Teen Spirit Down
“Almost every measure of mental health is getting worse, for every teenage demographic, and it’s happening all across the country. Since 2009, sadness and hopelessness have increased for every race; for straight teens and gay teens; for teens who say they’ve never had sex and for those who say they’ve had sex with males and/or females; for students in each year of high school; and for teens in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.” Derek Thompson in The Atlantic: Why American Teens Are So Sad. It predates the pandemic. It crosses the political spectrum. At it just happens to coincide with the period when we all started staring at our phones 24/7.
+ In general, drug use is down among teens. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the drugs they’re taking are more dangerous than ever due to the rise in deadly batches of fentanyl. US teen overdose deaths double in three years amid fentanyl crisis.