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How much of this is due to smartphones? The years seem to line up. 2014 seemed like the big year where smartphone ubiquity changed US teen culture. Less boredo
by holmesworcester 1y ago
How much of this is due to smartphones? The years seem to line up.
2014 seemed like the big year where smartphone ubiquity changed US teen culture. Less boredom, dumb adventure, drinking, etc. (For better or worse but in this case better.)
- y-curious 1y agoDevils advocate: smartphones have made antisocial tiktok trends, "fast money" hacks and paint an unrealistic portrait of success. Before, only rappers could be young and rich and flashy. Now, seemingly regular teens are millionaires and this is constantly fed into young people's feeds.
- janalsncm 1y agoThat might be true but it’s another topic. If your point is that the benefits of crime reduction due to smartphones are outweighed by harms to mental health, then I think most people would disagree. But this is also probably painting far too rosy a picture of what Meta is doing.
- makeitdouble 1y agoI hear your point as: up until then scams, gambling and Ponzi schemes were for adults with strong purchasing power (could sink all the family's money in one single decision), when with smartphones everyone gets to enjoy screwing themselves directly. My hot take is that previous generations weren't better prepared for the adult world than today's kids. They were more "mature" (sex, violence, abuse resistance) in some respects, but not specially ready for caring about society.
- deeg 1y agoOr maybe video games. Lots of teen boys staying at home playing Xbox instead of getting into trouble.
- mixmastamyk 1y agoI blazed that trail in the 80s.
- redwood 1y agoA big part. But pagers too. The decline of drug "turf" crime when things transitioned to networks of contacts correlated with the decline in violence on the streets which probably only accelerated with smart phones. No longer worth fighting over corners.