www.technotheoria.org/p/why-culture-got-worse-after-the-00s-9e1
1 correction found
There is also statistical evidence that these trends we see in aggressive behaviour such as unprotected sex, drug use, and crime internationally are driven by declines in social interaction: not phones, the internet, or parents being too vigilant.
This misstates the cited evidence. The review the article points to says the decline has multiple causes, and specifically says stricter parental rules and attitudes helped drive some of the decline in adolescent drinking.
Full reasoning
The cited review does not conclude that the international decline in adolescent risk behaviours is simply driven by reduced social interaction instead of parental vigilance.
What the review actually says:
- It finds support for reduced face-to-face time with friends as one common underlying driver.
- But it also says the causal factors are multiple.
- In its abstract, it explicitly adds that behaviour-specific factors contributed to smoking and drinking declines, including "more restrictive parental rules and attitudes toward adolescent drinking."
The review's own evidence summary also includes studies supporting increased parental monitoring/control as part of the explanation in some countries. So it is inaccurate to present the evidence as showing these trends are driven by less social interaction and not by parents being too vigilant.
A more accurate summary would be: the review supports declining face-to-face socialising as one important broad factor, while also finding evidence that parenting changes and other behaviour-specific factors contributed to at least some of the declines.
2 sources
- The great decline in adolescent risk behaviours: Unitary trend, separate trends, or cascade?
The abstract states that "decreasing unstructured face-to-face time with friends is a common underlying driver" but also that "evidence suggests that behaviour-specific factors have played a role ... in drinking (e.g. more restrictive parental rules and attitudes toward adolescent drinking...)" and concludes that "the causal factors ... are multiple."
- Similar countries, similar factors? Studying the decline of heavy episodic drinking in adolescents in Finland, Norway and Sweden
Search snippet: "The decline in adolescent heavy episodic drinking in Finland, Norway and Sweden between 1999 and 2015 appears to be associated with ... an increase in parental control."