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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)

#411

Post by jampekka »

mrweasel wrote: post #329
johnchristopher wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think there's are huge risk that we are about to realize that either social media cannot be made safe, at all, or that it has been made dangerous in order to make a profit. People have been screaming that at the top of their lungs for years.

But what do we do with that information? Un-invent social media, ban it? How would such a ban work and what should it cover? At this point I feel like we should pick a time in history, say the late 1930s or 1940s, somewhere around there, and use that as a frame of reference. Any new technology would be assessed based on the value added to average persons life, vs. the overall cost to society and the planet. Only if i…

Just banning more or less all advertising would probably do the trick. In general advertising and marketing are an even bigger problem for mental health too.

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

#412

Post by Aeolun »

ascorbic wrote: post #212
Aeolun wrote: post #27

I feel like people in general more easily diagnose themselves and others with depression or other mental diseases recently. I find it hard to judge whether it’s due to any external factor or some form of zeitgeist.

That's addressed in the post. There is some of that, but there are similar increases in hospitalisation for self-harm, which wouldn't be affected by an increase in awareness of mental illness.

That assumes people aren’t induced towards self harm due to an increased awareness?

If you believe suicide or self harm are common (and valid/acceptable) solutions to your issue, would you not be more likely to do so?

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

#413

Post by jprete »

grupthink wrote: post #310
mbgerring wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Social media is like that because it was deliberately designed to be addictive and we have a decade of documentation to back that up.

Agreed. It's like dining out versus having a healthy home cooked meal. Restaurants will sell you delicious food loaded with sodium, sugar, and fat because they want you to crave their food. Likewise, when you outsource your family values, entertainment, news to social media, you meet a similar problem. Relatedly, beware of the hidden ads in social media. It takes much less money to astroturf a community like reddit t…

All this can go to 100x with generative AI, unfortunately.

I don't even know anymore where to get reliable information about...anything.

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

#414

Post by throwaway2037 »

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]

Do Danes, Norweigans, Swedes, and Finns agree with you? I doubt it.

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

#415

Post by [deleted] »

2devnull wrote: post #410
mathgradthrow wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People are quick to blame social media because there are exceedingly plausible mechanisms by which social media could cause such a phenomenon, and there is tremendous profit in doing so and not just of the money variety. State level actors run secret influence campaigns on facebook, and more recently, just create and control whole social media platforms without oversight. The time for skepticism about the scale of th…

s/social media/books/g

[deleted]

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

#416

Post by holbrad »

hutzlibu wrote: post #216
nicbou wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even without raised expectations, people have got to be disappointed that they can't get the same things as the previous generation. Hell they can't even get basic things at a reasonable price. I'm out of touch with the reality of teenagers, but it feels like they're expected to fight harder and harder for less and less. Someone else also talked about how everything became dominated by metrics and competition. It has…

"but it feels like they're expected to fight harder and harder for less and less." And they also should feel ashamed for what they get and consume, as it has a CO2 impact and their future is doomed if they use too much. But in my experience, climate change is a minor factor, compared to the always comparing yourself not to your local group anymore, but the whole world.

I'm sure hysterics like saying humanity is "doomed" are great for mental health. /s

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

#417

Post by jampekka »

refurb wrote: post #218
robotresearcher wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is Scandinavia poor and miserable?

They do seem rather miserable.

Maybe they just don't have to pretend to be cheerful all the time.

https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2023/world-happiness-trust-...

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

#418

Post by api »

mrweasel wrote: post #276
mbgerring wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Social media is like that because it was deliberately designed to be addictive and we have a decade of documentation to back that up.

That is something I've been think about, what if social media wasn't designed to be addictive? There shouldn't be anything inherently wrong in keeping in contact with your high school buddies on Facebook, so what if all the doom scrolling, likes, and corporate profiles where removed from Facebook? Would it be safer? I think there's are huge risk that we are about to realize that either social media cannot be made saf…

Social media in the late 2000s was basically this. It was before they really figured out how to super-charge the addictiveness. I remember it and it was a lot less toxic.

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

#419

Post by api »

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…

This is like trying to dismiss cigarette/cancer links by pointing out that we have also built more power plants and have more cars and our lifestyles have changed and that must be why we have more lung cancer.

No, it's cigarettes.

I refer to social media companies as "tobacco companies of the mind."

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

#420

Post by rightbyte »

leksak wrote: post #249
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…

What would reagonomics and the Vietnam War have to do with teen mental health in say northern Europe?

Everything US spreads to Europe. If you follow American politics, you'll notice the talking points dripping down with some delay of some months or year.
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