Teen mental health is plummeting and social media is a major contributing cause [pdf] • Hacker News Board

Re: Teen mental health is plummeting and social media is a major contributing cause [pdf]

#251

Post by melomal » Thu, May 05, 2022, 6:58 AM UTC

paxys wrote: post #68

Social media definitely amplifies it, but consider the economic and social environment that teenagers have lived through their entire lives. Multiple major recessions, a global pandemic, rising inflation, housing and education getting more expensive by the day, prospect of a mountain of debt right after graduation, climate that will be unlivable in a few decades, political extremism becoming the norm, and massive gov…

History tends to repeat itself and there have been many, many situations much worse than what we have experienced due to poor hygiene, health, inequality in wealth and so on. Kids working in factories from young ages just to make a couple of pennies for a loaf of bread, then being beaten at home and school.

It almost feels like people are completely unaware of various pandemics that wiped out millions, trial by fire and witch hunts and so on. Better yet, the economy has never been better compared to many previous years in the last century and more.

The only major difference has been the advent of social media.

Re: Teen mental health is plummeting and social media is a major contributing cause [pdf]

#252

Post by betwixthewires » Thu, May 05, 2022, 6:58 AM UTC

Social media cannot be blamed. Parents are the only ones to blame.

I grew up while MTV had music videos playing. There were mascara wearing men talking about slitting their wrists and there were tough looking black men talking about killing people in the street. Some people imitated that. Some parents turned it off.

If you give your kid access to anything and everything the world has to offer, including every manner of degenerate and pedophile, you allow your daughters in their most vulnerable years to be taught all manner of unhealthy social proving mechanisms, you get unhealthy people. It really is that simple. There are brothels in the world too, you don't blame the brothel when a kid grows up in there.

Raise your kids and quit listening to people that tell you it's unethical to decide how to do that, and quit making excuses and blaming the world for jot doing it.

Re: Teen mental health is plummeting and social media is a major contributing cause [pdf]

#253

Post by DSingularity » Thu, May 05, 2022, 6:59 AM UTC

betwixthewires wrote: post #252

Social media cannot be blamed. Parents are the only ones to blame. I grew up while MTV had music videos playing. There were mascara wearing men talking about slitting their wrists and there were tough looking black men talking about killing people in the street. Some people imitated that. Some parents turned it off. If you give your kid access to anything and everything the world has to offer, including every manner…

Oh. Turn the tv off? Please, do tell — how shall we turn off social media?

Re: Teen mental health is plummeting and social media is a major contributing cause [pdf]

#254

Post by trophycase » Thu, May 05, 2022, 7:00 AM UTC

dr_dshiv wrote: post #159

thorncorona wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does that make it any less true though? It causes people to change how they act. Political activism among youth seems to be quite high. Perhaps for the better.

> Political activism among youth seems to be quite high. Perhaps for the better. Or sometimes for the worse. I can see how engagement in politics or disengagement from politics could both negatively impact mental health. Personally, I found it very difficult to “be on Facebook” and watch friends and family politicize. I can see how political engagement can be a coping mechanism but I can also see how it can be a sour…

Modern politics is the epitome of toxic, getting angry about things you have almost no control over whatsoever. Imagine spending so much of your life and mental energy trying to change the unchangeable.

Re: Teen mental health is plummeting and social media is a major contributing cause [pdf]

#255

Post by odessacubbage » Thu, May 05, 2022, 7:01 AM UTC

tristor wrote: post #137

twayt wrote: post #83

Figure 2 that shows the rates of major depression among boys and girls is shocking. 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 10 boys have been diagnosed with major depression. I wonder what the distribution is of others who haven't been diagnosed or deal with depression to a lower degree. Something that may be surprising to some people is that this trend isn't limited to boys and girls. From data collected in 2019/2020, 30% of people a…

> This number is skewed heavily towards women too All of the data I've seen on the mental health crisis in the West seems to indicate that it hits women harder than men. I have yet to see an explanation for why, though. Does anyone know of any articles that thoroughly cover this gender split in mental health and why this particular issue is more predominantly affecting women?

could it be that women are more likely to seek treatment for mental illness? also to the degree that mental illnesses are gender variant, some are more pro social and less subject to stigma than others.

