As a father, this is what really worries me about the future⦠[RiskHedge Report] [Stephen McBride]
An important message to all parents… By Stephen McBride - RiskHedge An important message to all parents⦠This disturbing study shows the kids are not alright⦠These are the new cigarettes⦠Plus, five rules I encourage you to follow at home⦠- Hereâs what scares me. Itâs not a stock market crash, or some rogue artificial intelligence taking over the world and killing us all. Itâs our phones. Yes, you read that right. Iâm really worried about that supercomputer you carry around in your pocket all day. Specifically, the harm theyâre causing our kids... If youâre a parent, this is one of the most important essays youâll read all year. And please donât ignore the five actions to take at the end. Maybe youâve made money from RiskHedge recommendations in the past. I promise you these ideas will pay more âdividendsâ than any stock, ever. - A while back, I attended a private conference where Matt Ridley was speaking. If you donât know Matt, heâs a bestselling author and one of the worldâs most important thinkers. I was lucky enough to shake Mattâs hand and thank him for writing The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolvesâa book about the triumph of humanity. In short, this book changed my life. It helped me see what was right with the world instead of focusing on the constant doom and gloom. By most measures, life is better than ever. In 1950, one in every four kids died before their 15th birthday. Now, fewer than one in 20 pass away prematurely. If you were alive in the 1800s, there was a 90% chance you were illiterate. Today, more than 80% of the global population can read and write. - But one thing is getting worseâWAY worse. Psychologist Jean Twenge recently conducted a study into the mental health of girls between the ages of 12 and 15. Below is a chart from her research. It measures suicide, self-poisoning, and depression among tweens. Source: jeantwenge.com Suicide attempts are up. Depression is way up. The kids are not alright. Other studies arrived at the same conclusion. A recent CDC study found suicide rates among Americans between the ages of 10 and 24 have jumped nearly 60% over the past 15 years. Look at that chart again. You can see something really bad happened around 2011 to 2012. - All evidence points to the same suspects⦠The lethal combination of smartphones and social media. The iPhone debuted in 2007. But 50% of Americans didnât own one until 2012. That was also the year social media giant Facebook (META) pivoted to a âmobile-firstâ strategy. This changed EVERYTHING. When you had to sit down in front of a computer to check Facebook, you only logged in every so often. But Facebookâs iPhone accessibility allowed you to constantly scroll through your feed. Whether you were commuting to work⦠cooking dinner⦠or nodding off to bed⦠your social media page was always right at your fingertips. 2012 was also the year teen depression started going parabolic. Coincidence? I donât think so. A decade into this experiment, evidence is mounting that smartphones and social media are a lethal combination for teen mental health. Cambridge University researchers looked at 84,000 people of all ages and found social media was strongly associated with worsening mental health. Other studies show ditching apps like Facebook lead to significant improvements in well-being, depression, and anxiety. - Remember when smoking was cool? The rugged Marlboro Man still makes me want to run out and buy a pack of cigarettes. For my parentsâ generation, most of the cool people smoked. If you wanted to hang out with the cool guys, you had to smoke, too. So, lots of people took up smokingâand everyone was sicker and poorer as a result. iPhones and Instagram are the new cigarettes. Itâs what all the cool kids do. I could spend the next five pages explaining all the reasons why smartphones and social media are bad. They expose us to grim news 24/7⦠increase social isolation⦠and just one video of you doing or saying something socially âunacceptableâ can ruin your life. But letâs home in on the most toxic problem with smartphones and social mediaâthe one which likely explains why suicide among teen girls is at record highs. Social media is a highlight reel of life. Itâs all pearly white teeth and perfect bodies. Luxurious vacations on clear-water beaches and $500 futomaki platters in Nobu. This tricked teensâwho spend up to nine hours a day staring at screensâinto thinking social media highlights are what real life is like all the time. In short, social media creates an unrealistic image of life. Teens look around and ask: âWhy arenât I lying on a Caribbean beach and staying in five-star hotels?