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]

#381

Post by adrianN » Thu, May 05, 2022, 9:20 AM UTC

parineum wrote: post #345

graeme wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of that list is pure fact: Multiple major recessions —> 2008 was biggest since 1929. Dunno about multiple a global pandemic —> this happened and is still happening rising inflation —> objectively true. Though I suspect the oncoming recession will quash it as in 2008 housing and education getting more expensive by the day —> huge house and education price increases in past decade, far outstripping inflation pros…

> political extremism becoming the norm —> It definitely increased on both sides Recent generations have seen multiple political assassinations and bombings. When was the last time you saw a fire hose and dogs used to clear protestors? Tribalism is on the rise, extremism and violence are not.

For example G20 in Hamburg, a couple of years ago https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAtZThq2BLw.

But I don't think this is the kind of extremism they meant. There is a worrying trend, especially in the US, to try and block whatever the other side is doing, just because it's the other side that's doing it. People retreat into their filter bubbles and have increasingly less contact to real people with differing opinions. The divide between urban and rural opinions is steadily growing.

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

#382

Post by tremon » Thu, May 05, 2022, 9:23 AM UTC

moistly wrote: post #236

mjevans wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A child born in the 80s is lucky to still have living parents today, and if they have living grandparents they were probably reluctant to speak to the child during the years both could understand the conversation. Also I don't think those dates quite line up. A better estimate is the range of 20 to 33 (ish) years for most families (I personally would like to hope some start later but kind of doubt this offhand...) Be…

> A child born in the 80s is lucky to still have living parents today Wut?! Born in 1966 here, still have living parents. Ditto for my wife. Where do you live that parents are lucky to make it past their sixties? And where grandparents shun their grandkiddies? Such bizarre claims!

To counter your anecdata with mine:

Born in 1982, lost the last remaining grandparent when I was 12. Lost my father five years ago, luckily my mother is still in good health.

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

#383

Post by Tenoke » Thu, May 05, 2022, 9:23 AM UTC

bambax wrote: post #319

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…

Mmm, what? The things you are listing don't concern "teenagers" in their young teens, at all. They start being a problem for young adults, maybe. The study in question debates young teens, ages 11-13 and 13-15, well before college. In my experience as a parent of young teens, while they're sensitive to climate issues and of course "suffered" [1] during the pandemic, they aren't politicized, don't care about house pri…

>What they do know is what TikTok is, and what it means to be excluded from a Whatsapp group, and to spend hours each day wondering how they should reply to a perceived slight on some Discord channel.

>I successfully forbid FB, Instagram, Snapchat..

If exclusion is what you believe is causing them to be unhappy then forcing them to be excluded seems like an almost sadistic (though likely just misguided) response. I definitely hated when my parents did things like that.

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

#384

Post by ejb999 » Thu, May 05, 2022, 9:24 AM UTC

msrenee wrote: post #377

moonchrome wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I was told repeatedly starting at probably 12 years old that I'd never see my social security benefits pay out. Probably before that too, but I distinctly remember it around middle school. It was very similar to what the comment you're replying to describes. Just because you're not planning your retirement doesn't mean you're not picking up on cues from people who are.

I was told that as well 40-45 years ago, and yet, here we are 40+ years later and lo-and-behold it is still paying benefits.

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

#385

Post by tremon » Thu, May 05, 2022, 9:26 AM UTC

hycaria wrote: post #297

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…

I don’t know, I see girls obsessing over their image, grown women obsessing over their image, selfies taken everywhere all the time just to show one’s face…

selfies taken everywhere all the time just to show one’s face…

Ironically, most selfies don't (accurately) show one's face. Digitally "enhancing" photos is the norm now, so much so that most selfies have become caricatures to me.

