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Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

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Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#411

Post by quesera »

bonestamp2 wrote: post #194
threeseed wrote: post #40

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 f…

The other thing I haven't seen in this thread yet is that kids today are really focused on is: lifestyle -- they want to work hard at school so they can get great jobs to make a lot of money so they can afford to own a home and live healthy lives. With the cost of living, and everything else, they're going to have to make a lot of money to life the kind of life that they're used to as kids. My kids are not on social…

I'll take a guess: you are raising kids in a small-to-medium, moderately-or-more affluent community -- or a similar enclave, or selective/private school, in a larger city.

I would further postulate that your parenthood community is more affluent than your childhood community.

My point being: the lifestyle you describe (and its offset from the median) has "always" (post-war at least) been common in "nice" places. But nice places are unusual.

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#412

Post by 9rx »

george_w_kush wrote: post #328
9rx wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

There may be some temporal confusion here. Gen-Z rates of homeownership has stalled out over the past year or so. Prices are no longer rising like they once were, with fears over impending decline, so the desire is not what it once was. It may be fair to say that the narrative has shifted to "too expensive", but as they loaded up early when prices were rising at unprecedented rates there is a big head start at play. They don't have to buy any more homes for a while to maintain the lead.

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#413

Post by Fluorescence »

bregma wrote: post #325
atombender wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The central point was like Lawnmower Man, the military / government were going to misuse the tech for evil purposes.

The porn and the vicarious near-death-experience were just plot points.

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#414

Post by stef25 »

hylaride wrote: post #369
_yb2s wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MDMA has little addiction potential- for one it isn’t really just an unhealthy escape from negative feelings, but helps people process traumatic experiences and negative emotions by temporarily lowering anxiety and fear, and may be close to being FDA approved for that therapeutic purpose. I have only tried it once, and it permanently eliminated my crippling social anxiety, by temporarily eliminating it, and allowing…

MDMA can be addictive, though usually on people who are dealing various issues that, like alcohol, can mask or suppress "bad" feelings. It pumps up the serotonin levels and people can definitely get addicted to that (the same way shopaholics are addicted to the temporary dopamine hits they get when they buy something new). MDMA (and other drugs that fall under the psychedelic umbrella like magic mushrooms or LSD) has…

Yes we know :)

Every time there's talk of drugs people will just shuffle and repackage some random facts they know about whatever drug in question and preach it like it's something they just discovered.

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#415

Post by meiraleal »

dr_dshiv wrote: post #404
meiraleal wrote: post #384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why do we wait till kids try it themselves under suspect circumstances rather than introducing it with intention? if you are talking about a "kid" of 16, 17 years old, that's less problematic. But a parent shouldn't be part of all experiences of a young person, much less actively pushing things.

It’s pretty normal for parents to drink alcohol with their kids. Letting kids of 12+ drink in special circumstances is common in Europe. But wanting to toke with a 15 year old to make sure they have a good first experience - why is that absolutely taboo?

I don't think it is a taboo but not something we should normalize, not because of the responsible parents but because of the already irresponsible ones.

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#416

Post by sevensor »

tirant wrote: post #280
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 fear the (negative) impact of our current technological drugs goes beyond the impact of traditional drugs. I’ve seen kids not even 3-4 years old already hooked to smartphone screens. Even toddlers around 1 year old with an smartphone mount in their stroller. Main impact on kids is lack of socialization, lack of emotional regulation and a complete impact on their capabilities to keep their attention. Those used to b…

Why are the moral panics always about the media diets of children? Let’s talk about old people for a minute.

1) They can be socially isolated in ways that few children are. An unsupervised septuagenarian can go literal days without speaking to another live human being.

2) They’re more technologically competent than we give them credit for, certainly enough to spend days doomscrolling their politically aligned newsfeeds of choice. The generation who thought their CD-ROM drives were cupholders passed quite some time ago.

3) They have an outsized influence on politics. Not only do they vote more than any other demographic in the US, they are the most likely to turn up and harangue your city council or school board meeting.

Of course, nothing new under the sun, their parents’ generation was mainlining cable news and AM talk radio 20-30 years ago.

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#417

Post by stef25 »

dr_dshiv wrote: post #378

In the future, will there be drugs specifically for kids? I find it weird that we don’t give kids coffee to help them focus on math. (But amphetamine is fine?) There is no evidence coffee is bad for kids. Psychedelics are so similar to kid level playfulness — and sometimes I think it could be helpful to help them see the big picture. Even cannabis— we know it’s controlled use is fine for kids, based on studies of usa…

Don't quit your day job just yet

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#418

Post by Fluorescence »

vouaobrasil wrote: post #315
maccard wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. And what the previous generation said about rock music. Celebrities and “socialites” have been idolised for years - Paris Hilton certainly isn’t the doing of this generation, neither is Jackie Kennedy. If you think that what we’re doing with mobile apps and social media is new, take a look at the 20th century a little harder.

The key is limits. In the past, even if celebrites were idolized, we had a limited amont of information compared to now. The fluid variable is the increase in information, which makes the situation different.

You might need to recall just how crazy it was e.g. literal shrines to boy bands were just normal. To cover every inch of your bedroom walls and ceiling with photos of a celebrity crush was not unheard of. At school, every conversation could be about these obsessions. Folders/files would be covered with pledges of devotion.

No comment on how it is today, but looking back it was terrifyingly nuts - full on religious fervour to the point of mental disorder. When bands broke or people married/died, there would be full on breakdowns and sympathy suicides.

The lack of information might have helped exacerbate the religious mystery and make more space for imagination, fantasy and faith.

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#419

Post by sydd »

oortoo wrote: post #18

Another 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…

I don't think it's be cause if anxiety, it usually increases drug use not decreases.

It's much more about people ha ing less friends and socializing less

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#420

Post by cluckindan »

ghaff wrote: post #373
vouaobrasil wrote: post #365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Nothing new under the sun. Me and my friends were like that 30 something years ago. (1) When I was growing up, nobody had any online presence. I remember life without the internet. (2) The fact that it is not new does not mean it has not changed in magnitude and addictiveness. (3) The fact that it is not new does not mean that it is not a problem. It is a growing problem. Especially because societies these days do…

Aside from BBSs from about the mid-80s, followed by some Usenet and related later, there was very little online presence until getting well into the mid-90s or so. Certainly my social friends who weren't part of the local BBS scene had no online presence until maybe the dot-coms really took off.

Mid-90s were 30 something years ago. Perhaps the US was a little slow to develop in this front compared to Europe.
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