4 ms·

Social media does sound like a decent theory though. To your point, the issues plaguing the US ( and indeed the world ) have not changed that much over the past

Social media does sound like a decent theory though. To your point, the issues plaguing the US ( and indeed the world ) have not changed that much over the past four decades. What did change is relative access to information, which exacerbated and maybe even hastened some trends. The small factors were always there, but were not as commonly seen for a variety of reasons ( social stigma, exposure to media, 'toughen up' message from society being but a few examples off the top of my ehad ). And even now, we only are aware of it as a potential trend due to social media exposure ( in this case, HN ). Would we be as aware of it even 10 years ago?

cornercasechase 3y ago
> To your point, the issues plaguing the US ( and indeed the world ) have not changed that much over the past four decades. Wealth inequality has an increased a lot in the last four decades. I’d start there when looking for a source for mental health issues. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/01/09/trends-in-income-and-wealth-inequality/screen-shot-2020-01-08-at-5-06-47-pm/ https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/01/09/trends-...
- A4ET8a8uTh0 3y ago
  Money does buy certain level of comfort ( and help if needed ) so I am more than willing to consider it as a factor, but I am not sure it is THE answer to the source of mental health issues. Lack thereof may make things worse, but I am not sure it is the core issue. FWIW, I may well be wrong, but I don't think it is fair to assume it is X, when you see same health issues pop up in otherwise wealthy environments. Most interesting example of that being 'affluenza'.
Hermitian909 3y ago
> To your point, the issues plaguing the US ( and indeed the world ) have not changed that much over the past four decades. Inside the US, this sounds wrong both anecdotally and from the data. I'd argue the cost of "living" has gone up quite substantially. Since 1980 rent has risen 140% and incomes 20%[0]. Anecdotally, in the 1970s it was entirely possible to live in an acceptable city or suburb on part-time work, and you could have your own apartment on minimum wage. You might not have nice things but I know many people who spent their 20s very comfortably like this not worrying about how to afford living. (having a family on this budget was not feasible, but that's another thing) Conversely today I don't know anyone making less than less than 40k/yr who is not constantly stressing about food costs and how they'll make rent. [0] https://www.realestatewitch.com/rent-to-income-ratio-2022/ https://www.realestatewitch.com/rent-to-income-ratio-2022/

cornercasechase 3y ago

> To your point, the issues plaguing the US ( and indeed the world ) have not changed that much over the past four decades. Wealth inequality has an increased a lot in the last four decades. I’d start there when looking for a source for mental health issues. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/01/09/trends-in-income-and-wealth-inequality/screen-shot-2020-01-08-at-5-06-47-pm/ https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/01/09/trends-...

A4ET8a8uTh0 3y ago
Money does buy certain level of comfort ( and help if needed ) so I am more than willing to consider it as a factor, but I am not sure it is THE answer to the source of mental health issues. Lack thereof may make things worse, but I am not sure it is the core issue. FWIW, I may well be wrong, but I don't think it is fair to assume it is X, when you see same health issues pop up in otherwise wealthy environments. Most interesting example of that being 'affluenza'.

Hermitian909 3y ago

> To your point, the issues plaguing the US ( and indeed the world ) have not changed that much over the past four decades. Inside the US, this sounds wrong both anecdotally and from the data. I'd argue the cost of "living" has gone up quite substantially. Since 1980 rent has risen 140% and incomes 20%[0]. Anecdotally, in the 1970s it was entirely possible to live in an acceptable city or suburb on part-time work, and you could have your own apartment on minimum wage. You might not have nice things but I know many people who spent their 20s very comfortably like this not worrying about how to afford living. (having a family on this budget was not feasible, but that's another thing) Conversely today I don't know anyone making less than less than 40k/yr who is not constantly stressing about food costs and how they'll make rent. [0] https://www.realestatewitch.com/rent-to-income-ratio-2022/ https://www.realestatewitch.com/rent-to-income-ratio-2022/