Quote:
Originally Posted by Nyghthawk
I have worked in the mental health field for the last 15 years. With the caveat that I only have a bachelors in social work, I can't help but believe it has a lot to do with social isolation.
We (as a culture) spend more and more time with TV's, computers, cell phones or other electronic media and have less contact with neighbors. This eliminates or lessens the feeling of belonging there.
We live increasingly in cities instead of small rural communities. This curtails this area of belonging.
Our families are smaller. More and more children are only children.
The elderly try to live independently (read alone) as long as possible instead of living with extended family or going to an assisted living community. My mother brightened up considerably after I convinced her to go into an assisted living center.
Etc, etc.
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I think you're on the right track of inquiry, for sure. Not sure the community examples explain the rapid increase in depression, but the social isolation with screen time almost has to be something of a factor.
Professor Jonathan Haidt has some interesting ideas along these lines: