Fear Everything! Thank You.

Y2K - “The Sky is Falling”

Do you remember the near apocalypse called Y2K?

We were led to believe modern computing devices were going to fail in the first seconds of the year 2000. Why? Because the IT folks apparently programmed computers and all things internet without consideration for year numbers beyond 99. This is my fractured memory of the issue, so the techies may correct my explanation. Point is, we were told we might see a loss of data and scheduling systems as we entered the new century. Important calculations would be lost, and other software was predicted to be launched into confusion. There was much fear-mongering.

My wife and I were just back from our honeymoon trip to Nepal, India, and Thailand. We spent that New Year’s Eve house-sitting for friends in the City of Calgary. We relaxed, in rest and recovery mode, so no we weren’t partying like it was 1999! We were, however, intrigued by the media’s focus on Y2K and the fearful banter we were exposed to. In retrospect, it may have contributed subconsciously to our choice to return to Canada when we did instead of spending New Year’s partying on a beach in Thailand.

Exhausted from months on the road, we laid in bed listening to a local radio programmer announce the New Year with a countdown. From 10 down to ‘Happy New Year’s!’, fireworks boomed somewhere distant in the neighbourhood, and we heard cheers and music, slowly fading back to near silence in the city. No news of the end of times. We went to sleep as Holger Peterson (on CKUA) returned to his blues program on the radio. We woke up in the same world we knew in 1999.

Corporations and governments spent millions preparing to address the presumed issue, and nothing happened. The “millennium bug” or “Y2K” turned out to be a dud. Problems were identified and addressed, but little came of it. We eventually heard about a few slot machines in Delaware and bus ticketing counters in Australia requiring tune-ups after the dates weren’t processing correctly.

The question remains: Why did so many ride the fear train?

Fear Porn

Why do most humans respond so acutely to “fear?” Media, of all forms, seems to have become expert in its use to shift or nudge people’s behavior and beliefs. And, many folks simply fall prey to those trying to leverage advantages by declaring big dangerous problems when simple solutions are often available and field tested, or the problem itself is fabricated, or at least made out to be an order of magnitude larger than it deserves. We sometimes experience a contagion of fear – within families, communities, and societies. We experienced this phenomena globally in 2020.

Deep evolutionary instincts and tendencies drive us individually and then socially. Well, mainstream and alternative media are of no help on that front! “If it bleeds, it leads” still rings true for marketing newsworthy stories, and non-stories. Are we, as humans, prone to expect bad outcomes? Some argue, or at least remind us we are just prey that pretend to be the apex predators. Death, disease, disasters, dystopian scenarios are all commonly exploited. This is critical to think about evolutionarily. We are herd animals, tribal in many ways, yet we seek safety individually and collectively. Sometimes, the messages seem over the top – at times, laughable – but often the stories are realistic enough. More often than not, these messages are not coupled with reassurances that you will be alright or proactive ways in which you can protect yourself and others from harm.

New Terms for Common Occurrences

I live in a rainforest on the West Coast. It rains, a lot, sometimes in a very short period of time. Now, the meteorologists (weather presenters, not scientists) are referring to these more substantial rains and rapidly developing storms as ATMOSPHERIC RIVERS and BOMB CYCLONES.

Yes, all caps. I use that because it seems these weather occurrences are announced with their energetic “emergency warning voice.” Some listeners may experience their amygdala firing and feel stress and anxiety related to all the possible negative outcomes of these storm events. Roads can flood, power may be knocked out, we may be cut off from access to material goods.

When the atmospheric river or bomb cyclone does not manifest, as I’ve experienced recently, I was exposed to unnecessary stress, and this also results in a decreased level of trust in what the weather announcer shares—as if they are known to be accurate in the past! This “boy who cried wolf” routine is tiring and not helpful for the average person, let alone someone who may experience routine anxiety. We have also experienced heavy rains by these new names, and recognize they are no different then when called heavy rain. It has become a bit of a joke locally as the rain increases during our winters every year, and sometimes it rains more, and sometimes less. We didn’t need new titles and definitely not fear-mongering pronouncements.

