42% of Gen Z diagnosed with a mental health condition, survey reveals

so GenZ is 42% liberal.

 

I did no such thing but plenty of people do. You’re right, it’s ABSOLUTELY dishonest.

And from personal experience, people that do this tend to be upper-middle class professionals trying to get their kids an edge.

I don’t like it but it happens ALL THE TIME.

 

Wasn't a knock on Indians-- the observation was that they're catching on to the practice of claiming vic'hood, which has been championed in Am. Culture for years.

Vic'hood is and has been our highest virtue this century (and even into the tail end of the 20th).

The knock is on our flawed value system that places a higher premium on problems and hardships (to the point of rewarding made up hardships) over merit, solutions.

It's a loser culture. That's what we're championing.

 

Yes, that's my experience/observation as well.

Appropriation of *hardship* ..because that's what we value and reward.

(...or made up *merit* if you can afford that).

 

Another version, perhaps explaining the exclusive nature at the top.

 

Yet another version, perhaps explaining the elusive nature at the top.

 

Maslow’s current hierarchy would include cell phones, tik-tok, and Grand Theft Auto.

 

Democrats care so much that they wanted the unvaccinated fined or imprisoned or even starved to death.

 

Revisiting this thread and I had to touch on this. I grew up a bit of an empath. I remember several things from as far back as 2nd and 3rd grade classes that weighed heavily on me at times. Back then it was extinction of animals, acid rain, the ozone layer, polluted rivers etc among other things like animal and child abuse stories. My point is that I don't think kids have ever been taught the future was free from these issues. What I can say is that I would go home and play with friends and toys. My parents watched news for an hour which again was concerning as usually it consisted of warfare between irag/Iran and other conflicts from that time but then it was movies, gameshows, playing with siblings etc. Later on it was sports, video games and playing with neighborhood kids until dark.

Now social pressure, bullying, polarized news entertainment, vanity, sexuality, unrest are constantly streamed through cell phones, tablets and even social video gaming. Parents are working more to provide and "keep up with the joneses" like never before. I think we recognize and acknowledge mental illness moreso than ever but I also think we have entered a different era of information streaming that has robbed kids of innocence that prior generations enjoyed despite having some of the same world issues this generation has.

 

I’m 61. Only temporal perspective I know. Everything else through my daughter, nephews, etc.

In my memory, getting into college and getting employment after graduation sufficient to access the conventional middle-class lifestyle was not a stressor.

And while we had some concern over nuclear war, there was nothing like the certainty of climate change upending nearly all the current building blocks of society.

And nothing suggested that democracy was in danger.

I feel for this generation. I feel we failed them

 

Here ya go.

 

Respectfully disagree.

In our day, hazing was a part of life, bullying was the bullied's problem, fighting was far more ubiquitous, racism was approved with a wink and a nod, women were objectified and even pressused to play to that role, drugs and alcohol abuse were peer pressure encouraged, sexpectations were off the charts with ensuing consequences (eg virgin shaming...), if a person had a weakness, it was open season on the kid, with special emphasis on the weakness...

I reiterate--the difference today is in rewarding victimhood and weakness, rather than punishing it as in our day.

Of course you're going to get more ppl flag waving their wraknesses--its their claim to v'hood, which was yesterday's street cred.

 

I grew up in similar environments, but can't claim to have been subjected to extremes. What you refer to as punishing weakness is bullying, as you admit at the top of your post. Are you suggesting that people should be preying on others' perceived weaknesses? And even if not, I disagree with the simplified notion of a pure dichotomy between the way it was in your day and the way of young people today.

 

Not saying it was right, just disputing thet it's harder today, or thst todays youth is more innocent than in our day. Lot less fighting, less sex, less bullying, less drugs, alcohol and tobacco...

(Where I think they do have it harder, is academically. The college racquet has become far more competitive than in our day).

 

You're probably right about less fighting, drugs, etc. That's probably an easy guess for middle & upperclass / college-bound kids, anyway. Young people today, though, are far more overloaded with stimuli, esp. via social media. I don't know the evidence-based literature, but guess that cyber bullying is rampant, impacting many if not most. That's just the tip of the iceberg, though. The effects of excessive stimulus have major chemical impacts on the brain. This is a major source for mental health issues.

Kids’ mental health is in crisis. Here’s what psychologists are doing to help
As much hardship as COVID-19 wrought, it’s far from the only factor contributing to the current crisis. Biology also appears to play a role. The age of puberty has been dropping for decades, especially in girls, likely leading to difficulty processing complex feelings and knowing what to do about them (Eckert-Lind, C., et al., JAMA Pediatrics, Vol. 174, No. 4, 2020). In early puberty, regions of the brain linked to emotions and social behavior are developing more quickly than regions responsible for the cognitive control of behavior, such as the prefrontal cortex, Ethier said.

Those developmental changes drive young people to seek attention and approval from their peers. For some, using social media fulfills that need in a healthy way, providing opportunities for connection and validation to youth who may be isolated from peers, geographically or otherwise.

For others, negative messages—including online bullying and unrealistic standards around physical appearance—appear to have a detrimental effect, but more research is needed to understand who is most at risk.

There are also more substantial economic challenges for today's young adults than folks from yours, mine, & our parents generations.
Most in the U.S. say young adults today face more challenges than their parents’ generation in some key areas.

 

1st off I don't disagree completely with your prior comment about "rewarding victimhood." Not sure if those were the exact words and if they were I wouldn't use that exact phrase however there is something to be said about feeling entitled to be offended by so many things today. I view the concept of being "offended" in similar manner to "being disrespected." Both are emotional and perceptional responses to how another feels. Both have negative consequences for society. It's not illegal to be disrespectful or offensive.

As to your quoted text, I think you are oversimplifying things. I don't think there is less fighting, bullying,alcohol or drugs. Maybe the traditional kinds you remember but there are different vehicles for those things now a days. Kids in my days (90s) did acid and weed. In college it was ecstasy. I've personally ran multiple overdoses on teenagers who either knowingly or unknowingly used heroin/fentanyl. Online bullying has been around since the advent of social media. Fights now are pack events. I can cite plenty of local video from brawls at local events involving teenagers. Any kid with a cell phone now has unlimited access to porn and kids now send nudes to each other while courting.

Each generation had its issues but I'll stand by my assertion that technology and a general decline in media/social media and celebrity culture has given kids and parents more to be aware of these days and in many cases they aren't. You can have social control on your kids devices but there are ways around them.

Edit: forgot to add tornado drills being replaced by active shooter drills.....

 

And true to the human condition, both milieus suck. Strength and compassion must work together or evil will fluorish.

 

Welcome to the board ? If I may, are you saying that Gen Z bears a heavier mental load ?

 

I have been thinking about how mental health always comes up after mass shootings yet often falls off the radar or is actively minimized in other contexts.

It is often talked about in a way that’s politically or generationally divisive. The stigma has lessened but remains with mental health issues often being broadly associated with weakness or criminality.

I thought this was interesting. She was diagnosed later in life and explains her understanding following her research and treatment about why ADHD, in particular, is often not diagnosed. Girls are especially less likely to exhibit the most obvious physical manifestations.

 

you forgot cars and houses without AC!