The Suicide and Depression Epidemic: How Unchecked Social Norms has led my Generation into Despair.
- Joseph Jones
- Jul 16, 2019
- 4 min read
Between 2008 and 2017 suicide rates among young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 rose 56%. In the same age bracket thoughts of suicide rose 68%, suicide attempts rose 87%, and cases of serous depression rose 13%. This however has not been a surprise. Since the 1960s the reported amounts of depression, suicide and, and suicidal idealization have risen by almost 300% in young adults and teens. According to the CDC Suicide is now the number 10 most likely cause of death in the United States, with 47,173 suicides in 2017, and suicide is now the third-leading cause of death for young people ages 15 to 24. other deaths of despair are also on the rise. According to the National Center for Health Statics drug overdose deaths rose from 16,849 in 1999 to 70,237 in 2017. It is also believed that many more young adults and teens are depressed or have suicidal idealization than the numbers report. According to some sources only 30 percent of depressed teens are being treated properly, and many more have underlying or undiagnosed symptoms.
In an attempt to build a society that is more excepting in modern we have become slaves to our passions. Focusing more on ourselves and what we want in the moment. Illegal and legal drugs are abundant, we are able to quench our boredom in seconds with easy to access entertainment, social and economic pressures have set unrealistic goals, and social media has made us envious of our pears. So, what is causing this suicide and mental health epidemic?
Isolation and Loneliness: Humans are more connected now than ever before. With the push of a button or a tap of a screen you can call you friend half way around the world and talk for hours. So why do American teens and young adults report fell more alone then ever before?
A study by UCLA was conducted where they surveyed over 20,000 people, and rated how lonely they were on a scale from 20 to 80. The average young adult clocked in at 48. For comparison most people over the age of 72 the traditionally lonelier members of our society registered at just 39.
It was found that the young adults who felt the most isolated where the ones who spent the most time on social media. Social media by many is used as a crutch to elevate this felling. Texting or communicating over some type of screen will never replace face to face interactions.
Unrealistic Expectations: Through the use of technology we have been able to easily construct false masks around are personal lives, and filter out all of the unsightly bits that make us more human. People are constantly posting vacation pics, new cars, elaborate dinners. It leads one to believe that if they are not there that they are doing something wrong or unexpected. This however is entirely untrue.
In adolescents you have a limited prospective on the world around you. You have not had time to see humanity and all of its faults. It is easy to fall into the trap that everyone is doing better than you especially when everyone how has a platform to yell that into your face. In reality no one is perfect everyone has their faults, we have out of necessity to appear perfect just gotten really good at hiding them.
This social trope however has led young adults to fell that they can never reach perfection, or a place where they are happy. You need to have the nice car, good job, good apartment, attractive boy/girlfriend, and money and then you will be satisfied.
The irony out of all of that is that even the people who have all of that tend to not be happy themselves. You can see this first hand in the top wealthiest members of the population. They are much more likely to have alcoholism, drug addiction, divorce, and other social problems then most of us regular people. They have become a slave to their own desires and wealth, no one can find personal happiness while only serving themselves.
The Big One Social Media: To make it clear social media is not the problem the culture surrounding it is. If social media was introduced into a healthy culture, I doubt many of the problems we have today would be so prevalent. Social media put a spot light on these already existing problems and exacerbated them.
I am not going to say that we would not be better off with out social medias existence. However, I do not believe that it was the root cause of the problem that many believe it is. As said before since the 1960s with a slight drop in the 1990s the suicide and depression rate have been on the rise. I think the root of the problem lies in the above two factors Feelings of Loneliness and Unrealistic expectations.
There are many other factors at play also broken families, music, unhealthy social norms, drug addiction, and a plethora of others. I wish there was an easy solution but I don’t believe there is. In order to solve the problem Americans are going to have to do two of the things that we hate the most, self-reflect and publicly admit our faults. Until everyone is in agreement, we will never be able to face the suicide and depression epidemic head on.
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