Mental health issues have been on the rise among American youth since the mid 2000s. Ask anyone why that is, and they’ll probably tell you social media is the culprit.
And they’re not totally wrong. The use of social media has risen in tandem with adolescent depression and anxiety.
However, according to physician, psychologist, and best-selling author Dr. Leonard Sax, this trend “is confined to kids in the English-speaking world in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia.”
“Kids in Greece, kids in Russia are just as likely to have smartphones and just as likely to be on social media, but the rise in anxiety and depression has not been seen there,” he tells Allie Beth Stuckey.
Why the discrepancy?
The answer, Dr. Sax says, lies in our toxic culture.
“It’s important for parents to understand that the smartphones, the social media are vectors. They are spreading this toxic culture, but they are not themselves the cause,” he explains. “What is toxic about American culture, about English-speaking culture — that is driving this rise in anxiety and depression.”
What’s so toxic about English-speaking culture?
Well, the list is long, but Dr. Sax says studies have pinpointed the crux of the problem. Interestingly, the answer can be found in the evolution of children’s television shows.
Dr. Sax points to a study conducted by UCLA, as part of which researchers “looked at the most popular TV shows marketed to children and teens every 10 years starting in 1967 and analyzed these TV shows based on what the show is teaching kids about what’s important.”
According to the study, in 1967, the most popular family television show was “The Andy Griffith Show”; in 1977 it was “Happy Days; in 1987 it was “Family Ties”; and in 1997 it was “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”
“The researchers found that each of those shows (1967 through 1997) was communicating the same message: that the most important thing is to do the right thing — to tell the truth even if it hurts, to be a good friend even when that’s not easy,” says Dr. Sax.
By 2007, however, that message had been tossed out and replaced with something vastly different. Instead of doing what’s right, the message that was communicated via popular shows like “American Idol” and “Survivor” was that winning and being famous were the most important things.
“Doing the right thing — that’s gonna get you voted off the island,” says Dr. Sax, explaining the cultural shift.
What caused American culture to shift is the next obvious question.
Dr. Sax says that’s a three-part answer.
1. Social Media
“Social media transformed American culture. Suddenly it became all about having likes and followers,” says Dr. Sax, adding that this spawned “a culture of envy” that fosters discontentedness and resentment, hence the rise in mental health issues among adolescents.
Like any generation, today’s youth hunger for greatness. But social media has taught them that the answer lies in fame and recognition. This mentality stands in direct opposition to what greatness once meant to the average person.
50 years ago, greatness was defined by a different set of standards. It wasn’t about popularity or winning; it was about values. The culture of the past is captured in Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous quote: “Anybody can be great because anybody can serve,” says Dr. Sax.
Today, only a tiny percentage of social media users become influencers, leaving the vast majority feeling perpetually disappointed and inadequate.
2. Culture of disrespect
Our modern culture, Dr. Sax explains, has normalized children disrespecting and defying their parents.
“These shows on the Disney Channel teach kids that it’s cute and funny to be defiant, to be disrespectful,” he says.
Popular music does it too. Songs like Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” captures this widespread air of defiance.
“Can’t nobody tell me nothing,” the song says eight times.
“That’s the culture of disrespect in a nutshell,” says Dr. Sax, noting that this attitude among our youth “breaks the bonds across generations,” making kids less likely to attend church and less interested in spending time with older people who have wisdom to offer.
3. ‘Normophobia’
“15 years ago, American girls wanted to be effortlessly perfect,” says Dr. Sax. Today’s girls and young women, however, perceive perfection as boring.
“Now, you’ve got to have something wrong with you,” he says, noting that having depression, anxiety, and even being transgender are popular labels.
“’Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed,’” says Dr. Sax, quoting C.S. Lewis’ “The Magician’s Nephew.”
Girls today are “substituting anxious or depressed for ‘stupider,’” he explains, noting that Lewis’ children’s proverb has proven itself true. It turns out that believing you are anxious or depressed makes you legitimately anxious or depressed.
The fear of being normal coupled with the coining and circulation of new language, such as gender-conforming vs. gender-nonconforming and neurotypical vs. neurodivergent, has encouraged kids to attach their identities to negative language. Belief then turns this negative language into actual conditions.
To hear more of Dr. Sax’s research on this subject, watch the episode above.
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