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The upstream cause of the youth mental health crisis is the loss of community

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Re: The upstream cause of the youth mental health crisis is the loss of community

#241

Post by lawlessone »

StopTheWorld wrote: post #145
kelseyfrog wrote: post #82

Well, yes, we've doubled down on mediating social interactions through economic relationships. Most of the interactions adults have in their lives are with or in the framing of economic relations. Homes, are being invaded with tablets and mobile devices which bring along with them framing interactions as economic relations through ad and consumer frames. Workplaces are inherently settings of economic relations, and t…

Professor Michael Rosenfeld at Stanford does research on how heterosexual couples in the US meet ( https://web.stanford.edu/~mrosenfe/ ). In 1940, over 50% met via friends or family. About 36% met at school. In 2021, about 20% met via friends or family. About 10% met at school. Over 50% met online. So the majority of US couples are now meeting via profit-maximizing corporations. He has a 2019 paper on this (and it ha…

I'm surprised dating sites work well enough that 50% of customers meet via it. They've no incentive to help you leave.

Re: The upstream cause of the youth mental health crisis is the loss of community

#242

Post by arrosenberg »

lisper wrote: post #162
philip1209 wrote: post #66

The books the authors cite are great and worth reading. Some personal observations: - The USA lacks a unified cultural identity now. There are lots of reasons for this. But, it's considered taboo to express a love of the USA - which hurts our community + culture. - People put a lot of effort into work, and work is becoming more transactional. No more "life-long employment with the buddies" kind of situation. - Americ…

> it's considered taboo to express a love of the USA American here. First-generation immigrant. Came from Germany at age 5. This misses a crucial part of the problem. It is considered taboo to express a love of the USA in certain social circles . In others, it is considered taboo not to express a love of the USA. The problem is that the two sides have very different ideas of what "loving the USA" means. Among the fir…

On your last point, the next line is literally “and to the Republic for which it stands”. Its just poetic license.

Re: The upstream cause of the youth mental health crisis is the loss of community

#243

Post by nineplay »

phil21 wrote: post #180
vegadw wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What frustrates me is that, it seems (Read as: the following is just my vibe) that the majority of 3rd places left are religious in nature, but I, personally, don't want to be religious or raise children that are. There are some options, of course, but they're limited and often of poor quality, at least locally. Libraries are trying to adapt to fill this gap, and maker spaces spring up but most don't have funding to…

The mad rush to as quickly abolish religious practices in mainstream U.S. culture without any form of societal replacement is puzzling to me. I am no fan of religion having grown up in an exceedingly religious environment. But it was always completely obvious to me even as a child that the primary purpose of religion was to form local communities and have others with shared values to rely on. We seem to be doing it w…

I understand what you mean, I grew up in a church with a youth group and group friends which I valued.

However I also grew up with constant anxiety about sin and hell. It still gets back to me when my insomnia is bad.

So churches and church membership aren't necessarily a net-positive. I too wish there was some sort of community my family could belong to. But I'm not taking my kids to church anytime soon.

Re: The upstream cause of the youth mental health crisis is the loss of community

#244

Post by mitthrowaway2 »

vegadw wrote: post #165
kelseyfrog wrote: post #82

Well, yes, we've doubled down on mediating social interactions through economic relationships. Most of the interactions adults have in their lives are with or in the framing of economic relations. Homes, are being invaded with tablets and mobile devices which bring along with them framing interactions as economic relations through ad and consumer frames. Workplaces are inherently settings of economic relations, and t…

What frustrates me is that, it seems (Read as: the following is just my vibe) that the majority of 3rd places left are religious in nature, but I, personally, don't want to be religious or raise children that are. There are some options, of course, but they're limited and often of poor quality, at least locally. Libraries are trying to adapt to fill this gap, and maker spaces spring up but most don't have funding to…

Libraries are a great place to be, enjoy, learn, and relax, but a terrible place to meet new people. You're not really supposed to talk, and most people don't go there expecting to interact with a stranger or strike up a conversation.

Re: The upstream cause of the youth mental health crisis is the loss of community

#245

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

I think it's less the lack of community, and more the lack of the ability to feel like you matter.

Before the world was globalized, anybody could do something that would stand out in their community.

On a global scale, virtually no one is good or big enough for anyone to care about.

It doesn't matter anymore if you're the best soprano in the choir or the best basketball player on your team. You need to be one of the best in the world. And that's not realistic.

