this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2024
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This is a pretty clickbaity counter-article that doesn't review the original in good faith. The New Yorker article is not titled 'Social Media Is Killing Kids' but rather 'Has Social Media Fuelled A Teen-Suicide Crisis?' with a lead of:
So the implication that the premise of the article is to demonise social media is completely wrong, since it's actually an investigation into the issue. That's also the reason it's long (another strange complaint from a guy whose 3000+ word response is only ever his opinions).
The "moral panic tropes" are testimony from real parents whose real children killed themselves. And these real parents think social media was responsible. It strikes me as pretty low to hand wave away the grief of these real people because it inconveniently feeds into a narrative you have some instinctual problem with.
The author tries to frame the balance of the New Yorker article as some kind of gotcha. Like it's somehow a bad thing that this other writer took the time to consult with and quote experts who provide a different opinion. Personally I would much rather read that then something like this which was basically the equivalent of a reddit eXpOsEd thread.
Yeah. My parents, teachers, ministers, police officers, etc were glad to blame Dungeons and Dragons for my major depression and suicidality in the 1980s, because none of them wanted to look at systemic social problems that are even worse today.
So if those kids are genuinely suicidal, that means the home is not a place where they feel safe. That implies parental dysfunction.
Remember we also were quick to blame vaccines for ASD because it was too hard on parents to suggest childhood upbringing factors.
I can tell you for a fact that if I were to unalive myself today my parents would blame it on social media, the school system being woke, queer people "confusing" me, vaccines, or whatever else
But they'd never look at themselves and think that maybe how they treated me as a child led to consequences that still heavily affect me today. Where their "parenting" led to mental health issues that I struggle with even still decently into my 20s
(And in case you're worried, no I won't kill myself, don't worry)
I'm in my fifties, still dealing with major depression and suicidality on a daily basis. I get it. I, too, am not a danger to myself or others, although I've sometimes held on only by a thread.