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High-tech connections lead our young people to high desperation

Last week I read two stories that at first seemed totally unconnected to each other, but after just a few minutes I discovered they are not only connected, but they are very important for the future of our community and of our country.

According to the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA, part of the U.S. Department of Health), most of the two million American teens suffering from depression never receive treatment.

SAMHSA’s statistics reveal one in ten American teens (12 to 17 years-old) experienced a “major depressive episode” during 2008, but less than 40 percent of them received any kind of help (mostly conversations with a counselor).

In addition, among low-income families with no health care insurance, only 17 percent of teenagers with depression issues had access to professional help.

At the same time, writer and researches Mark Bauerlein says in some of his most recent books and interviews that digital technology, that was supposed to improve the minds of teenagers, had the opposite effect, affecting young people’s minds to such a point that Bauerlein calls the current teen generation the “dumbest generation” in the history of the country.

The younger generation has every day at its fingertips and only a just a few clicks away more information than a common person of a century ago could have received during his or her entire life.

However, according to Bauerlein, in spite of such gigantic amount of information, teens don’t read literature, don’t work reliably, don’t visit museums and other cultural institutions, don’t know enough about science and history, and know very little about politics. But they know everything about their friends, including tunes, pictures, messages, network of friends and contacts, and, of course, endless text messages.

Bauerlein says this is not the case of an older generation chastising a younger generation. This is a case of understanding that many reports and surveys compiled by the government, by private foundations, and by universities show that teenagers (as a group and with many exceptions) are the less intellectually curious and developed generation in the history of the United States.

The reason is that, because of the technology they use, these teens have become isolated, both psychologically and socially, from other generations.

Technology, with its de-humanizing power, led many teens to desperation. And only some of them are getting help, while most still face depression and existential questions, and they are not finding any answers at home, at school, or at church.

Who are these teens? They are our future. According to the U.S. Census, one in four teenagers in the country is Latino and Latino teens will be almost the majority of those under 19 before the year 2050.

It’s time for us to seriously re-exam what we are doing to the minds and souls of our young people. Let’s re-humanize our young people, so they can overcome their existential depression, not only because of proper treatment, but also because they will rediscover they true self, potential, and future.

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