Is there evidence that the rise in divorce and family breakdown has increased the overall number of ACE that kids are exposed to hence driving worse mental health?
Playing devil's advocate, I presume progressives would say that easy, rapid divorce, etc reduces overall ACE by not trapping kids in homes with unhappy or abusive parents.
Is there any way to try to answer that question at the overall quantitative level of society?
Well, we know that there has been an increase in children who require the input of children social services and it is those children (as I explain in the piece) who are most at risk of developing problems.
You are undoubtedly correct. The problems go deeper than just phones or social media and American family structure leaves many vulnerable. In my view, phones/social media are one of a number of accelerants or evangels, making problems with social structure get worse and spread.
In the 1940s/50s many were worried about the atomizing and family splitting impact of TVs in the home. I think it's useful to see the problems of American family structure and the proliferation of screens as related.
A very interesting counterpoint to the Haidt et al argument. But how do you account for the timing (lots of increase in depression seems to coincide with the adoption of iPhones not the decline of the American family decades before). And similarly, how does this explain the rise of trauma and anxiety among youth from wealthy two parent families. Which anecdotally seems to be a big share of the TikTok mental health crisis
My dude, are you trying to actually claim that the increase in mental health problems that has been largest among white kids from middle and upper class families is caused by adverse childhood events and suboptimal family structures? You know that middle and upper class white kids are some of the least likely to come from broke homes and experience ACEs, right?
Im not sure where you get your information from but mental health problems are not more common in people higher up the socio-economic ladder, the opposite in fact. No, Im not arguing that an increase in the prevalence of mental disorder has been caused by family instability/dysfunction because Im not arguing that there has been an increase. I make that clear in the introduction.
This and the related piece were very thought-provoking, thanks Pete. I'm still massively down on smartphones though! There is such an opportunity cost associated with excessive time spent on smartphones - time spent interacting properly with other people, fresh air, exercise, taking risks, reading books, physical hobbies - that even if this doesn't show up in 'mental health' per se it is still a very thin gruel for someone to develop as a human being. Does not detract from your analysis though. Thanks again
Hi Pete, I’d love to pick your brains on this if possible for something I’m writing. Would be very grateful if you could drop me a DM or email if poss 🙏
Hi Pete,
Is there evidence that the rise in divorce and family breakdown has increased the overall number of ACE that kids are exposed to hence driving worse mental health?
Playing devil's advocate, I presume progressives would say that easy, rapid divorce, etc reduces overall ACE by not trapping kids in homes with unhappy or abusive parents.
Is there any way to try to answer that question at the overall quantitative level of society?
Well, we know that there has been an increase in children who require the input of children social services and it is those children (as I explain in the piece) who are most at risk of developing problems.
https://x.com/post_liberal/status/1777321155877036327?s=46
You are undoubtedly correct. The problems go deeper than just phones or social media and American family structure leaves many vulnerable. In my view, phones/social media are one of a number of accelerants or evangels, making problems with social structure get worse and spread.
In the 1940s/50s many were worried about the atomizing and family splitting impact of TVs in the home. I think it's useful to see the problems of American family structure and the proliferation of screens as related.
Thanks for reading and the thoughtful reply
A very interesting counterpoint to the Haidt et al argument. But how do you account for the timing (lots of increase in depression seems to coincide with the adoption of iPhones not the decline of the American family decades before). And similarly, how does this explain the rise of trauma and anxiety among youth from wealthy two parent families. Which anecdotally seems to be a big share of the TikTok mental health crisis
The reason why there has been a *reported* rise in the prevalence of mental disorder is something I cover in this piece
https://open.substack.com/pub/postliberal/p/smartphone-have-not-destroyed-a-generation?r=8su7h&utm_medium=ios
My dude, are you trying to actually claim that the increase in mental health problems that has been largest among white kids from middle and upper class families is caused by adverse childhood events and suboptimal family structures? You know that middle and upper class white kids are some of the least likely to come from broke homes and experience ACEs, right?
Im not sure where you get your information from but mental health problems are not more common in people higher up the socio-economic ladder, the opposite in fact. No, Im not arguing that an increase in the prevalence of mental disorder has been caused by family instability/dysfunction because Im not arguing that there has been an increase. I make that clear in the introduction.
This and the related piece were very thought-provoking, thanks Pete. I'm still massively down on smartphones though! There is such an opportunity cost associated with excessive time spent on smartphones - time spent interacting properly with other people, fresh air, exercise, taking risks, reading books, physical hobbies - that even if this doesn't show up in 'mental health' per se it is still a very thin gruel for someone to develop as a human being. Does not detract from your analysis though. Thanks again
Hi Pete, I’d love to pick your brains on this if possible for something I’m writing. Would be very grateful if you could drop me a DM or email if poss 🙏
Yes, no problem