5 ms·

For the graph part, I find weird that we believe that iPhone introduction is stronger than the 2008 financial crisis on teen anxiety issue.

scrumper 9y ago
Well here's a suggestion: A recession manifests to a kid as a traumatic event - mom and lose their jobs, the family has to downsize, you get pulled out of private school. Big, bad things. But after that, it's done; kids are adaptable, they get on with the day-to-day. You're not wallowing in existential dread at 14 in any real way about your own future; maybe it's college or the military or an apprenticeship or whatever, but it's The Future. It'll be fine. Adolescents are horrible at consequence extrapolation: it's why they're famously risk hungry and blasé about doing stuff grownups would be terrified of. Why they never think they'll be the ones who die or get pregnant or fail. Smartphones though... If you buy the thesis of this article, they're a continuing source of shifting stressors: social media addiction, constant engagement, physical isolation, cyberbullying and exclusion. Those pervasive, chronic pressures would get to you after a while.
- DomreiRoam 9y ago
  I think we can't see the 2008 the 2008 as only a one time event because the 2008 crisis caused a period of stress for a while for a lot of families. I agree that the smartphone has a strong addictive power but so does the internet, alcohol, various drugs ... It wasn't alone in a "source of shifting stressors". So I think it s difficult for me to be completely convinced on this thesis because they didn't speak about the nearly concomitant 2008 event that in my mind could explain why teenager would fall to addiction. The fact that the smartphone was the new addiction is not irrelevant but it isn't the full explanation.
  - zimpenfish 9y ago
    > the 2008 crisis caused a period of stress for a while for a lot of families. And likely still is due to the long term ramifications.
- zimpenfish 9y ago
  > You're not wallowing in existential dread at 14 in any real way about your own future You might not have been. I certainly was and I know many other people who were doing that and worse. Don't generalise, it's dumb.
  - scrumper 9y ago
    Don't call people dumb, it's rude.
    - zimpenfish 9y ago
      You'll note that I didn't call you dumb, merely the act of generalising. Smart people can do dumb things and calling those out isn't generally an act of rudeness. Heck, half of the comments on HN are exactly that.
      - scrumper 9y ago
        I think your choice of phrasing was inflammatory, although the point you made is fair.
        zimpenfish 9y ago
        A fair point, apologies. I should have made clear that it was the act of generalising that was attached to dumb.
- blockoperation 9y ago
  > Adolescents are horrible at consequence extrapolation: it's why they're famously risk hungry and blasé about doing stuff grownups would be terrified of. Why they never think they'll be the ones who die or get pregnant or fail. With that in mind, I think the worst effects of smartphones/social media/etc are yet to come. Kids these days broadcast every last embarrassing detail of their lives all over the internet, and smartphones make it possible to do so conveniently from any location, so there's no time to reflect or consider whether it'll come back to bite you. When these kids grow up and realise the extent of the embarrassing (or possibly incriminating) information they've shared about themselves (and how little control they have over that data), it's going to hurt. Whether smartphones themselves have 'destroyed' a generation is debatable, but the combination of smartphones and social media is certainly going to cause some mental health issues in the future (if it hasn't already).

scrumper 9y ago

Well here's a suggestion: A recession manifests to a kid as a traumatic event - mom and lose their jobs, the family has to downsize, you get pulled out of private school. Big, bad things. But after that, it's done; kids are adaptable, they get on with the day-to-day. You're not wallowing in existential dread at 14 in any real way about your own future; maybe it's college or the military or an apprenticeship or whatever, but it's The Future. It'll be fine. Adolescents are horrible at consequence extrapolation: it's why they're famously risk hungry and blasé about doing stuff grownups would be terrified of. Why they never think they'll be the ones who die or get pregnant or fail. Smartphones though... If you buy the thesis of this article, they're a continuing source of shifting stressors: social media addiction, constant engagement, physical isolation, cyberbullying and exclusion. Those pervasive, chronic pressures would get to you after a while.

DomreiRoam 9y ago
I think we can't see the 2008 the 2008 as only a one time event because the 2008 crisis caused a period of stress for a while for a lot of families. I agree that the smartphone has a strong addictive power but so does the internet, alcohol, various drugs ... It wasn't alone in a "source of shifting stressors". So I think it s difficult for me to be completely convinced on this thesis because they didn't speak about the nearly concomitant 2008 event that in my mind could explain why teenager would fall to addiction. The fact that the smartphone was the new addiction is not irrelevant but it isn't the full explanation.
- zimpenfish 9y ago
  > the 2008 crisis caused a period of stress for a while for a lot of families. And likely still is due to the long term ramifications.
zimpenfish 9y ago
> You're not wallowing in existential dread at 14 in any real way about your own future You might not have been. I certainly was and I know many other people who were doing that and worse. Don't generalise, it's dumb.
- scrumper 9y ago
  Don't call people dumb, it's rude.
  - zimpenfish 9y ago
    You'll note that I didn't call you dumb, merely the act of generalising. Smart people can do dumb things and calling those out isn't generally an act of rudeness. Heck, half of the comments on HN are exactly that.
    - scrumper 9y ago
      I think your choice of phrasing was inflammatory, although the point you made is fair.
      - zimpenfish 9y ago
        A fair point, apologies. I should have made clear that it was the act of generalising that was attached to dumb.
blockoperation 9y ago
> Adolescents are horrible at consequence extrapolation: it's why they're famously risk hungry and blasé about doing stuff grownups would be terrified of. Why they never think they'll be the ones who die or get pregnant or fail. With that in mind, I think the worst effects of smartphones/social media/etc are yet to come. Kids these days broadcast every last embarrassing detail of their lives all over the internet, and smartphones make it possible to do so conveniently from any location, so there's no time to reflect or consider whether it'll come back to bite you. When these kids grow up and realise the extent of the embarrassing (or possibly incriminating) information they've shared about themselves (and how little control they have over that data), it's going to hurt. Whether smartphones themselves have 'destroyed' a generation is debatable, but the combination of smartphones and social media is certainly going to cause some mental health issues in the future (if it hasn't already).