- The media has been debating the cause of teenage unhappiness in the U.S. Taylor Lorenz argued that the main reason teens are unhappy is that they realize the world around them is a “hellscape”.
- There is an entire “doomer” subculture that focuses on Covid, climate change, environmental destruction, and capitalism.
- Capitalism is not failing; humans are richer now than ever before and poverty, child mortality, illiteracy, and hunger are all decreasing.
- The U.S. does have a social safety net including Social Security, SSDI, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment insurance, Section 8 housing vouchers, SNAP, the EITC, and the child tax credit.
- Job security has stayed the same since the 1990s and the layoff rate has fallen slowly but steadily since the turn of the century.
- Covid is not an HIV-like disease and has fallen far behind other issues in terms of Americans’ priorities. Vaccines developed in record time have saved millions of lives in the U.S. and worldwide.
- Climate change is a real threat but recent climate models have all but ruled out most of the worst-case scenarios for warming and estimates of emissions during the 2010s have been revised downward.
- Doomerism is a demotivating DDoS because it reduces motivation to solve problems, distracts people from the actual priorities, and can have negative effects on mental health in the long run.
- We should actively combat doomer ideas in the world at large to save people from entering the doom loop in the first place.
Published February 22, 2023
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