Things that make you question our future

mixed_biscuits

_________________________
graphs extracted from some nonsense article about THE CODDLING
I reckon the likely cause of this cross-country uptick of mental health problems is something that came in in 2010 or just before, something in the environment...4G is the closest thing I can find so far. In fact, all the major inflection points on those graphs have a G correspondence: 3G for the 2004, 4G for the 2010-2012, 5G for 2020. There are no major inflection points that elude this pattern.
 

A Liniment's Evil Work

A Livelier Twin Monks
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graphs extracted from some nonsense article about THE CODDLING
The article is actually about "The Teen Mental Illness Epidemic is International, Part 1: The Anglosphere" although they do reference the book they wrote.
Not sure if it's nonsense, anyway.
 

chava

Well-known member
I think I read somewhere once that teaching to the PISA test on a national basis is a thing, so maybe the results should be taken with a pinch of salt.
There are different rumours doing the rounds, like Turkey (whhops, Türkiye) props up its numbers. Idk, at least you anglophones don't need to learn two/three languages in class (or do you?)
 

chava

Well-known member
The article is actually about "The Teen Mental Illness Epidemic is International, Part 1: The Anglosphere" although they do reference the book they wrote.
Not sure if it's nonsense, anyway.
One of the authors Jon Haidt seems pretty solid, his book "The Righteous Mind" is worth reading
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
I reckon the likely cause of this cross-country uptick of mental health problems is something that came in in 2010 or just before, something in the environment...4G is the closest thing I can find so far. In fact, all the major inflection points on those graphs have a G correspondence: 3G for the 2004, 4G for the 2010-2012, 5G for 2020. There are no major inflection points that elude this pattern.
Yes, it's definitely that, and not the worldwide economic crash of 2008 from which the UK's economy has still not properly recovered, and the subsequent austerity regime that was supposed to 'fix' the economy, which is still in effect 14 years later.
 

luka

Well-known member
the same results are seen in the graphs for the US which has a brilliant economy and no austerity. but also has 4G. case closed.
 

william kent

Well-known member
When did smartphones become ubiquitous? That was around 2010, wasn't it? That, and social media being a constant presence. A lot of people suffer from being exposed to the curated lives of Instagram.
 

mixed_biscuits

_________________________
When did smartphones become ubiquitous? That was around 2010, wasn't it? That, and social media being a constant presence. A lot of people suffer from being exposed to the curated lives of Instagram.
AFAIK some Oxford researchers recently published a huge analysis of whether social media damages mental health and found that it doesn't (I read it in the papers). Also, it doesn't fit the inflection points. There was social media before then and there's the uptick in 2004, and the non-linear increase from 2020 (non-linear because the 5G infrastructure is being expanded over time?).
 

A Liniment's Evil Work

A Livelier Twin Monks
AFAIK some Oxford researchers recently published a huge analysis of whether social media damages mental health and found that it doesn't (I read it in the papers). Also, it doesn't fit the inflection points. There was social media before then and there's the uptick in 2004, and the non-linear increase from 2020 (non-linear because the 5G infrastructure is being expanded over time?).

From what I can see, they admit research is flawed until they can get cooperation with social media companies and get proper data.

“research on the topic is contested and hampered by methodological shortcomings, leaving the broader consequences of Internet adoption unknown.”
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
AFAIK some Oxford researchers recently published a huge analysis of whether social media damages mental health and found that it doesn't (I read it in the papers). Also, it doesn't fit the inflection points. There was social media before then and there's the uptick in 2004, and the non-linear increase from 2020 (non-linear because the 5G infrastructure is being expanded over time?).
OTOH, plenty of studies have shown positive correlation between social media use and depression, excessive anxiety or both. Now correlation doesn't imply causation, but the fact that mental ill health among adolescents appears to have started to rise just at the moment when most of us (including most teens and even many pre-teens) started carrying around an internet-capable device in our pockets 24/7 is highly suggestive.

So, in sense, 4G/5G probably is partly responsible here, since it enables us to check up on our Likes whenever we are, not just when we're tethered to a WiFi service.
 

mixed_biscuits

_________________________
OTOH, plenty of studies have shown positive correlation between social media use and depression, excessive anxiety or both. Now correlation doesn't imply causation, but the fact that mental ill health among adolescents appears to have started to rise just at the moment when most of us (including most teens and even many pre-teens) started carrying around an internet-capable device in our pockets 24/7 is highly suggestive.

So, in sense, 4G/5G probably is partly responsible here, since it enables us to check up on our Likes whenever we are, not just when we're tethered to a WiFi service.
OK, but are the consequently enabled experiences really so different that they cause marked inflection points in people's responses, including increases in one ailment but not another in some cases. I can't imagine the mechanism but I could imagine a mechanism involving different biological effects of different frequency ranges, especially since we know already that there can be physiological impacts.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
OK, but are the consequently enabled experiences really so different that they cause marked inflection points in people's responses, including increases in one ailment but not another in some cases. I can't imagine the mechanism but I could imagine a mechanism involving different biological effects of different frequency ranges, especially since we know already that there can be physiological impacts.
If you want a serious answer, then I can give one. I did a mini research project as a undergraduate on the feasibility of mind-control technology.

My conclusion was that while there was certainly scope for tech involving neural implants, it's basically impossible to do this with 'mind-control beams' as commonly imagined (i.e. working on a normal person with a brain that doesn't already have some sort of receiver device embedded in it, or at least attached to the scalp so that it can stimulate neurons up close). The main reason being that non-ionizing radiation, such as the radiation in the mm-cm wavelength range used for mobile phones, basically does not interact with living tissue unless the intensity is high enough to cause a noticeable warming.

Now mobile transmitters are usually very high up and also located in fenced enclosures, so you're not just going to walk in front of one and get start to feel like you're getting cooked. Even if this did happen through some freak accident, you'd certainly notice it, and it's also hard to see how any sort of signal (let alone a 'suggestion' or 'command') could be encoded in a physical interaction as entropic as simple heating.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Of course, another answer that doesn't require any knowledge of physics at all is that we all get exposed to this radiation all the time, regardless of whether each of us is a social media addict or a luddite still rocking a Nokia 3210, so any study showing a correlation between social media use and anxiety, depression or whatever obviously cannot be explained by appeal to some putative direct neurological effect of the radiation.
 
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