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There is a massive increase in teen depression since around 2012: https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/teen-depression.jpg https://nypost.com/
by cubefox 3y ago
There is a massive increase in teen depression since around 2012:
https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/teen-depression.jpg https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/teen-d...
This is totally unprecedented. It is likely that the addictive quality of smartphones and social media are the cause. They are replacing physical contacts with virtual ones. There is a serious argument to be made to outright ban teenagers from owning smartphones until the age of 16, similar to laws on smoking and alcohol.
- callalex 3y agoClimate change and the anxiety it causes is another factor to be considered here.
- cubefox 3y agoClimate change didn't became known just 10 years ago, so I don't think this had an impact.
- callalex 3y agoHaving grown up one generation previous, in the era of Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth” etc. there used to be a real sense of hope and optimism that we would collectively be able to put the work in to solve the issue before it became untenable. A generation later this optimism is much less common because the evidence has mounted that we are not capable of making the changes necessary.
- jacquesm 3y agoCOVID, Climate Change, War, reduced job prospects. Social media and smartphones certainly don't help but they're a side show compared to the rest. There is a serious argument to be made outright ban smartphones not just for teenagers but for everybody that can't handle having a non-stop distraction device in their pocket. But that argument will fail because we tend to allow people to do stupid stuff as long as it doesn't affect others.