561.
Our culture makes young people mad
My daughter Anouk, a high school teacher , commented on this piece
There are reports that a growing number of people, especially young people, are suffering from psychological problems, with an increasing number of suicides. There are indications that this is associated with the obsessive use of social media, in a form of addiction, where children spend absurd amounts of time, going to great lengths to compete on building profiles that are more glamourous than those of others, to the point of yielding nude photos to lecherous men who then use them to blackmail the children. They let themselves be guided by ‘influencers’, who set examples of how to dress and compete in looks and draw attention Why do young people do that?
My daughter, who is a primary school teacher, gave the answer. First of all, in puberty, children need social interaction to develop their identity, getting away from family strictures, and now they use social media for it, partly enhanced by the closing of schools and lockdowns that closed off those contacts, due to Covid-19. There is also much pressure for performance by parents and at school, which has become a testing factory bent on grades rather than development.
One can ask: Why can’t the youngsters go out to celebrate their interaction in playing soccer on the streets or have rave parties? Many do that, but being tied to a smart phone or laptop for social media is more alluring, and generates a more direct and enticing kick. The behaviour they exhibit is like that of drug addicts, such as isolation, and a decreased ability to make decisions. It produces fear, anxiety, and feelings of uncertainty.
I
can only hope for the resilience of young people to change the culture, in
varieties of contact and sociality that curtail the obsession surrender and
bondage to social media and phones, in real, physical interaction in joint
projects, of sports, parties, cohabitation, maintaining gardens, growing foods
together, engaging in adventures, other types of development and education than
the traditional constriction to a class and fixed protocols of learning that
may be best developed by themselves, guided by teachers who have got it. We see
some of this happening.
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