| I think depression may stem from the feeling of helplessness. Being forced to perform meaningless tasks (because that's high school), having absolutely no power and control over your own life, and probably vitamin D deficient too from being cooped up inside all the time studying. You could say many teenagers are already predispose to depression during these turbulent years. Their mind isn't completely prepared quite yet and having tyrants run your life doesn't help. This trend of overemphasis on STEM education and grueling test prep in an effort to game the system started with Asian societies and it's slowly spreading to upper-middle class in western society. I don't think the true upper class ever cared much for STEM education (legacy admission, "donation", MBA, ...). This is not really a good path to go down. Not all of us were meant to be engineers and doctors. Just look East and you will catch a glimpse of the future.
Massive youth unemployment, many of them overeducated.
Japan is dominated with contract workers. Korea has their "880000 Won generation". Yea, their suicide rate is high. The problem is, everyone wants a piece of the dream and we can't all have it (or maybe we can?). They import manual labor from SE Asia just like we do with illegal immigrants here in the States. With no hope of moving out on such meager wages, you'll have resentment and withdrawal from society. Is it any wonder that their birthrate is going down? I feel like any technological advancement we come up with would still not be enough to overcome this problem. Mainly because the people with the power to make the change have every incentive not to do so. Humans are imperfect. Human society will always be imperfect. The rift is a part of our genetic and the majority of humans will always be chained to indenture servitude. In a way, all this madness will always be a part of us. |
Maybe we just have a population bubble that bust? We complain about low birth rates but don't really have use for even that dwindled number of young people.