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

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

#701

Post by s1artibartfast »

eldaisfish wrote: post #691
carlgreene wrote: post #649

Teens are being told the world is terrible by pessimists when there truly hasn’t been a better time to be alive. How do you expect them to feel? This is amplified on social media and shown with "proof" from all corners of the world. We've evolved from a place where hearing about bad news from the tribe was an advantage. It allowed us to adjust our life to take into account risks _seen_ by other folks in the tribe. On…

this ignores the harsh realities for life as a young person in the west. Sure, they are not scrounging for food nor is there widespread famine but politics is increasingly polarised. There is a climate problem looming and the youngest will deal with it, western citizens or otherwise. Economies are tanking, job markets are topsy turvy not to mention the real estate problem in a lot of western countries. These problems…

There is the matter of proportionality. There are challenges and problems, some worse than prior generations and some better.

Putting the comparison aside. It is not healthy or helpful to teach children that they are doomed, the situation is hopeless, and their their future is destined to be miserable.

I wouldn't tell my child "your life will suck, and you would be better off dead" every morning when they wake up. Pessimists preach this, and children believe it.

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

#702

Post by glitcher »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #120
FFRefresh wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a somewhat similar question. Don't get me wrong, I don't think moving more of teen social life onto the internet and less in the physical world is going to lead to happiness, so I agree on principle. But this obsession with social media in particular as the cause of all ills seems overblown. I am a huge fan of Jonathan Haidt, and think he's done a great job in explaining some of the cultural shifts going on, a…

I think there are powerful second order or related effects here. There is both what screens and social media replace, and what they enable. This is the most risk adverse, most monitored, and most policed generation of Americans. I think this results in less freedom to experiment, explore, grow, and find happiness. In about 25 years we have gone from teens behavior being largely untraceable, to them being reachable by…

These are all great points. And my take on seeing these debates about the effects of social media is that too many people tend to fall on one or the other side of a false dichotomy: social media is the root of all evil, or social media is being used as a scapegoat and the effects are grossly over-exaggerated. My opinion is that social media is a contributing factor to much larger problems in our current tech driven society. It shouldn't be blamed for everything, nor casually dismissed in these important discussions.

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

#703

Post by dmamills »

mythrwy wrote: post #622
nameless912 wrote: post #533

While this is absolutely true, there's also another elephant in the room: a global pandemic that's destroyed every kid's routine, robbed 2+ years of their childhood from them, and for many put them severely behind in school and extracurricular achievement. Given all the pressure we put on kids these days to excel at everything in order to ensure their futures, it's not surprising that many are feeling more hopeless a…

Gee I wonder what teenagers saw during the black plague or conquest of the Mongols? The problem kids face today isn't problems, those have always existed. The problem today is non problems or problems that don't relate to the person in any way or hypothetical problems that are pumped to cause hysteria for political or economic gains get way too much attention. Which describes most of what you list. People have surviv…

Downplaying the problems of the youth today because six hundred years ago kids had to deal with a plague, is a new one for me.

"You think you've got it rough? Well six hundred years ago there was a conquest of the Mongols. I bet you feel pretty stupid about your suicidal ideation now!"

This one-upmanship about the problems people face is toxic, and frankly boomer logic.

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

#704

Post by brightball »

standardUser wrote: post #679
carlgreene wrote: post #649

Teens are being told the world is terrible by pessimists when there truly hasn’t been a better time to be alive. How do you expect them to feel? This is amplified on social media and shown with "proof" from all corners of the world. We've evolved from a place where hearing about bad news from the tribe was an advantage. It allowed us to adjust our life to take into account risks _seen_ by other folks in the tribe. On…

Boomers wrecked the world and young people know they need to fix it. Sorry it can't just all be sunshine and roses like you prefer, but women in this country are about to lose a fundamental human right, so maybe "looking on the bright side" is not the appropriate disposition for these times.

I sincerely hope you don't actually believe this. Reductionist statements like this which attempt to blame an entire generation for a world that few if any of them had any control over.

