Why are so many of today's young adults depressed?

..... wrote:

Baby-Boomer Entitlement Generation for the past 30 years: "Study hard and go to college so that you don't wind up digging ditches. Do well in school and you'll be able to afford your house, car, and 2.5 kids."

Baby Boomer Entitlement Generation today: "WTF is wrong with you? Terrible economy my a*s. If life is so hard, you should be working back-to-back ditch digging jobs and be perfectly happy doing it. Then you'll be promoted to head ditch digger, and you can afford your house, cars, and 2.5 kids. Also, be sure to save for retirement!!"

You don't understand. There are no jobs. I don't want a house, car, or 2.5 kids. I want to be able to get out of my parents' house, and I want to live in a s***ty apartment, and be able to live on pasta. Not really possible though when there are NO JOBS!!!

Social media and the proliferation of smart phones allowing for instant access are a part of the problem. People are trading serious relationships and friendships for casual relationships that have no real value. The more casual relationships you have, the lonelier you tend to be. This of course leads to depression. This is an interesting piece:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/05/is-facebook-making-us-lonely/308930/

The solution? Put down your device for a few hours a day and try to interact with truly important people in your life in a meaningful way. Have deeper discussions and relationships with a few friends, instead of trying to text 100 different people a day.

As for me, I continue to live phone-free. And I left my lucrative IT practice several years ago to being a second career as a ditch digger. It's hard, but rewarding work. My wife makes $8,000 a month on the computer though, so we get by just fine.

Smedley wrote:

You don't understand. There are no jobs. I don't want a house, car, or 2.5 kids. I want to be able to get out of my parents' house, and I want to live in a s***ty apartment, and be able to live on pasta. Not really possible though when there are NO JOBS!!!

And yet, strangely enough, WAY over 100 MILLION Americans are working.

Go figure.

Ole Timer wrote:

As for me, I continue to live phone-free. And I left my lucrative IT practice several years ago to being a second career as a ditch digger. It's hard, but rewarding work. My wife makes $8,000 a month on the computer though, so we get by just fine.

Seriously? Are you really digging ditches?

A lot of young people are thoroughly disillusioned with the economy they've been delivered into.

Hats to be axed wrote:

Seriously? Are you really digging ditches?

Ditches, culverts, sewers, other things of that nature.

Check this out: I live in an area that used predominately terracota sewer hookups. There are tens of thousands of homes in this area that went up right after World War II that have these. 60 years later, due to tree roots and just age, these are all collapsing. Every single one of them needs to be replaced.

With a small backhoe to get started, then hand shovels, about $100 worth of PVC and a couplings, we can make $3000 in a day. I kid you not.

So dig ditches? OK, why not?

Ole Timer wrote:

Hats to be axed wrote:

Seriously? Are you really digging ditches?

Ditches, culverts, sewers, other things of that nature.

Check this out: I live in an area that used predominately terracota sewer hookups. There are tens of thousands of homes in this area that went up right after World War II that have these. 60 years later, due to tree roots and just age, these are all collapsing. Every single one of them needs to be replaced.

With a small backhoe to get started, then hand shovels, about $100 worth of PVC and a couplings, we can make $3000 in a day. I kid you not.

So dig ditches? OK, why not?

That's awesome. Seriously!

This will probably get this thread deleted quickly but spending time in this forum is a great way to wear down any optimism you have left. The ability for people to take on multiple personalities in one thread, rip each other apart and ridicule everyone no doubt takes it's toll on one's outlook. It's about as far from developing real people skills as you can get.

As a young adult (26 yo) who has had 2 teens/young adults in my extended family (cousins, one close the other distant) commit suicide in the past 6 years, I think many people in my generation can't handle real adversity.

sc runner wrote:

As a young adult (26 yo) who has had 2 teens/young adults in my extended family (cousins, one close the other distant) commit suicide in the past 6 years, I think many people in my generation can't handle real adversity.

