Absolutely. These kids are being convinced they’re trans by online influencers. And this is not a popular thing to say, but I also think some of them are being convinced they’re gay or bi.
Agreed. But I think its more complex than just being influenced. The way kids brain and social development is being altered leaves some very suceptible to anything that will fill the void. In otherwords its not just normal kids being influenced inline, the "hole" is created first, then it gets filled. All in all a very efficient system actually. Couldnt have designed it better
I think we are creating cluster B personality traits in kids. Borderline traits. Im not saying we are creating the "disorder" which has a genetic and temparament predisposition, but I am suggesting we are creating those traits of bottomless pit despair.
I think ptobably the most concise rundown of the bulk of the problem is in Jonathan Haidts new book The Anxious Generation. Here's a summary for parents. I just skimmed the article briefly.
Basically we are giving the wrong inputs during brain development in children ...for profit. At the same time parenting, as a society (parents, school, therapy, etc) has weakened their defenses.
I’m reading his book now. I keep coming back to the question of diagnostic inflation. We have pathologized normal sadness and anxiety. Even the smallest difficulty is trauma. We’ve destroyed kids’ attention spans through screens and medicated them to restore their focus. Etc, etc. Is this actual mental illness? If the bar for a mental illness diagnosis is so low, of course we’re going to see a rise. Haidt rightly points out the increase in hospitalization for self-harm and suicide, but could that be the natural byproduct of *convincing* an entire generation they’re mentally ill? I suspect we need an entirely new label to explain what’s going on.
One of Haidt’s findings that’s particularly interesting to me is that kids who are conservative and religious spend less time on social media and have less mental illness. This goes back to the void you were talking about. We’ve diminished traditional religious structures and communities, but even more alarming is the removal of an ultimate, transcendent purpose and meaning to life. According to atheist Richard Dawkins, “Humans have always wondered about the meaning of life…life has no higher purpose than to perpetuate the survival of DNA…life has no design, no purpose, no evil, and no good; nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.” A void indeed!
Anybody else see how the rise in trans by sex graph DIRECTLY maps onto Jonathan Haidt and Jean Twenge's social media graphs?
Lisa, my greatest wish is for you to contact Jonathan Haidt to write a guest essay for After Babel.
Absolutely. These kids are being convinced they’re trans by online influencers. And this is not a popular thing to say, but I also think some of them are being convinced they’re gay or bi.
Agreed. But I think its more complex than just being influenced. The way kids brain and social development is being altered leaves some very suceptible to anything that will fill the void. In otherwords its not just normal kids being influenced inline, the "hole" is created first, then it gets filled. All in all a very efficient system actually. Couldnt have designed it better
I agree there is a void. What are your thoughts on that?
I think we are creating cluster B personality traits in kids. Borderline traits. Im not saying we are creating the "disorder" which has a genetic and temparament predisposition, but I am suggesting we are creating those traits of bottomless pit despair.
How do you think we’re doing that?
I think ptobably the most concise rundown of the bulk of the problem is in Jonathan Haidts new book The Anxious Generation. Here's a summary for parents. I just skimmed the article briefly.
Basically we are giving the wrong inputs during brain development in children ...for profit. At the same time parenting, as a society (parents, school, therapy, etc) has weakened their defenses.
https://open.substack.com/pub/katherinemartinko/p/the-anxious-generation-things-are?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=8mb0n
I’m reading his book now. I keep coming back to the question of diagnostic inflation. We have pathologized normal sadness and anxiety. Even the smallest difficulty is trauma. We’ve destroyed kids’ attention spans through screens and medicated them to restore their focus. Etc, etc. Is this actual mental illness? If the bar for a mental illness diagnosis is so low, of course we’re going to see a rise. Haidt rightly points out the increase in hospitalization for self-harm and suicide, but could that be the natural byproduct of *convincing* an entire generation they’re mentally ill? I suspect we need an entirely new label to explain what’s going on.
One of Haidt’s findings that’s particularly interesting to me is that kids who are conservative and religious spend less time on social media and have less mental illness. This goes back to the void you were talking about. We’ve diminished traditional religious structures and communities, but even more alarming is the removal of an ultimate, transcendent purpose and meaning to life. According to atheist Richard Dawkins, “Humans have always wondered about the meaning of life…life has no higher purpose than to perpetuate the survival of DNA…life has no design, no purpose, no evil, and no good; nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.” A void indeed!
Yes! All of this.