to use it, but rally it blew up in 2014.

Yeah, Facebook started in 2004 and it was much more Instagram like in its early days before everyone's parents joined and started ranting about politics.

Re: The teen mental illness epidemic began around 2012

#66

Post by oneoff786 »

slowmovintarget wrote: post #54
oneoff786 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> less cultural cohesion due to hyper diversity in memes resulting in fewer shared experiences People being different is bad?

Teenagers having the idea reinforced through social media that being different is bad, is bad. Left to their own devices, that is the default social order that children create.

But come on. Diversity is not actually bad. People being diverse even if they think it’s bad is not bad. And memes are not a meaningful driver of diversity.

Re: The teen mental illness epidemic began around 2012

#67

Post by oneoff786 »

hosh wrote: post #52
oneoff786 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> less cultural cohesion due to hyper diversity in memes resulting in fewer shared experiences People being different is bad?

It's not. But people also need some kind of shared meaning and a sense of belonging as well.

And how did memes make that harder

Re: The teen mental illness epidemic began around 2012

#68

Post by pipeline_peak »

sct202 wrote: post #31
d_sem wrote: post #11

Having exited my teen years just before the smartphones became ubiquitous in the US, I got the opportunity to watch externally how social media and other similar systems effected the day-to-day of my younger siblings through their teen years. It was not positive. Maybe someone younger can attest to my observations: - more localized isolation as kids spent a higher % of their attention in internet communities - less c…

The always online I think is a big issue, because now if you're not invited to things or not popular it's very in your face with livestreams that your friends or schoolmates are all having fun together at that exact moment without you.

I think it's also that you and all your friends are invited to completely different livestreams. No one feels left out even though they physically are.

Like it or not, you're supposed to fit in with people around you. If you can't do that then there's something either wrong with you or them.

That inherent urge to fit in is being digitally compensated, and I don't think it's healthy to avoid being challenged by all these factors we take for granted, from something as simple as eye contact to behavioral consequences.

Re: The teen mental illness epidemic began around 2012

#69

Post by mabbo »

amadeuspagel wrote: post #40

Social media is global, so any effects it has should be visible globally. > Teenage suicides rates have, on average, declined slightly over the past two decades or so. While in 1990 there were, on average across the OECD, 8.5 suicides per 100 000 teenagers (15-19), by 2015 this rate had fallen to 7.4. Much of this decline occurred during the 2000s. Between 1990 and 1999 the OECD average teenage suicide remained fairl…

> Social media is global, so any effects it has should be visible globally.

That isn't true at all.

There may be a hundred factors at play, which are all different in different cultures, regions, countries, etc. The cultural context of an individual can dramatically change how they react to situations, pressures, and mental illness.

Re: The teen mental illness epidemic began around 2012

#70

Post by jmoss20 »

amadeuspagel wrote: post #40

Social media is global, so any effects it has should be visible globally. > Teenage suicides rates have, on average, declined slightly over the past two decades or so. While in 1990 there were, on average across the OECD, 8.5 suicides per 100 000 teenagers (15-19), by 2015 this rate had fallen to 7.4. Much of this decline occurred during the 2000s. Between 1990 and 1999 the OECD average teenage suicide remained fairl…

Social media may be global, but other countervailing factors may be local.
Post reply on HN