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New Study Says Maybe Helicopter Parenting Is Making Kids Depressed

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Re: New Study Says Maybe Helicopter Parenting Is Making Kids Depressed

#11

Post by jl6 »

GMoromisato wrote: post #6

I'm slightly confused because the chart shows a sharp decrease in suicides between 1994 and 2007 and then a gradual increase. But neither theory (bad social media or helicopter parents) explains the curve. Did helicopter parenting get better between 1994 and 2007 and then get worse? Why did suicides increase between 1968 and 1994 and then start decreasing? AITA for expecting a theory to explain the observed curve?

There is probably no single factor that totally explains the trend, but rather a multitude of contributing factors that will be extremely difficult to disentangle. Most of the world’s big headline problems are similar - most have no single smoking-gun root cause, but a whole bunch of factors that come together and interact in complex ways. We seek simple narratives, but that’s just not the way the world at large works.

Accordingly, I think “social media causes depression” and “social media doesn’t cause depression” could be equally bogus takes.

Re: New Study Says Maybe Helicopter Parenting Is Making Kids Depressed

#12

Post by throwbadubadu »

GMoromisato wrote: post #6

I'm slightly confused because the chart shows a sharp decrease in suicides between 1994 and 2007 and then a gradual increase. But neither theory (bad social media or helicopter parents) explains the curve. Did helicopter parenting get better between 1994 and 2007 and then get worse? Why did suicides increase between 1968 and 1994 and then start decreasing? AITA for expecting a theory to explain the observed curve?

Helicopter parenting was not (a very widespread?) thing til the age of smartphones (not meaning any causation), which started 2006, realistically for the masses 2010, or was it? Only learned or heard this term 2015-2020ish..

Re: New Study Says Maybe Helicopter Parenting Is Making Kids Depressed

#13

Post by fakedang »

persponsibility wrote: post #4

I got excited when I saw something about helicopters. There are hardly ever any articles about helicopters on HN. I have a commercial helicopter license and almost 900 hours of combined helicopter and airplane flight time. If any extra rich people in the bay area or Sacramento want to buy a heli I will be your personal pilot available 24/7. Helis can go almost anywhere. I love to fly but it is hard to fly them unless…

> I love to fly but it is hard to fly them unless you have a lot of money.

I have a comfortable amount of money, and I have been certified to fly some small airplanes, including one turbojet model, yet helicopters still elude me - it's just so much harder. Much respect to you sir.

Re: New Study Says Maybe Helicopter Parenting Is Making Kids Depressed

#14

Post by defrost »

persponsibility wrote: post #4

I got excited when I saw something about helicopters. There are hardly ever any articles about helicopters on HN. I have a commercial helicopter license and almost 900 hours of combined helicopter and airplane flight time. If any extra rich people in the bay area or Sacramento want to buy a heli I will be your personal pilot available 24/7. Helis can go almost anywhere. I love to fly but it is hard to fly them unless…

If you're feeling game you could try for a cattle station job where I grew up ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8B-zWxDJOZU

Re: New Study Says Maybe Helicopter Parenting Is Making Kids Depressed

#15

Post by gnicholas »

persponsibility wrote: post #4

I got excited when I saw something about helicopters. There are hardly ever any articles about helicopters on HN. I have a commercial helicopter license and almost 900 hours of combined helicopter and airplane flight time. If any extra rich people in the bay area or Sacramento want to buy a heli I will be your personal pilot available 24/7. Helis can go almost anywhere. I love to fly but it is hard to fly them unless…

> almost 900 hours of combined helicopter and airplane flight time

If I were in the market for a helicopter pilot, I would be very keen to know what the breakdown is!

Re: New Study Says Maybe Helicopter Parenting Is Making Kids Depressed

#16

Post by kreeben »

fakedang wrote: post #13
persponsibility wrote: post #4

I got excited when I saw something about helicopters. There are hardly ever any articles about helicopters on HN. I have a commercial helicopter license and almost 900 hours of combined helicopter and airplane flight time. If any extra rich people in the bay area or Sacramento want to buy a heli I will be your personal pilot available 24/7. Helis can go almost anywhere. I love to fly but it is hard to fly them unless…

> I love to fly but it is hard to fly them unless you have a lot of money. I have a comfortable amount of money, and I have been certified to fly some small airplanes, including one turbojet model, yet helicopters still elude me - it's just so much harder. Much respect to you sir.

I have an uncomfortable amount of money, so uncomfortable it makes flying in a helicopter a pipe dream.

Guess I'll have to drive my kid to football practice in a plain ol' car. I know, car's are very 1999.

Re: New Study Says Maybe Helicopter Parenting Is Making Kids Depressed

#17

Post by vasco »

throwbadubadu wrote: post #12
GMoromisato wrote: post #6

I'm slightly confused because the chart shows a sharp decrease in suicides between 1994 and 2007 and then a gradual increase. But neither theory (bad social media or helicopter parents) explains the curve. Did helicopter parenting get better between 1994 and 2007 and then get worse? Why did suicides increase between 1968 and 1994 and then start decreasing? AITA for expecting a theory to explain the observed curve?

Helicopter parenting was not (a very widespread?) thing til the age of smartphones (not meaning any causation), which started 2006, realistically for the masses 2010, or was it? Only learned or heard this term 2015-2020ish..

You did not hear about it till 10-15 years after it got mainstream then: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Helicopter+par...

Re: New Study Says Maybe Helicopter Parenting Is Making Kids Depressed

#19

Post by gnicholas »

Interesting that the study author attributes the decline in teen suicides from 1990 to 2005 to technology. [1]

In particular, he says that adults considered children (especially boys, who make up the large majority of teen suicides) to be knowledgeable about computers, which gave the kids agency.

1: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-to-learn/202...

Re: New Study Says Maybe Helicopter Parenting Is Making Kids Depressed

#20

Post by skrebbel »

callalex wrote: post #2

Maybe the earth/environment collapsing around them while nobody does anything to fix it is also depressing.

Nobody? All the solar stats are up and the right, IEA expects fossil fuel consumption will soon plateau, solar panel prices keep going down faster than experts predict, seas are getting flooded with windmill parks etc etc.
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