"Boomers" tried to scrape together a life and provide for a family within the rules of the world where they lived. They elected people to solve the problems that they knew about at the time, just like every other generation.

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

#705

Post by cecilpl2 »

throwaway787544 wrote: post #508
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…

It's not the only source of the problem, but social media is certainly a big one. Back in the day you didn't get rape threats from 50 anonymous accounts, or see pictures of you photoshopped sucking dicks, or feel like even more of a loser because you see in 4K detail how everybody else in class is having more fun outside of school. The internet is a threat and embarrassment and envy machine. You feel like you're cons…

When I was a teenager in the late 90s, I had escapes from the social hell of high school. I could go home, invite one or two close friends over, and play video games. I could find a super niche community on IRC and hang with them virtually. I felt like I had somewhere I could belong.

Now, as a teenager you are plugged into that social fabric 24/7. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to find yourself in that hyper-connected social graph.

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

#706

Post by standardUser »

brightball wrote: post #704
standardUser wrote: post #679

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Boomers wrecked the world and young people know they need to fix it. Sorry it can't just all be sunshine and roses like you prefer, but women in this country are about to lose a fundamental human right, so maybe "looking on the bright side" is not the appropriate disposition for these times.

I sincerely hope you don't actually believe this. Reductionist statements like this which attempt to blame an entire generation for a world that few if any of them had any control over. "Boomers" tried to scrape together a life and provide for a family within the rules of the world where they lived. They elected people to solve the problems that they knew about at the time, just like every other generation.

"Boomers" is just shorthand for the older generation who treated the environment like a toilet, pillaged the welfare state, jailed anyone who wanted to get high in their free time and made hating/mocking LGBTQ people a national pastime (to name a few examples).

I'd say #notallboomers but it's implied unless you're being willfully obtuse.

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

#707

Post by sxv »

mattacular wrote: post #635
gilbetron wrote: post #584

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Your white son is at the bottom of the pack because he can't openly tell bigoted jokes about his peers?

In all seriousness, I think the freedom to tell (and receive) bigoted jokes as a youth was an integral part of my maturation.

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

#708

Post by mythrwy »

dmamills wrote: post #703
mythrwy wrote: post #622

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gee I wonder what teenagers saw during the black plague or conquest of the Mongols? The problem kids face today isn't problems, those have always existed. The problem today is non problems or problems that don't relate to the person in any way or hypothetical problems that are pumped to cause hysteria for political or economic gains get way too much attention. Which describes most of what you list. People have surviv…

Downplaying the problems of the youth today because six hundred years ago kids had to deal with a plague, is a new one for me. "You think you've got it rough? Well six hundred years ago there was a conquest of the Mongols. I bet you feel pretty stupid about your suicidal ideation now!" This one-upmanship about the problems people face is toxic, and frankly boomer logic.

"Toxic" and "Boomer Logic" are lazy mind numbing cliches and no one is one-upsmanshiping anything.

Problems have always existed. What is different now?

A couple of things (in my opinion).

1) Entities, through media, are blowing up minor or hypothetical or non problems into existential crisis hammered 24-7 for political or financial gain. Happening on all sides of the political spectrum.

2) Kids aren't growing up learning a rational assessment and approach towards problems as much as was the case in the past. We "solve" too many small problems for children leaving them feeling powerless to solve the bigger problems later in life.

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

#709

Post by yunwal »

tgv wrote: post #180
gok wrote: post #130

The government's abject failure to invest in fixing climate change, or education, or health care for young people, or general human rights? No, surely what's got teens down is congress not regulating social media hard enough. Thank you, senators.

As I wrote elsewhere: that's not new, at all. That was there in the 80s/early 90s as well, with the added continuous stress of the Cold War. What motivates you to reply like this, without any evidence? OTOH, you completely ignore section 2 of the paper.

I feel like the major difference is that back in the 80s/90s, the people in power were trying to solve the existential issues.

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

#710

Post by BlargMcLarg »

evocatus wrote: post #699
gilbetron wrote: post #584

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Quoted post unavailable.

Knock it off. These are children who had no say in what their ancestors did.
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