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The teen mental illness epidemic is international (2023)

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Re: The teen mental illness epidemic is international (2023)

#121

Post by atoav »

corethree wrote: post #111
AnarchismIsCool wrote: post #95

I think all the social media stuff is missing the mark. It's 100% bad but it's just trash filling the hole society is making. Looking top down at the problem, humans need self actualization or propose to be happy. Originally we evolved to live in medium sized social groups that worked together to ensure their survival, we took care of each other and that was what drove our purpose, or rather why that need evolved, it…

I think you're right. But society has been this way from way Before the mental illness epidemic. Evidence points to the fact that the structure of society is not causative of a new trend we are seeing. That being said I do think you're right. It's just that there's two underlying trends here of "mental illness". The one your addressing has been longer term and more pervasive while the recent trend is, as stated, a ne…

As someone who has 4 cousins and one brother that just went throught their teenage years:

Social media is definitely a factor. I was still in the generation where we had social media, but phones had no or very shitty cameras and mobile internet was too expensive for us teens. Some people didn't have phones, period.

But those kids have a constant comparison to ideals, especially the girls, be it their peers or celebrities. And if there is mobbing it is way, way worse than in my generation, because it is easier to have a true all against you situation (with many passive bystanders) and because it doesn't end when you are at home.

Re: The teen mental illness epidemic is international (2023)

#123

Post by robotresearcher »

ta8645 wrote: post #50
elzbardico wrote: post #39

People blame social media, but they never ask why social media is like that. I think that the cultural changes that lead to that have been running for far more time than people give credit for, and that social media is just the proverbial canary on the mine that made things explicit. Those changes are multi-generational changes, and more probably there are a multitude of factors behind it. Family structure, economy f…

[flagged]

Is Scandinavia poor and miserable?

Re: The teen mental illness epidemic is international (2023)

#124

Post by TheCoreh »

nradov wrote: post #92
geodel wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

~2% or above growth rate is huge when compounded over decades.

You mentioned the "effect of ever faster economic growth across the world". But economic growth hasn't become consistently faster .

If it's growing at a constant percentage per year, it's growing exponentially, so it must be getting faster in absolute terms, since 2% of today's economy is much more than 2% of 1950s economy.

Re: The teen mental illness epidemic is international (2023)

#125

Post by j4yav »

latentcall wrote: post #57

Not just social media, but always online mentality. Spending all your time online gives you a skewed perception of the world and I believe being online always is a major negative. Spending time outside is good for you. Socializing with real people in front of you is good also. Not sure if we can ever go back to that without some major catastrophe.

I feel like there must be some generation coming that feels like being highly online is weird and embarassing, having grown up and seen the way their parents and other adults behave, and use the internet more as a utility rather than a place to try to primarily live. What makes this hard I think is how addictive it is for children, so by the time they might realize how embarassing it is they have already been addicted by devices their parents gave them.

Re: The teen mental illness epidemic is international (2023)

#126

Post by EGreg »

1. Both parents working jobs, so childhood is spent with ADHD diagnosis / adderall

2. Dating and gender stuff completely changed, no more "going steady" or waiting until marriage, and not even hooking up anymore, now everything old is cringe, but not sure what is supposed to happen. First generation where females will out-earn males and also no one is really sure what they contribute to society anymore

3. The big one... teens grew up with the Internet, and all the capitalist industries and images promoted on TikTok, Instagram, etc. It's a race to the bottom with exploitation and fake online personas, similarly to how crypto tokens are in a race to the bottom with generating fake volume etc. Now you're competing against the whole world.

4. They see very little to look forward to, because of AI and automation depressing jobs. Their dads are probably on opiates while their moms are on antidepressants. Their parents generation probably has the highest level of divorce of any in thousands of years.

5. AI and automation making jobs pay less, everyone having less to begin with, and AI will probably be funnier, sexier and more interesting than they are, and humans will stop even needing each other for anything anymore. Seems like the best case scenario is living in a zoo with AIs surrounding you and being able to change nothing. Plus with climate change and wars. What's to look forward to?

Re: The teen mental illness epidemic is international (2023)

#128

Post by dottjt »

AnarchismIsCool wrote: post #95

I think all the social media stuff is missing the mark. It's 100% bad but it's just trash filling the hole society is making. Looking top down at the problem, humans need self actualization or propose to be happy. Originally we evolved to live in medium sized social groups that worked together to ensure their survival, we took care of each other and that was what drove our purpose, or rather why that need evolved, it…

I think this will always be the case as long as there's inequality of any kind in the world. People will do extraordinary things to get themselves into a better position.

I mean, just look at the things people are doing to migrate to other countries, let alone what they have to do once they're in the country. So much of it sounds dreadful, yet for some people it's still a better life than the alternative i.e. gang violence etc.

Re: The teen mental illness epidemic is international (2023)

#129

Post by djtango »

corethree wrote: post #111
AnarchismIsCool wrote: post #95

I think all the social media stuff is missing the mark. It's 100% bad but it's just trash filling the hole society is making. Looking top down at the problem, humans need self actualization or propose to be happy. Originally we evolved to live in medium sized social groups that worked together to ensure their survival, we took care of each other and that was what drove our purpose, or rather why that need evolved, it…

I think you're right. But society has been this way from way Before the mental illness epidemic. Evidence points to the fact that the structure of society is not causative of a new trend we are seeing. That being said I do think you're right. It's just that there's two underlying trends here of "mental illness". The one your addressing has been longer term and more pervasive while the recent trend is, as stated, a ne…

when do you have in mind? In recent modern history, we saw periods of high social mobility - competition works well in positive sum environments where the pie is getting bigger for everyone. Feels less good when the pie is getting smaller...

Re: The teen mental illness epidemic is international (2023)

#130

Post by CalRobert »

alienicecream wrote: post #102
303uru wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So quick to blame social media, even the article just waves it's hand and makes the assumption. Why not declining social mobility? Why not climate change anxiety? Why not late stage capitalism? Nah, it's always easy to blame Tik Tok as if the chosen release isn't indicative of something much greater going on.

Yeah that's what the kids are thinking about, late-stage capitalism and declining social mobility.

I was very worried about climate change as a kid, and still am.
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