Post 9pppFeZGmk8AVpuyrg by baslow@neenster.org
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(DIR) Post #9ppJnHclOlawfOXoUS by nina@neenster.org
2019-12-10T16:01:40Z
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I wonder if there's a clear correlation between mental health and not driving a car. Apparently colleges all over the US are seeing a huge demand for mental health services. The book "The Coddling of the American Mind" clearly links mental frailty to the overprotection of children, including depriving them of healthy outdoor exercise and taking them everywhere in cars instead of letting them walk or bike. The number of cars has exploded here at the U of I; tons more parking, more traffic, and new student housing designed for drivers. Having time to walk or bike from place to place really clears the mind; excellent thinking is done while walking; and taking public transit exposes one to more kinds of people, lessening ideological bubble effects. The solution to much of the student mental health crisis might be as simple (and politically unviable) as banning cars on campuses.
(DIR) Post #9ppMXdwSxB6v74zgZc by meridian@spinster.xyz
2019-12-10T16:32:29Z
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@nina it's so strange; when I was in college as a young adult I took transit to school (it was a 40 minute bus ride) and couldn't even contemplate how any of my peers could afford a car (and insurance and gas) anyhow. Once I moved to campus (they didn't have on campus housing previously), I spent a lot of time biking and walking and it was incredibly good for me... more so mentally than physically, even. I also spent a lot of my youth walking or riding my bike. I know friends of mine who have been raising kids the past 5-15 years who don't even LET their kids walk or ride bikes for fear of "safety". Hell, since they have a phone in their hip pocket, they are probably more safe now than ever before. My niece (who is 16 now) never goes anywhere to socialize with friends. She is driven to and from school - exactly at the times specified (not even any social time before or after school on campus) and then she goes home, goes to her room, and "socializes" online through social media all evening and weekend. The only time she sees friends is during soccer, when she is also taken by her parents, once again with no social time with other kids before or after. they get there 5-10 mins before they play, and leave immediately once their practice or game is over. There is no in-person socializing unless it is with family or family friends. It's so weird.I have numerous other examples of relatives and friends children. But, of course, when I talk about it, I'm told that my opinion isn't valid because I'm not a parent. Oh, ok. :)
(DIR) Post #9ppNQyfPbH6pJkP0pk by kathleenbee@spinster.xyz
2019-12-10T16:42:28Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
As a uni professor: my daily car commute is damaging my health and shortening my life. But I live in Edmonton, where biking in winter would mean a steely commitment to studded tires / goggles/ balaclava / winter coverall. My drive is about 25 minutes each way; if I took the bus, it would be over an hour each way.Why do I live so far from campus? Because campus-adjacent real estate is prestigious and very, very expensive: it is full of doctors, lawyers, dentists, business execs, upper uni admin, med / engineering / bschool profs, and senior faculty who bought decades ago before the real estate bubble blew up. When I rented -- a two bedroom apartment very near campus -- my rent was $1800 / month. That was doable on a proffie's salary, but beyond the means of most students (even if they shared with a roommate). My mortgage is around that: 6 kilometres from campus. Within walking distance of campus would be shatteringly expensive.The apartment I rented was an income property for a wealthy family: they'd bought it for their children while they attended uni, and then kept it after they graduated. No other investment of around 400 grand would return $1500 interest / month year after year (gueststimating $300 / month condo fees) Banning cars on campus would make life harder for the lower income tiers of the campus community: students who aren't from wealthy families,, admin staff who aren't in fatcat upper admin, sessional profs, arts profs like me who don't make med school / engineering school salaries (I'm not complaining about my salary, btw, just saying: if I can't swing it, a lot of people can't even come close) These facts are true about many uni campuses around North America and Europe -- who owns houses near Oxford's campus? near the Sorbonne? Pub trans much better in those places, but still.@nina
(DIR) Post #9ppNv1GKVz0Y3Rzmt6 by nina@neenster.org
2019-12-10T16:47:50Z
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@kathleenbee Yes, dependence on cars is very much related to distortions in housing costs and wealth/income disparity. All these problems are interrelated.
(DIR) Post #9ppYIm1pnw1FIdBI6i by Matt_Mahi@neenster.org
2019-12-10T18:43:47Z
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@nina It's been 15 years since I had a car, and when I'm walking or taking a bus or train, I don't give any thought to how long it takes or if I'm early or late. But put me in a cab and suddenly I'm impatient and wanting to tell the driver to step on it. Also, my fellow pedestrians or transit riders are seen as more "human" than fellow motorists. There's an othering of drivers that doesn't seem to exist when there isn't a walll of glass and steel separating us.
(DIR) Post #9ppkXxoBULGpcyo1mi by Alicia@neenster.org
2019-12-10T21:00:59Z
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@nina As much as I agree that getting outside and getting exercise improves mental health, I think this is an over-simplification. Also likely not true everywhere that colleges are increasing student parking? I live in a land grant college town, too, and most students I know do not keep cars, or if they do, they don't drive them to campus; they walk. Parking is expensive if you want a stall in a lot and street parking ordinances require them to keep moving their cars in winter to allow for snow plows in winter. (My grandson racked up huge fines for failing to do this when he was in college here!) I see a LOT of students walking, even in really cold weather.I think the culture on many college campuses may be the bigger problem when it comes to student mental health...
(DIR) Post #9ppkhEfu9HIoXoM2D2 by Alicia@neenster.org
2019-12-10T21:03:05Z
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@kathleenbee Great post - excellent point about the cost of rent near college campuses.@nina
(DIR) Post #9pppFeZGmk8AVpuyrg by baslow@neenster.org
2019-12-10T21:54:06Z
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@nina Is the demand for mental health services lower than average at, e.g., NYU and Columbia University?
(DIR) Post #9ppsHvVJ5VqxTqq8o4 by nina@neenster.org
2019-12-10T22:28:08Z
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@baslow That's a good question and I do not know the answer. I'm sure demand is up compared to previous years, but compared to other Universities at present I have no idea.
(DIR) Post #9ppynmMtBnr68cTTTE by baslow@neenster.org
2019-12-10T23:41:10Z
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@nina I'd like to see the rise of demand for campus mental health services plotted against measures of the rise social media availability to and usage by successive freshman-year cohorts.
(DIR) Post #9ppzajz6q8luw2hLuK by baslow@neenster.org
2019-12-10T23:49:59Z
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@nina Also, glancing at a few articles about the phenomenon I notice that the rising demand tended to become noticeable in 2010, which strikes me as about the right amount of time following the terrifying financial meltdown of 2008 for serious, long-term emotional distress to have set in. 2008 was the year a whole lot more people stopped believing in the future they had been led to expect.
(DIR) Post #9pq9EhDTS1OFWJXnou by Alicia@neenster.org
2019-12-11T01:38:03Z
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@baslow Great observations.@nina
(DIR) Post #9prDBCCLCMgV78pSFc by baslow@neenster.org
2019-12-11T13:56:58Z
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@nina Tangentially relevant -A new study finds that even considering other factors, the walkability of a child’s neighborhood has a direct correlation to increased adult earnings.https://www.citylab.com/life/2019/10/walkability-economic-mobility-income-health-walkable-cities/600571/?utm_content=edit-promo&utm_campaign=citylab&utm_source=twitter&utm_term=2019-12-11T12%3A12%3A49&utm_medium=social
(DIR) Post #9prFqduHHbMMpfGsGO by baslow@neenster.org
2019-12-11T14:26:53Z
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@nina NPR (Fresh Air)"College Students (And Their Parents) Face A Campus Mental Health 'Epidemic'"https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/05/28/727509438/college-students-and-their-parents-face-a-campus-mental-health-epidemic
(DIR) Post #9pvlWxjPq6HHgwgpcm by Mimster@neenster.org
2019-12-13T18:40:41Z
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I @nina As an undergrad, I walked all over the UI campus. We had no bus passes and there were few if any student-owned cars. My parents never drove us to K-12 school. We walked or bicycled; our grade school was 1 mile away. We loved it. It does clear the mind.