11 ms·

I don't know if you read the article but I think the authors clearly state what they think is the issue and it isn't finding your first job. From the article:

I don't know if you read the article but I think the authors clearly state what they think is the issue and it isn't finding your first job. From the article: >“It suggests that something is seriously wrong in the lives of young people and that whatever went wrong seemed to happen around 2012, or 2013,” said study coauthor Jean Twenge. She noted that this was around the time smartphones became common and social media moved from being optional to mandatory among youngsters. >The study wasn’t designed to determine the causes of the increases in mental health issues among college students, though the authors speculate about a variety of possibilities. Smartphone use, for example, has been associated with poorer sleep quality and fewer face-to-face interactions, both of which are deemed essential for mental health, the researchers write in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

maxaf 7y ago
Every person with half a brain already knows that smartphones and social media have destroyed at least one generation of Americans. There is a cohort of Gen Z that’s growing up without access to social media; these are the true future leaders of the world. These are the people who will command the income and power over the next 30-40 years.
- olefoo 7y ago
  > smartphones and social media have destroyed at least one generation of Americans. According to millennials it's the boomers. According to the boomers it's the millennials. Meanwhile Gen-X and the Silent generation are observing that everyone; even people who don't use social media directly are affected by the change in how truth is socially constructed.
- permatech 7y ago
  Can you tell me more about this group? What sets them apart from the teens on social media today?
- DarthMader 7y ago
  While I think those that forgo social media while growing up are more likely to have better attention spans and ability to focus, I'd also guess they're just as likely to be significantly socially out of the loop. This is a bold claim to make without citing anything.
  - maxaf 7y ago
    There is nothing to be in the loop of, as far as social networks go. This is all low-value, low-effort information we’re talking about.
    - DarthMader 7y ago
      Perhaps for most posts individually. However, in aggregate, there is some value.
      - Retric 7y ago
        Not when considering the opportunity cost of gathering it. Social networking is inherently a net negative due to how information propagates. It’s actively weeding out the useful bits.
      - caseysoftware 7y ago
        "We sell at a loss but make it up in volume."
nilkn 7y ago
Just based on only my own experiences and perception, the entire news apparatus of the United States seems to have underwent a rapid shift starting approximately in 2013. Outside of only a small handful of venerable institutions like The New York Times, news and social media seem to be merging in a way that is completely changing the character of how important information is delivered to millions of people. It was a shift towards a level of partisanship, hostility, and fear-mongering that, to me at least, has felt utterly unprecedented. Anecdotally, this has caused me a great deal of personal stress, and I've had to become extremely diligent with how I consume news media in order to maintain a healthy state of mind. I can't help but wonder if the effect of this would've been magnified if were younger, less prepared to deal with it, and just now entering college instead of being half a decade out of college.
- archeantus 7y ago
  This is the right answer. Smartphones aren’t inherently bad, but they enable things that are toxic without us understanding - chief among them the news. Back in college I thought it was the grown up thing to do to read the news everyday. Fast forward ten years and I’ve finally realized how much frustration and misery the news (Twitter) was bringing into my life. As of a week and a half ago, I’m now completely off of the news. I deleted the news app, blocked Twitter and FB from Safari, and avoid other news sites. The outcome has been remarkable! My wife continues to remark how much less irritable I’ve become and how much less stressed I seem. I use HN to stay current on industry news, but I can honestly say I don’t miss that other stuff. To anyone reading this that is hooked on news consumption - try cutting it from your life! It is a life-changing experience.
  - caseysoftware 7y ago
    As I've noted elsewhere: Almost 10 years ago, I conducted an experiment. I watched an hour of CNN's every night but it was never that night's coverage. It was from exactly two weeks ago. It was amazing how much "breaking news!" was irrelevant or just outright wrong, how many large trend predictions were wrong, and how many "[person] will do X" were wrong. While the predictions could have been portrayed as opinions, they were presented as facts and the obvious next steps or conclusions. I realized pretty quickly that avoiding CNN kept out the blatantly wrong information so even if I didn't replace it with anything, I was net ahead. A few years ago, I discovered this article and realized that some portion of it was probably on purpose: https://aeon.co/essays/how-the-internet-flips-elections-and-alters-our-thoughts https://aeon.co/essays/how-the-internet-flips-elections-and-...
AlexTWithBeard 7y ago
Also understanding that a single careless word can start a social network storm, which will cost you a future career is extremely stressful.
- rjf72 7y ago
  I completely agree and do not understand why anybody would choose to post under the actual identity in this day and age. Unless you're completely posturing (which, granted, I find many who post under their own names do) then you're going to piss of somebody, and by somebody I mean quite a lot of people. And in the era of social media lynch mobs, swatting, and all of this other stuff - why would you ever do that to yourself? I think it's also nice to have your words weighed against themselves rather than against your reputation. When well regarded people are inclined to agree with you because of that, rather than the quality of your words. When a pariah, vice versa. It's also interesting to give misleading hints to ones identity and see how, if at all, that affects response. For instance this account is named rjf72. I expect nearly everybody that noticed that would then assume my first initials are RJF and my birthday is 1972. It's actually just a neutral reference to Robert James Fischer 1972 - the year Bobby Fischer defeated Boris Spassky to become world champ. Granted I suppose that outs me as enjoying the great game, though. That part is true.
  - AlexTWithBeard 7y ago
    It's not only posting that can ruin your career. You can ask a wrong question during the lecture, you can engage in a bar fight with a wrong guy. Want to be safe? Sit quietly and say only socially approved things.
bitwize 7y ago
The PR submarine strikes again.
word-reader 7y ago
At least for me social media was hardly less "mandatory" in the halcyon years of the late 2000s, the thing to have was just Facebook on your computer and not Instagram, which is allegedly the worst type of social media for mental health. Smartphone adoption was clearly rising very fast in 2012-2013 [1] (unfortunately no breakdown by sex / age / income). It is frustrating to see these issues blamed on "smartphones" at large and not particular usages (Instagram, Tinder, Twitter stand out). I suspect if everyone used their smartphones to read e-books, lookup recipes, text their friends and family, or even just play video games there wouldn't be such a problem. [1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/201183/forecast-of-smartphone-penetration-in-the-us/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/201183/forecast-of-smart...
- rjf72 7y ago
  I fully agree with you that certain uses are by far the worst, but something that smartphones in general have done is remove boredom. And I think there is a reasonable argument to be made that boredom is/was good for mental health, intellectual health, and potentially much more. For instance something my friends and I would do when we were bored kids was to play a sort of homebrew dungeons and dragons with one another, creating impromptu 'choose your own adventure' tales to each other. I'm certain such things were phenomenal for our mental development. Of course that boredom also at times led us to engage in some less wholesome ventures, but it's all part of growing up. But what about now a days? If we were bored and had phones instead we could just go turn on our phone and watch some funny videos, or go play a "free" video game. I'm certain such arguments were probably made at the advent of radio, television, and other mass media. 'But this time its different!' No, really. The big difference now is that, even as an adult, I could browse YouTube for hours without ever getting bored. Television, radio, and all previous forms of entertainment were all much more limited in their dynamics and content, even with a gazillion channels, meaning boredom was inevitable and often sooner rather than later. Alongside what's mentioned from this article, there is also now evidence of decreasing IQ in developed nations. And yes, that is after controlling for immigration and other obvious potential confounding factors. [1] This started in the mid 90s, just about the time the internet explosion started making boredom quickly become a thing of the past. What we're seeing in modern times: decreasing IQ, decreasing testosterone, decreasing fertility, increasing obesity, increasing depression, increasing anxiety. It's hard not to see a connection between these and the end of boredom. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect#Possible_end_of_progression https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect#Possible_end_of_p...

