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Social media is global, so any effects it has should be visible globally. > Teenage suicides rates have, on average, declined slightly over the past two decade

Social media is global, so any effects it has should be visible globally. > Teenage suicides rates have, on average, declined slightly over the past two decades or so. While in 1990 there were, on average across the OECD, 8.5 suicides per 100 000 teenagers (15-19), by 2015 this rate had fallen to 7.4. Much of this decline occurred during the 2000s. Between 1990 and 1999 the OECD average teenage suicide remained fairly stable at around 8.4 suicides per 100,000, but this average fell across the 2000s before reaching a low of 6.3 per 100,000 in 2007. With the exception of 2008, the average rate remained lower than 7.0 until 2014, although it increased slightly in 2014 and 2015. https://www.oecd.org/els/family/CO_4_4_Teenage-Suicide.pdf https://www.oecd.org/els/family/CO_4_4_Teenage-Suicide.pdf

ketzo 4y ago
Social media isn't totally global, though -- I would be interested to see this youth mental health data correlated with smartphone uptake in a given country.
- jocaal 4y ago
  For all intents and purposes, it is global. Facebook claims multiple billions of users and I myself am from a pretty isolated area and can say that social media definitley has a big presence here.
  - tux2bsd 4y ago
    [dead]
jjulius 4y ago
>Social media is global, so any effects it has should be visible globally. I don't disagree, but that conversation also needs to include data around how frequently teens in different countries use social media/smartphones. Without that data, the data you cite about global teenage suicide rates is sorta worthless.
mabbo 4y ago
> Social media is global, so any effects it has should be visible globally. That isn't true at all. There may be a hundred factors at play, which are all different in different cultures, regions, countries, etc. The cultural context of an individual can dramatically change how they react to situations, pressures, and mental illness.
- renewiltord 4y ago
  Fascinating. It is a pity then that our culture is so terrible as to make teens have mental illness at rates that dwarf other nations (who have cultures that are far superior at keeping teens mentally healthy). It is a shame that we blame social media for this when clearly it is our culture that is the difference and the cause.
  - selimthegrim 4y ago
    Which other nations?
- hcurtiss 4y ago
  Agreed. As an aside, I find it interesting that people are willing to attribute cultural differences to disparate outcomes in this context, but not in other contexts like racial income disparities.
- yamtaddle 4y ago
  Do schools in other countries let kids—elementary school and up—take smartphones to school and (due to inability to harshly police it because of reluctance to take phones, since it pisses off parents) use them quite a bit in class? I was shocked to find out that's a widespread policy/practice in the US, these days, and I'd be surprised if other countries are following us off that particular very-stupid cliff. What's the median age of first smartphone for kids coming up in other OECD states? Social media has a much smaller effect if you have to go to the family computer to use it, or whatever, than if you've got it in your pocket all day and are checking it constantly when the teacher's not looking....
  - 4y ago
jmoss20 4y ago
Social media may be global, but other countervailing factors may be local.
hobom 4y ago
Comparing against 1990 is wrong though, as we should compare against the start of widespread social media use (2010 at least), and it's also pretty likely that other OECD countries are lagging behind with widespread adoption by a few years. If we don't see an increase from 2015 to 2022 THAT would be counterevidence.

ketzo 4y ago

Social media isn't totally global, though -- I would be interested to see this youth mental health data correlated with smartphone uptake in a given country.

jocaal 4y ago
For all intents and purposes, it is global. Facebook claims multiple billions of users and I myself am from a pretty isolated area and can say that social media definitley has a big presence here.
- tux2bsd 4y ago
  [dead]

jjulius 4y ago

>Social media is global, so any effects it has should be visible globally. I don't disagree, but that conversation also needs to include data around how frequently teens in different countries use social media/smartphones. Without that data, the data you cite about global teenage suicide rates is sorta worthless.

mabbo 4y ago

> Social media is global, so any effects it has should be visible globally. That isn't true at all. There may be a hundred factors at play, which are all different in different cultures, regions, countries, etc. The cultural context of an individual can dramatically change how they react to situations, pressures, and mental illness.

renewiltord 4y ago
Fascinating. It is a pity then that our culture is so terrible as to make teens have mental illness at rates that dwarf other nations (who have cultures that are far superior at keeping teens mentally healthy). It is a shame that we blame social media for this when clearly it is our culture that is the difference and the cause.
- selimthegrim 4y ago
  Which other nations?
hcurtiss 4y ago
Agreed. As an aside, I find it interesting that people are willing to attribute cultural differences to disparate outcomes in this context, but not in other contexts like racial income disparities.
yamtaddle 4y ago
Do schools in other countries let kids—elementary school and up—take smartphones to school and (due to inability to harshly police it because of reluctance to take phones, since it pisses off parents) use them quite a bit in class? I was shocked to find out that's a widespread policy/practice in the US, these days, and I'd be surprised if other countries are following us off that particular very-stupid cliff. What's the median age of first smartphone for kids coming up in other OECD states? Social media has a much smaller effect if you have to go to the family computer to use it, or whatever, than if you've got it in your pocket all day and are checking it constantly when the teacher's not looking....
- 4y ago

jmoss20 4y ago

Social media may be global, but other countervailing factors may be local.

hobom 4y ago

Comparing against 1990 is wrong though, as we should compare against the start of widespread social media use (2010 at least), and it's also pretty likely that other OECD countries are lagging behind with widespread adoption by a few years. If we don't see an increase from 2015 to 2022 THAT would be counterevidence.