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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

#321

Post by heresie-dabord »

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…

> I wonder if the new drug of choice is actually technology

Technology certainly is the economic sector that we privilege against all criticism of the harm it does to young people, to voting adults, to information quality, to public discourse, and to democracy itself.

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#322

Post by lazyasciiart »

kasey_junk wrote: post #192
_qbxi wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First-time home owners have increased in age[0], the middle class is shrinking[1], education costs have vastly outpaced inflation[2] as have medical costs[3]. Perhaps the generalized fear is not so much about "coddling", but concrete realities. I do not envy them. [0] https://www.axios.com/2023/11/20/american-housing-market-old... [1] https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/04/20/how-the-a... [2] https://www.usn…

More of gen z are home owners than previous generations at that age[0], real wages are increasing for the lower and middle class for the first time since 1970[1]. More people are leaving the workforce than anytime in history, creating high paying trade job openings at an unprecedented rate[2]. Health care costs are growing slower now than any prior decade[3]. Every generation has challenges and benefits. Framing the…

> Health care costs are growing slower now than any prior decade[3].

I don’t see any data on that page supporting this claim. The current decade is growing much faster than the previous one, and they only show data up to 2023.

> Health spending increased by 7.5% from 2022 to 2023, faster than the 4.6% increase from 2021 to 2022. The growth in total health spending from 2022 to 2023 is well above the average annual growth rate of the 2010s (4.1%).

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#323

Post by vouaobrasil »

heresie-dabord wrote: post #321
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…

> I wonder if the new drug of choice is actually technology Technology certainly is the economic sector that we privilege against all criticism of the harm it does to young people, to voting adults, to information quality, to public discourse, and to democracy itself.

Well, we have tied all of the smooth functioning of society to producing new technology, so regardless of its negative effects or its diminishing returns, we develop it. It's a strong piece of circumstantial evidence for technological determinism, not to mention many advancements are clear-cut cases of the prisoner's dilemma (arms race), such as computer security vs. hackers.

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#324

Post by lazyasciiart »

cj wrote: post #290
kasey_junk wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is the underlying dataset https://www.ipums.org/projects/ipums-cps/d030.V11.0 Redfin did the analysis quoted https://www.redfin.com/news/homeownership-rate-by-generation...

> The homeownership rate for 26-year-old Gen Zers is 30%, below 31% for millennials at 26, 32.5% of Gen Xers at 26, and 35.6% of boomers at 26. Unless you're specifically 26 years old, I suppose? This analysis seems far from scientific and cherry picks data in strange ways.

The fall in genz ownership rates is also quite interesting: I guess they weren’t buying during the pandemic?

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#325

Post by bregma »

atombender wrote: post #303
ahartmetz wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Simstim from Neuromancer (released in 1984) is the first mention of such a thing that I know of.

Brainstorm (1983) did it before Neuromancer. The movie is about a device that records and replays sensory and emotional experiences, and a central plot point is that it records the dying moments of a character.

I thought the central point was the porn played on a loop. Maybe I was distracted and missed the real plot. Also maybe mixed up by the fact that one of the principle actors died in real life while the movie was being made.

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#326

Post by vouaobrasil »

addicted wrote: post #301
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…

I’ve said this story before but I quit Facebook about 10 years ago, at a time when it was essentially the only social media game in town, so I was essentially quitting social media, and the quitting process felt exactly like when I had quit smoking the year before that.

Indeed. And I do feel that we need a sort of new terminology for technological "attachment/addiction" or whatever it is. Because people continue to nitpick on whether it is physiologically the same as physical dependence and that completely misses the point.

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#327

Post by _yb2s »

imtringued wrote: post #291
_yb2s wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the answer here is a bit subtle and hard to explain, because it contradicts a lot of common assumptions about addiction and drugs. In short, many addictive substances create a chemical dependence that often has awful, even potentially fatal chemical withdrawal symptoms. Behavioral addictions don't cause this, which makes people assume they are entirely something different, and categorically less serious and d…

I'm not really sure how the behavioural addiction here is harming the person. You're talking about an external harm with the behavioural addiction being symptom treatment due to feeling trapped.

It ends up consuming all of a persons time and energy, and they stop doing everything else that is important or essential- maintaining their own career, friendships, family obligations, and health. They lose the ability to feel joy or engage positively in anything but the addiction. This causes a downward spiral of physical and mental health, that destroys quality of like and can in some cases be ultimately fatal.

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#328

Post by george_w_kush »

9rx wrote: post #247
Uehreka wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> More of gen z are home owners than previous generations at that age[0] If you’re going to make a claim this bold and this counter to the prevailing narrative, you’re gonna need to cite a better source than an outbrain-riddled webpage that tells me to “watch our video to find the lede we buried”. I’m not saying this isn’t true, but extraordinary claims require good sourcing and explanation.

> If you’re going to make a claim this bold and this counter to the prevailing narrative What do you see as the prevailing narrative? The one I see is homeownership itself, which suggests that homeownership has been seen as being hotly desirable. I strongly suspect we wouldn't have a homeownership narrative to speak of if ownership was unwanted. When something becomes unusually desirable like homeownership has, it is…

The claim isn’t that homeownership is undesirable to Gen Z, but that a lower percentage of Gen Z owns homes compared to previous generations regardless of the specific reason. I think in this case the most likely cause is the increase in prices is causing houses to be unaffordable to Gen Z, despite their desire to own houses.

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#330

Post by yapyap »

nperez wrote: post #242

I think information and culture/fashion both have a lot to do with it. Pre-social media, you could get drunk and embarrass yourself, and forget about it by the next day. Now everything is recorded. Information about alcoholism is easier to come by, and there are influencers like worldoftshirts who show people what life as an alcoholic is like. I don't see how anyone could want a drink after watching content like that…

oh my god, never thought there would be a day I saw WorldofTshirts mentioned on HN
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