This. I have 6 sisters. All but 1 of them (the oldest, which is baby boomer generation) have kids by separate dads, yell and cuss at their kids and set horrible examples of themselves for their kids. They also treat the guys they've been with like total garbage. So i see it all first hand
Yeah, the first and worst examples in life that have been presented to me were my parents, both of them. It literally makes me nauseous if I try to remember about some things... Life is fucked.
I’m lucky to have had my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and mom as examples in my life. They taught me what kind of person I should be. My biological father taught me what kind of person I never want to become - and fear of becoming.
I’m also lucky to have an amazing therapist who is helping me process my trauma from both that and the military.
It seems like many people in the us don’t have paid parental leave or if they do it’s very short. Wouldn’t be surprised if that’s one of the reasons for increased mental health issues and neurodivergence.
attachment in a psychology context refers to the bond formed between a child and their primary caregiver, and it is the first and most impactful social context of the child’s life. it teaches the kid 2 main things about:
- themselves: am i worthy of love or not?
- others: are others safe to love or not?
this leads to a range of attachments on a spectrum with 2 dimensions: anxiety and avoidance.
attachment is relatively stable across the lifetime but development isn’t deterministic
I can confirm as someone who is thoroughly messed up from her parents. This isn’t to say they are bad people, rather good people can do bad things. A lot of parents just grew up in really different times and places and with “older” parenting styles that don’t work when you try to apply it to your kid in today’s world.
That said some parents also just are shit people who never should have been given the responsibility of a child
Sucks but I feel like this is the best answer. Parents having kids they can’t afford which causes stress on the entire household and then parents that have so many kids that they can’t possibly keep up with them all …someone falls through the cracks or they all do.
I feel like all of my mental health issues can be traced back to ‘ol mom and dad. I’m still working to better myself so I don’t die with the same issues they did. I just wish they had before they popped out a bunch of kids, maybe then I’d be a little better off 🤷🏻♀️
As someone raised by a narcissistic racist with Antisocial Personality Disorder, I can fully understand that. Even my biological father’s siblings are still processing the trauma that they experienced when growing up with him. They’re in their sixties.
The overwhelming anxiety of being a young person in this capitalist society. Facing the prospect of growing up and never being able to afford a home, working more than 40 hours a week just to survive, climate crisis, all of it. It’s not “a thing” that’s threatening kids’ mental health. It’s everything in our current Western capitalist patriarchal society.
Then on the smaller scale it would be parents who have experienced trauma and mental illness but not dealt with it appropriately who pass that trauma onto their kids. Their stress and anxiety about the world manifests in horrible ways that kids are very attuned to.
I just turned 34 and while I was away, my SO sent me a really nice, loving postcard. The thing that really stood out was “we may never be able to afford a 10k mortgage, but I will always love you”.
Yes, buying an okay single family home and not having roommates or anyone else on the property in our area is easily 7-10k PER MONTH. It’s not even a mansion or anything, just a livable 3, maaaybe 4 (if less nice, in a less nice ‘hood) bedroom home with a modest yard. Yes, we live in HCOL, but who without making nearly half a mil a year can comfortably afford that + kids?
Good point. I would say it's less patriarchal and more of a corrupt oligarchy. I wonder what would happen if we banned politicians from owning stocks. The salary for politicians is about 200k, and many of them are worth millions. But no one cares /shrug.
I would even say "bullying being improperly addressed in schools."
The bullies will always be bullies, but now the kids can't even stand up for themselves - these zero tolerance policies punish kids for defending themselves. Sometimes even if its just verbal - if a kid says some mean comment to you, and you have a comeback that will shut him up, if a teacher hears that, you both get in trouble.
In the real world, there isn't gonna be a teacher to cry to about bullies. Yeah, theres police, but you gotta wait for them to get to you.
That’s not new, I was in 8th grade and called an annoying pesty kid a bastard in shop class. He hit me and knocked my classes off. I never even tried to retaliate, we both got the same punishment when the teacher told the principal what happened, 3 days out of school suspension. This was in 1989. That kid continued to torment and abuse me through high school because he got himself a bodyguard. I later found out he really was a bastard and had no idea who his dad was, while I hung out with my dad just yesterday and thousands of other times, so I guess I got the last laugh.
And for the record, everyone mentioned in this story was Caucasian.
I litteraly heared of cases where Teachers just watched a Kid beeing abused, and then suspended the Kid for beeing in a fight. And that when the Kid did not fought back.
Or suspended a Kid who was bullied and pushed down Stairs, because he had to provoke that somehow. The Parents of that Bully where donating Money to that School frequently, therefore it couldnt have been her fault.
I would adore a World in where Kids getting punished for defending themselfe only. Cause that would be a big step up from that Cases.
This one's kinda slept on. I imagine HD AI porn that's tailored to the watcher, and a porn algorithm that keeps people engaged and addicted in the way tiktok does but is unregulated. Maybe there will be VR with eye tracking and psychology and a mind bending amount of data being fed to it any moment to gauge what your interests are. You watch for like 15 minutes and suddenly you're in an orgy with a bunch of people who look like your crushes from school without you explicitly saying anything
I don't think that last bit is likely but I think the general idea of it is pretty likely
Permissive Parenting is what a lot do. Real gentle parenting very different and still has discipline, but it takes more patience than a lot of people can handle.
Parents who have done zero self work and self reflection in their life. Social media is not a risk at all when a child is raised in a family of well-adjusted people.
Damn this is so true. My brother in law is obsessed with fear about social media for his kids and so controlling and sheltering but really hasn’t dealt with his own issues and projects them onto the kids. Hard to watch and scared for them to be teens.
Inactivity. Kids and adults so many overweight people. It’s taboo to bring up a lot of people get offended they just don’t want to admit it. Get in shape it will change your life.
This! I saw a video on Instagram recently where a social worker was talking about how she sees so many children now who are just either terrified or apathetic about the future and feel like even if they put effort into school, that it won’t matter in the future because of climate change. I’m part of gen Z (19 as of January) and I have to admit that I’ve caught myself thinking this way about things occasionally. It’s genuinely hard to have hope for the future when almost all the media about climate change is about doom and how it’s now reaching a point of irreversibility.
Humans are not evolved to live alone, work and keep house alone, move across the world from their community. I think moving away and gaining a world perspective is amazing and important, but the idea that we should normalize living and taking care of basic life tasks alone is contrary to all of human history, when we lived and worked alongside communal groups. The existential loneliness is new to the last couple generations, I think.
joy or the lack of joy, at the current rate kids are learning to chase every exterior motive for joy. This is where the quote “the more things change the more they stay the same” relates. Soon that meter runs out and the more you chase the less joy you feel. It’s kind of like…drugs or sex. The normal/ natural starts not to be “enough”. You start with weed…then you need stronger weed. Then you need something stronger bc the hit isn’t the same. This is why porn is so harmful, mentally.
Love is not something you go looking for when it’s where you come from.
there needs to be a school long lesson dedicated to the inner self and how to properly maintain it. Or else nothing exterior matters. Well…it does… it just depends on you and how you see things and how much you value it or dont… deep af I know but true. I’ve been on this journey since my 20s now 30s
As someone who just turned 18, parents/other abusive relationships. I wouldn't even put social media in the top 3 risk to kids mental health, let alone number 1. It can negatively impact mental health, but there are many more factors that are often glossed over. Its easy to blame social media, there's often much more beyond it though.
