Reply to Why American teens are so sad

Forum Index » Tweens and Teens

Reply to "Why American teens are so sad - four main takeaways "

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This article makes sense but ugggh - it is so complicated parenting teens now.

Why American Teens Are So Sad
Four forces are propelling the rising rates of depression among young people by Derek Thompson 
https://apple.news/ALWQH2XNvRd6MtUUBGrZKVw
Article discusses various fallacies such as teens behaving badly. In fact, lots of self-reported teen behaviors are moving in a positive direction. Since the 1990s, drinking-and-driving is down almost 50 percent. School fights are down 50 percent. Sex before 13 is down more than 70 percent. School bullying is down. And LGBTQ acceptance is up.

&gt;&gt;&gt; Here are four inter dynamic forces propelling the increase in teen/ youth sadness.

1. Social-media use is pervasive

2. Sociality is down since pandemic

3. The world is stressful—and there is more news about the world’s stressors

4. Modern parenting strategies

Eg High-income parents in particular are spending much more time preparing their kids for a competitive college admissions process.

Eg Over accommodating every discomfort.

Widespread Parental substance abuse - One study found that a sixth of the increase in teen suicides was associated with parental opioid addiction.

….. the author concludes

“The truth is I’m not satisfied by any of the above explanations, on their own. But I see no reason to keep them alone. They interact, amplify, and compound. And together they paint a powerful picture.”[/quote]

Screens and school/grade pressure...at least for us. We put our foot down and set a hard limit on screen time and have made school expectations clear (but backed off the pressure).

DS15 is p*ssed about the screens because he says all of his friends get pretty much unlimited screen once their homework is done and their grades are high (I believe it). Also, more goes on with screens than parents realize. They think "my kid is so sweet and innocent, etc." - I thought that too until my DS told me what really gets said on social media (Discord, etc). [/quote]

Could you specify what screen time limits you place? My kid never cared too much for his phone until this year. He objects to screen time limits and says he has all As. Just to trying to find a middle ground here.[/quote]

pp here-- no laptop/gaming during the school week. I allow DS to have some social media during the week (30-45 minutes a day) so he can stay in touch with friends outside of school. 2 hours laptop/gaming on Sat-Sun once homework and other things (piano practice, exercise, etc) are done.  I don't limit television. I have controls over the phone (from my phone) and I confiscate the laptop once screen limits are reached.

My DS was showing signs of screen addiction and/or using screen to escape pressure/real life, so we really had to start limiting. It was hard- lots of arguing and battles, but he's been branching back into enjoying music, playing chess, getting more physical activity. Every kid is different with screen consumption, but his friends also spend *a lot* of time on social media and gaming. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics