I once heard a lecture from an attorney, one of his tenets was as to completely avoid topics you don’t want opposing council to clue in on and attack. Don’t they to preempt it, just ignore it entirely unless you’re forced to confront it.

The analogy was “don’t tell your kid not to stick crayons in their nose” - otherwise, well, they most certainly will latch on to the topic and do so.

Children are easily led on, and if we’re being honest most adults are too.

It is a well established fact now that suicide is contagious. Just the mention of it is enough to cause a spike in suicide attempts.

Then how do you tell people that they can be helped about it without triggering the very thing?

If the respiratory symptom you’re talking about is lung cancer then the rate of that has dropped by hundreds of thousands.

Not smoking works, but maybe people need more freedom to hurt themselves. I’d support that if society didn’t have to pay their bills later on.

you need to be able to experiment

With what? It’s not prima facie bad to have limits or bounds. I’d agree it’s good to be able to be goofy, but there’s plenty of actually-illegal activities teenagers used to “experiment” with (and skate by under the radar) that doesn't feel like a loss if it’s gone.

There are a few towns around the world that ban phones and social media for kids. I really like this approach because it means nobody feels left out, and the parents are not the bad guys.

Fingers crossed it comes to my mountain hippie town before my 2 year old wants it.

Sounds like you had a pretty lame childhood to me, and in the 30 years since it's only become worse.

Much like panda bears in captivity, it is unusually difficult to give a human being a life that resembles what it evolved for, which mostly involves convincing other humans to back off the safetyism a little.

What dignity can be found in the life of the modern child?

One man's drugs, knives, and bombs are another mans skateboards and Amiga 500s

I think that this is true to some extent, but that people often underestimate how much Discord and group chats get used compared to "traditional" (feels weird calling it that, in this context) social media.

The article intentionally is giving an overly optimistic view of the modern day, when giving the argument that "kids these days" are better off, and it's quickly contrasted with a pessimistic view:

> children and adolescents are more likely to spend their time alone; they devote hours each day to staring at their phones; they play less, sleep less, and read less for pleasure.... Our children are living in a time of crisis

Yes it's stated less technically proficient than your version, but the point remains that you can look at the current internet as a blessing or a curse, and is mostly just an intro to the rest of the article

4chan is still thriving

When was the last time you met somebody who only walked all thier life? Never rode a horse because only the rich could afford such things.

When was the last time you had no food? Starvation used to be a real problem. I'm not taking about running short at the end of the month, I'm talking about there isn't food for even the wealthy people.

Food today is safer than ever. You talk about poison, but that is pure lie, it might not be the best, but it isn't moldy because you have a fridge.

It seems uncontroversial to say that young people now, and for the last 25 years, have access to cheaper travel than previous generations. The network of budget airlines in Europe, Asia, and MENA is extensive; I can often find a WizzAir flight for as little as 10€ if I'm willing to fly with just a smaller carry-on. As for long-distance bus travel, FlixBus in Europe sucks in so many ways and has a monopoly over whole countries, but its tickets (if you purchase well in advance) are often cheaper than the local operators that one had to use before.

Regarding travel, you can decide for yourself:

https://www.bts.gov/content/annual-us-domestic-average-itine...

I specifically do not want kids because it feels like I would be shortchanging them. I imagine all generations think it was better in their day. But you are right. Owning a car is absurdly expensive, public transit is pretty grim in the US and definitely not cheap, plus our food supply is literal slop. Even the cheap stuff is expensive now.

It is truly depressing. I can’t imagine being a kid who has to navigate all that on top of social media and constant agitprop.

The article reveals that the broader debate is more gibberish and less settled than we tend to think.

As the author also points out.

Same happens in the USA all the time. Don't let media impressions fill you.

Compared to world wars, the threat of nuclear annihilation, widespread racism, etc.? No.

The dissolution of many of the financial/social cornerstones of our society such as: class mobility, third places, education, trust in your neighbor, privacy, meritocracy, free thinking (and the right to dissent), etc.

My question to the reader is this: Who benefits from this?

I think it's kind of cuts both ways.

Some of my happiest memories growing up in the late 90's early 2000's involved drinking with a bunch of friends in their basements.

My wife on the other hand drank because she was unhappy.

These things are not the same.

The author discusses at length how the conclusions we reach about social media are strongly tied to our personal values and what we consider “good” or “bad” outcomes.

Don't know about the research, but I've always assumed that drinking has some correlation with psychological pathology. I drink myself, and would self-diagnose myself as being happy. However, drinking, particularly heavy drinking seems correlated to problems.