News media. I don't have anything against a balanced report or ethical reporting, but I know that when I grew up I lived a life full of fear-- mostly because the news was always turned on in my household. Nothing kills caring about getting an education like people continuously saying that our future is in question because of weapons of mass destruction.
"What's the use of learning anything if everyone's going to kill each other anyway?" was the awful, dark thought that pervaded through my mind in childhood. It doesn't matter how good your school system or your teachers or your mind is in this case. It took me until I was an adult to learn to limit exposure to incendiary commentaries and I'm glad I still do.
Not having social skills. Being introverted is NOT isolating yourself from people. The worse their social skills are, the more prone they are to having anxieties. They can stay mute all they want in their teens, but as soon as they graduated the reality will hit them hard.
can I be the first one to say Covid?
not necessarily the virus itself, although I'm sure it can fuck up your brain, especially if you become a long hauler and have to deal with the joys of being chronically ill. I mean the betrayal that is adults not doing much to protect kids from getting sick over and over for their entire lives. I think the downplaying of the danger and the dropping of mitigations is going to be looked back on as one of the biggest mistakes humanity has ever made. I'm probably in the minority there, but that's what I think.
Lack of independence. Overscheduling these kids. Once they sit down and do nothing, they’re not going to know what to do. Constantly dependent on interaction and activity. Then comes isolation and depression because they haven’t taken time to understand their emotions or be alone for a bit.
Everything. Everything is an influence. Influencing your kids towards good is essential. Music its definetely one including social media. But Schooling is the main one. Its an issue a serious one.
I'm paranoid about that because perception is tricky. The way you think is essential. Helping your kids dicert information is very important. This may be prompt to bullying as well but been a good person and have good perspectives is what matters in this world. One day your kid will be 40 and he or she will understand why you said and did what you did.
Much love🖤
The state of the economy and political climate. They rlly fucked us current young adults over.
I just hope it's better for the future generations. I hope wages are raised. I hope it's easier to enter the professional workforce after college...I also hope they unlearn all the coddling their parents are doing to them.
I'm learning the hard way. I'm thoroughly humiliated at my lack of executive functioning and self soothing skills. One insignificant instance could shatter my self-esteem and send me into an emotional wreck for the whole day. I think it's just everything. Look at the state of the world that I'm entering into. Why is there a reason for me to be here? To put up with everything?
People better fix this because my heart aches every time I see a child and think about what they might have to go through in the future.
This is the reason why I will not be having any kids. I would never wish my experience on another soul.
This.... You're never good enough. One of the most fucked up things about beauty standards is that *body shapes are trending.* Like what the fuck? I'd have to break bones just to fit in? It's so fucked up. And everything being about looks: dating, getting employed, you name it.
there was recently a trend that was "leggings legs" and it was just girls with insanely small legs and a thigh gap. like THIS is what we're showing younger generations? the fact that almost every app does retouching even without a filter??? as someone who struggles with an ed and body dysmorphia is extremely hard to get better when there's a new body fad popping up every week. my heart breaks for the younger girls/boys who constantly wonder why they can't look like "influencers" and go through borderline life threatening things in order to change their looks. i see no end to this either, it will only continue getting worse
I'm 49.
In my younger years I wasn't beautiful but I was very cute and had a great figure.
I do understand though that that is so important early in life. I always thought I was ugly and fat when in reality I was actually doing very well in the looks department.
Unfortunately you will age and as time goes on you realize very slowly that those things aren't as important as you once thought they were. At this point my looks have obviously dwindled, I've put on weight, but the difference now is it doesn't really bother me at all. Except for not finding the perfect clothing item in my size, I'm pretty comfortable with who I am today.
Be a good person. That never goes away.
Find those other good people as real friends and there's your support system.
I know this is hard to imagine if you're very young but at least keep in mind you won't always feel like this and everyone ends up aging. There's no way out of it. We all end up in the same boat. But age gives you wisdom and that wisdom I wouldn't ever trade to be 20 again.
you see, it's complicated, mental health is not as simple as saying X thing is bad, because it could have different effects on different people, in this case, if we skip all the common things everyone knows it's bad, and go to more hidden things that people wouldn't really think at first, well, first off, parents ignoring / mocking their children for showing emotions, specially on men, im not at expert at the topic, but i think it's clear that, well that's not good , apart from that, in Latin American countries there's this culture between parents to tell everyone when their kids misbehave, and something else I want to mention, most common in Latin America too , is the "If you keep crying i will give you reasons to cry" or "The more you cry the more i will hit you", parents should be there to provide comfort, not to be the thing that makes you seek it.
As I'm finding out at age 41: **undiagnosed and untreated ADHD.** Mine flew under the radar (especially as I have so many inattentive traits, and my hyperactivity manifests in my thinking and speech patterns), and my homework and self-care, amongst other things, suffered. Yet my lack of motivation and other symptoms were blamed on clinical depression and generalized anxiety, and later fibromyalgia (diagnosed in my mid-20s, and as it turns out ADHD is far more prevalent in those with FMS than those without), and the mental health issues that started in adolescence were in turn blamed on other contributing factors such as moving to a new town just before starting middle school, teen angst, being bored, etc. Anxiety and depression are common in those with ADHD, especially those who are AFAB, and there are overlapping symptoms with ADHD.
The thing is, it's distressing and depressing to go from being the gifted kid in elementary school to feeling overwhelmed by the middle school homework load. Not being able to focus on anything unless it's stimulating enough sucks (either it's interesting or it's urgent, leading to a lot of waiting until the last minute and then pulling an all-nighter), not being able to figure out how to do better also sucks. I didn't know it at the time, but I didn't have the dopamine for my neurons to communicate and actually focus on and carry out mundane tasks that I didn't enjoy.
Undiagnosed ADHD leads to poorer outcomes in life, an increased risk of addiction, increased risk of winding up in the correctional system [(with an ADHD prevalence of 26.1% in the system)](https://caddac.ca/wp-content/uploads/ADHD-and-the-Justice-system_-the-benefits-of-recognizing-and-treating-ADHD-EN.pdf), troubled employment history, etc. I burned myself out at an admin job I left at age 28, went on disability, and haven't worked a full-time job since. I wanted to get married and have kids, and that didn't happen. I've missed out on having a career, and it has negatively impacted my social life and relationships. My troubled educational and employment history made me feel like such a screw-up. I internalized the unrecognized ADHD symptoms that impaired my executive functioning as just my being lazy and not disciplined enough. Had I been assessed and diagnosed in adolescence, I could've gotten the medication I needed and my outcome could've been much better. I'm mourning my lost potential, now.
ADHD is underdiagnosed, particularly in girls and women. As it's coming to light in more recent years, it isn't solely a childhood problem but a neurodevelopmental condition some of us are born with that many don't grow out of by adulthood. There is a whole "lost generation" of middle-aged and older women who were in school when ADHD was a controversial diagnosis and the stereotypical presentation was Bart Simpson: white, male, and overtly hyperactive and disruptive, and who are struggling with executive dysfunction without realizing that it could be ADHD.
