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Comment by Moru | Hacker News Reader

One thing people tend to forget when talking about improvement in tech is the added stress social media creates for the younger generations. The pressure from outside is higher now then when we 40+ grew up and became adults. There are blogs and youtube stars showing you what you should be, there are comments to tell you that you are not good enough. And if you are female, they will tell you even worse things.

There are facebook to show you that your "friends" have a much nicer house than you, they have vacations in warm countries, they eat at expencive restaurants and their kids are wonderful geniuses and certainly don't watch TV all day or eat any sugar. And so on.

The mental stress is grinding our young down and we do see the results of it already. The modern sickness is the burnout of youth.

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I don't know, man. I know social media presents different stresses.

But fuck. I'm bisexual. I literally knew no one like me. I did get shunned by folks deciding I was lesbian. I was pressured into being girly, into fitting in, into simply going to church and acting like everyone else.

I've been turned down for a job because I'm female - in the 90's, long after this should be a thing. It was another female that did it.

I could have, with the internet, found a couple of folks more like me. (It still does this: My spouse and I met over the internet). The internet brings all sorts of resources (some toxic, some wonderful). I'd argue that it is us that are failing the children because we aren't teaching others how to harness this good for, well, good.

Stress is just different now. Luckily, the trend isn't "Suck it up and go on with life" for the most part now - so we actually know about these stresses.

>> Stress is just different now

I agree with you that a lot of the discrimination and pressures you faced are marginally better now in the aggregate but the fundamental change I'm seeing is the always present, ubiquitous social media pressures. Kids cannot get away from it.

When I was bullied in middle school I looked forward to getting home and especially weekends so I could escape my tormentors for a few days. That respite is gone now. Every kid 12+ is attached to a phone during their waking hours and even when they are not present their online persona is at risk of being bullied & pressured, waiting their for the next time they check updates, messages or really just glance at their screen.

I'm also not convinced we've lost the "suck it up" attitude. Perhaps for major "events" or transgressions, but a lot of this is now standard operating procedure and we completely accept it, the same as previous issues in the past. Just check the comments here on HN; this is a relatively civil group yet I've never needed a moderator to remind me of a relatively obvious code of conduct when talking with strangers or associates in real life.

I had AIM in the 90s and some behavior I experienced back then would now be considered cyber bullying. It's not unique to this era.

I also would not say that relying on being able to escape your physical tormentors on the weekends is a good solution either. Dealing with bullying has always been a challenge.

You can't even get away from it by pretending facebook or other social media don't exist. Someone will create a profile for you and set you up even worse. You have to be on all social media to protect your name. And it's not 12+, it's closer to 8+. Facebook is out though, that's where the parents hang. You don't want to be where your parents are.

I don’t have a constructive comment, I just wanted to point out that your phrase _“The modern sickness is the burnout of youth.”_ is beautiful and really struck a chord.

We just need more unions. They are historically the only thing that actually worked to level the playing field between employee and employer.

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