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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

#561

Post by swader999 »

JackMorgan wrote: post #549
delichon wrote: post #528

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This described my brother too. He killed himself four years ago, after about thirty years of just that kind of depression. And I was my little brother's keeper damn it, so it's my failure. Ever since I keep reliving it and wondering what I could have done. All I come up with are fantasy scenarios in which I somehow make us both wildly successful. But even that's a stretch given his outlook. I fantasize about some kin…

You are not responsible for another's illness. Nor their choices. Don't get stuck ruminating on the past , possibly infecting yourself with the same disease. Instead maybe pour that love and attention on those still around you. Care for those still with you. You are not at fault, you can't change the past, but you can change the future.

This is the only way even if some of the guilt is deserved. Grow the love around you, give your time and attention to others.

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

#562

Post by ljlolel »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #358
edg5000 wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting point you bring up. With e-commerce, I am surprised that malls can work at all. There is a brand new, massive and beautifully designed mall in The Netherlands called Westfield Mall of the Netherlands. I went there once to quickly grab something and I got hopelessly lost, even while my phone navigation actually was able to display and navigate the layout of the mall, due to the sheer size I underestimated…

I had to Google about that mall. There is a separate Wiki page! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westfield_Mall_of_the_Netherla... > Total retail floor area 117,000 m2 (1,260,000 sq ft) > Parking 4,000 That retail floor area is enormous ! And, LOL: If this was US, parking would be 10x! FYI: Westfield is a huge global mall developer. Before 9/11, they ran the mall under NYC World Trade Center. It was one of the highest g…

Westfield has a huge mall in SF and Paris center I’ve been to

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

#563

Post by Am4TIfIsER0ppos »

YurgenJurgensen wrote: post #455
Am4TIfIsER0ppos wrote: post #425

Ban smartphones. It really is that simple. Children and adults alike will benefit.

Banning things is rarely 'simple'. What is a smartphone? Any computer capable of connecting to a cellular network? Is an iPod touch a smartphone? Would forcing everyone onto WiFi really change much? Is an iPod touch with a Bluetooth 5G modem a smartphone? Then what? Banning battery-powered computers? You've basically destroyed the economy with how many businesses rely on laptops and tablets these days. Ban the form-f…

Lets play some yes/no "is it a smartphone" games. Computer with cell modem: no. iPod touch: yes (AFAIK). Changing cell to wifi: no change. iPod touch with modem: yes (AFAIK). Battery powered computers: no. Vita: no (AFAIK). Operating systems: yes. CPU arches: no. x86 Surface: yes (AFAIK). Smartwatch: do they have their own networking?

It is a smartphone if it has wireless networking and is battery powered. A desktop on wifi or cell is not. A laptop on ethernet is not. A laptop on wifi or cell is. It is the combination of portability and networking that is the problem.

Cyberspace is supposed to be separate from meatspace not something that follows you around in your pocket and constantly cries for attention. Unfortunately too many normies have eroded that boundary through the use of the smartphone. That shitty device is the cause or amplifier of many societal ills.

I know that isn't quite good enough to be law. USB cell modems wouldn't be banned neither would laptops with USB ports but if you plug one into the other does it become a banned device? I don't have an answer for that. I cannot picture someone using a laptop for many of the ills I see coming from smartphones but they only need to be made smaller and smaller until they are.

Possibly the cellphone might be just as bad, due to its constant connectivity, but we progressed too quickly from cheap devices available to nearly everyone to the smartphone.

Perhaps some form of user interface is needed too because a sensing device plugged into a battery powered SBC transmitting data over some sort of wireless network is not a smartphone.

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

#564

Post by egberts1 »

dimgl wrote: post #514
egberts1 wrote: post #412

Video games are a cause of teenage violence. Well, Iam going to say that what kids see in real life is the cause of their formative views, like stomping on lying victim's head. Nothing virtual.

> Video games are a cause of teenage violence. Literally no one believes this. I grew up playing Resident Evil and Grand Theft Auto.

Agreed. Too bad that my sarcasm went in too thickly.

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

#565

Post by jmyeet »

skilled wrote: post #337

I'm no saint when it comes to addiction and being on my phone for more than I should be, but I have a sister who is in her mid 20s right now, and for the last couple of years she has slowly isolated herself from life and her family, she spends most of her time in her room on the phone and does weird things like get cosmetic surgeries, ordering cosmetics, etc. It's bizarre. She does this and all the while never leaves…

I don't pretend to know your sister's situation but one thing I've become convinced of through seeing the effects of the pandemic is we have an epidemic of undiagnosed mental health issues, particularly ADHD and ASD.

I bring this up for several reasons. First, such conditions are especially underdiagnosed and misdiagnosed in girls and women. Second, even now ADHD is still heavily misunderstood with people focusing on the "hyperactivitiy" part, which is really only one variant. Third, the combination of isolation and focusing on something that doesn't seem to fit that (ie cosmetics and cosmetic surgery) screams coping mechanism and nervous system dysregulation to me.

