We've got a major problem with suicides continuing to increase steadily since 1999.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_in_the_United_States
"Additionally, it was the second leading cause of death for young people aged 15 to 34 and the third leading cause of death for those between the ages of 10 and 14."
metmike: We've heard several potential explanations but after studying it a bit, I have an explanation that makes great sense for why suicides continue to go up that nobody speaks of.
We know that many people that commit suicide have mental illness but almost everybody that does this has an unfulfilling life.
You would think that in this wonderful country with the best time to be alive in human history.....having thousands of tools available for enlightenment, enjoyment/entertainment, socializing and productivity opportunities that everybody's quality of life would be enhanced by several orders of magnitude compared to a century ago.
And this should give people even more desire to live!
Reasonstobethankful here in 2020!(and 2021, 22, 23+)
https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/45623/
Why isn't it?
Well, things started going downhill around 20 years ago............right around the time when people, especially young people started getting hooked up to the internet.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/276445/number-of-internet-users-in-the-united-states/
Is this just a coincidence?
I contend that there is a strong connection/causation.
There is also a connection to something else that has been going on during that time frame.
https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/70972/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_violence_in_the_United_States
Homicides and mass shootings have also been gradually increasing, in this case from guns shown above.
But why isn't this just from an increase in gun ownership?
Because there is not much correlation there.
https://news.gallup.com/poll/1645/guns.aspx
Why would this be causation? What is the internet causing to happen?
https://www.statista.com/statistics/276445/number-of-internet-users-in-the-united-states/
For one thing, people, especially young people of the ages that are killing themselves at an astronomical rate, now spend massive amounts of time on social media(and watch tv) than what they did 25 years ago, before these internet sources existed.
https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/67714/
The average person spends two hours and six minutes on social media each day – a total of over six years across a person’s lifespan.
The messages that they are getting and the way that they communicate is not only very impersonal but often extremely disrespectful.
Typing to a person with no in person identity/connection to us at the other end of a computer conversation allows us to state horrible things to them, often expressing hatred, trolling or bullying/being mean with no consequences like would be the case if that person were in the room with us. We also receive mean and hateful attacks from people like that. On many forums or internet realms, this is accepted as normal.
Leading this mentality by way of example are our politicians. Constant attacking of those from the other party and trying to get their supporters to hate the opponents. Some of the national media, then amplifies it.........sending out messages of hate at places like FOX and CNN, devoted to telling people from one side the news they want to hear that features constant vilifying people of the other party.........giving viewers reasons to hate those that have ideological differences.
Mainly for ratings but also, our journalists and journalism has evolved over the last 20 years. Instead of being objective reporters of the news, like before, many are now political activists with messages to impose their ideological belief system on viewers/readers............often unintentionally because of the innate cognitive bias we all have in us(seeing everything using our subjective brain that interprets based on what it was taught to believe). They totally believe their messages but the messages are some times delivered as absolutes.....no tolerance for disagreement or to find middle ground with the other side.
Hate cops because they are systemically racist.....just like our country is systemically racist..............hate liberals, hate conservatives, hate BLM, hate people that caused the insurrection, hate George Floyd protesters, hate Trump, hate Fauci, hate Biden/Harris. Hate climate deniers trying to ruin the planet...........and on and on.
So the political, social and professional media messages are programming brains with hatred..........and hatred is more and more defining us as a society. Hated is perfectly acceptable if the person is from the other political party or disagrees with us.
It's us against them mentality.
Hate often hurts the one doing the hating the most. It leads to a very unsatisfactory, unhappy discontented feeling inside. The best the hater in a relationship like this can always hope for when they hate somebody is for bad things to happen to the person they hate. This drags the hater down. Causes a negative, pessimistic outlook.
Combine that with mental illness and any sort of tendency for violence and you have the recipe for a person that doesn't respect others..........even the potential mass shooter in extreme cases. They may even take their own lives if this mentality is draining the person of the feeling of hope that we all need to be optimistic about the future.
In the population with the absence of hope and optimism about the future..........we see a massive increase in suicides. We see a massive increase also in homicides.