maxaf 7y ago

Every person with half a brain already knows that smartphones and social media have destroyed at least one generation of Americans. There is a cohort of Gen Z that’s growing up without access to social media; these are the true future leaders of the world. These are the people who will command the income and power over the next 30-40 years.

olefoo 7y ago
> smartphones and social media have destroyed at least one generation of Americans. According to millennials it's the boomers. According to the boomers it's the millennials. Meanwhile Gen-X and the Silent generation are observing that everyone; even people who don't use social media directly are affected by the change in how truth is socially constructed.
permatech 7y ago
Can you tell me more about this group? What sets them apart from the teens on social media today?
DarthMader 7y ago
While I think those that forgo social media while growing up are more likely to have better attention spans and ability to focus, I'd also guess they're just as likely to be significantly socially out of the loop. This is a bold claim to make without citing anything.
- maxaf 7y ago
  There is nothing to be in the loop of, as far as social networks go. This is all low-value, low-effort information we’re talking about.
  - DarthMader 7y ago
    Perhaps for most posts individually. However, in aggregate, there is some value.
    - Retric 7y ago
      Not when considering the opportunity cost of gathering it. Social networking is inherently a net negative due to how information propagates. It’s actively weeding out the useful bits.
    - caseysoftware 7y ago
      "We sell at a loss but make it up in volume."

nilkn 7y ago

Just based on only my own experiences and perception, the entire news apparatus of the United States seems to have underwent a rapid shift starting approximately in 2013. Outside of only a small handful of venerable institutions like The New York Times, news and social media seem to be merging in a way that is completely changing the character of how important information is delivered to millions of people. It was a shift towards a level of partisanship, hostility, and fear-mongering that, to me at least, has felt utterly unprecedented. Anecdotally, this has caused me a great deal of personal stress, and I've had to become extremely diligent with how I consume news media in order to maintain a healthy state of mind. I can't help but wonder if the effect of this would've been magnified if were younger, less prepared to deal with it, and just now entering college instead of being half a decade out of college.

