Ok, so a recent study showed that in general, the more TV a teen watches, the more likely they are to develop depression:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/137597.phpBig Whup.
But this one line piqued my interest:
Quote:
The authors wrote "In the fully adjusted models, participants had significantly greater odds of developing depression by follow-up for each hour of daily television viewed. In addition, those reporting higher total media exposure had significantly greater odds of developing depression for each additional hour of daily use." Young men were more likely to develop symptoms of depression than young women, given the same amount of media exposure, the authors added.
So to me, this is the interesting part, because for some reason, teen guys are getting depressed by what they see on TV, a lot more so than girls/women. While the article blames it on violent images, sleep disruption, etc., I think these are all cop outs to what is really going on -- distorted perceptions.
You watch various "reality shows," programming from MTV and other networks, you get this unrealistic expectation that you should have a GF by a certain age, a certain numbers of friends, etc. TV's only purpose is to sell advertising, but the fantasy products it puts out there create expectations that reality can't match. I mean, the shows pretty much just center on the "popular kids" from high school, yet they spin it like this is real life for all kids and teens/young adults, ignoring the variety of life out there.
For girls, most of this is pretty easy, because for them, it's a "seller's market," and it's not very hard for even unattractive women to get a BF if they really want one (and are willing to relax their standards). While they do get issues like body dysmorphia, there's more than enough positive male attention to at least reassure them that someone wants them.
As we see on this forum, for teen guys, it's the complete opposite, and for many, these issues stretch into their 20s. For a teen guy, it can be very hard to get laid, find a GF, find friends with similar interests or maturity, etc. NT's go through this problem, and Aspies really seem to have this problem, as all of us can attest to. We see all these images of guys with big muscles, large handguns, and fast cars (to quote Calvin and Hobbes loosely) being the "winners" in life, and as that being something to aspire to. Genetics limits most of us to not ever being able to attain a high degree of muscularity (most muscle-bound folks have good genes, do roids, or both) and have little chance of having the means to a great car or outfit at an early age like that.
So teen guys get angry, bitter, and as a result, depressed (the most common reaction to not being able to do anything about your negative circumstances). What is sad is that they aren't really in negative circumstances, but TV makes them feel that way. This is where the correlation comes in, and where "unrealistic expectations" and "distorted worldviews" (that you need big muscles or a nice car to get women, and that you should have had X amount of GF's by a certain age) come into play. I think a lot of guys here who are having some difficulties end up falling into this trap, and end up feeling like they are far worse off than they really are.
I think the internet does that too. You go on facebook and all you see is pictures of beautiful people having fun getting drunk at parties and on vacations with friends, having girlfriends/boyfriends, and are popular. You feel like a real loser after looking at that stuff.
18 Feb 2009, 11:00 am
