Thanks for this response. I think go getter types will do well even in the most adverse circumstance — and my worry is that we’re losing that in our young people. Many of those memes are shared as jokes and can be laughed away — I’ve seen some of them and many do resonate with a lot of people.
As with your friends and their alcohol/drugs. Things are only fun when they’re fun and after that point they become escapism. The digital world is, in my opinion, a double edged sword in a similar way. I can have a drink and put it down — you could tell me not to drink for 6 months and I wouldn’t bat an eyelid, but that’s not everyone’s experience.
My articles have a dystopian focus, so have a tendency to focus on the negative aspects of modern culture. There are plenty of advantages to interconnectedness and social media — but if these were offsetting societal misery we’d expect mental health problems to be decreasing and the suicide rate to be going down. Sadly the reverse seems to be true.
I agree that the world today is possibly a harder place to grow up than it was before. That is definitely the case economically after 2008. Young people aren’t worshipping the same real destructive tendencies that we explored in the early noughties (I think we’re around the same age) — but that doesn’t mean that the new technology isn’t addictive or dangerous.
If you’re up for more dystopia then here’s another article you might like…. in which I take an educated guess at what might happen in the world of mental health.
Thanks for commenting and the additional insights. They are always much appreciated :o)
