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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

#541

Post by titanomachy »

captnObvious wrote: post #214
LorenzoGood wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a person in that age bracket, I don't feel like my peers and I are lacking in opportunities to participate in drug & alcohol use. As to why I choose to abstain, I honestly am just not interested in drinking or doing drugs. I don't see any benefit to it socially, since I have more fun with my friends doing things while they are sober, and I don't want to be one of those adults that can't socialize without it. Also,…

This is what I’m thinking. All of the kids I know from 16-22 are the most level headed group of young adults I’ve known. It is hilarious to me that this group of brilliant technologists leans so heavily towards seeing the absolute worst in every data point. Could it be that, kids are doing less drugs because they’re more informed, less bored, and less reckless than previous generations? We all aspire that our kids wi…

My experience is similar. The young people I know don’t seem to struggle any more or less with social media addiction than my peers. But there’s selection bias: I only get to meet young people who are very engaged in their careers or in their (non-online) interests.

Teen suicide rates have almost doubled since the iPhone came out, so I think there’s something real going on here even if it’s not visible to us.

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#543

Post by immibis »

MikeRichardson wrote: post #487
athrowaway3z wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does replace a demand of people who want to mellow out. The same tech completely disrupts how drug-use spreads as well. There is nobody to offer a first hit if you're hanging out online. --- Though I would caution taking tech as _the_ cause. Things like demographics and the general zeitgeist shouldn't be ignored. Maybe the kids are really into DARE.

> There is nobody to offer a first hit if you're hanging out online. Silk Road/etc.?

don't pretend that's the same thing

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#544

Post by immibis »

HPsquared wrote: post #130
crtified wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine that, for the young people of the world, the Covid years really ripped away the illusion that the adults of the world are in competent control. To a degree that modern generations (from otherwise relatively stable, wealthy countries) have never experienced. While there are other major factors clearly contributing to the generational angst, I think this was the catalyst. I wonder how the economics stack up,…

See also: anyone who lived through the decline and fall of the USSR.

> He says everyone in the Soviet Union knew the system was failing, but no one could imagine any alternative to the status quo, and politicians and citizens alike were resigned to maintaining the pretense of a functioning society. Over time, the mass delusion became a self-fulfilling prophecy, with everyone accepting it as the new norm rather than pretence, an effect Yurchak termed hypernormalisation.

(Wikipedia: HyperNormalisation#Etymology)

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#545

Post by WalterBright »

beedeebeedee wrote: post #524
WalterBright wrote: post #498

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happened with the tremendous social spending by the government?

Government spending is not a panacea for structural economic issues

That money is handed to the poor.

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#546

Post by bryananderson »

logicchains wrote: post #10

Presumably it's related to increased conservatism in gen Z males: https://www.axios.com/2024/09/28/gen-z-men-conservative-poll . Conservatives generally have more negative attitudes to drug use.

Attitudes are not the same thing as behaviors. Source: I’m from a really red state with a higher rate of overdose deaths than California

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#547

Post by dehrmann »

speakfreely wrote: post #391
_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…

First-time home buyers are getting squeezed by a combination of peaking market forces, but those forces are peaking and we're probably seeing the worst of it at this moment [1]. It will get better. [1] https://unchartedterritories.tomaspueyo.com/p/why-i-dont-inv...

Boomers can't say in their four-bedroom homes forever.

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#548

Post by nickpsecurity »

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…

Watch people on their phones just endlessly watching, scrolling, clicking… little actually being done. It’s mostly a series of tiny high’s the apps, esp games and social media, are designed to generate. People also experience withdrawal-like symptoms when they go cold turkey on it.

Technological media is definitely like a drug in many cases. Not all or for all people but often. It also lets others influence your mind for selfish reasons. Between the two, it’s a good idea to both be selective and limit it.

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#549

Post by aniviacat »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #362
cluckindan wrote: post #357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

”My 13 year old and his buddies socialize online, period.” Nothing new under the sun. Me and my friends were like that 30 something years ago.

It's a different beast, these days, though. Back then, only "nerds" socialized online. Nowadays, everyone does it. I'm of two minds about this. On one hand, I'm really glad that kids aren't screwing up their formative years. Drug use during growing/development years can wreck someone's life. The issue is that, if you are an addict (which is different from physical addiction. Many addicts never get physically addicted…

> if you are an addict [...] then you'll eventually have problems with drugs

Do I understand you correctly that you're saying that people addicted to smartphones in their youth will (more likely) become drug addicts in adulthood?

What makes you think that people don't just continue being addicted to phones as adults (instead of doing drugs)?

Re: Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

#550

Post by dehrmann »

throwameme wrote: post #392
sznio wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the financial crisis was just financial. 9/11 or war on terror was just behind a tv screen. covid was actually something everyone felt personally - not just empathized with through media. I feel like I just started recovering mentally from the lockdowns - all my college years eaten up by them.

i am just old enough to have experienced 9/11 when i was in elementary school. it was a similar change to society to how covid screwed everything when i was a child, there was no security in airports. like literally NONE. you could walk in and buy a flight with physical cash. if you wanted an international flight, there was a metal detector like you might find in a night club government ID and drivers licence did not…

Sounds like you were born around 93, but a lot of the things you're saying weren't the case in 2000. Airports had metal detectors and xrayed carry-ons well before 2000, and drivers licenses also had photos on them around that time. What you're describing is more 1990 than 2000.
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