archeantus 7y ago
This is the right answer. Smartphones aren’t inherently bad, but they enable things that are toxic without us understanding - chief among them the news. Back in college I thought it was the grown up thing to do to read the news everyday. Fast forward ten years and I’ve finally realized how much frustration and misery the news (Twitter) was bringing into my life. As of a week and a half ago, I’m now completely off of the news. I deleted the news app, blocked Twitter and FB from Safari, and avoid other news sites. The outcome has been remarkable! My wife continues to remark how much less irritable I’ve become and how much less stressed I seem. I use HN to stay current on industry news, but I can honestly say I don’t miss that other stuff. To anyone reading this that is hooked on news consumption - try cutting it from your life! It is a life-changing experience.
- caseysoftware 7y ago
  As I've noted elsewhere: Almost 10 years ago, I conducted an experiment. I watched an hour of CNN's every night but it was never that night's coverage. It was from exactly two weeks ago. It was amazing how much "breaking news!" was irrelevant or just outright wrong, how many large trend predictions were wrong, and how many "[person] will do X" were wrong. While the predictions could have been portrayed as opinions, they were presented as facts and the obvious next steps or conclusions. I realized pretty quickly that avoiding CNN kept out the blatantly wrong information so even if I didn't replace it with anything, I was net ahead. A few years ago, I discovered this article and realized that some portion of it was probably on purpose: https://aeon.co/essays/how-the-internet-flips-elections-and-alters-our-thoughts https://aeon.co/essays/how-the-internet-flips-elections-and-...

AlexTWithBeard 7y ago

Also understanding that a single careless word can start a social network storm, which will cost you a future career is extremely stressful.

rjf72 7y ago
I completely agree and do not understand why anybody would choose to post under the actual identity in this day and age. Unless you're completely posturing (which, granted, I find many who post under their own names do) then you're going to piss of somebody, and by somebody I mean quite a lot of people. And in the era of social media lynch mobs, swatting, and all of this other stuff - why would you ever do that to yourself? I think it's also nice to have your words weighed against themselves rather than against your reputation. When well regarded people are inclined to agree with you because of that, rather than the quality of your words. When a pariah, vice versa. It's also interesting to give misleading hints to ones identity and see how, if at all, that affects response. For instance this account is named rjf72. I expect nearly everybody that noticed that would then assume my first initials are RJF and my birthday is 1972. It's actually just a neutral reference to Robert James Fischer 1972 - the year Bobby Fischer defeated Boris Spassky to become world champ. Granted I suppose that outs me as enjoying the great game, though. That part is true.
- AlexTWithBeard 7y ago
  It's not only posting that can ruin your career. You can ask a wrong question during the lecture, you can engage in a bar fight with a wrong guy. Want to be safe? Sit quietly and say only socially approved things.

bitwize 7y ago

The PR submarine strikes again.

word-reader 7y ago

At least for me social media was hardly less "mandatory" in the halcyon years of the late 2000s, the thing to have was just Facebook on your computer and not Instagram, which is allegedly the worst type of social media for mental health. Smartphone adoption was clearly rising very fast in 2012-2013 [1] (unfortunately no breakdown by sex / age / income). It is frustrating to see these issues blamed on "smartphones" at large and not particular usages (Instagram, Tinder, Twitter stand out). I suspect if everyone used their smartphones to read e-books, lookup recipes, text their friends and family, or even just play video games there wouldn't be such a problem. [1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/201183/forecast-of-smartphone-penetration-in-the-us/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/201183/forecast-of-smart...

rjf72 7y ago
I fully agree with you that certain uses are by far the worst, but something that smartphones in general have done is remove boredom. And I think there is a reasonable argument to be made that boredom is/was good for mental health, intellectual health, and potentially much more. For instance something my friends and I would do when we were bored kids was to play a sort of homebrew dungeons and dragons with one another, creating impromptu 'choose your own adventure' tales to each other. I'm certain such things were phenomenal for our mental development. Of course that boredom also at times led us to engage in some less wholesome ventures, but it's all part of growing up. But what about now a days? If we were bored and had phones instead we could just go turn on our phone and watch some funny videos, or go play a "free" video game. I'm certain such arguments were probably made at the advent of radio, television, and other mass media. 'But this time its different!' No, really. The big difference now is that, even as an adult, I could browse YouTube for hours without ever getting bored. Television, radio, and all previous forms of entertainment were all much more limited in their dynamics and content, even with a gazillion channels, meaning boredom was inevitable and often sooner rather than later. Alongside what's mentioned from this article, there is also now evidence of decreasing IQ in developed nations. And yes, that is after controlling for immigration and other obvious potential confounding factors. [1] This started in the mid 90s, just about the time the internet explosion started making boredom quickly become a thing of the past. What we're seeing in modern times: decreasing IQ, decreasing testosterone, decreasing fertility, increasing obesity, increasing depression, increasing anxiety. It's hard not to see a connection between these and the end of boredom. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect#Possible_end_of_progression https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect#Possible_end_of_p...