Re: The upstream cause of the youth mental health crisis is the loss of community

#246

Post by hnpolicestate »

The articles thesis on loss of community plays a role but has always existed in some context depending upon the individuals location.

The primary cause (in my opinion) of the youth mental health crisis and falling happiness rates was the introduction of the smart phone. Blaming social media is a clever cop out, it's the actual device and inability of people to stop looking at it.

Totally abnormal to human life. Will we adapt to it over time? Possible, but many people will be lost along the way.

Re: The upstream cause of the youth mental health crisis is the loss of community

#247

Post by nradov »

BobaFloutist wrote: post #181
nradov wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's also a weird mistake among young people in thinking of Republicans versus Democrats as enemies to be shunned rather than the "loyal opposition" who just happen to have a different perspective. Becoming a political tribalist cuts out about half your social opportunities.

Agree to disagree. It's pretty hard, and often unrewarding, to bridge such fundamental divides in values.

It's not hard, it just requires compartmentalization. This is a skill that can be learned like any other, and brings rewards in many aspects of life. Give it a try.

And if you tune out the media and talk to ordinary Republicans and Democrats you'll usually find that there are few fundamental divides and that they mostly agree on the main points of political and economic philosophy. It's like Catholics and Protestants arguing over the fine points of Christian theology; those might seem important to fanatics but if you take a step back and look at the disputes from the perspective of, let's say, a Buddhist the differences seem trivial.

Re: The upstream cause of the youth mental health crisis is the loss of community

#248

Post by Wytwwww »

AlwaysRock wrote: post #227
phil21 wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The mad rush to as quickly abolish religious practices in mainstream U.S. culture without any form of societal replacement is puzzling to me. I am no fan of religion having grown up in an exceedingly religious environment. But it was always completely obvious to me even as a child that the primary purpose of religion was to form local communities and have others with shared values to rely on. We seem to be doing it w…

> he primary purpose of religion was to form local communities and have others with shared values to rely on I just don't think that is true for or to many, likely most, religious people. Community is an aspect but at its core it's a religion. You can't be a part of the community without believing, or at least pretending to believe, in the religion.

You can't because the only people remaining (or the overwhelming majority) in those communities are people who are actually religious and take the whole thing pretty seriously.

In the past (of course it depended on the exact time and place) occasionally going to church even if many treated it mostly as a formality was the default for most people. Even if you didn't, chances are that you couldn't ignore it entirely because you still had some links to the community surrounding it through family members, various organizations, events etc.

Re: The upstream cause of the youth mental health crisis is the loss of community

#249

Post by WorkerBee28474 »

Filligree wrote: post #203
phil21 wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The mad rush to as quickly abolish religious practices in mainstream U.S. culture without any form of societal replacement is puzzling to me. I am no fan of religion having grown up in an exceedingly religious environment. But it was always completely obvious to me even as a child that the primary purpose of religion was to form local communities and have others with shared values to rely on. We seem to be doing it w…

> The mad rush to as quickly abolish religious practices in mainstream U.S. culture without any form of societal replacement is puzzling to me. > I am no fan of religion having grown up in an exceedingly religious environment. But it was always completely obvious to me even as a child that the primary purpose of religion was to form local communities and have others with shared values to rely on. It is a problem, but…

> How do you square that with any sort of culture that values reality?

You examine all cultures and find that, despite their claims, none truly value reality. Then you choose to believe, or have experiences that lead you to believe, one that explicitly says that there is more to life than what you can see.

Re: The upstream cause of the youth mental health crisis is the loss of community

#250

Post by lisper »

arrosenberg wrote: post #242
lisper wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it's considered taboo to express a love of the USA American here. First-generation immigrant. Came from Germany at age 5. This misses a crucial part of the problem. It is considered taboo to express a love of the USA in certain social circles . In others, it is considered taboo not to express a love of the USA. The problem is that the two sides have very different ideas of what "loving the USA" means. Among the fir…

On your last point, the next line is literally “and to the Republic for which it stands”. Its just poetic license.

Well, yeah, but it seems to put the emphasis in the wrong place, with the republic being an afterthought, secondary to the symbol.

Also, being asked to pledge allegiance to anything as a minor seems weird and wrong to me. IMHO it undermines the whole concept of pledging allegiance, which should be an informed choice, not a ritualistic indoctrination.

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