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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]

#941

Post by sureglymop »

SamuelAdams wrote: post #651
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…

I see this often with gangs I grew up around. Black people can call each other niggers in a casual, non-attack way. But as soon as a white person does it, it’s racist.

Because there is a contextual difference! Historical context matters, and saying things like "all lives matter" or "we're all the same (so we should be able to use the same words?)" actually undermine the collective struggle this group of people has had to deal with. Life isn't binary, it's always more complex than that. It's not rational to just do a "reset" at this point in time and say "oh, i have nothing to do with what my predecessors have engaged in, so i can't be held accountable"... because that's not true, the predecessors lives and actions directly affect ones life. I understand that sometimes the direct outrage over something small might seem ridiculous, but at the same time I don't understand why people have such a problem with just not using a certain word. It really isn't hard...

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

#942

Post by sureglymop »

gilbetron wrote: post #890
pessimizer wrote: post #625

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just commenting to confirm that they are not actually handing out anything called a diversity card that gives you permission to do anything. edit: also want to make sure that "teen mental health" includes the 75% of kids that are not straight, non-disabled white boys. If those kids are included then this probably isn't a reasonable explanation.

So ... funny story there. There is the concept of the "N-word pass" that black kids will "give out" to non-black kids "allowing" them a use of the n-word in front of them. I had heard about this several years ago, but now several of the black kids in my son's school are giving them out occasionally. I advised my son to never use the option were he to receive one! Not a physical card in this situation, but there are s…

It's not a real concept.. it's just a meme. There's no "pass" that will grant you anything, and if there is a black person who says such a silly thing to a white person it's just shenanigans. Still won't change the context of the white person using the N-word after that anyway, especially it's historical context in the US. Also what I surely find interesting is that I only ever hear white people talk about an "N-word pass"...

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

#943

Post by diordiderot »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #867
diordiderot wrote: post #859

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1 in 5 American children are food insecure. I think the problem is bigger than materialism.

This number looks a lot scarier than it is. Food "insecurity" is an arbitrary threshold based largely on how people feel. Based on the same data, children very rarely go hungry in America. 0.6% of children skipped a single meal in a 12 month period. 0.9% of children got hungry at least once in a 12 month period. alternatively, you and your children are considered insecure if in a 12 month period they answer yes to th…

I still think all of those scenarios are pretty scary. Especially for the child(ren).

You know when your family is poor. Children share that mental and emotional burden, and it will follow them through life.

The kinds of food they eat will, in the majority of cases, lead to obesity and diabetes.

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

#944

Post by Broken_Hippo »

tsol wrote: post #908
Broken_Hippo wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The things you are listing don't concern "teenagers" in their young teens, at all. They start being a problem for young adults, maybe" That's just not true, though. I'm over 40: My first formal 'current events' portion of a social studies class happened when I was 12, IIRC. The first gulf war was the current topic. Middle schoolers would be told now that they need to think about going to college, how doing well in h…

Yes they know about that just like they know about the plague and the possibility of an asteroid stroke destroying life on planet earth. But is inflation a big part of their day to day worries? Probably not. Political extremism maybe, but they're probably wrapped up in that as well. We've created a society where if you aren't openly fighting the bigots you are seen as allowing them to exist. So teens are very politic…

Unless they are experiencing poverty

Around 11 million children in the US live in poverty. A great number more children are poor to very poor (just over poverty might not be poverty, but it makes your life pretty bad). It probably isn't so bad in a country with a robust safety net (still poor, but not getting the full effects of poverty)

I don't know about wealth inequality being the specific worry, but knowing things are getting more expensive definitely has an effect on children. Suddenly, the parent is stressed and the uncertainty gets passed on. Though, I honestly am wondering if I've missed something because while I see things about money and inflation mentioned, I haven't actually seen folks mention wealth inequality.

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

#945

Post by Volrath89 »

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?"

Are you referring to only USA/Canada?

I don't feel so much sense of hopelesness or insecurity in Germany.

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

#946

Post by i_cannot_hack »

sacrosancty wrote: post #306
i_cannot_hack wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They can always fix it after they take control. The oil cannot be unburnt. The glaciers cannot be refrozen. The species cannot be made unextinct. At least not in any human lifespan.

