Mental Health of America's Youngest Generation
by Rik Charbonneaux

"replacing your real-world relationships with social media use is detrimental to your well-being," .. Holly Shakya, University of California, San Diego

The multi-generational debt that America's oldest generation have created by their higher health and welfare costs will dwarf when compared to those projected for America's youngest generation: Gen Z.

Multiple studies clearly show that our very first "smartphone" generation is considerably less independent than any preceding generations and they are self-reporting much higher rates of some form of mental illness. The American Psychological Association states in a 2018 study of Generation Z (those Americans born after 1995) that one out of three report having some type of mental illness compared to the average of one out of six Americans (all ages).

The use of electronic devises for mare than two hours a day may well be the reason why these young people are less independent, less social and more depressed. By reverting to the convince of sheltering themselves by communicating through social media, they are spending less time with friends in public, fewer of them have jobs or drive, and they experience higher rates of suicide.*

This first "post-Christian era" generation in America is a good example of the effects of what spending too much time (more than 2 hours a day) on social media can do to a person's health. Sadly, many of the social skills these young people should be developing will be even harder to develop as adults and their depression could be a continuing concern.

If you have such a young person in your life, try to encourage them to use social media devices less than two hours a day. You can make quite a difference in the level of their depression, violence, violence and happiness for one out of every three of our youth **

Note: Today, 6/27/2019, the World Health Organization finally declared excessive gaming as being a form of mental illness. This should have been done years ago with the considerable increase in the mental health concerns for Generation Z, starting back in 2012. (their first large scale use of smartphones and smart devices on social media)

* "We're Losing Generation Z to the Smartphone" by David Morris, Fortune Magazine 8/6/2017

** NPR.org - "Feeling Lonely? Too Much Time On Social Media May Be Why" by Katherine Hobson, NPR.org,/health - March 6, 2017



Rik Charbonneaux is a retired NE Iowan who loves all of God's Word and all of His creatures.

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com







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