Is social media killing us? If so, how do we fix it?

Correlation is not causation, but still there is a huge correlation between rising depression rates and the ascendancy of social media. For example, teenage depression started going up about the time the smartphone was introduced.

Now we are in the midst of an opiate addiction epidemic and a suicide epidemic, as highlighted by recent celebrity suicides. We always talk about how 30,000 people are killed by non-self-driving cars every year in the US. Well suicide is lots worse. Last year, 45,000 Americans killed themselves. Suicide is up 30% for the population as a whole, nearly 50% for some demographics.

The jump in depression and suicide  may not ALL be technology-driven,  but what if it’s just MOSTLY technology-driven? What if it’s just 25% technology driven? Would we put up with anything else doing that kind of damage?

How is it doing it?

Unhealthy memes?

Narrowing narratives?

Status anxiety?

Nihilism-inducing pointlessness?

Possibles Cures:

RelinquishmentPower throughESCAPE! We Adapt 

WT 447-761

Eternity Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) | Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

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