Today's Kids Are Suffering

Today's kids are struggling, and it keeps getting worse. I have been getting a lot of patients lately who are in between the ages of 10 and 18. These kids are having suicide thoughts with plans to hang themselves, and a lot of them have attempted and the rate of teen suicides have also continued to rise . I had one 16-year-old female who put together 9 of her pills and was ready to OD until she reached out. She felt like she had nothing to live for especially when dealing with struggles at school, being bullied among other things. And the thing about all of this is she hadn't told her parents. Her parents didn't know what was going on with her and she wasn't willing to tell them.

Imagine a parent finding their 16-year-old dead after walking into their room and seeing them gone. Of course, the parents will blame themselves for it even if it is not their fault. I also had a 17-year-old recently try to strangle himself with a belt before he reached out. The reason? School and life. He is taking AP classes and is struggling right now even if it has only been a week since school started. He felt like he had nothing to live for and didn't want to be here anymore. Again, his parents also didn't know what is going on with him because he didn't want to be a burden to them. He felt like his problems will make things worse for them. These are among many stories I can tell about what I see. I could honestly write a book when it comes to the different circumstances and things I have seen from the new generation.

The problem? I think social media may be part of it. I think the amount of things kids are exposed to at a young age digitally doesn't help. They are exposed to things they are not ready for and a lot of them are comparing the direction of their lives to their peers and everyone else around them. Social media is not the only problem honestly. I saw an interview recently about a teacher quitting after 3 years because she didn't like the direction of the education system. She made a statement of kids today not even knowing how to read. Isn't it crazy? Kids in high school don't know how to read and express themselves.

They are getting to the point of using AI to do things that should be done themselves. Taking the easy way out and along the way their brains are not developing. I recently read about a 14-year-old completing suicide after he asked Chat GBT for help. The AI was supposed to him come up with solutions and not encourage him to take his own life but that is what happened. His family is now mourning and asking themselves what they could have done better. One of my friends is a teacher and I recently asked him to ask his students how they are feeling mentally and to make sure he is checking on them because you never these days and majority of the time, they don't know how to ask for help.