I think part of this increase may be down to an increased awareness of mental health issues. Mental health problems that were not understood, or ignored in decades past, are much more clearly seen now.
However, it seems undeniable that life has gotten worse across the Western world for younger generations. Economic independence of any kind is impossible without going into soul-crushing debt first. In many ways, it bears similarity to the indentured servitude of the past. Meanwhile, you get lectured by a generation that grew up with free education, cheap rents, and jobs that were easy to get and could support a whole family.
If much of this is caused by economic factors, will the soon-to-be widespread automation of more of the economy make things better or worse? My guess is that in the short term, they will get worse. Until we arrive at what new economic model follows.
Driving jobs are about to disappear to self-driving autonomous vehicles. They were one of the last refuges of the less educated to have a degree of economic independence, especially for less educated young men. The mental health consequences of that category of job disappearing forever may be enormous.
A huge sociological aspect you’re missing is the increased loneliness and less social cohesion. Families have gotten smaller and people move around more. Lots of communication has moved online. That means the immediate social network people are embedded in is smaller to nonexistent compared to the past. The stability of bigger families, closer knit local communities, and more face to face interactions is often missing nowadays.
Friends will often leave people with mental health issues, leading to increased loneliness, and even worse mental health. A present larger family or religious community would still be there for such a person.
I’m not saying we have to go back to some perfect past, but recognize what we lost in modern society.
Yeah, I wouldn’t underestimate the impact internet culture has had on this stat. A subset of young people have done so little socializing in real life that they feel intense anxiety about it and spend most of their free time alone with their devices. This can lead to failure in education, employment, and relationships. I say this because I know some of them
The headline says
A record 35% of people aged 18-24 were classed as ‘inactive’ this year, driven by a mental health crisis.
The FT article references this as its source of data - https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/neet-statistics-annual-brief#dataBlock-58d70635-dc1a-4172-997b-fb5bc73d7166-tables .
But that source says
The percentage of the population defined as ‘not in education, employment or training’ (NEET) in 2023 is estimated to be 11.9%. This is 0.5 percentage points lower compared to the same period in 2022 where the estimated figure was 12.3%.
So where is FT getting its figures from? Or did they just pretend that training is the same thing as inactivity? (•_•)
I have found ft.com to be very unreliable in the past.
