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Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts
101–110 of 624 posts
Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts
#102Another aspect here I think is the generalized fear and anxiety present in young people. Having spoken to some family members in the 15-18 age bracket, the message they seem to be receiving is that they are without a future... they won't be buying homes, they won't be getting high paying jobs, and that the system is not going to work in their favor. I think people of this age are uniquely feeling mortal and vulnerabl…
As a person in that age bracket, I don't feel like my peers and I are lacking in opportunities to participate in drug & alcohol use.
As to why I choose to abstain, I honestly am just not interested in drinking or doing drugs. I don't see any benefit to it socially, since I have more fun with my friends doing things while they are sober, and I don't want to be one of those adults that can't socialize without it. Also, the consequences for getting caught are high.
Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts
#103Two things: Even the “cool kids” are staying inside and using their phones all day. Cool used to mean you were at the party, now it just means you have a high snapchat score. Other thing is genuine fear of accidental fentanyl consumption. They’re making fake Xans with fentanyl in them, fentanyl is being found in coke powder. Plenty of people aren’t taking the risk with street drugs anymore. Jelly Roll said so in an i…
> Even the “cool kids” are staying inside and using their phones all day. Cool used to mean you were at the party, now it just means you have a high snapchat score.
Eyebrow raise.
Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Absolutely. And smart phones are also not literally a drug. Drugs, video games, alcohol, and religion, are all used as a part of coping mechanisms for many, however.
Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
We're just missing a cigar and a dream about trains here.
Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts
#106I 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…
It is somewhat amusing that Leary had a period of saying that computers were the new drugs (“PC is the new LSD” or something)
Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts
#107Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts
#108Blame the homeless for this win. Seeing the outcome so blatantly all around us is pushing a net positive. Next big shift will be from the legalization of more recreational drugs.
I don't know about that. I feel like the cat is out of the bag with cannabis and that it actually has the net effect of making the population more docile and accepting of the status quo which is good for power (individual experiences may vary of course).
Isn't there research showing that people are smoking less weed in the places it's been legalized? It lost its "cool factor" after that.
Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts
#109Earlier 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…
The discs had -in the movie- the memories of another person, and you would experience that memory and sensations as if you were living it. So, e.g. someone would record themselves doing something risky and you would get the adrenaline rush from watching it. So... Maybe in some way one could argue that social media gives some sort of connection were you get some feelings from what others are doing/showing. I mean, tec…
Sounds like Brain Dances (BDs) from Cyberpunk 2077.
Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts
#110It's remarkable to me that many of the top-level comments on this story are all positing that something (i.e. the damn phones) must have replaced drug use and we're just not accounting for it. And if it isn't the damn phones, then it must be that the kids are just too scared of modern-day drugs and the dangers lurking within.
I'm not saying it's not phone addiction, or fentanyl in the weed, but is it really that hard to believe that the youths just don't want to do drugs as much as your generation did?