Young people in U.S. dying at high rates
Drug overdoses and suicides are probably two sides of the same coin. The feeling of &quot;despair&quot; and &quot;hopelessness&quot; that young people often speak of are surely exacerbating things and causing some of these deaths.<p>And while I can empathize, having been the demographic in question until last year, and having experienced exactly those feelings; I think despair and hopelessness is not so much &quot;real&quot; as it is &quot;manufactured&quot;.<p>The media of 2019 is partly to blame. I&#x27;m not talking about a specific publication, but the state of &quot;journalism&quot; in general.  It&#x27;s doom and gloom, 24x7 piped to our eyeballs from dozens of sources.  Sensationalism and outrage are the goals, and they&#x27;ve gotten very very good at it.<p>Smartphones and social media are another part of the issue. Zombie scrolling through instagram looking at fake lives and photoshopped images, all the while yearning for the things those people have.  Or getting worked up over some post on Facebook or some hot take on Twitter.<p>I quit reading media, and eliminated all social media from my life, and I&#x27;ve never been happier.  I don&#x27;t feel that sense of dread and despair I used to.  I have more time to create, more time to exercise, and I sleep better at night.<p>Things are actually amazing in 2019 if you think about it.  There are endless possibilities for people who want to get out and actually <i>do</i> something.