34% Of Young Adults Report Feeling Loneliness - Jordan Peterson

Chris and Jordan Peterson discuss why young adults are struggling mentally more than ever. Why are young adults struggling according to Jordan Peterson? What does Jordan Peterson arrribute the mental health decline in young adults to? What does Jordan Peterson reccomend all young adults do to stay mentally fit?

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[Maximusx]

I would say a lack of connection with others is a large reason why more people are depressed.

[Ryan-Horgan]

Its obviously complex and multifaceted. But Carl jung had a great quote which i think sits at the heart of it: 'a society has to live close to its nature to be functional'
Ultimately, we are moving away from our nature on so many levels. It's no surprise so many of us are mentally and spiritually struggling

[oculus]

I have 1 friend at the moment, and he’s also in pretty bad shape. We meet up once a week on the weekend. It’s hard meeting new people and forming new connections at 21, especially because I feel so behind the people around me. But progress is progress. 6 months ago I had no friends. No one to rely on. 1 for now is a huge step.

[runswithwindz]

People need, above all else, nature and community.

[Marsawd]

I’ve honestly been so fucking lonely since about 2019. When the pandemic and lockdowns eased up in 2021, every social structure I had seemed to fall apart. I’ve lost so many people and important relationships in my life that I have no idea how to recover. It’s a genuinely scary prospect to consider, but I have no idea how to sort this out.

[PierreLouisGagnon]

What I get from this : instant gratification leads to an unstable identity, which leads to despair, anxiety, etc.

[Brian-lczt]

I think the answer to this is rather obvious when you zoom in at a micro level and examine this question practically. Let's look at a typical day's activities of sleeping, working, and recreation:

Sleeping: We have ruined our sleeping health. It could be chemicals in our food, working a night shift, blue light before bed, or whatever. Simply put, we are meant to be active during the day and sleep at night.

Working: Jobs are boring, underpaid, or a lot the times both. I don't have to throw any numbers at you for you to know inflation has been outpacing wages for decades. We simply aren't being paid enough despite our productivity skyrocketing. And then when you add in that a lot of jobs are either very boring, uninteresting, or highly stressful, it's no wonder why we wake up dread the next 9+ hours of our day. It used to be that yeah, a lot of entry level jobs (we're talking about young adults) were rough, but if you put in the time and effort, eventually you'll make it out to a well paying, decent job. That's gone.

Recreation: We are a social species that has slowly eroded our social institutions for quite some time now. People are spending more and more time home, alone, in bed, scrolling through "social" media or watching a fake world on TV. Our communities have gotten smaller and colder, and people generally are becoming less social. The internet and social media are a sharp double edge sword. Sure, we can have toilet paper arrive from Amazon in 12 hours, but we also have the lowest amount of friends in recorded history. Social media also destroys young people's confidence as you only ever see the "best" of other people's lives. You see that they bought a nice new car, but don't see they secretly can't afford it and are in massive debt. You see a group of popular girls at your high school take a selfie at a party you weren't invited to, without realizing all those people are miserable and fake.

We are in a dystopian nightmare, people just don't realize it yet.

[jonbaxter]

None of us seem to be happy. No friends, no relationships and worked to the bone.

[jbevolve]

Loneliness is a normal emotion to feel, it's all how you deal with it. it's a wave, ride the wave, don't do anything drastic and wake up the next morning and tackle the day.

[jakotae]

This one doesn't need deep analysis to work out. Addiction to social media is a major factor. We don't understand fully what it does to young minds yet but we can clearly see the effects - depression and loneliness. As a member of the human species if you disconnect from real relationships you'll get lonely. SM can be addictive, addictions cause mental health problems.

[ronnie]

Social media, too much screen time growing up, roles in relationships

[TheSpectacledOwl]

Sadly, I am now clinically depressed because of my deep feelings of loneliness, even when I’m around friends or family.
It got to a point where I lost a friend due to it.

[ConXfire]

I've been impressed with your views and manners. Really like the smaller clips. This is more bite sized and fits in my busy schedule.
Jordan Peterson helped me a lot too. It was difficult at first to work on my own shortcomings instead of blaming women for their double standards. That's the duality of epistemology.

[LilWoodyHC]

I'm beyond lonely living in isolation, I left my apartment 4 times last year, and I am 28.

[Porter]

People are depressed because of social media. It creates the illusion that you have community when you really don’t. You see the highlight reels and wonder, “why isn’t my life that exciting?”

People have lost the confidence and don’t know how to talk to people in person anymore. It’s really sad.

[boomguitarjared]

One of the best bits of gold from Jordan Ah've ever heard. 🤘🤘Our identity isn't something we form solely in our heads, it's in our interactions with others ahnd the world around us.

[swirlcrop]

Very good clip. Healthy relationships are most definitely crucial to good health. Excellent clip.

[L.I.T.H.I.U.M]

Impressive how deep he went: You mental health isn't depended on you. You can't be mentally healthy without long-term iterative games with different people. There's no difference between thinking about you and being miserable. You can't think about yourself in a positive way. What do you mean by "you"? You are not your desires. You are your multiple long-term relations with different people. People have reduced their identity (meaning of "you") to their short-term desires. If you keep thinking about this "you", you will be miserable.
So, the anxiety and despair experienced by young adults are linked to a cultural shift towards the wrong definition of "you": short-term gratification, and a lack of commitment to long-term relationships and responsibilities.

[nowlwane]

A child that is abandoned by society will burn it down to feel its warmth.

[pilotandy_com]

When I was a kid, I would go pick raspberries in the summer. I believe children need work opportunities where they can contribute and gain a sense of their self worth.

For more, read Joel Salatin's "Folks, This Ain't Normal"

And Chris, if you could have him on, that would be amazing!