Re: Teen mental health is plummeting and social media is a major contributing cause [pdf]

#256

Post by sofixa » Thu, May 05, 2022, 7:01 AM UTC

rendall wrote: post #237

paxys wrote: post #68

Social media definitely amplifies it, but consider the economic and social environment that teenagers have lived through their entire lives. Multiple major recessions, a global pandemic, rising inflation, housing and education getting more expensive by the day, prospect of a mountain of debt right after graduation, climate that will be unlivable in a few decades, political extremism becoming the norm, and massive gov…

> Teens are aware that they are going to inherit a pretty terrible world With respect, I truly mean no insult when I say this is a naive and ignorant position. By every measure, the world is generally better than it has ever been. Far better than any decade in the past you could care to name. Despite media doom-and-glooming, there is every reason to expect that teens will inherit an overall materially better world th…

Climate change drastically changes that equation. Not only will life expectancy go down, but life itself will probably become harder for many people in many places - droughts, heat waves, floodings, hunger and famine, mass migration, etc.

Re: Teen mental health is plummeting and social media is a major contributing cause [pdf]

#257

Post by TedDoesntTalk » Thu, May 05, 2022, 7:01 AM UTC

irrational wrote: post #163

spencerchubb wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the mental health crisis is exacerbated by other stressors, how does that explain the following? 1) The crisis started suddenly in 2009, 2) It affects girls far more, and 3) It is occurring in many countries. Haidt brings up those points in the testimony to rule out other factors and prove that social media is specifically to blame.

2009? You mean right after the 2008 housing bubble burst and the recession set in?

The trend didn’t recover unlike the recession. It only got worse.

Re: Teen mental health is plummeting and social media is a major contributing cause [pdf]

#258

Post by maeln » Thu, May 05, 2022, 7:01 AM UTC

moonchrome wrote: post #196

Semaphor wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Situation wrt to teen mental health is similar in Europe, but there's a much smaller graduation debt. We have other issues here, though (speaking for the situation in Germany). I’m quite some time out of my teens at 36, but for many years now I’ve been told that all that tax (technically not a tax) I pay for my pension will not result in me getting any meaningful pension. For people who are currently teenagers it p…

You think teenagers are thinking about pensions... If they are they are probably already having mental issues because that's not something someone pre 20s should be concerned about. People in this thread need to stop projecting their problems and worldviews as universal social issues.

Idk but in France, when I was still a teenager, it was not that uncommon to talk/joke about the fact that we will never be able to retire. In high school, most of my classmate already started to have a political conscience and where thinking about this kind of stuff. Same with the environment.

We already had social media at the time (mostly facebook) and yes, I won't deny that there was already something anxious about feeling pressured to always show yourself/self yourself to other. When I look at Instagram today, I feel like it got even worse.

But, as someone still under their 30's, I think we shouldn't also deny what the original commenter said. In the case of Europe (and in my case France), we have seen the come back of extreme conservatism in politics, the slow decay of our public services, the inability for politician to make important decision for the environment, the idea that we will never retire/have a pension (which is not necessarily true but is definitely a strong belief), the imbalance in wealth creeping higher and higher every year, home ownership becoming harder and harder ... Whereas the generation of my parent (those from the 60's-70's) had, in general, a more positive/peaceful outlook on the future, I find that my generation and those younger that me tend to be more skeptical, if not negative.

I really think that the current mental health issues are a combination of multiple factors and that social media is just one (but maybe a big one) of those factor.

Re: Teen mental health is plummeting and social media is a major contributing cause [pdf]

#259

Post by sedeki » Thu, May 05, 2022, 7:03 AM UTC

betwixthewires wrote: post #252

Social media cannot be blamed. Parents are the only ones to blame. I grew up while MTV had music videos playing. There were mascara wearing men talking about slitting their wrists and there were tough looking black men talking about killing people in the street. Some people imitated that. Some parents turned it off. If you give your kid access to anything and everything the world has to offer, including every manner…

I grew up similarly, and I've come to the same conclusion!

Re: Teen mental health is plummeting and social media is a major contributing cause [pdf]

#260

Post by sweetbitter » Thu, May 05, 2022, 7:03 AM UTC

nsenifty wrote: post #200

carlivar wrote: post #71

Working for Facebook/Meta, Snapchat, TikTok, etc. is today's equivalent of working for a tobacco company.

Why not add cellphone manufacturers? If social media is equivalent of tobacco, the cellphone is the pipe/cigarette/ .

You don't need to run social media software for leisure. My phone is an expensive paperweight that remains off/home most of the time...