Excluding the pandemic, why is the suicide rate higher than in years past?

[Close_to_freedom]

The world has always been shit. Why are the younger generations more willing to opt out of life compared to those who are older? Many people throughout history toughed it out.

My case is unusual. Even if I grew up in the 50s, I still would've been looking for death if I had all the same problems I do now.

 

[InTheAirTonight]

I think technology is to blame. Young people are increasingly isolated. Social media is toxic. Meme culture is toxic. Outrage culture is toxic. The internet offers immediate gratification for things like entertainment, porn, news, social connections, etc. The world seems smaller now than it did 30 years ago.

 

[Close_to_freedom]

I think technology is to blame. Young people are increasingly isolated. Social media is toxic. Meme culture is toxic. The internet offers immediate gratification for things like entertainment, porn, news, etc. The world seems smaller now than it did 30 years ago.

Overpopulation was becoming a problem. I guess the internet inadvertently led to a solution.

 

[rikamonie]

social media, access to sites like this, more able to research, older generations still think the only way to kill yourself is to OD on pills or hang yourself

most of the older generation i know dont know how to use the phone let alone find such things online and buy them i just think younger people are more able to do so ofcourse there are those who are older and know how to use it, but literally every young person knows how

 

[Close_to_freedom]

social media, access to sites like this, more able to research, older generations still think the only way to kill yourself is to OD on pills or hang yourself

I was suicidal as a teen. The only method I was aware of was cutting deep. I would've failed and it would've been bad.

 

[TotallyIsolated]

A very good question. I suspect a combination of social stigma and changing religious beliefs are at work.

Plus, while I acknowledge that the average westerner today lives a comparatively comfortable life of luxury compared to people in the past - but our lives are more complex and stressful than ever before. People have lived through wars and through social and political upheaval before, and disparity of wealth and social immobility have been problems throughout history.

Along the same lines of what @InTheAirTonight said, I think the extremely rapid pace of progress in the past 50 years is a big part of it. People's everyday lives have become starkly far-removed from that of our ancestors. I'm not a biological fundamentalist, but ultimately we are just animals and we have needs that modern living doesnt necessarily meet. To flip this argument on its head, consider plucking a lion out of the jungle (btw 'king of the jungle' is dumb, because Lions dont live in jungles!) and picture it trying to survive as a first-class citizen in the city - it wouldn't have enough skills or qualifications to get a job, nor even the basic literacy needed to fill-in the paperwork to claim social welfare.

Human society is crazy-complicated. For example, increasing rates of basic literacy and education are undeniably a good thing, but young people these days need higher educations just to qualify for entry-level jobs.

Plus, I'm not saying the answer is to revert to agrarianism or to reject progress - we just need to *collectively* acknowledge that society is broken.

 

[MaybeSoon]

I think technology is to blame. Young people are increasingly isolated. Social media is toxic. Meme culture is toxic. Outrage culture is toxic. The internet offers immediate gratification for things like entertainment, porn, news, social connections, etc. The world seems smaller now than it did 30 years ago.

Your post sums it up perfectly. People seem to have to think and behave in a perfect way these days. The days of being to discuss an alternative point of view sensibly has long gone. (at least online) things seem normal off the internet though.

 

[Close_to_freedom]

A very good question. I suspect a combination of social stigma and changing religious beliefs are at work.

Plus, while I acknowledge that the average westerner today lives a comparatively comfortable life of luxury compared to people in the past - but our lives are more complex and stressful than ever before. People have lived through wars and through social and political upheaval before, and disparity of wealth and social immobility have been problems throughout history.

Along the same lines of what @InTheAirTonight said, I think the extremely rapid pace of progress in the past 50 years is a big part of it. People's everyday lives have become starkly far-removed from that of our ancestors. I'm not a biological fundamentalist, but ultimately we are just animals and we have needs that modern living doesnt necessarily meet. To flip this argument on its head, consider plucking a lion out of the jungle (btw 'king of the jungle' is dumb, because Lions dont live in jungles!) and picture it trying to survive as a first-class citizen in the city - it wouldn't have enough skills or qualifications to get a job, nor even the basic literacy needed to fill-in the paperwork to claim social welfare.

Human society is crazy-complicated. For example, increasing rates of basic literacy and education are undeniably a good thing, but young people these days need higher educations just to qualify for entry-level jobs.

Plus, I'm not saying the answer is to revert to agrarianism or to reject progress - we just need to *collectively* acknowledge that society is broken.

We should go back to the Neolithic era but avoid starting civilizations. Villages and small towns only.

 

[Blackpoolbootz]

Lifestyles less simpler and more stressful, no jobs for life anymore, relationships under more pressure, easy for people to cheat or find what they want elsewhere. Isolation. Think the wonder has gone out of life for alot of people but prob that's juts be knowing life's more or the same and the world doesn't get any better. Nothing for people to realy aim for like a hamster in a wheel :-(

 

[Alucard]

The world has always been shit. Why are the younger generations more willing to opt out of life compared to those who are older? Many people throughout history toughed it out.

My case is unusual. Even if I grew up in the 50s, I still would've been looking for death if I had all the same problems I do now.

"It's a red tide, Lester. This life of ours. The shit they make us eat. Day after day - The boss, the wife, et cetera - wearing us down. If you don't stand up to it, let 'em know you're still an ape. Deep down where it counts. You're just gonna get washed away."
Lorne Malvo, Fargo