30+ years ago such people would be forced out into the world. Some would be helped by this. Others would merely cope (ie masking). Some would be further traumatized by this and no one (including them) would recognize it. I've heard from many teachers who deal with ADHD/ASD students that it becomes pretty obvious that their parents are undiagnosed for these very same conditions.

Your sister might be described as a NEET in Western parlance but this isn't new or exclusive to the West. Japan has had hikikimoris from at least the 1990s.

It's worth adding that young people aren't stupid. Many of them recognize the hopelessness of their situation, economically speaking. Rents are crippling, home ownership looks increasingly impossibly to ever reach, student debt is potentially crippling and job prospects aren't great. We're crazy if we think young people don't recognize this so we have a hopelessness crisis on top of all of this.

So is social media allowing people to isolate and cope or is it the cause? Is ADHD/ASD more prevelant now? If so, why? Or was it just underdiagnosed and misdiagnosed until now? I don't know. To me it seems like it might exacerbate existing issues and it's only one facet of many of how our society is increasingly broken and failing young people.

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

#566

Post by sidewndr46 »

skilled wrote: post #337

I'm no saint when it comes to addiction and being on my phone for more than I should be, but I have a sister who is in her mid 20s right now, and for the last couple of years she has slowly isolated herself from life and her family, she spends most of her time in her room on the phone and does weird things like get cosmetic surgeries, ordering cosmetics, etc. It's bizarre. She does this and all the while never leaves…

Life is devoid of purpose and meaning. It has only what you choose to assign to it. You can't coerce someone into making that choice.

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

#567

Post by gregorymichael »

delichon wrote: post #528
pelagicAustral wrote: post #491

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My brother is essentially the male version of this, just swap the cosmetics for video game DLCs. He's early 20's, no job, no interest in work, no interest in getting out of the house, no interest on anything... talking to him is the most frustrating experience ever, nothing comes out of him, no emotion... I talked so many times, tried to get an idea of what might drive him: travelling, learning, walking around in the…

This described my brother too. He killed himself four years ago, after about thirty years of just that kind of depression. And I was my little brother's keeper damn it, so it's my failure. Ever since I keep reliving it and wondering what I could have done. All I come up with are fantasy scenarios in which I somehow make us both wildly successful. But even that's a stretch given his outlook. I fantasize about some kin…

Your brother was killed by a mental illness. You are no more responsible for his death than if he had died from cancer.

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

#568

Post by hypertexthero »

raziel2p wrote: post #245
rgbrenner wrote: post #145

The author had it right in the first paragraph. In the 90s version of this hysteria, Congress passed a law that would have prevented access to education medical information, dirty curse words, and other filth from being published on the internet to protect the children. The federal government fought a case all the way to the Supreme Court to enforce it. If they had won that case, the internet would look very differen…

> if you don't like these products and feel they are negative, then don't use them It's really not that simple. The products have become so widespread and influential that they change the very culture of our society for the worse. It doesn't matter whether you abstain from using Instagram or not, some of your friends will still be more or less subtly influenced by its existence in your social interactions. There's a…

See also The Medium is the Massage, a very illuminating book:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Medium_Is_the_Massage

https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-medium-is-the-massage-revis...

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

#569

Post by tim333 »

watwut wrote: post #529
randomdata wrote: post #486

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> She doesn't share her actual thoughts That's where social media has been most damaging. You can't share your thoughts anymore. The 'Redditization' of the world means that sharing thoughts is met with hostility. No longer can you just throw something out there, no matter how stupid. These days you have carry an entire encyclopedia with you in order to back up every last thing you say and if you utter anything that i…

> No longer can you just throw something out there, no matter how stupid. Back in real world, I could never do it. If you could, that just means you lived in a bubble of like minded people.

In the online world there are a lot of places where you can throw out stupid thoughts and be applauded, although for applause they have to be in line with the particular bubble. "dumbcoin to the moon!" "other party is evil" etc.

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

#570

Post by rchaud »

randomdata wrote: post #486
skilled wrote: post #337

I'm no saint when it comes to addiction and being on my phone for more than I should be, but I have a sister who is in her mid 20s right now, and for the last couple of years she has slowly isolated herself from life and her family, she spends most of her time in her room on the phone and does weird things like get cosmetic surgeries, ordering cosmetics, etc. It's bizarre. She does this and all the while never leaves…

> She doesn't share her actual thoughts That's where social media has been most damaging. You can't share your thoughts anymore. The 'Redditization' of the world means that sharing thoughts is met with hostility. No longer can you just throw something out there, no matter how stupid. These days you have carry an entire encyclopedia with you in order to back up every last thing you say and if you utter anything that i…

> These days you have carry an entire encyclopedia with you in order to back up every last thing you say and if you utter anything that isn't deemed 100% perfect by those listening, the social scorn will fall upon you.

I would expect this to some extent when conversing with strangers IRL too. If it was a chat between friends, a rant here or there is OK because your friends know the real you and understand where you're coming from. Strangers won't be as charitable.

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