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]

#581

Post by datavirtue » Thu, May 05, 2022, 1:29 PM UTC

trey-jones wrote: post #564

Spooky23 wrote: post #529

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ll counter that with the caveat that my kids are grade 5 and younger. We’re very involved in school and other activities - my wife is a PTO president and long time member, I coach youth sports and other community type programs. The kids we have seen mostly don’t engage with social media directly. But the ones who transition from cute 5-6 year olds to problematic 10-12 year olds have a key common factor. Tablets. Yo…

I think there are probably a multitude of factors, and both social media and too much generic screen time both are unhealthy in quantity. Many things are unhealthy in quantity after all. My oldest is 12, for context. Another factor that I think is really important is that I observe a lot of kids aren't given any responsibility at all. A lot of parents are control freaks. After all, it's easier for me to just do it my…

After my son (19) got a regular job I noticed a much better disposition and level of responsibility. He was in college for a year and got tired of it and wanted to work. His life was mostly video games before that...zero social media.

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

#582

Post by adrianN » Thu, May 05, 2022, 1:29 PM UTC

snikeris wrote: post #495

mschuster91 wrote: post #394

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Perhaps it's social media that makes that they are either too aware of it or simply mention it more often. Or rather, they see how historically threats were dealt with: lead was banned, CFCs were banned, sulphur in fuel was banned - in short, environmental threats were met with decisive action. And then they see how scientists have warned for decades now about climate change and they can clearly see that nothing ha…

Perhaps the threats that were met with decisive action were better understood. What decisive actions should be taken in this case?

https://www.drawdown.org/solutions for example

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

#583

Post by djoldman » Thu, May 05, 2022, 1:29 PM UTC

There seems to be a lot of room for controversy when the subject is something that is infeasible to measure due to required sample size, difficulty of recruiting human subjects, and multicollinearity of features.

Because of the above, the language of suggestion ("associated with" or "correlated with") dominates these studies.

The underlying problem is one of separation: the studies do not say that social media use causes "plummeting teen mental health," nor do they say that social media use alone affects teen mental health.

There are some interesting conclusions by the cited studies however:

> The 12-month prevalence of major depressive episodes (MDEs) increased from 8.7% in 2005 to 11.3% in 2014 in adolescents and from 8.8% to 9.6% in young adults (both P > Rates of major depressive episode in the last year increased 52% 2005–2017 (from 8.7% to 13.2%) among adolescents aged 12 to 17 and 63% 2009–2017 (from 8.1% to 13.2%) among young adults 18–25. Serious psychological distress in the last month and suicide-related outcomes (suicidal ideation, plans, attempts, and deaths by suicide) in the last year also increased among young adults 18–25 from 2008–2017 (with a 71% increase in serious psychological distress), with less consistent and weaker increases among adults ages 26 and over. [1]

[0] https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article-abstract/138...

[1] https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/abn-abn0000410.pd...

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

#584

Post by gilbetron » Thu, May 05, 2022, 1:29 PM UTC

radarsat1 wrote: post #502

indymike wrote: post #481

Unpopular opinion: Social media is a great scapegoat, but it is not the source of the problem. It is where they go to communicate and cope. My sole qualification to post this: I have four kids that are either teens or in their early 20s, and one who will be a teen next year. Here is what I see out there: 1. Kids have little or no slack in their schedule. This means very little freedom, and very little time to work th…

> Diversity is good, but being ____ is bad. Can you fill in the blank? I actually have no idea what you are referring to here.

As an example from my son, a 13 year old white kid, gave me is that if you have one of the "diversity cards" (minority, LGBQT+, female sometimes, or some other thing) than you get to joke and talk in a way than those that don't have such a card. So his friends that are gay or black or indian or disabled are able to tease each other about it and have more liberty to use terms that my son is not allowed to. The gay kid can joke with the indian kid about wearing a turban (they are middle schoolers, their understanding of life is still a bit shaky) or whatever. My son is on the bottom of the pack for all of that. We talk about it and we're still working through the fairness of the situation. He's an empathic kid, and is decently informed for his age, so he gets it, but it also sucks to grow up in a world of "bias is wrong except against white people and especially against white males".

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

#585

Post by carlgreene » Thu, May 05, 2022, 1:32 PM 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…

> Teens are aware that they are going to inherit a pretty terrible world, and are powerless to do anything about it.

Maybe this is the actual problem. Teens are being told the world is terrible by pessimists when there truly hasn’t been a better time to be alive.

The world is amazing and beautiful. Of course there are atrocities, there always are, but the developed world is living a pretty amazing life. Even the poor relatively speaking.

Teens only thing they are going to inherit a terrible world because adults (and media) tell them the world is terrible. Stop the nonsense negativity and give the youth confidence to solve some of the harder problems humans face.