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

#386

Post by bambax » Thu, May 05, 2022, 9:29 AM UTC

Tenoke wrote: post #383

bambax wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mmm, what? The things you are listing don't concern "teenagers" in their young teens, at all. They start being a problem for young adults, maybe. The study in question debates young teens, ages 11-13 and 13-15, well before college. In my experience as a parent of young teens, while they're sensitive to climate issues and of course "suffered" [1] during the pandemic, they aren't politicized, don't care about house pri…

>What they do know is what TikTok is, and what it means to be excluded from a Whatsapp group, and to spend hours each day wondering how they should reply to a perceived slight on some Discord channel. >I successfully forbid FB, Instagram, Snapchat.. If exclusion is what you believe is causing them to be unhappy then forcing them to be excluded seems like an almost sadistic (though likely just misguided) response. I d…

Sorry, my language is unclear. What I meant by "excluded" was "fired": to be a member of a Whatsapp group and they be fired from the group.

As they have zero access to FB, Instagram and Snapchat they can't be fired from those.

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

#387

Post by msrenee » Thu, May 05, 2022, 9:31 AM UTC

maeln wrote: post #258

moonchrome wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 abou…

I don't know if it's a useful data point, but my sister made me a Facebook profile when I was 16. I never really gave a crap about it and would read a few posts maybe every other month or so and use the poke feature back and forth with friends because texting cost money. I was active on forums specific to my hobbies and that was honestly the extent of my social media use until the last couple months when I figured out I could just join local groups and hobby groups and continue to bullshit with people about aquarium fish and learn about local events. I had my first severe bout with depression shortly before I turned 16. I think it was actually a few months before I got that Facebook profile. It's been an ongoing struggle with anxiety and depression ever since. Recently, I found a balance of meds, mindfulness, and a fulfilling job and the symptoms are finally what I would consider to be minimal.

I was super active on reddit though from late college until recently. People go back and forth on whether that's social media, but it definitely didn't help me. Short memes about how awful the world is, you could look at 100 an hour and ruminate for 3 more how messed up the world is. Stories of injustice, both real events and creative writing projects, were available by the dozens. Find something you want to be outraged by and join the sub because it feels good to feel irate with other people.

Again, my mental health took a nosedive years before I got on reddit. But having that echo chamber where the world is terrible and we're all getting taken advantage of was definitely not helpful either.

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

#388

Post by watwut » Thu, May 05, 2022, 9:32 AM UTC

twayt wrote: post #375

watwut wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That table shows "Serious Mental Illness" and does not show 1 in 4 girls being diagnozed in any age range.

I don't know if you actually looked at the link in this post. The 1 in 4 number is from the original study linked in this post. Girls and boys refer specifically to females and males under 18.

I looked at tables you referenced and compared them with what you say is in them.

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

#389

Post by watwut » Thu, May 05, 2022, 9:34 AM UTC

refurb wrote: post #353

watwut wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Massive issue here is that I did not seen anyone say "grand-grandparents had it easy". Especially not, I have not seen anyone in places affected with above say that. What I have seen is American 20-40 years old saying boomers had it easier. Boomers were not affected by any of the above, they were born after WWII. If you was born in 1900, you would be 122 years old now.

1950's - Korean war (either boomer or their parents), Berlin wall 1960's - Vietnam War draft, terrorist bombings in the US, race riots, Cuba missile crisis, ramping up the cold war 1970's - Oil embargo, massive (stag)-flation, "general malaise" 1980's - Recession, airline hijackings, multiple mid-East wars 1990's - Gulf war, another recession, leading up to massive tech bubble and crash If you want to be stressed and…

And here, you assume everyone was affected by all of those ... which is unlikely. For overwhelming majority of people, multiple of these are happening in distant places and don't affect them all that much.

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

#390

Post by mellavora » Thu, May 05, 2022, 9:36 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.

You missed the point. The teenagers are not thinking about their pension, they are thinking that

- they must pay 20-30% of their income, over their entire life, for other people's pension,

- they do not get a pension themself,

- the people whose pension they must pay have screwed them on multiple "quality of life" issues