Our young people are getting messages on the internet/social media that are harmful to their/our psyche. Cause them to feel bad. Lose hope. Taught to hate others they disagree with. Are targets of hatred because of their political opinions.
BTW: I am not suggesting that all or even most social media/internet is bad. You are on it right now!!!
Rather than just relying on vague assertions, I will give you a specific, quintessential example of this happening on a large scale in one particular realm.
Tens of millions of young people look up to Greta for their messages about the climate crisis and the future of our planet. She does the complete opposite of giving them the hope that we all need to be optimistic about our lives.
She intentionally scares the crap out of them and drains the hope out of their lives....thanks to the messages she repeats that are given to her from the United Nations.
This is NOT something trivial....its for real and its HUGE and its just one example of what we are feeding our young people on social media that is messing them up bad:
Time magazine:
https://time.com/5735388/climate-change-eco-anxiety/
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/327354
Eco-anxiety refers to a fear of environmental damage or ecological disaster. This sense of anxiety is largely based on the current and predicted future state of the environment and human-induced climate change.
According to a 2018 national survey, almost 70% of people in the United States are worried about climate change, and around 51% feel “helpless.”
Anxiety around environmental issues may stem from the awareness of a rising risk of extreme weather events, losses of livelihood or housing, fears for future generations, and feelings of helplessness.
This article discusses eco-anxiety, including what it is, the common symptoms, and how to spot and manage it.
Washington Post
"Kids are terrified, anxious and depressed about climate change. Whose fault is that?"
Rueters
9/17/19 Newsweek
IFL Science:
"Rising numbers of children are being treated for “eco-anxiety”, experts have said, as they warn parents against “terrifying” their youngsters with talk of climate catastrophe.
Protests by groups such as Extinction Rebellion, the recent fires in the Amazon and apocalyptic warnings by the teenage activist Greta Thunberg have prompted a “tsunami” of young people seeking help.
A group of psychologists working with the University of Bath says it is receiving a growing volume of enquiries from teachers, doctors and therapists unable to cope.
The Climate Psychology Alliance (CPA) told The Daily Telegraph some children complaining of eco-anxiety have even been given psychiatric drugs.
The body is campaigning for anxiety specifically caused by fear for the future of the planet to be recognised as a psychological phenomenon."
"Her words and demeanor are those of a totalitarian dictator. She says people who don’t act on climate change are “evil.” The United Nations and Congress should never have given her their platforms.
She has taken literally what irresponsible adults have told her, that the planet is going to end in 11 years unless we stop using fossil fuels.
Her parents and the climate industry have exploited her youthful idealism and rigid obsessions. They have frightened her out of her mind and now are exposing her to condemnation and ridicule.
They should be ashamed of themselves.
They have indoctrinated her into believing a childish fantasy, one that has captured the imagination of millions of susceptible children all around the world, and is causing them to suffer, like Greta, what psychologists call eco-anxiety.
One British report found growing numbers of children and young adults are being treated with psychiatric drugs to alleviate climate anxiety.
Some are so certain the planet has no future that they’ve sworn off ever having children.
As irresponsible adult Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told her 2.5 million Instagram followers this year, it is “legitimate” for young people afraid of climate change to ask, “Is it OK to still have children?”
Terrifying children with exaggerated stories about the threat of climate change is a deliberate strategy of eco-totalitarians. It is child abuse.
What Greta does not understand is that it also is a deliberate ploy by climate alarmists to advance their hidden agenda of destroying capitalism."
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/24/how-greta-thunbergs-rise-could-backfire-on-environmentalists.html
"There are plenty of politicians and regular voters claiming to be inspired by her words and passion.
There are also lots of observers expressing general alarm at what they see as an indoctrinated child being coerced by adults to make their political arguments with her youth as a shield from any criticism."
"In a remarkable interview on PBS last week, author Jonathan Safran Foer spoke out against Warren’s comments and pointed out that those who say they believe in the dire effects of climate change would do more than protest if they really believed it"
"Based on all the politically partisan slogans and signs we saw at the climate protests over the past few days, are we sure the top motivation is the environment and not politics? If the activists protesting right now could get the most serious climate change threats eliminated, but without politically defeating President Trump and Republicans and/or putting the big oil companies out of business in the process, would they still be interested in the cause?
