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Yes, social media is a cause of the epidemic of teenage mental illness

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Re: Yes, social media is a cause of the epidemic of teenage mental illness

#21

Post by cedws »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #15
atleastoptimal wrote: post #7

The solution is unironically just to do what China does. Create restrictions on how long kids can use the web and what they can use. It won't be perfect but it will be the biggest influence towards better habits and cultural norms.

Jonathan Haidt, the author of this article, was on Real Time w Bill Maher recently, and has some simple recommendations with respect to phones and social media: 1. No smartphones for kids before high school — give them only flip phones in middle school. 2. No social media before age 16. 3. Make schools phone-free, by putting devices in phone lockers or Yondr pouches. 4. Give kids far more free play and independence,…

Why 16 specifically? Apparently the brain doesn't stop developing until much later, around 25.

Re: Yes, social media is a cause of the epidemic of teenage mental illness

#22

Post by pressCreatacct »

Why is this true and not just more elder moral panic like Seduction of the Innocent[1], outrage at books, DnD, comics, etc?

Different context but why is this not just driven by generational fear of change?

It’s trivial to pick a data set that supports a conclusion.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seduction_of_the_Innocent

Re: Yes, social media is a cause of the epidemic of teenage mental illness

#23

Post by satellite2 »

cyanydeez wrote: post #4
cyanydeez wrote: post #3

[flagged]

Which is basically a mental illness.

Exactly, I just saw a post today about someone's grandpa barricading himself in his house and fearing the eclipse would kill him. On the comments section everyone was insulting him, treating him like an idiot. I couldn't help but feeling this was not a result of poor media choice as everyone was suggesting but an underlying medical illness.

I really hope mental illnesses would be better treated and that people in very edge cases would spend more time in counseling and maybe less time on the internet.

Re: Yes, social media is a cause of the epidemic of teenage mental illness

#24

Post by ianstormtaylor »

ben_w wrote: post #10
hot_gril wrote: post #5

It's electronics in general. I was in 7th grade at the inflection point, when the iPhone 3G first widely popularized having a pocket computer. Facebook went mainstream around the same time. Suddenly kids became a lot less social, and that never flipped back.

That's a very common description of hitting puberty, so witnessing this in 7th grade specifically doesn't demonstrate your claim. I lack the domain knowledge to evaluate the evidence against the null hypothesis, so you may well be correct — you just haven't actually demonstrated it with your anecdote.

I’ve never heard puberty described as making kids “a lot less social”, so not sure where you’re getting that from. A source would help your argument.

Re: Yes, social media is a cause of the epidemic of teenage mental illness

#25

Post by tayo42 »

atleastoptimal wrote: post #7

The solution is unironically just to do what China does. Create restrictions on how long kids can use the web and what they can use. It won't be perfect but it will be the biggest influence towards better habits and cultural norms.

Are Chinese people happier then Americans or Europeans?

Re: Yes, social media is a cause of the epidemic of teenage mental illness

#27

Post by hot_gril »

ianstormtaylor wrote: post #24
ben_w wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a very common description of hitting puberty, so witnessing this in 7th grade specifically doesn't demonstrate your claim. I lack the domain knowledge to evaluate the evidence against the null hypothesis, so you may well be correct — you just haven't actually demonstrated it with your anecdote.

I’ve never heard puberty described as making kids “a lot less social”, so not sure where you’re getting that from. A source would help your argument.

There's no source I'd believe on this. Kids don't become shy when they turn 13.

Re: Yes, social media is a cause of the epidemic of teenage mental illness

#28

Post by verall »

cedws wrote: post #21
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jonathan Haidt, the author of this article, was on Real Time w Bill Maher recently, and has some simple recommendations with respect to phones and social media: 1. No smartphones for kids before high school — give them only flip phones in middle school. 2. No social media before age 16. 3. Make schools phone-free, by putting devices in phone lockers or Yondr pouches. 4. Give kids far more free play and independence,…

Why 16 specifically? Apparently the brain doesn't stop developing until much later, around 25.

The brain never stops developing, why 25? Where does everyone get this darn 25 is when you're grown number from?

Re: Yes, social media is a cause of the epidemic of teenage mental illness

#30

Post by andrepd »

mrob wrote: post #8
hot_gril wrote: post #5

It's electronics in general. I was in 7th grade at the inflection point, when the iPhone 3G first widely popularized having a pocket computer. Facebook went mainstream around the same time. Suddenly kids became a lot less social, and that never flipped back.

It's mobile devices, not electronics in general. Social networking was around before widespread mobile computing, e.g. MySpace, but it was a supplement to offline social interaction, not a replacement. Back then, you had to make a conscious decision to use the computer and log in. Having the device in your pocket at all times drastically changes how it's used.

Absolutely. Being "online" changed from being a place you go (your computer) at a certain time (after school/work, a couple hours a day max) to becoming an always-on experience. It's a qualitative change.
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