Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

arstechnica.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 624 posts

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#31

Post by KerrAvon »

logicchains wrote: post #10

Presumably it's related to increased conservatism in gen Z males: https://www.axios.com/2024/09/28/gen-z-men-conservative-poll . Conservatives generally have more negative attitudes to drug use.

Nope, women are getting less conservative and this applies to them too.

> Conservatives generally have more negative attitudes to drug use

That is categorically false.

I think it would be interesting to look at whether the rate of physical / sexual abuse has changed, since that's significantly correlated with use of hard drugs.

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#32

Post by amelius »

georgeburdell wrote: post #16
foobarian wrote: post #9

I always thought, thank goodness for video games because without them I would probably be a drunk or something similarly physically harmful. I guess the world is just now catching up :-D

I used to regularly skip meals when I gamed. Weight started creeping up after I quit

You also got older ... Age is a factor.

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#34

Post by PittleyDunkin »

codr7 wrote: post #7
carlosjobim wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't use LSD habitually. If they switched to LSD, then that's very interesting.

Some do, and that's fine too.

LSD is not a drug that you can develop an addiction to. Habit is one thing—some people take it regularly—but it doesn't work very well if you do take it frequently.

Which is not to say that LSD can't potentially be harmful. Of course it can. But it's not very analogous to the typically destructive drugs (alcohol, amphetamines, strong opiates) and it's not going to mess with your dopamine the way they do.

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#35

Post by conductr »

ikmckenz wrote: post #13

Teens aren't doing drugs, smoking, drinking, or having sex. And the suicide rate has never been higher.

I've had is persisting thought that, we as a society have been delaying adulthood, thus extending childhood, with each decade for a while. And we've now pushed it so far that the current cohort of teens simply are effectively young children on a social/emotion perspective making them unprepared to handle the stresses their age is exposing them to.

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#36

Post by alephnerd »

smartmic wrote: post #11
fullshark wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They switched to smartphones

This. And what about the psychosocial consequences, will it be an improvement compared to the other substances? I doubt it.

> will it be an improvement compared to the other substances? I doubt it

Smartphone addiction beats having cirrhosis.

Therapy's cheaper than a liver transplant.

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#39

Post by ndileas »

imoverclocked wrote: post #26
vouaobrasil wrote: post #6

I wonder if the new drug of choice is actually technology. In some ways I think that the addiction to technology has some similar mellowing effects as drugs. Some research indicates that smartphone addiction is also related to low self-esteem and avoidant attachment [1] and that smartphones can become an object of attachment [2]. The replacement of drugs by technology is not surprising as it significantly strengthens…

Be careful of a possible false dichotomy; People don’t need to have a drug.

Hey, speak for yourself, buddy.

More seriously, I think there's ample historical evidence that drugs (with a liberal definition, beer, etc) are very popular across various times and places.

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#40

Post by threeseed »

There is also a corresponding decline in alcohol consumption.

One angle that hasn't been researched enough is the link to anti-anxiety and anti-depression medication. These has been a significant rise in the prescription of both to young adults: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/anxiety-prescripti...

And on these medications there are often severe interactions with alcohol and drugs which would be enough to frighten off most people. Some e.g. bupropion even reduce addictive tendencies entirely.

Post reply on HN