This new focus on making environmentalism an angrier protest movement threatens to make the effort to protect the planet just another wedge issue that politicians often use to motivate their base of voters. Similar wedge issues like abortion and gun control have long shifted become tribal controversies with little chance of progress and compromise. Greta Thunberg is angry."
metmike: This is the #1 young person in the world(Time's person of the year) that they are trying to have our young people follow..........a very angry person lashing out and telling us that there is no hope unless things drastically change to a Marxist political model.
Where are the leaders teaching our young people(or any people) to love one another?
Or kindness and tolerance of people that we disagree with?
To give them/us optimism about their/our future and the future of our planet?
Without this..........suicide rates have been climbing.
Homicide rates and mass shootings have been steadily climbing.
Of course this should not overlook our parents that do a wonderful job raising children in these challenging times.
However, when our children interact with the outside world, which is numerous hours every day, they also need solid messages that are consistent with what mom and dad teach them.........not messages that obliterate those good lessons they get at home....or at school.
I am presenting this as a scientist, not as somebody of faith.
In previous posts, I demonstrated the negative, no hope and hateful messages that we are sending to our people via the media and internet, especially young people which is contributing to the escalation of suicides and homicides.
I asked on the last page, where is the message and messengers of love coming from?
The answer is below. In Christian faiths, for instance, the parables of Jesus help form the messages of the faith.
The parable of the Good Samaritan in the Gospel of Luke..........teaching us to help less fortunate people, even those that are much different than us. Or teaching us to, not only love your neighbor but to love...........your enemy!
Where else do we get messages like that?
FOX or CNN news? Their moto should be "hate and maximize persecution of your enemy"
As you can see below, church attendance has been plunging the last 20 years...............exactly at the same time when people spend much, much more of their time on the internet and using social media.........so there is less and less time and people experiencing positive messages about humanity to offset the more and more negative messages from tv and social media.
This is a recipe for less respect for humanity. More hatred for others that are different than us. Loss of hope/optimism that previously came from messages at church.....leading to an increase in suicides and homicides and violent crime in society.
https://www.barna.com/research/changing-state-of-the-church/
It's ironic and disturbing that the most powerful source of education, entertainment, news and communication that's enriching our lives with a million times more information than what we had previously....... is also dragging us down in another realm.
It's actually not the internet but the people who use the internet(and media) as tools to advance their personal agenda.
Often manufacturing subjective realities using convincing sounding non authentic messages and propaganda that steal peoples intelligence(brainwash them) .
Sadly, its very difficult at times to ascertain with certainty the authentic vs the fraudulent messages.
But you saw the graphs on the previous pages and the trends that the data shows.
Something has to change in order to reverse the trends of increasing suicides and homicides.
In fact, the only thing that can change that is.............change the messages that, especially our young people are getting.
We need positive/optimistic messages(based on truths not fake) and those that give hope. Messages that teach love, not hate, especially with regards to people different than us in politics. Tolerance and understanding and compassion for others.
That would fix many of the problems that we have today. It would help unify the country.
But where will this come from. Who has such messages?
i'll do my best here and that's how we should all think.
We might not be able to change the entire world by ourselves but we can improve things a tiny bit for a few people around us for a short while and in turn, they might pass it around to others.
Actually, it happens exactly like that all the time in many places every day. It might be happening right now from you reading this thread. I hope so.
What started this thread?
Another element aggravating this has been COVID.
Cutting us off from our family/loved ones. Degrading everybody's quality of life.
Reducing us to a bunch of faceless masks in public/personal encounters.
But don't let that minimize the root of the significant problems that have been growing for 2 decades, well before COVID.
And let's celebrate the return of personal contact with other people here in 2021 and cherish all of them, ESPECIALLY people that are different than us.
Those people often provide the best opportunities for us to learn news things vs hanging around with people that know and share all the same things that we already know!