I would like to see a chart that shows "physical activity vs mental illness". Physical exercising is known to be one of the most effective methods to prevent and cure mental illnesses and especially kids' activity levels have plummeted in the past one or two decades. I think this might easily be the whole story and no other intervention is needed than to get the kids to play outside and do sports again.
The teen mental illness epidemic is international (2023)
231–240 of 937 posts
Re: The teen mental illness epidemic is international (2023)
#232The increase in depression numbers might be a rational reaction to the current environment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Better_Never_to_Have_Been
Depression is not a rational response though, is it? It's an irrational response that persists even when there is no reason to be unhappy. That's why I give little credence to ideas like those in your link. I don't consider the worldview of depressed people to be valuable to my own life experience.
Depressive realism might be. And there is no ethical way for me to argue for that.
My link is also not arguing for being depressed. Once you are here, by all means make the best of it. But to give you all a flashback to sex ed, do the right thing and use a condom.
Re: The teen mental illness epidemic is international (2023)
#233Earlier quoted context omitted.
>> Before smartphones, people regularly experienced true downtime Was there not a similar argument made as newspapers became commonplace? Before that the same argument had been made for books but newspapers were on another level - they were effectively limitless drugs, affordable and every single day a new one was available. Instead of talking, laughing and joking with the other workers waiting at the bus stop or in…
The newspaper at least... stops once you've read it -- so that's what an hour (or whatever) gone of your day. That's a major difference, at least.
And you didn't carry it with you everywhere.
It blows my mind that my kids will never know what it's like to wait for a bus with nothing else to do.
Re: The teen mental illness epidemic is international (2023)
#234Earlier quoted context omitted.
I deny a drinking age is necessary. From what it sounds like, the kids should be out there drinking more!
Alcohol is a depressant. It won't impove anybody's mental health.
Depressant doesn't mean it makes you depressed. Alcohol is as old as civilization and absolutely will improve mental health if not over consumed. It's called having fun and enjoying your limited time here.
Re: The teen mental illness epidemic is international (2023)
#235People underestimate the change that took place between 2008 and 2012 with ubiquitous phone usage. All of a sudden we all started staring at these devices for several hours a day. We never leave this thing. The resulting impact on our mental state cannot be overstated.
Yep.
Boredom drives in person socialising and creativity.
Human contact and the act of creation engender life satisfaction, a long term persistent sense of well-being that is far better for you than short term spikes of happiness, and the antithesis of depression.
We are never bored with a phone in our pocket.
Re: The teen mental illness epidemic is international (2023)
#236Earlier quoted context omitted.
US and UK life expenctancy both dipped by ~ a year whereas, say, Australia | Japan | China | Canada have all continued to rise. Put that down to a complete dogs breakfast response to handling an epidemic.
The recent pandemic had minimal impact on US life expectancy. Opioid poisoning and motor vehicle crashes have been a larger factor since before 2019 because they typically kill much younger people. This magnifies the impact on life expectancy. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/the-opioid-crisis-is-dri...
The UK doesn't have an opioid crisis like the US, and road deaths have been falling for decades. The drop in UK life expectancy is almost entirely due to the pandemic. That doesn't just mean deaths from COVID though: in the UK an increased pressure on health services has lead to delays in all sorts of treatment, which have caused spikes in deaths from other causes too.
Re: The teen mental illness epidemic is international (2023)
#237The answer you're looking for is that woke culture arrived. Your God is not dead, you've just abandoned him (again). Social media is obviously a catalyst for patterns of communicated harm that have always been around. The communists have been unraveling the nucleus of family and faith, to be replaced with isolated rage and hate, with government to provide 'proxy support', whereas once was family. We've been divided i…
This is satire right?
Re: The teen mental illness epidemic is international (2023)
#238Re: The teen mental illness epidemic is international (2023)
#239I 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…
Competition and stack ranking are nothing new, Imperial China was doing it in the 6th century with civil service exams. You might as well say humanity is the cause.
Re: The teen mental illness epidemic is international (2023)
#240I’d argue that the author glosses over 2008 recession as the underlying issue by saying that the recovery was well underway by 2012.
The reality of the recovery wasn’t shared equally and those who got the short end of the stick for the last decade likely shared those worries with their children (directly or indirectly)
Does anyone know how the child’s parental income impacts the growth of depression / anxiety over the same time period?