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I look forward to your critiques and suggestions for improvement!

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Apr 24, 2023·edited Apr 24, 2023Liked by David Stein

One curiosity is that The Netherlands seems to have dodged the supposed teen mental health crisis plaguing the rest of the world (especially the Anglosphere).

https://www.richardhanania.com/p/how-i-changed-my-mind-on-social-media?r=9t2vw&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post

Gee, I wonder why? Well, there's always:

As you say, "Haidt maintains that parental protections have been excessive offline and insufficient online." The first part of that, about the excessive offline safetyism and helicopter parenting, I think is the real key here, far more than anything that is happening online. The Netherlands is basically what I call "The Land that Safetyism Forgot", and the most permissive country I can think of towards children and young people, both by parents as well as the state. So they give their kids an IRL worth fully living in, and haven't bulldozed it yet (at least not before the Covid lockdowns, which were less strictly than the European average in any case, albeit stricter than Sweden).

Contrast that to the Anglosphere, as well as Iceland, a country with a strict youth curfew for kids under 16, as well more offline restrictions and monitoring in general (while the other Nordic countries are mixed in terms of evidence overall). And unsurprisingly, Iceland is following in the footsteps of the Anglosphere in terms of deteriorating teen mental health.

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Thank you for the link to the Hanania article, it seems excellent but I'll have to find time to read it all carefully.

No doubt parenting may explain differing trends. I suspect continental parents are both more strict and yet less protective than their counterparts in the U.S. and UK.

That said, there may be other factors, such as lesser 'victimhood' indoctrination by the news media. Of particular interest to me would be suicide and drug overdose trends in adults, especially parenting age adults.

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The Dutch are famously lax and permissive parents with only one notable exception: not missing family dinners, apparently.

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author

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The Dutch are famous for being among the most liberal in EU.

What I meant by strict, however, is setting expectations, such as doing HW and studying, doing activities such as sports or arts, and behaving respectfully to others in society (e.g. don't be a nuisance in restaurants, let old people sit down in public transportation, apologize when you err).

That need not be in opposition to being permissive outside of these boundaries, and to exerting minimal parental supervision as long as there is no evidence of trouble.

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OK, I see what you mean now.

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You're very welcome :)

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Apr 24, 2023·edited Apr 24, 2023Liked by David Stein

American parents: "When you permit, you promote. Be a parent, not a pal".

Dutch parents: "When you permit, you control. Be a mentor, not a tormentor".

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Well-said. I look forward to reading!

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