Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

judiciary.senate.gov

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

601–610 of 1001 posts

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

#601

Post by randomsearch »

My succinct explanation for this: “social media extends the school social environment into the home.”

Whilst I believe social media is bad for everyone’s health (the unethical manipulation of users by the social media companies), the reason it is so so terrible for teenagers is it removes any possibility of escape for the horrendous “Lord of the flies” that is high school.

If I hadn’t been able to escape that environment each evening, I very much doubt I would still be here. And I wasn’t suffering anywhere near as much as many people I knew.

High school is a terrible idea, and social media extends and amplifies the horrible behaviours it engenders.

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

#602

Post by ejb999 »

randomdata wrote: post #518
ejb999 wrote: post #496

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>a mountain of debt right after graduation Average debt upon graduation is approx. $31K, less than the cost of a mid-grade car. I would not call that 'a mountain', and unlike a car which will rapidly depreciate in a very short amount of time, getting a decent college degree will pay dividends throughout your life in increased earnings power. According to govt estimates, the average lifetime earnings difference betwe…

> and unlike a car which will rapidly depreciate in a very short amount of time If you think a car rapidly depreciates, try reselling your degree. You might be in for a shock. Winner: The car. > getting a decent college degree will pay dividends throughout your life in increased earnings power. The data says otherwise. Wages have held stagnant through the rise of post-secondary schooling. You can't both have increase…

>>try reselling your degree.

Why would you sell your degree?

>>The data says otherwise

No it doesn't - stop making stuff up

but it sounds like in your case, you are not well suited for college - you should buy a car instead. Uber is always looking for drivers.

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

#603

Post by navjack27 »

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 completely agree with it being an education problem and like... I treat my YouTube watching or online media watching in a way where I would make fun of myself if I allowed myself to be controlled by the thing so I don't allow myself to put myself in situations where I would mock myself if that makes any remote sense. I think it's silly to not be in control of the things that I feed myself digitally or otherwise. It is a state to be mocked. I don't want to call myself "some dumb nerd" so I don't allow myself to be called that by acting dumb. It sounds really maybe abusive but it might be a way to get under the skin of your child if you don't warn them about these things in a soft kind manner but in a way like "you wanna look like a dork with no control? You know while your friends do this stuff but like they don't have control. Don't you want control? Isn't that why you are watching this stuff? Because you have anxiety and you don't have control over things? So , why don't you take control and not watch the things that all of these devices and services serve you and go do something a whole lot better with your time?"

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

#604

Post by dcolkitt »

sofixa wrote: post #256
rendall wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

The worst plausible forecast is that climate change will impair global GDP by 25% relative to baseline by 2200 years.

Even assuming anemic 1% GDP per capita growth rates, the average world citizen will still nearly twice as wealthy as today even given worse case climate scenarios.

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

#605

Post by formerkrogemp »

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…

> Unpopular opinion: Social media is a great scapegoat, but it is not the source of the problem.

People whose livelihood depends on social media don't want the culpability of their company's work. C'est le monde.

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

#606

Post by antisinguIarity »

adrianN wrote: post #577
antisinguIarity wrote: post #438

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's funny how people don't associate the endless stream of shiny gadgets they own, that are stuffed full with the latest and greatest in rare minerals, with the destruction of the ecosystem. Just to pick a recent-ish story at random: https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/nickel-deforestation

Buying a smartphone every year or two absolutely pales in comparison with having to rent a poorly insulated flat that is heated with oil in a city that forces you to own a car to get to work in a country that mostly burns coal and gas for electricity. Individual choices can only save a small part of your emissions. Blaming individuals for problems that need state policy is an effective tool of fossil fuel interest gr…

Ah so I'm a shill for the fossil fuel industry, because I believe in the power of individual choices? Fantastic. FWIW I had made no mention of emissions - I was talking purely about destruction of the ecosystem (which was the phrase used in the parent comment). I believe that (in some cases, deliberately) ignoring those impacts of our consumer habits makes us in the West the greatest force for planetary destruction. It won't matter if the planet is a few degrees warmer in a few decades, if there are no trees left.

The embodied energy of a person's collection of tech absolutely does sit in the same ballpark as heating and transportation energy costs. Once you've added up your smartwatch, phone, laptop, tv, monitors, etc, I wouldn't be surprised if it was about the same energy as that required to heat your home for a year.

PS. Move. There are plenty of places.

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

#607

Post by _aavaa_ »

Shadonototra wrote: post #586
Loughla wrote: post #557

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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…

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

I don't think that's true at all. Facebook and tiktok are bad for you in their own ways and I'd be willing to bet that many of the people who rail against TikTok's detrimental effects railed and continue to rail against Facebook.

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

#608

Post by rapind »

raxxorraxor wrote: post #589
rapind wrote: post #554

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 pa…

Absolutely. Best we can do is try to gradually prepare them for the horrific (/s) things they will be exposed to. I constantly worry they are too isolated from danger these days to be honest (compared to my childhood).

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

#609

Post by chimen »

Shadonototra wrote: post #586
Loughla wrote: post #557

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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…

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

The issue is being taken care of don't worry, no excuses, straight from the root.

> 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

I am not. She has whatsapp, youtube, meets, games and a healthy digital presence with her friends and colleagues. I just weed out crap that she is not prepared for, the addictive one.

I do not find here prepared, at 10 years of age, to deal with crap like likes, followers, reactions, views or other meaningless measurements that put thousands into mental hospitals.

Post reply on HN