'many?'

I'm sorry for your family's losses - that is tragic.

But I believe the teen suicide rate seems to have fallen for years - don't generalize from anecdotes.

I don't have conclusive evidence, but this says the rate fell dramatically from 1990 to 2003. Not clear what has happened since then.

agip wrote:

sc runner wrote:

As a young adult (26 yo) who has had 2 teens/young adults in my extended family (cousins, one close the other distant) commit suicide in the past 6 years, I think many people in my generation can't handle real adversity.

'many?'

I'm sorry for your family's losses - that is tragic.

But I believe the teen suicide rate seems to have fallen for years - don't generalize from anecdotes.

I don't have conclusive evidence, but this says the rate fell dramatically from 1990 to 2003. Not clear what has happened since then.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070907221530.htm

What I'm curious about is what changed from 1990-on to cause the sharp decrease, while the rate increased from 2003-2004. I don't think that the emphasis on suicide prevention programs had decreased during those two years, heck they probably increased.

Great post. I've always felt mental illness exist because we allow it to. Almost like ones life is so good to the point that become bored with it. So bored that they develop "mental illness" and the docs are all to willing to diagnose as such. Money to made by patient scheduling bi-weekly appointments and prescribing drugs. Now it becomes everyone else's fault the patient is ill.

I'm depressed because of all the sacrifices I had to make by dying my mohawk pink. Worst part is, that looser coach kicked me off the team just because I didn't play by his rules. What a turkey. I'm gonna tell all my internet friends about this.

Your post could only be written by someone who has not witnessed real mental illness up close and personal.

Sure there is a bunch of nonsense going around about folks who are 'depressed'. But if you think that people with schizophrenia or severe bipolar disorder are "So bored that they develop 'mental illness' and the docs are all to willing to diagnose as such" then you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.

Seriously, I'm not trying to pick on you. But you really don't have any clue at all.

oh come on - clearly neither HRE nor Wiggum is talking about hard core mental illness.

RE: Technology No, they did not. They set certain expectations that I had to meet. I was brought up to behave in a respectful manner. I did not get everything that I wanted. I had time limits on how much TV I could watch. If my grades slipped, I didn't run track. If I misbehaved at school, I was punished at school and at home ... there were consequences to my actions. I was groomed for success, but I was allowed to fail. I was given a lot of freedom and responsibility but was had to suffer the consequences when I screwed up. If a teacher said that I was causing trouble at school, my parents automatically sided with the TEACHER rather than siding with me! =0 My parents viewed their job to be raising a decent human being able to be a productive member of society!

hmmmmmmmmmmmmm wrote:

Take away the technology stuff and you do realize that your parents said the same things about you right?

Idiots.

Every generation thinks the next generation is worse even when the evidence doesn't support them.

Has to be noted wrote:

Your post could only be written by someone who has not witnessed real mental illness up close and personal.

Sure there is a bunch of nonsense going around about folks who are 'depressed'. But if you think that people with schizophrenia or severe bipolar disorder are "So bored that they develop 'mental illness' and the docs are all to willing to diagnose as such" then you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.

Seriously, I'm not trying to pick on you. But you really don't have any clue at all.

Lol you are the one that has no clue whatsoever. I was referring to the "bunch of nonsense going around about folks who are 'depressed'".

The sad fact is someone who really needs help might not get it. The fake "mental illness" being used as an excuse for someone being imperfect gets all the attention.

Spot on, Ralph Wiggum

Ralph Wiggum wrote:

agip wrote:

thanks. Glad I can be unpredictable even in middle age.

Definition of Denial for you guys afraid to take a second job etc...:

For Freud, denial was a defense against external realities that threaten the ego, and many psychologists today would argue that it can be a protective defense in the face of unbearable news, like a cancer diagnosis.

Proving the point of the you failed so "work harder". Boomers practically invented rest and leisure and now tell todays kids to work 2-3 jobs to makes end meet.