Hacker News Reader

Comment by _630w | Hacker News Reader

I am also curious about the effect of "private" communication channels for kids.

They can be hidden to parents and friends irl but still remain public online. I have seen many groups of depressed teens online without adults or someone with experience in them. They all encourage each other to be more depressed because they all have a similarly sad life. The only perspective that gets shared is that life sucks and it isn't getting better.

I think before the digital age, it must have been hard to do it irl or not?

View on HN

> They all encourage each other to be more depressed because they all have a similarly sad life.

Huh. Not saying this isn't true, but just sharing my experience:

I have never seen this. Instead, I've seen groups of teenagers trying to support and uplift each other.

I would like to know about the group. I think it depends on the community you are in or the platform you use.

Also, by encouragement. I don't mean direct encouragement but subtle topics that may negatively affect your mental health being brought up often.

r/teenagers is similar to what you describe, last time I checked.

> I think before the digital age, it must have been hard to do it irl or not?

Eh, not so much. By the time I cared to, I had communications outside of supervision.

Some tactics change, but every generation thinks they invented parental subversion. Hint: this means your parents are probably not as clueless as you think they are.

It's almost as if you're implying kids were imprisoned indoors and didn't hang out with other kids out of earshot of their parents.

Yes, kids being bad influences on each other is sort of inherent in letting kids hang out with each other. This is one thing I don't hear much about when people talk about the advantages of 'free-range' parenting. I get that there are some possible character and problem solving advantages for some kids ( the 'stronger' ones ), but kids in groups without supervision have always been a breeding ground for bullies and outrageous peer pressure.

> I think before the digital age, it must have been hard to do it irl or not?

Isn't this the stereotypical 'goth' group or such like? I reckon sad kids have always found other sad kids to cling together with.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com