American society has always been ruthlessly capitalist, I don't think that explanation holds for why there is a recent increase in depression. People have gone through much tougher times and seemed to thrive once the bad times ended. I refuse to believe today is any tougher than what past generations went through.
I think what is going on isn't that complicated. The biggest problem is that internet and smartphones have reduced the meaningfulness and weight of local and in person interactions. When we hung out as kids and teenagers the people around you were all you had. They mattered much more to you because what else was there to do?
Also, we measure our social status in a relative manner and the comparison group is no longer the people in your town or high school. It's the whole country or world in some case.
You meet a new person and find out they are really good at an instrument. In the past that would garner a decent amount of respect. Now using your phone you can instantly pull up thousands of people who are better.
Thirty years ago imagine the ego sustenance a person would get from being the best guitar player or artist at their high school.
Basically the social value of the younger generation to each other has decreased. How would that not cause widespread depression?
> People have gone through much tougher times and seemed to thrive once the bad times ended.
If I were a teenager I'd wonder when the bad times were going to end. In most previous "bad times" we've had an exit condition - usually beat the bad guys. What is it now? What are we fighting against to rally in commonality with others? Also, we didn't sample mental illness previously, so we don't really know how teenagers weathered the great depression. Thriving once the bad times ends doesn't indicate how they were doing during the bad times either.
The internet has simply exposed the BS of the ruling class. Their lies are plain for all to see. In the past it was much easier for them to use smoke and mirrors to hide what they were really up to.
Also kids today respect the abilities of their peers, just like they always have. After all, mass media is over 100 years old.
How do I know? I work with kids outside of work time, and I have kids of my own.
> People have gone through much tougher times and seemed to thrive once the bad times ended.
My theory is that in fairly recent memory, in America you had relatively good times that went from the '80s up to 2008, with the '90s being a particularly tranquil time at that (no major war between Desert Storm and 9/11). So to regress from a time of security and prosperity into a bad time provides a sort of trauma of its own. Especially since, as others have pointed out, there seems to be no exit condition.
I think what is going on isn't that complicated. The biggest problem is that internet and smartphones have reduced the meaningfulness and weight of local and in person interactions. When we hung out as kids and teenagers the people around you were all you had. They mattered much more to you because what else was there to do?
Also, we measure our social status in a relative manner and the comparison group is no longer the people in your town or high school. It's the whole country or world in some case.
You meet a new person and find out they are really good at an instrument. In the past that would garner a decent amount of respect. Now using your phone you can instantly pull up thousands of people who are better. Thirty years ago imagine the ego sustenance a person would get from being the best guitar player or artist at their high school.
Basically the social value of the younger generation to each other has decreased. How would that not cause widespread depression?