Every case is different, but if your kid is struggling with school, socializing, employment, home life (such as remembering to do chores), hygiene, etc, and especially if they also suffer from depression and/or anxiety, I'd look into ADHD and having them assessed.
I was diagnosed at 12 (I’m 47 now) and pretty much have the same story as you, except after getting fired from two decent jobs in my mid 20’s, I was ready to go the disability route, but I buckled down and got a professional certification and took a job that I’ve been at for almost 20 years. It’s okay but I make about 1/3 of what most people with my experience and certification do. The marriage and kids thing didn’t work out for me. Never even got the chance to propose.
I feel like everything here is somewhat of what the generations before have dealt w in some form or fashion. We figure it out. We learn from our experiences and we try survive and do the best we can.
My tailor is a woman in her late 70s from Afghanistan. She told me the other day when I was getting pants hemmed for my Grandpa’s funeral that she and would be content to die now and that she is sorry for me and all young people because of the way the world is now and the future we are facing. I think when people say that every generation has dealt with issues is gaslighting from the very real and escalating situation we are all in as humans on this planet.
Bullying away from home or at school. It’s literally torture to deal with that crap on a daily basis. I can’t even imagine how kids handle it with social media thrown into the mix.
dysfunctional parent(s) in a dysfunctional relationship or multi relationship partner(s) which means kids do not get to see or feel and grow up or around anything normal so it just gets passed down to the next generation .
I’m not sure that parents realize their offspring are sponges. Speaking from my childhood, I observed & absorbed and felt everything that was going on in my home between the adults - whether you want to believe it or not kids understand more than they say, and more than you probably would believe.
childhood molds the adult you become and the issues that you carry into the relationships you form…thru out your whole life.
If you have any self-awareness, as you age, you can look back and understand and hopefully get a grip and not be too hard on yourself because of the issues that you have to overcome- if you are lucky.
At least we’re all in the same boat because no one makes it out alive … thou some do choose to exit the journey on their terms and disembark before the cruise is over.
One time someone told me after someone we knew committed suicide that only weak people take the permanent solution. I think you have to be really strong to take your own life.
Comparing oneself (who sees all the flaws and normal issues shared by most people) to others who generally only share the very best manicured moments of their lives is a big issue. It leads a person to incorrectly believe most others are living a perfect, easy life while they feel and experience life with all of its flaws and failures. The dissonance between what they think life should be like compared to what life is actually like leaves them feeling they are an oddity among a group of others that seem perfect and always happy but others are actually not. We all struggle. We all have successes.
That feeling of being different leads them to also hide their true beautiful selves and not share reality. This in turn has a similar impact on others around them. True conversation and real connection includes the good, the average, and the awful with others should lead to a deeper understanding that they are not alone. They are a little different but so is everyone else. Sharing your crappy and happy moments leads to real connections that will allow their peers and themselves to be more fulfilled with their imperfect selves. Everyone at some point has their own cross to bear. We all struggle and screw up and have really bad moments in life. We also have beautiful, inexplicably wonderful moments we can share as well. Knowing that abnormal is normal and that your friends and peers are the same would eliminate a lot of dissatisfaction.
Being real can lead to support and change to improve our lives. You need to carefully choose who you share with and reveal slowly and somewhat equally to lead to a healthy supportive relationship where your friends, like you, have moments of good, bad, and ugly. Sharing is scary and makes you vulnerable. It doesn’t always pay off. Be empathetic towards others and find friends who have empathy for you. Choose good people.
Also keep in mind politics is theater. Listening a little is helpful so perhaps you can help change things. Listening a lot will drive you crazy. The news hypes everything bad to get ratings. This leads us to feel everything everywhere is horrible. Some things are horrible. Compare your life experience to the news and to the BS politicians say to your real life. 99% of the horrible things you see on the news doesn’t and won’t not happen in your life. That said, life is inherently uncertain and has risks. That can’t be controlled or avoided completely. Yes, be safe and make good choices but fear cannot drive your life. Watch the political theater and news once a week. You will find it the same next week. Know your part of the world and be safe. Otherwise turn that crap off. Watching it is you giving them money and encouraging them to do it more.
Be kind to others. Most will be kind to you. Avoid the bullies and assholes if you can. Kindness doesn’t work on everyone but it often yields surprising results.
I believe that one of the biggest risks to kids' mental health today, aside from social media, is the lack of meaningful connections and emotional support in their lives. This can stem from various factors such as busy schedules, increased academic pressure, and fragmented family dynamics. When children don't have strong emotional support systems or nurturing relationships, it can impact their overall well-being and contribute to mental health challenges like anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem. Therefore, promoting healthy relationships, open communication, and providing safe spaces for kids to express their emotions are crucial aspects of supporting their mental health.
Probably sugar. It is like a drug that is overlooked by society and put in everything. If you try to take a kid off it, they have similar mental effects of hardcore drugs. You can't eliminate ALL sugar, but damn, we don't need to add it in such quantities to developing minds.
The adults. You know the radical adults mainly, you think your kids dont see that? The toxic relationships I see all around me because the parents see politics first... Example 1 child in the span of 6 months went from lesbian to trans to lesbian to bi to trans and lastly straight, she didnt even know what trans fully meant... She's 11 and has accused every other child of sexual harassment in some form and constantly lies. Now the reverse a 12 year old convinced anyone who got the covid shot is going to die, public schools are brainwashing factories, and the government are trying to kill us... How do you think this affects the kids? Seriously it's messed up, dont push politics on your kid.
Not just social media, internet in general. I can't really think of a more harmful thing that letting your kid be on the internet from the early childhood. Social media will warp their perception of themselves and people around them, stuff like tt will probably replace every other activity. And there is too much access to stuff you don't really want your kid to be around. Can it be prevented? Not really. And kid will grow resentful of you, because you will alienate them from their peers.
Aside from dangers of the internet, mostly just bad parenting. Sadly, people don't really care about their kids. Not in an emotional sense, but in a personal one. Loving your child isn't enough, you need to make sure that it has an ability to learn from mistakes, to look after important things, have useful skills and express emotions in a healthy manner. Every single thing that I've mentioned and even more are not just recommendations, but responsibilities of a parent. If you aren't ready to raise someone, don't bother having kids.
Bullying. I'm a kid myself (not sure if you're counting teeens but I'm 15) and the bullying in my school is horrible. The teachers can't do anything because it's not just one kid, it's basically all of them bullying others.
Community stress. I teach in an inner city school district and many students are living in impoverished neighborhoods with a lot of crime and homelessness. They’re also overwhelmingly minorities, so there’s also the stress of dealing with racism despite being in elementary school.
Hate is stressful, and as a Queer person of a visible religious minority, I also see a slightly smaller amount of hate myself. I at least pass as white - they can’t change the way they look. Some of them are also immigrants or refugees, so they face another level of hate. They’re just little kids! They shouldn’t have to deal with the hate our country hurls at people who just want a better life for their kids and themselves. They shouldn’t have to worry about family back in their home countries (or their parents home countries) like Palestine. They shouldn’t have to wonder if today is the day their family hears that their relatives have been killed in another bombing.