If someone lives a sad life and projects that on to the youth then that person is the problem. Kids are incredibly impressionable and impressing them with your knowledge about atrocities in the world does no good for their psychie

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

#586

Post by Shadonototra » Thu, May 05, 2022, 1:33 PM UTC

Loughla wrote: post #557

Shadonototra wrote: post #534

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I had to fight with my daughter for TikTok and whatnot, she is only allowed with YouTube due to school/tutorials/classes etc this is very bad, the problem is not tiktok, she finds an escape thanks to tiktok, don't remove that from her talk to her, talk to her teacher if she doesn't have problems at school with other kids > Our kids are being milked of their time, attention, imagination, focus and money. The majorit…

>that's an education problem, it is your fault, not theirs or some apps Honestly, do you think parents are able to effectively counter literal billion-dollar companies that pour resources into making sure their apps are engaging (read: addictive)? How? We've taken a hard-line stance with our kids and have explained/educated them on every aspect of social media, attention, and addictive programs. And we're still losin…

> Honestly, do you think parents are able to effectively counter literal billion-dollar companies that pour resources into making sure their apps are engaging (read: addictive)? How?

not by trying to put the fault on them or dodging the issue by finding excuses

if you ban tiktok today, tomorrow will appear a new one, embrace them for what they are, social communication mediums, and educate your kids with the problems and how they can avoid them, and to contact you in case they face them

the reason they are finding an escape through them and not thought you is because you are hostile to the way they communicate with their friends, and if you add the pandemic to the bags, it is easy to understand why they are using it more often

trying to push an agenda, and using "teen mental health" as an excuse is disgusting

student loan, much deadlier, and nobody gives a shit

facebook? deadlier from 7 to 77, and nobody gives a shit, but tiktok? all of a sudden, it's the evil ;)

because you can't spread your propaganda? politic or commercial? how sad! teens and young adult too busy spreading positivity on tiktok, we must fight!

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

#587

Post by hilbert42 » Thu, May 05, 2022, 1:33 PM UTC

7952 wrote: post #470

hilbert42 wrote: post #414

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not denying that those issues all contribute to the problem. However, teenagers had a terrible, rotten time during WWII - bombs on cites, constant threat of military service, parents and elder brothers killed in war, one's country being invaded, etc. yet on the whole most never suffered these mental health issues. The difference is striking Somehow, they had stamina and resilience that today's teenagers don't hav…

I think WWII could actually be quite a fun time to be alive for young people on the home front in the UK (and maybe N America). They had much more social freedom, often worked in groups with other young people, and had a sense of purpose, unity and camaraderie. The future was uncertain, but their own role was much clearer. And rationing even meant that people were getting fed properly. The modern world is brilliant a…

" Why do the richest most stable countries feels so insecure?"

This is the question I keep asking myself. There seems to any number of answers but I'm not sure we've any definitive ones as yet. If we had then we ought to be able to do something about it. Perhaps the uncertainty of not knowing is the cause.

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

#588

Post by m1nz1 » Thu, May 05, 2022, 1:34 PM UTC

I presume all the people defending the lords of society's attention are either on payroll or domineered themselves?

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

#589

Post by raxxorraxor » Thu, May 05, 2022, 1:35 PM UTC

rapind wrote: post #554

raxxorraxor wrote: post #524

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The stakes are too high. View the wrong website on your chromebook and get referred to law enforcement Whoever implemented the surveillance of children should burn in hell. Since that probably doesn't exist the next prison with strong similarities should be chosen. You teach them that this kind of 24/7 surveillance is normal and I think they have enough problems with peer pressure through social media. You also tea…

> I could understand it until age 10 perhaps but at some point you want your kids to be independent. There's surveillance (parental supervision) and then there's "surveillance" (corporate psycos / overbearing governments). You want your kids to learn independence in a gradual and some what safe / controlled way (not too safe of course). There are still some things I don't want them exposed to at age 10. Unfortunately…

I agree completely, but blocking access is something different than surveilling their every click. At some point children will look at content the parents don't approve off and for many that can be important. You probably just have to remind yourself of your own childhood. Perhaps a few years longer than 10 stronger supervision is needed, granted, but at some point children profit from a little distance from their parents.

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

#590

Post by chimen » Thu, May 05, 2022, 1:35 PM UTC

Shadonototra wrote: post #534

chimen wrote: post #465

Ofc it is plummeting. We are letting them install apps that have people behind them with the sole job of making them more addictive. We are handing them drugs, multiple variants if I may say so. I had to fight with my daughter for TikTok and whatnot, she is only allowed with YouTube due to school/tutorials/classes etc and I still find myself pretty often having to snap her out of shorts and other bs with an algorithm…

> I had to fight with my daughter for TikTok and whatnot, she is only allowed with YouTube due to school/tutorials/classes etc this is very bad, the problem is not tiktok, she finds an escape thanks to tiktok, don't remove that from her talk to her, talk to her teacher if she doesn't have problems at school with other kids > Our kids are being milked of their time, attention, imagination, focus and money. The majorit…

I'm happily willing to show you a multitude of heroin/cocaine/meth/[insert other drug here] which were very well educated, schooled and taken care of - stop putting education that high. Addiction is not an escape. There are many forms an "escape" can take and TikTok is not one that I'm willing to accept because it creates addiction, one that is intelligently designed to eat her free time WHOLE so no, I will not take your advice on it. She can "escape" with a bike, with friends outside, with her dogs, with her drawings, dressing, swimming, snowboarding or many other healthy things she was taught to.