That stuff has no effect on the future lives of these teens. It's not as if they were ever going to see those obscure Amazon insects anyway. We don't have dodo's anymore but we're happy. I'd say they falsely fear that it will cause them great harm. I know a teen who was genuinely afraid of climate change as if she would drown in the rising sea or something like that. I think there's a lot of exaggerated apocalyptic f…

Climate change already has a marked effect on the present lives of these teens (larger and more numerous forest fires, draughts, hurricanes and heatwaves).

I would also like to point out that your insinuation that mostly "obscure Amazon insects" face extinction is false and misleading.

Even by your contrived standard of "would you see them?" the extinctions will be remarkable. The world's coral reefs are visited and seen by almost 70 million tourists each year. Over half the reefs are already dead, and 90% of all reefs are estimated to be lost in less than 30 years. Of course the ecological disaster of losing the reefs will be worse than the lost sights. This is just a single example.

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

#947

Post by krageon »

dcolkitt wrote: post #617
krageon wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't buy a house, can't expect work with reasonable pay in most places, will probably be impacted severely by climate change, food prices are quickly becoming extremely high. The future is shit.

The percent of household budgets spent on food has been steadily falling for 50 years. It’s very recently ticked up slightly, but this is a tiny blip on an otherwise very long running trend. Median real wages are the highest they’ve ever been in history. Climate change may lower the rate of economic growth but there’s no scenario where GDP growth goes negative because of climate change. Even given the worse effects o…

> Median real wages are the highest they’ve ever been in history.

Now I know you are joking, those have been falling at least since 2008 and they weren't doing so hot before that either. If we're talking about boomer childhoods, sure. Life was great then. Now, not so much (at least, not in that way - medicine is definitely better).

> Housing is a major issue, fueled by terrible NIMBY policies that have artificially restricted supply. But there are still many metros, with relatively cheap housing.

This might be a US thing. Where I live housing is an issue because there quite simply are not enough houses being built that anyone normal can afford. For the ultra-rich, the country is a playground.

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

#948

Post by [deleted] »

moonchrome wrote: post #863
y4mi wrote: post #458

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You think teenagers are thinking about pensions... A lot of them will be doing that, yes. They're teenagers until their 20th birthday, and a lot of people start to work between 16 and 20. In Germany, all of them will be paying a lot of their paycheck for the current pensioners. It's called a generational contract here, and it boils down to current workers paying the current pensions - so when theyre ready for their…

I've started working in my teens - retirement was the last thing on my mind, my peers as well. If you're worried about that in your youth you're setting yourself up for a boring and depressing life. Youth should be about exploration, taking on challenges and risks, figuring out what you want to do in life - not thinking about what you're going to do past your productive years.

[deleted]

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

#949

Post by Nextgrid »

closeparen wrote: post #901
Nextgrid wrote: post #575

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a problem that can be solved at an individual level. Physical drugs are relatively easy to not get into because for the most part, the majority of society doesn't use them and their users are still mostly marginalized. If your current social group are drug addicts it's possible to find a new, healthier group. Digital drugs on the other hand are something that nearly everyone uses and thus you have to use the…

Why are you contributing content to what you consider a disgusting business model? (You do understand that Hacker News is many thousands of times more potent an attention predator than any of the Big Tech ad platforms, right?)

HN does not derive its profits from "growth and engagement". Unlike most social media, HN actually discourages spam and prioritizes fewer but more thoughtful posts/replies.

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

#950

Post by Nextgrid »

tekknik wrote: post #902
Nextgrid wrote: post #575

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a problem that can be solved at an individual level. Physical drugs are relatively easy to not get into because for the most part, the majority of society doesn't use them and their users are still mostly marginalized. If your current social group are drug addicts it's possible to find a new, healthier group. Digital drugs on the other hand are something that nearly everyone uses and thus you have to use the…

> Digital drugs on the other hand are something that nearly everyone uses and thus you have to use them if you want to effectively fit in and participate in society. Not consuming these drugs just makes you an outcast especially in a ruthless environment such as school. Perhaps this idea is the problem then? Having some mental requirement to fit in I would qualify as a mental illness. What did the parents, or others…

> Having some mental requirement to fit in I would qualify as a mental illness.

I strongly disagree - humans are social animals.

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