[bko]

I don't see why teen suicide rate is the definitive measure of how well children are doing. It's still extremely rare. Why not focus on anti-depressants? Surely kids being on a lot of meds is a sign something is off.

Everyone knows phones are a net negative for most children. You really don't need a study. Just go check out a local bus stop and see kids staring at their phones.

> The median amount of time a teenager in the US spends on their phone each week is estimated to be around 31 to 32 hours.

Do we think this is good? How confident are you that this is not harmful? Would you be willing to bet your kids development on it?

https://explodingtopics.com/blog/smartphone-usage-stats

[williamcotton]

> Surely kids being on a lot of meds is a sign something is off.

Couldn't this just be a sign of overmedication? I can't see a clear cut causal relationship here.

[BobaFloutist]

It could also be a sign of appropriate medication. What if depression is actually just that naturally prevalent, and anti-depressants, despite the tradeoffs, are actually worth it?

I understand the instinct to be concerned about prescribing indefinite, powerful, psychoactive substances to teenagers, but just because it's understandable doesn't mean it's necessarily correct.

[7speter]

I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone use suicide rates as a sole metric for mental health crises by demographic population.

[lolinder]

That's what TFA is arguing we should do.