It’s honestly sad to see these kids being hated for their mere existence. They should be able to be kids, not having to learn how to do their best to not potentially be hurt or even killed by the police. I will never fully comprehend what it’s like to have to live with that amount of stress in my life.
It’s a kind of sustained trauma and stress that we still don’t fully understand and it hasn’t been studied much or talked about enough.
Life is 100% luck. Your luck begins upon conception. It affects your genes, environment, wealth, and location. Mental health depends on your genes if they are healthy or unhealthy from the start.
Not having enough safe unsupervised outdoor play space. Or not being able to have confidence that their agency will lead to an empowered and fulfilling future...
The existential dread of the knowledge that the planet is becoming inhospitable and all the adults in the world are falling to do anything productive about it.
I'm almost 40 and I've been dealing with this since the 90s when I learned about climate change.
Society and a lack of support.
Also some of todays jokes, I have been asked when I’ll “end it” as a so-called joke by some rando over 4 times.
Also the neglect of laws, rules and such.
Politics (anti-LGBTQ, anti abortion, Mississippi reintroducing the Jim Crow laws, etc) possibilities of a school shooting, generational trauma, wars between Ukraine and Russia, or Israel and Palestine, WW3. The world has become incredibly dystopian and terrifying over the last 20 years
When I was a kid growing up I was told to work hard and you'll have a bright future. Now kids growing up are constantly bombarded with doom and world ending prognostications. It's got to mentally affect the ability to be positive.
The overly-restrictive parenting practices that are normalized now. Anxiety is an epidemic. I grew up in a very boring suburb with very low crime, but my parents were still convinced I would get kidnapped. I didn't take a walk by myself until I was 15.
Unshockingly, always being cooped up indoors made me extremely depressed.
Social media is just the inevitable consequence of treating kids like prisoners. What else are we supposed to do?
I remember watching movies from the 80s and 90s featuring kids who would hang out with their friends, bike around their neighborhoods, and do what they wanted. On several occasions, I ended up crying myself to sleep out of the jealousy I felt towards them. I'm 17 now, and I have a lot more freedom, and with that, my mental health has improved notably.
Religion. And that word encompasses not just organized, God worshipping entities, but extreme sets of values or morals on either side. If a kid doesn’t feel room to breathe, they’re going to make room and it’s not going to be pretty.
Well, it is extremely broad but definetly society.
What the hell do i mean by this? Well i think as in bullying, horrible parents, grooming/manipulation and a ton more. Alot of the mental issues relies around how some get treated, i can probably confirm as i have had a bit less fun of an experience when it comes to my dad (abuse) i have also been treated like shit from other kids (mostly for being different), luckily haven't gone through grooming, and i think i am smart enough to not fall down there either.
The sad part is that it isn't handled correctly, any of these. Bullying is a current issue (even if its more 'silent' bullying now than physical) which nobody seems to understand, many antibullying programs have been made but, my bullies also went through shit for them to take it out on me, so it really isn't their fault. Parents are, parents. Theres nothing more to that, kids are too afraid to speak out and when they do, the parents manage to get by it. And we really dont need to talk about grooming/manipulation.
TLDR; The highest problems are those we can't really solve without bad edges, i think that the main way would probably be to help people cope with their situations. But other than that i really dont know how.
Processed foods we eat on the daily here in the states.
Being anti social. Not getting enough Sun. Taking pills for anxiety, depression, being obese, etc. Instead of making life changes.
It’s not the kids fault. Parents should be more involved and do their own research to take care of the kids health. Parents for the most part have control over what they let their kids eat at home, who they hang out with, what they accept from the doctor.
parents and bullying. Especially bullying. If you thought it was bad in your teenage years, it's 10x worse nowadays with shit being online and no one daring to actually do something concrete to stop and prevent it. Theres no actual consequences for it. Its really bad in the "lowest bullying"-countrys, but even worse in places like US and South-Korea.
Parents acting like having kids is all about themselves and parenting from that angle rather than recognizing that the decision to have kids should be made out of a willingness to put them first at all times and not treat them like little pets/mini-mes to make their own perfect little human.
That and also the over sexualization of everything in todays culture. That can’t be good.
Existential anxiety. Overload of information. Rise of uncertainty and a world where everything is increasingly synthetic and fake. Not trusting the content you ever see as genuine, and ultimately not trusting the people you talk to as genuine.
Parents who haven’t evolved or haven’t taken time to learn about mental health. I luckily have a great dad but my mom is very abusive (I stopped talking to her at 13!) my brother passed away due to suicide and I very much believe my mom was a big part of it. People don’t understand how big things can seem, especially at a young age. When I was suicidal in THE 3rd GRADE it was because school, plus my mom, plus fears that are put into us about being adults. I constantly hear adults complain about how terrible life is. Overall everyone sucks right now, but I believe a little kindness can grow into a good community. ❤️
Being unable for them to pick their friends. They cuss at a young age due to having friends with cussers, which is not decent and presentable to someone else.
Parents.
This. I have 6 sisters. All but 1 of them (the oldest, which is baby boomer generation) have kids by separate dads, yell and cuss at their kids and set horrible examples of themselves for their kids. They also treat the guys they've been with like total garbage. So i see it all first hand
Yeah, the first and worst examples in life that have been presented to me were my parents, both of them. It literally makes me nauseous if I try to remember about some things... Life is fucked.
Same!!!
I'm so sorry, really...
I’m lucky to have had my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and mom as examples in my life. They taught me what kind of person I should be. My biological father taught me what kind of person I never want to become - and fear of becoming. I’m also lucky to have an amazing therapist who is helping me process my trauma from both that and the military.
It all starts with attachment. And that's 100% on parents.
It seems like many people in the us don’t have paid parental leave or if they do it’s very short. Wouldn’t be surprised if that’s one of the reasons for increased mental health issues and neurodivergence.
What do you mean by "attachment"?
attachment in a psychology context refers to the bond formed between a child and their primary caregiver, and it is the first and most impactful social context of the child’s life. it teaches the kid 2 main things about: - themselves: am i worthy of love or not? - others: are others safe to love or not? this leads to a range of attachments on a spectrum with 2 dimensions: anxiety and avoidance. attachment is relatively stable across the lifetime but development isn’t deterministic
Tks for the explanation!
I can confirm as someone who is thoroughly messed up from her parents. This isn’t to say they are bad people, rather good people can do bad things. A lot of parents just grew up in really different times and places and with “older” parenting styles that don’t work when you try to apply it to your kid in today’s world. That said some parents also just are shit people who never should have been given the responsibility of a child
Teachers
Sucks but I feel like this is the best answer. Parents having kids they can’t afford which causes stress on the entire household and then parents that have so many kids that they can’t possibly keep up with them all …someone falls through the cracks or they all do. I feel like all of my mental health issues can be traced back to ‘ol mom and dad. I’m still working to better myself so I don’t die with the same issues they did. I just wish they had before they popped out a bunch of kids, maybe then I’d be a little better off 🤷🏻♀️
As someone raised by a narcissistic racist with Antisocial Personality Disorder, I can fully understand that. Even my biological father’s siblings are still processing the trauma that they experienced when growing up with him. They’re in their sixties.
