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Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

arstechnica.com

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Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#91

Post by dpndencekultur »

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.

Indoctrination into a dependency mindset fits the "buy a solution" model that our societies run on. We are already primed for this indoctrination from the moment mother puts a pacifier in our mouths. Then constantly looking up at her approval, that constitutes the beginning of our need of approval from the women in our lives. We are programmed and primed from day 0.

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#92

Post by vouaobrasil »

eikenberry wrote: post #22
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…

The article discusses all drug use, not just addictive use. I don't think addiction is prevalent enough to solely explain those numbers.

Well, I think there is also an emergent theme in the research that there also needs to be two distinct concepts: addiction, and attachment. See [1].

[1] Hertlein, Katherine M., and Markie LC Twist. "Attachment to technology: The missing link." Journal of Couple & Relationship Therapy 17.1 (2018): 2-6.

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#93

Post by vouaobrasil »

some_furry wrote: post #25
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…

Does compulsive technology use trigger the same neural pathways as addictive substances? Because "addiction" is a very loaded term (with a specific clinical definition when it's not being used colloquially), and the sources you cited used "attachment" instead.

Fair point. Some other studies use addiction too, though, and there is a distinction between both addiction and attachment and the links between them is a bit nebulous. You can check out the results on Google Scholar if interested.

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#94

Post by ikanreed »

kube-system wrote: post #47
ndileas wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

And religion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_of_the_people

That very wikipedia article you links makes it clear it's not intended to mean religion is a "Drug" in the sense of being addictive, but rather a sociological pain killer. A tonic that limits how much people react to their own suffering.

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#95

Post by vouaobrasil »

cassianoleal wrote: post #86
achairapart wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Suddenly I remember this movie from the 90s where people drugged themself with some kind of minidisc. “Strange Days”, maybe? Anyhow, I always found the plot weird, but maybe they actually were onto something…

Or the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode The Game [0]. Every time I watch that I get this eerie sensation that we're essentially giving our free will up to the masters of the games and social platforms we're addicted to. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_%28Star_Trek:_The_Nex...

Darn, I forgot that episode. That's a very eerie parallel to some of what we have today.

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#96

Post by mschuster91 »

pkaye wrote: post #84
mschuster91 wrote: post #30

"surprising experts", LOL It was clear ever back when the Dutch decriminalised weed that its normalisation led to youth not being that much interested any more, and so it was everywhere else where weed was legalised decades later. But hey, just because the Dutch have had decades of experience, the rest of the world still isn't able to learn from them. It's time to end the war on drugs, once and for all. And DARE etc…

They only legalized it recently though. https://www.vice.com/en/article/legal-weed-netherlands/

Yeah, it was decriminalized... but that wasn't my point. The point is, police didn't care, and it wasn't interesting for young people because of that.

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#97

Post by dpndencekultur »

rurp wrote: post #75
jart wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If everyone is switching from drugs to social media, then that's progress. Twitter and Facebook won't harm your body. They're also free, so your habit will never make you poor and desperate. This kind of revolution in improving our health makes me proud to work in the tech industry. The worst that can happen is you'll feel sad if people bully you online, but that's the fault of people, not the technology. We can impr…

I strongly disagree with this. Social media companies are incredibly valuable specifically because they are effective at getting people to spend their money on things they otherwise wouldn't have. Depression, suicide, and other serious mental health disorders are strongly linked with social media use. Is that better than more kids drinking and smoking pot? I don't know, it's complicated. It's certainly not clearly be…

They are also really valuable at building/generating personality models of large swaths of the population, the data can be said knows us better than we know ourselves. Since the memory of our patterns can be mined for discovery or narrative creation. That's why they really exist. Just follow the money.

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#98

Post by dpndencekultur »

ikmckenz wrote: post #13

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

Erich Fromm said this in his "Fear of Freedom" We live in a time that we are able to customize our lives to our delights. That makes us lose perspective and purpose. So we look to movements to fill the void.

That was back in the 50's/60's I think he was spot on why this generation can't see past the last scroll or click. They don't have perspective because they have not been bred to have it. It's very sad.

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#99

Post by Peacefulz »

In the age of fentanyl I am not at all surprised by this news. The age of experimentation is waning when you can't be sure that your substance is genuine and the cost of being wrong could be your life. If I were a young person today I probably wouldn't even touch anything powdered or pressed.

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#100

Post by BriggyDwiggs42 »

_Algernon_ wrote: post #72
ndileas wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Popularity doesn't necessarily imply a need.

If you want to get technical, doesn’t it? When some particular variety of thing is popular across all human cultures, doesn’t this point to it addressing some deep desire we might put on mazlow’s? What distinguishes a deep, innate human desire from a need?
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