Psychologist Jean Twenge has been writing for several years about the impact of smartphones / social media on the mental health of young Americans. She has new data today:
Just out: Depression among U.S. teen girls doubled from 2009 to 2019 and was up 74% among teen boys, according to just-released data from the gov't administered National Survey of Drug Use and Health. What does this mean? pic.twitter.com/H09Pmo7Bss
I would add that it also looks like the Great Awokening—which barely existed in 2011, got kicked off in 2012 with Trayvon and the Obama re-election campaign’s revivification of feminism, and locked into gear in 2013—sure didn’t help young Americans feel good.
You’ll note that you can’t see either Trump’s election or the Great Recession of 2008 having an impact on this graph.