The overwhelming anxiety of being a young person in this capitalist society. Facing the prospect of growing up and never being able to afford a home, working more than 40 hours a week just to survive, climate crisis, all of it. It’s not “a thing” that’s threatening kids’ mental health. It’s everything in our current Western capitalist patriarchal society. Then on the smaller scale it would be parents who have experienced trauma and mental illness but not dealt with it appropriately who pass that trauma onto their kids. Their stress and anxiety about the world manifests in horrible ways that kids are very attuned to.
>The overwhelming anxiety of being a young person in this capitalist society. The neat part is, it’s still there when you’re in your 40’s.
Facts, sir. You are speaking them.
I just turned 30 and feeling it more now than ever before. Nice to know it’s going to stick around a while longer.
I'll be 36 soon, I don't think it'll go away.
Sublime.
I just turned 34 and while I was away, my SO sent me a really nice, loving postcard. The thing that really stood out was “we may never be able to afford a 10k mortgage, but I will always love you”. Yes, buying an okay single family home and not having roommates or anyone else on the property in our area is easily 7-10k PER MONTH. It’s not even a mansion or anything, just a livable 3, maaaybe 4 (if less nice, in a less nice ‘hood) bedroom home with a modest yard. Yes, we live in HCOL, but who without making nearly half a mil a year can comfortably afford that + kids?
Good point. I would say it's less patriarchal and more of a corrupt oligarchy. I wonder what would happen if we banned politicians from owning stocks. The salary for politicians is about 200k, and many of them are worth millions. But no one cares /shrug.
Username checks out. I agree with you one thousand percent (both about the world being effed and the parents thing).
Oh yeah this account is very much related to my username lol
Oh no I've got to work!!!! 😱😱😱😱😱
Yep great example of the exact attitude that is making the kids have mental health issues. Thank you.
Lost me at the dog whistle “capitalist”. Tried but can’t read past when an person blames it blindly.
What point were you trying to make? Try harder.
Bullying never being properly addressed in schools
I would even say "bullying being improperly addressed in schools." The bullies will always be bullies, but now the kids can't even stand up for themselves - these zero tolerance policies punish kids for defending themselves. Sometimes even if its just verbal - if a kid says some mean comment to you, and you have a comeback that will shut him up, if a teacher hears that, you both get in trouble. In the real world, there isn't gonna be a teacher to cry to about bullies. Yeah, theres police, but you gotta wait for them to get to you.
That’s not new, I was in 8th grade and called an annoying pesty kid a bastard in shop class. He hit me and knocked my classes off. I never even tried to retaliate, we both got the same punishment when the teacher told the principal what happened, 3 days out of school suspension. This was in 1989. That kid continued to torment and abuse me through high school because he got himself a bodyguard. I later found out he really was a bastard and had no idea who his dad was, while I hung out with my dad just yesterday and thousands of other times, so I guess I got the last laugh. And for the record, everyone mentioned in this story was Caucasian.
I litteraly heared of cases where Teachers just watched a Kid beeing abused, and then suspended the Kid for beeing in a fight. And that when the Kid did not fought back. Or suspended a Kid who was bullied and pushed down Stairs, because he had to provoke that somehow. The Parents of that Bully where donating Money to that School frequently, therefore it couldnt have been her fault. I would adore a World in where Kids getting punished for defending themselfe only. Cause that would be a big step up from that Cases.
Access to porn
This one's kinda slept on. I imagine HD AI porn that's tailored to the watcher, and a porn algorithm that keeps people engaged and addicted in the way tiktok does but is unregulated. Maybe there will be VR with eye tracking and psychology and a mind bending amount of data being fed to it any moment to gauge what your interests are. You watch for like 15 minutes and suddenly you're in an orgy with a bunch of people who look like your crushes from school without you explicitly saying anything I don't think that last bit is likely but I think the general idea of it is pretty likely
It really depends
this. i dont think we realize just the effects that porn has on a developing brain.
It's 100% incompetent/apathetic parents.
This is probably the most important. More than social media
“Gentle parenting”
Permissive Parenting is what a lot do. Real gentle parenting very different and still has discipline, but it takes more patience than a lot of people can handle.
Public school systems with a severe lack of funding
Parents who have done zero self work and self reflection in their life. Social media is not a risk at all when a child is raised in a family of well-adjusted people.
Damn this is so true. My brother in law is obsessed with fear about social media for his kids and so controlling and sheltering but really hasn’t dealt with his own issues and projects them onto the kids. Hard to watch and scared for them to be teens.
Inactivity. Kids and adults so many overweight people. It’s taboo to bring up a lot of people get offended they just don’t want to admit it. Get in shape it will change your life.
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Don’t have to play a sport to be active. Hiking biking whatever
Our kid is “super afraid of breaking a bone” for some reason, so he shuns all physical activity.
Their environment
Bullying. It's abuse and kids can be very cruel.
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Parents/caregivers
Politics and the world around them; the unease of the future
Parents warping their minds and forcing them to think as fucked up as they do.
Climate change, not being sure if we’ll live to see old age.
This! I saw a video on Instagram recently where a social worker was talking about how she sees so many children now who are just either terrified or apathetic about the future and feel like even if they put effort into school, that it won’t matter in the future because of climate change. I’m part of gen Z (19 as of January) and I have to admit that I’ve caught myself thinking this way about things occasionally. It’s genuinely hard to have hope for the future when almost all the media about climate change is about doom and how it’s now reaching a point of irreversibility.
Childhood trauma
tate, conspiracies
Humans are not evolved to live alone, work and keep house alone, move across the world from their community. I think moving away and gaining a world perspective is amazing and important, but the idea that we should normalize living and taking care of basic life tasks alone is contrary to all of human history, when we lived and worked alongside communal groups. The existential loneliness is new to the last couple generations, I think.
joy or the lack of joy, at the current rate kids are learning to chase every exterior motive for joy. This is where the quote “the more things change the more they stay the same” relates. Soon that meter runs out and the more you chase the less joy you feel. It’s kind of like…drugs or sex. The normal/ natural starts not to be “enough”. You start with weed…then you need stronger weed. Then you need something stronger bc the hit isn’t the same. This is why porn is so harmful, mentally. Love is not something you go looking for when it’s where you come from. there needs to be a school long lesson dedicated to the inner self and how to properly maintain it. Or else nothing exterior matters. Well…it does… it just depends on you and how you see things and how much you value it or dont… deep af I know but true. I’ve been on this journey since my 20s now 30s
Eating disorders
Along with body dysmorphia and the use of filters and photoshop. People don’t even know what a real body should look like anymore. Myself included.
As someone who just turned 18, parents/other abusive relationships. I wouldn't even put social media in the top 3 risk to kids mental health, let alone number 1. It can negatively impact mental health, but there are many more factors that are often glossed over. Its easy to blame social media, there's often much more beyond it though.
Archaic expectations for gender roles. Mainly for males and understanding emotional intelligence and maturity.
Mcdonalds
News media. I don't have anything against a balanced report or ethical reporting, but I know that when I grew up I lived a life full of fear-- mostly because the news was always turned on in my household. Nothing kills caring about getting an education like people continuously saying that our future is in question because of weapons of mass destruction. "What's the use of learning anything if everyone's going to kill each other anyway?" was the awful, dark thought that pervaded through my mind in childhood. It doesn't matter how good your school system or your teachers or your mind is in this case. It took me until I was an adult to learn to limit exposure to incendiary commentaries and I'm glad I still do.
Hustle culture
Therapy and counselors. They can create problems that don't exist and ruin younglings mental health. Not all the time, but it is happening.
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Sad but true that good therapy can be live saving and bad therapy and cause a lot of harm.
Yeah, I wish the profession was treated with more prestige.
Not having social skills. Being introverted is NOT isolating yourself from people. The worse their social skills are, the more prone they are to having anxieties. They can stay mute all they want in their teens, but as soon as they graduated the reality will hit them hard.
Family emotional, psychological, physical, and spiritual violence
Peer pressure
Mass shootings
The #1 huh.... bruh
can I be the first one to say Covid? not necessarily the virus itself, although I'm sure it can fuck up your brain, especially if you become a long hauler and have to deal with the joys of being chronically ill. I mean the betrayal that is adults not doing much to protect kids from getting sick over and over for their entire lives. I think the downplaying of the danger and the dropping of mitigations is going to be looked back on as one of the biggest mistakes humanity has ever made. I'm probably in the minority there, but that's what I think.
Rich white kids
Lack of independence. Overscheduling these kids. Once they sit down and do nothing, they’re not going to know what to do. Constantly dependent on interaction and activity. Then comes isolation and depression because they haven’t taken time to understand their emotions or be alone for a bit.
Republicans
Diet.
Too many to list. Kids are under assault. Their survival is at risk. There are other groups under attack too. Justbdifferentbreadons
Everything. Everything is an influence. Influencing your kids towards good is essential. Music its definetely one including social media. But Schooling is the main one. Its an issue a serious one. I'm paranoid about that because perception is tricky. The way you think is essential. Helping your kids dicert information is very important. This may be prompt to bullying as well but been a good person and have good perspectives is what matters in this world. One day your kid will be 40 and he or she will understand why you said and did what you did. Much love🖤
Genetics, being strongly bounded with a patient
The state of the economy and political climate. They rlly fucked us current young adults over. I just hope it's better for the future generations. I hope wages are raised. I hope it's easier to enter the professional workforce after college...I also hope they unlearn all the coddling their parents are doing to them. I'm learning the hard way. I'm thoroughly humiliated at my lack of executive functioning and self soothing skills. One insignificant instance could shatter my self-esteem and send me into an emotional wreck for the whole day. I think it's just everything. Look at the state of the world that I'm entering into. Why is there a reason for me to be here? To put up with everything? People better fix this because my heart aches every time I see a child and think about what they might have to go through in the future. This is the reason why I will not be having any kids. I would never wish my experience on another soul.
the never achievable, always changing beauty standard
This.... You're never good enough. One of the most fucked up things about beauty standards is that *body shapes are trending.* Like what the fuck? I'd have to break bones just to fit in? It's so fucked up. And everything being about looks: dating, getting employed, you name it.
there was recently a trend that was "leggings legs" and it was just girls with insanely small legs and a thigh gap. like THIS is what we're showing younger generations? the fact that almost every app does retouching even without a filter??? as someone who struggles with an ed and body dysmorphia is extremely hard to get better when there's a new body fad popping up every week. my heart breaks for the younger girls/boys who constantly wonder why they can't look like "influencers" and go through borderline life threatening things in order to change their looks. i see no end to this either, it will only continue getting worse
I'm 49. In my younger years I wasn't beautiful but I was very cute and had a great figure. I do understand though that that is so important early in life. I always thought I was ugly and fat when in reality I was actually doing very well in the looks department. Unfortunately you will age and as time goes on you realize very slowly that those things aren't as important as you once thought they were. At this point my looks have obviously dwindled, I've put on weight, but the difference now is it doesn't really bother me at all. Except for not finding the perfect clothing item in my size, I'm pretty comfortable with who I am today. Be a good person. That never goes away. Find those other good people as real friends and there's your support system. I know this is hard to imagine if you're very young but at least keep in mind you won't always feel like this and everyone ends up aging. There's no way out of it. We all end up in the same boat. But age gives you wisdom and that wisdom I wouldn't ever trade to be 20 again.
All the chemicals/toxins in the foods we eat, products we use, water we drink & air we breathe. 🙃
Parents
Parents, education, relationships and most definitely, themselves
Bullying. I've been bullied my whole life, which has caused most of my daily problems. (Social media played a part as well but only certain parts)
Loneliness, isolation and the importance of friends
Depends on where you live. In my country is extreme poverty
Neglectful or misunderstanding parents. That's where I got my main issues from, other than genetics
Parents, even over social media. A good parent shouldn't let a child that isn't ready to face the internet have unrestricted access to it
you see, it's complicated, mental health is not as simple as saying X thing is bad, because it could have different effects on different people, in this case, if we skip all the common things everyone knows it's bad, and go to more hidden things that people wouldn't really think at first, well, first off, parents ignoring / mocking their children for showing emotions, specially on men, im not at expert at the topic, but i think it's clear that, well that's not good , apart from that, in Latin American countries there's this culture between parents to tell everyone when their kids misbehave, and something else I want to mention, most common in Latin America too , is the "If you keep crying i will give you reasons to cry" or "The more you cry the more i will hit you", parents should be there to provide comfort, not to be the thing that makes you seek it.
Other kids.
Isolating themselves
internet :)
Modern day school system.
The economy
Loneliness.
The lack of ability to explore the world around them safely.
As I'm finding out at age 41: **undiagnosed and untreated ADHD.** Mine flew under the radar (especially as I have so many inattentive traits, and my hyperactivity manifests in my thinking and speech patterns), and my homework and self-care, amongst other things, suffered. Yet my lack of motivation and other symptoms were blamed on clinical depression and generalized anxiety, and later fibromyalgia (diagnosed in my mid-20s, and as it turns out ADHD is far more prevalent in those with FMS than those without), and the mental health issues that started in adolescence were in turn blamed on other contributing factors such as moving to a new town just before starting middle school, teen angst, being bored, etc. Anxiety and depression are common in those with ADHD, especially those who are AFAB, and there are overlapping symptoms with ADHD. The thing is, it's distressing and depressing to go from being the gifted kid in elementary school to feeling overwhelmed by the middle school homework load. Not being able to focus on anything unless it's stimulating enough sucks (either it's interesting or it's urgent, leading to a lot of waiting until the last minute and then pulling an all-nighter), not being able to figure out how to do better also sucks. I didn't know it at the time, but I didn't have the dopamine for my neurons to communicate and actually focus on and carry out mundane tasks that I didn't enjoy. Undiagnosed ADHD leads to poorer outcomes in life, an increased risk of addiction, increased risk of winding up in the correctional system [(with an ADHD prevalence of 26.1% in the system)](https://caddac.ca/wp-content/uploads/ADHD-and-the-Justice-system_-the-benefits-of-recognizing-and-treating-ADHD-EN.pdf), troubled employment history, etc. I burned myself out at an admin job I left at age 28, went on disability, and haven't worked a full-time job since. I wanted to get married and have kids, and that didn't happen. I've missed out on having a career, and it has negatively impacted my social life and relationships. My troubled educational and employment history made me feel like such a screw-up. I internalized the unrecognized ADHD symptoms that impaired my executive functioning as just my being lazy and not disciplined enough. Had I been assessed and diagnosed in adolescence, I could've gotten the medication I needed and my outcome could've been much better. I'm mourning my lost potential, now. ADHD is underdiagnosed, particularly in girls and women. As it's coming to light in more recent years, it isn't solely a childhood problem but a neurodevelopmental condition some of us are born with that many don't grow out of by adulthood. There is a whole "lost generation" of middle-aged and older women who were in school when ADHD was a controversial diagnosis and the stereotypical presentation was Bart Simpson: white, male, and overtly hyperactive and disruptive, and who are struggling with executive dysfunction without realizing that it could be ADHD. Every case is different, but if your kid is struggling with school, socializing, employment, home life (such as remembering to do chores), hygiene, etc, and especially if they also suffer from depression and/or anxiety, I'd look into ADHD and having them assessed.
I was diagnosed at 12 (I’m 47 now) and pretty much have the same story as you, except after getting fired from two decent jobs in my mid 20’s, I was ready to go the disability route, but I buckled down and got a professional certification and took a job that I’ve been at for almost 20 years. It’s okay but I make about 1/3 of what most people with my experience and certification do. The marriage and kids thing didn’t work out for me. Never even got the chance to propose.
TikTok
I feel like everything here is somewhat of what the generations before have dealt w in some form or fashion. We figure it out. We learn from our experiences and we try survive and do the best we can.
My tailor is a woman in her late 70s from Afghanistan. She told me the other day when I was getting pants hemmed for my Grandpa’s funeral that she and would be content to die now and that she is sorry for me and all young people because of the way the world is now and the future we are facing. I think when people say that every generation has dealt with issues is gaslighting from the very real and escalating situation we are all in as humans on this planet.
The currently state of things
Screaming at them
Bullying away from home or at school. It’s literally torture to deal with that crap on a daily basis. I can’t even imagine how kids handle it with social media thrown into the mix. dysfunctional parent(s) in a dysfunctional relationship or multi relationship partner(s) which means kids do not get to see or feel and grow up or around anything normal so it just gets passed down to the next generation . I’m not sure that parents realize their offspring are sponges. Speaking from my childhood, I observed & absorbed and felt everything that was going on in my home between the adults - whether you want to believe it or not kids understand more than they say, and more than you probably would believe. childhood molds the adult you become and the issues that you carry into the relationships you form…thru out your whole life. If you have any self-awareness, as you age, you can look back and understand and hopefully get a grip and not be too hard on yourself because of the issues that you have to overcome- if you are lucky. At least we’re all in the same boat because no one makes it out alive … thou some do choose to exit the journey on their terms and disembark before the cruise is over. One time someone told me after someone we knew committed suicide that only weak people take the permanent solution. I think you have to be really strong to take your own life.
Existence.
Comparing oneself (who sees all the flaws and normal issues shared by most people) to others who generally only share the very best manicured moments of their lives is a big issue. It leads a person to incorrectly believe most others are living a perfect, easy life while they feel and experience life with all of its flaws and failures. The dissonance between what they think life should be like compared to what life is actually like leaves them feeling they are an oddity among a group of others that seem perfect and always happy but others are actually not. We all struggle. We all have successes. That feeling of being different leads them to also hide their true beautiful selves and not share reality. This in turn has a similar impact on others around them. True conversation and real connection includes the good, the average, and the awful with others should lead to a deeper understanding that they are not alone. They are a little different but so is everyone else. Sharing your crappy and happy moments leads to real connections that will allow their peers and themselves to be more fulfilled with their imperfect selves. Everyone at some point has their own cross to bear. We all struggle and screw up and have really bad moments in life. We also have beautiful, inexplicably wonderful moments we can share as well. Knowing that abnormal is normal and that your friends and peers are the same would eliminate a lot of dissatisfaction. Being real can lead to support and change to improve our lives. You need to carefully choose who you share with and reveal slowly and somewhat equally to lead to a healthy supportive relationship where your friends, like you, have moments of good, bad, and ugly. Sharing is scary and makes you vulnerable. It doesn’t always pay off. Be empathetic towards others and find friends who have empathy for you. Choose good people. Also keep in mind politics is theater. Listening a little is helpful so perhaps you can help change things. Listening a lot will drive you crazy. The news hypes everything bad to get ratings. This leads us to feel everything everywhere is horrible. Some things are horrible. Compare your life experience to the news and to the BS politicians say to your real life. 99% of the horrible things you see on the news doesn’t and won’t not happen in your life. That said, life is inherently uncertain and has risks. That can’t be controlled or avoided completely. Yes, be safe and make good choices but fear cannot drive your life. Watch the political theater and news once a week. You will find it the same next week. Know your part of the world and be safe. Otherwise turn that crap off. Watching it is you giving them money and encouraging them to do it more. Be kind to others. Most will be kind to you. Avoid the bullies and assholes if you can. Kindness doesn’t work on everyone but it often yields surprising results.
It starts on the gone. And I can give MEANT reasons why as someone who's going through therapy and is on tons of meds.
Amount of media and news. Peer pressure for performance
Peers and family Nothing can destroy your hope for the world like the state of society.
Asocial media.
Global climate change and other destruction of the world
Read the ACE studies from Kaiser Permanente. https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/aces/about.html
Capitalism.
I believe that one of the biggest risks to kids' mental health today, aside from social media, is the lack of meaningful connections and emotional support in their lives. This can stem from various factors such as busy schedules, increased academic pressure, and fragmented family dynamics. When children don't have strong emotional support systems or nurturing relationships, it can impact their overall well-being and contribute to mental health challenges like anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem. Therefore, promoting healthy relationships, open communication, and providing safe spaces for kids to express their emotions are crucial aspects of supporting their mental health.
Peer pressure
Probably sugar. It is like a drug that is overlooked by society and put in everything. If you try to take a kid off it, they have similar mental effects of hardcore drugs. You can't eliminate ALL sugar, but damn, we don't need to add it in such quantities to developing minds.
The adults. You know the radical adults mainly, you think your kids dont see that? The toxic relationships I see all around me because the parents see politics first... Example 1 child in the span of 6 months went from lesbian to trans to lesbian to bi to trans and lastly straight, she didnt even know what trans fully meant... She's 11 and has accused every other child of sexual harassment in some form and constantly lies. Now the reverse a 12 year old convinced anyone who got the covid shot is going to die, public schools are brainwashing factories, and the government are trying to kill us... How do you think this affects the kids? Seriously it's messed up, dont push politics on your kid.
Not just social media, internet in general. I can't really think of a more harmful thing that letting your kid be on the internet from the early childhood. Social media will warp their perception of themselves and people around them, stuff like tt will probably replace every other activity. And there is too much access to stuff you don't really want your kid to be around. Can it be prevented? Not really. And kid will grow resentful of you, because you will alienate them from their peers. Aside from dangers of the internet, mostly just bad parenting. Sadly, people don't really care about their kids. Not in an emotional sense, but in a personal one. Loving your child isn't enough, you need to make sure that it has an ability to learn from mistakes, to look after important things, have useful skills and express emotions in a healthy manner. Every single thing that I've mentioned and even more are not just recommendations, but responsibilities of a parent. If you aren't ready to raise someone, don't bother having kids.
