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Seems more plausible to me that young people are just realizing they will be inheriting the consequences of decades of selfish leadership and they are reasonabl

Seems more plausible to me that young people are just realizing they will be inheriting the consequences of decades of selfish leadership and they are reasonably worried about the future. The narrative that social media is the cause and not the obvious looming climate change, war and wealth inequality is frustrating.

andy99 3y ago
The world had much bigger and more imminent problems in the past. People didn't dwell on them collectively in the same way.
- twelfthnight 3y ago
  I don't mean to be glib, but you are in denial. Nuclear war is more likely now than since the early cold war, China is ready to invade Taiwan, climate change is poised to weaken or complete disrupt the Gulf Stream, America is months away from electing an insurrectionist as president, buying a house is a pipe dream for most Americans... How could you see that as a young person and not feel at least a little hopeless?
  - password54321 3y ago
    We are talking about data that spans over a decade, not a year. Look at figure 1: https://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/written-materials/2022/05/31/reducing-the-economic-burden-of-unmet-mental-health-needs/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/written-materials/2022/05/31/...
    - twelfthnight 3y ago
      I'm being admittedly a little polemical, personally I'm freaked out by the future. But that aside, I'm curious to hear more about your argument. Are you saying worry about the future can't be causing this issue because scary stuff only started recently?
      - password54321 3y ago
        Some of the examples you gave are too recent to explain the rise in depression that has been going on for over a decade. And climate change worry has been going on for much longer.
        twelfthnight 3y ago
        Those are good points. I would have thought that the trend would started around 2015/2016 if global crises were the main cause. There is a small jump in 2016 for 18-25, but, I don't want to read too much into it.
  - galdosdi 3y ago
    As the other posters have alluded, read some history, and you'll find parallels everywhere. It's serious, but it's often serious. Previous generations managed to buck up and meet the challenge; what changed? Subjective mindset, not objective situation.
coffeefirst 3y ago
Maybe. But also I've become a massive history nerd and I can't name a single period in the modern world without serious objective problems. There were wars and diseases and nasty politics and crises and injustices and environmental catastrophes aplenty. Our current slate is serious business, but not uniquely so. Based on the evidence available to us, what the little doomscrolling box has done is drive us crazy and actually make it harder for societies to act on these problems.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
ta1243 3y ago
In the 1960s the teenagers of the day (who are the people who have been in charge for the last 10-20 years) were inheriting the very real threat of global nuclear war, something that those born after about 1980 didn't need to worry about as teenagers, and it's only really the last few years that it's cropped back up again as a possibility, but it's still nowhere near the level of the 60s.

andy99 3y ago

The world had much bigger and more imminent problems in the past. People didn't dwell on them collectively in the same way.

twelfthnight 3y ago
I don't mean to be glib, but you are in denial. Nuclear war is more likely now than since the early cold war, China is ready to invade Taiwan, climate change is poised to weaken or complete disrupt the Gulf Stream, America is months away from electing an insurrectionist as president, buying a house is a pipe dream for most Americans... How could you see that as a young person and not feel at least a little hopeless?
- password54321 3y ago
  We are talking about data that spans over a decade, not a year. Look at figure 1: https://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/written-materials/2022/05/31/reducing-the-economic-burden-of-unmet-mental-health-needs/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/written-materials/2022/05/31/...
  - twelfthnight 3y ago
    I'm being admittedly a little polemical, personally I'm freaked out by the future. But that aside, I'm curious to hear more about your argument. Are you saying worry about the future can't be causing this issue because scary stuff only started recently?
    - password54321 3y ago
      Some of the examples you gave are too recent to explain the rise in depression that has been going on for over a decade. And climate change worry has been going on for much longer.
      - twelfthnight 3y ago
        Those are good points. I would have thought that the trend would started around 2015/2016 if global crises were the main cause. There is a small jump in 2016 for 18-25, but, I don't want to read too much into it.
- galdosdi 3y ago
  As the other posters have alluded, read some history, and you'll find parallels everywhere. It's serious, but it's often serious. Previous generations managed to buck up and meet the challenge; what changed? Subjective mindset, not objective situation.

coffeefirst 3y ago

Maybe. But also I've become a massive history nerd and I can't name a single period in the modern world without serious objective problems. There were wars and diseases and nasty politics and crises and injustices and environmental catastrophes aplenty. Our current slate is serious business, but not uniquely so. Based on the evidence available to us, what the little doomscrolling box has done is drive us crazy and actually make it harder for societies to act on these problems.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

ta1243 3y ago

In the 1960s the teenagers of the day (who are the people who have been in charge for the last 10-20 years) were inheriting the very real threat of global nuclear war, something that those born after about 1980 didn't need to worry about as teenagers, and it's only really the last few years that it's cropped back up again as a possibility, but it's still nowhere near the level of the 60s.