â And thatâs not even the worst of it⦠- Want to be a supermodel? Just click this button. Instagram and Snapchat have filters you can apply to photos. Most are silly. They let you do things like put dog ears on your head. But a new wave of âbeautyâ filters are like fentanyl for teen girls. Check out TikTokâs new filter. It makes your brows darker, nose slimmer, and lips fuller. Hereâs a before-and-after example: Source: TikTok @joannajkenny This is making millions of girlsâespecially younger and more impressionable onesâhate their real appearance. They want to look like their TikTok-filtered photos. Now, teenagers are taking âl wish I looked like thisâ a step further⦠A recent study from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons showed nearly half of patients reported social media played a role in their decision to seek plastic surgery. This all comes back to the phones. Filters only exist because of the camera in your smartphone. And since youâre carrying it around with you all day, becoming a supermodel for even a second is just a thumb-swipe away. - As a father of two young kids, this is what scares me⦠Children used to be innocent. Now, you have 12-year-olds asking their parents for lip fillers and Botox. More are depressed⦠and more are having suicidal thoughts. Everything points to smartphones and social media being the problem. Itâs a âmind virusâ infecting kids across the world. But what can we do about it? First, Iâll tell you what NOT to do. Donât think it wonât happen to you. If your kids spend hours on their phones and social media, the mind virus will infect them. Banning their phones completely likely wonât work, either. Try telling your teens they arenât allowed the one thing all their friends have (and use all day) and see how it goes. Becoming a digital hermit isnât the path toward making friends. Instead, you must lead by example. Donât tell your kids to stay off social media while simultaneously scrolling through Facebook. Show them with your actions this stuff is toxic sludge they should avoid when possible. Here are five practical ways to do this. Insist your kids follow these rules, too. - Donât ever access social media on your phone. No scrolling, ever. - Donât play games on your phone. - When you are at home, donât have your phone next to you unless youâre expecting an important work call. Put it in a special place so you wonât constantly check it. Be present. - Turn off all non-essential notifications, including email. Thatâs what your office is for. - Introduce a âsmartphone swear jar.â Anyone who breaks the above rules gets fined $5 for each offense. Iâm working hard to keep my kids off social media and minimize their use of smartphones for as long as I can. But the day will come when they ask for both. Itâs my job to limit that desire in their minds before it even begins. Dadâs never on his phone or engrossed in social media. I want to be like Dad. If youâre a parent, where do you stand on this topic? Do you have rules for your kids when it comes to their phones and social media? Or do you think Iâm blowing this out of proportion? Let me know at stephen@riskhedge.com. Stephen McBride
Chief Analyst, RiskHedge In the mailbag⦠We heard from several readers about Wednesdayâs RiskHedge Report: [Beware the TikTok Trojan horse](. Hereâs what some folks had to say: Mark Warner is my senator and I have contacted him with these concerns. Thank you for bringing this to our attention! âJohn Steve responded: I read through the act last week. You didnât mention one especially troubling partâSection 15. (Miscellaneous): (f) NO RIGHT OF ACCESS.â (1) IN GENERAL.âNo provision of this Act shall be construed to create a right to obtain access to information in the possession of the Federal Government that was considered in making a determination under this Act that a transaction is a covered transaction or interest or to prohibit, mitigate, or take action against a covered transaction or interest, including any classified national security information or sensitive but unclassified information. (2) INAPPLICABILITY OF FOIA.âAny information submitted to the Federal Government by a party to a covered transaction in accordance with this Act, as well as any information the Federal Government may create relating to review of the covered transaction, is exempt from disclosure under section 552 of title 5, United States Code (commonly referred to as the ââFreedom of Information Actââ). âSteve Burt wrote: I donât use the website so I couldnât care less what Congress does. But it is very influential among young voters. I donât think a Democrat president is going to sign a TikTok ban into law. Are you aware that China banned Facebook many years ago? I could see (and possibly support) a tit-for-tat TikTok ban. âBurt And finally, John said: I agree with you. Can you send out those 20 in Congress who have signed on to pass this? I want to send them an email opposing this legislation. âJohn Suggested Reading... [A small gold stock to
play the gold boom](
Â
[The Great Tech Pivot
of 2023]( If someone forwarded you this email and you would like to be added to our email list to receive the RiskHedge Report every week, [simply sign up here.](
This email was sent to {EMAIL} as part of your subscription to RiskHedge Report.
To opt-out, please visit the [unsubscribe page](. [READ IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES HERE.]( YOUR USE OF THESE MATERIALS IS SUBJECT TO THE TERMS OF THESE DISCLOSURES. Copyright © 2023 RiskHedge. All Rights Reserved
RiskHedge | 1417 Sadler Road, PMB 415 | Fernandina Beach, FL 32034