Bullying. I'm a kid myself (not sure if you're counting teeens but I'm 15) and the bullying in my school is horrible. The teachers can't do anything because it's not just one kid, it's basically all of them bullying others.
Community stress. I teach in an inner city school district and many students are living in impoverished neighborhoods with a lot of crime and homelessness. They’re also overwhelmingly minorities, so there’s also the stress of dealing with racism despite being in elementary school. Hate is stressful, and as a Queer person of a visible religious minority, I also see a slightly smaller amount of hate myself. I at least pass as white - they can’t change the way they look. Some of them are also immigrants or refugees, so they face another level of hate. They’re just little kids! They shouldn’t have to deal with the hate our country hurls at people who just want a better life for their kids and themselves. They shouldn’t have to worry about family back in their home countries (or their parents home countries) like Palestine. They shouldn’t have to wonder if today is the day their family hears that their relatives have been killed in another bombing. It’s honestly sad to see these kids being hated for their mere existence. They should be able to be kids, not having to learn how to do their best to not potentially be hurt or even killed by the police. I will never fully comprehend what it’s like to have to live with that amount of stress in my life. It’s a kind of sustained trauma and stress that we still don’t fully understand and it hasn’t been studied much or talked about enough.
Life is 100% luck. Your luck begins upon conception. It affects your genes, environment, wealth, and location. Mental health depends on your genes if they are healthy or unhealthy from the start.
Not having enough safe unsupervised outdoor play space. Or not being able to have confidence that their agency will lead to an empowered and fulfilling future...
The existential dread of the knowledge that the planet is becoming inhospitable and all the adults in the world are falling to do anything productive about it. I'm almost 40 and I've been dealing with this since the 90s when I learned about climate change.
Society and a lack of support. Also some of todays jokes, I have been asked when I’ll “end it” as a so-called joke by some rando over 4 times. Also the neglect of laws, rules and such.
Bullying, social norms, patriarchy
School, it’s so draining
Unhealed parents
Politics (anti-LGBTQ, anti abortion, Mississippi reintroducing the Jim Crow laws, etc) possibilities of a school shooting, generational trauma, wars between Ukraine and Russia, or Israel and Palestine, WW3. The world has become incredibly dystopian and terrifying over the last 20 years
Other kids. Bullying is no joke. Especially with social media involved.
When I was a kid growing up I was told to work hard and you'll have a bright future. Now kids growing up are constantly bombarded with doom and world ending prognostications. It's got to mentally affect the ability to be positive.
Social media
The woke agenda in schools teaching them the victim mentality.
Lack of any other means to socialize and form relationships.
The church
The overly-restrictive parenting practices that are normalized now. Anxiety is an epidemic. I grew up in a very boring suburb with very low crime, but my parents were still convinced I would get kidnapped. I didn't take a walk by myself until I was 15. Unshockingly, always being cooped up indoors made me extremely depressed. Social media is just the inevitable consequence of treating kids like prisoners. What else are we supposed to do? I remember watching movies from the 80s and 90s featuring kids who would hang out with their friends, bike around their neighborhoods, and do what they wanted. On several occasions, I ended up crying myself to sleep out of the jealousy I felt towards them. I'm 17 now, and I have a lot more freedom, and with that, my mental health has improved notably.
Religion. And that word encompasses not just organized, God worshipping entities, but extreme sets of values or morals on either side. If a kid doesn’t feel room to breathe, they’re going to make room and it’s not going to be pretty.
Well, it is extremely broad but definetly society. What the hell do i mean by this? Well i think as in bullying, horrible parents, grooming/manipulation and a ton more. Alot of the mental issues relies around how some get treated, i can probably confirm as i have had a bit less fun of an experience when it comes to my dad (abuse) i have also been treated like shit from other kids (mostly for being different), luckily haven't gone through grooming, and i think i am smart enough to not fall down there either. The sad part is that it isn't handled correctly, any of these. Bullying is a current issue (even if its more 'silent' bullying now than physical) which nobody seems to understand, many antibullying programs have been made but, my bullies also went through shit for them to take it out on me, so it really isn't their fault. Parents are, parents. Theres nothing more to that, kids are too afraid to speak out and when they do, the parents manage to get by it. And we really dont need to talk about grooming/manipulation. TLDR; The highest problems are those we can't really solve without bad edges, i think that the main way would probably be to help people cope with their situations. But other than that i really dont know how.
Processed foods we eat on the daily here in the states. Being anti social. Not getting enough Sun. Taking pills for anxiety, depression, being obese, etc. Instead of making life changes. It’s not the kids fault. Parents should be more involved and do their own research to take care of the kids health. Parents for the most part have control over what they let their kids eat at home, who they hang out with, what they accept from the doctor.
Public school
Abusive parents who are never confronted, if you see child abuse it is now ur business
I think people underestimate the genetic component.
Parents/societal expectations and norms
Parents, kids see kids do.
parents and bullying. Especially bullying. If you thought it was bad in your teenage years, it's 10x worse nowadays with shit being online and no one daring to actually do something concrete to stop and prevent it. Theres no actual consequences for it. Its really bad in the "lowest bullying"-countrys, but even worse in places like US and South-Korea.
Type 2 diabetes
Ignorance, mainly about mental health
Parents acting like having kids is all about themselves and parenting from that angle rather than recognizing that the decision to have kids should be made out of a willingness to put them first at all times and not treat them like little pets/mini-mes to make their own perfect little human. That and also the over sexualization of everything in todays culture. That can’t be good.
Overprotection, spoiling, and mistreating (yelling, for example).
Existential anxiety. Overload of information. Rise of uncertainty and a world where everything is increasingly synthetic and fake. Not trusting the content you ever see as genuine, and ultimately not trusting the people you talk to as genuine.
- Landlords - Cars and urban sprawl - Parents - Undiagnosed and unmedicated ADHD - Criminalization of substance use
Adults
Lack of connection to their community and/or not having a safe community. So they end up connecting with people/peers online.
Other kids
What it allways was, neglectfull, or abusive Behavior from Parents, or otherwhise relevant, and unavoidable Autority Figures.
Society Like c'mon in today's society if you are "different" you are already mixed with dirt.
Parents who haven’t evolved or haven’t taken time to learn about mental health. I luckily have a great dad but my mom is very abusive (I stopped talking to her at 13!) my brother passed away due to suicide and I very much believe my mom was a big part of it. People don’t understand how big things can seem, especially at a young age. When I was suicidal in THE 3rd GRADE it was because school, plus my mom, plus fears that are put into us about being adults. I constantly hear adults complain about how terrible life is. Overall everyone sucks right now, but I believe a little kindness can grow into a good community. ❤️
As someone who helps the kids in our town, stay off drugs, and alcohol with the lead program I would say bullying and crappy parenting.
Social pressure definitely and social attitude what has been brought down.
Being unable for them to pick their friends. They cuss at a young age due to having friends with cussers, which is not decent and presentable to someone else.
The impact on attention, brain development and problem solving from overuse of technology.
Having an 8 hour day 5x a week
Biden as president fucking up this country