Sensationalizing Kids These Days

We are hearing about how bad teen mental health is today. We were curious about whether teens are so different today. If so, why? Are they just the worst generation ever? That is the ‘Kids these days’ effect we write about in our book, by the same name (coming Sept 2025). Or, are they simply experiencing the world differently than us and previous generations? We see this generation tagged as the most anxious, depressed, and sedentary compared to previous generations. I guess we’re not so sure we trust what we were reading.

The World is Better, Not Worse

In his 2018 book Factfulness, Hans Rosling wrote, “every group of people I ask thinks the world is more frightening, more violent, more hopeless—in short, more dramatic than it really is.” Rosling has been conducting surveys internationally for years and finds that few people can answer questions accurately on poverty, education, and environmental issues. In fact, most answer consistently in the wrong direction of the truth.

We think the world is getting worse when, in fact, it’s getting better. For example, when asked about the change in percentage of people globally living in extreme poverty, less than 7% answered correctly – that it has halved in the last 20 years. 9 out of 10 think it has doubled or at least stayed at the same level.

With global political and health events (i.e., wars, disease, tariffs!), reactionary and sensationalist language and hyper-activism have intensified. In recent years, we experienced increased alarmism on many fronts, some justified, but often we’d be better given the facts and be able to engage in discussions within our communities (and with those who we care for and those who care for us). This way we can decide for ourselves where we stand on issues of how best to look after ourselves. Probably best to dig into the details yourself and not rely on the government, media, or many ‘experts’ benefiting from their ‘messages.’ We all want facts without the spin. We all want some level of autonomy in making up our own minds, but alas, we know ‘facts’ are slippery at times to isolate.

So, what about Youth Mental Health?

If we have stats suggesting 1 in 5 youth are experiencing mental health issues, then we also know 4 in 5 are not—the same metric suggests 80% of youth are experiencing adolescence without a diagnosis of a mental health issue. This is good as adolescence is a difficult time, an adventure that includes ups and downs, and a stage with all sorts of growth and development.

Many normalized teen behaviors should not be diagnosed, nor should much of the experience of adolescence be medicalized and medicated. Struggling with rejection, normal. Sad at being left out by peers, normal. Heartbroken, normal… Isn’t labeling all youth the Anxious Generation a bit sensationalist? More fear porn for parents to worry about their kids? Why are we making major claims about an entire cohort of kids based on the diagnosis of a mental health issue of 20%, especially when the measures to enter the mental health arena are in question? I touched on this in my previous Adults in the Room post. Nearly 30% fewer teens are acquiring their driver’s licenses today compared to 25 years ago—we are not labeling them for this, nor for living at home longer, or waiting longer to get married, or not getting married at all. These are societal changes with many contributing variables. See forthcoming Stack on the irrelevance today of the saying “failure to launch.”

Wicked problems.

Issues of social life and adapting and growing within complex systems can create wicked problems. Urban design researchers Rittel and Webber described ‘wicked problems’ in the early 1970’s. Our exploration of youth and mental health over the last two years repeatedly reminded us, there is no one problem, and there is no one solution. We find public expressions of youth work, social work, and therapy in the mainstream often forgets, or ignores, the complexity of issues and how sensationalizing often serves no one but the author. Wicked problems have some common characteristics such as:

1) They do not have a definitive solution.

2) There is no way to test the solution.

3) It’s difficult to say when the wicked problem is “solved.”

4) There is no end to the number of solutions or approaches.

5) All wicked problems are essentially unique.

We encourage readers to think about the concept of wicked problems and how these issues may require numerous approaches and yet may never be solved. And look out for the next Adults in the Room post by Dr. Will Dobud, who is will be calling bullshit on a current youth mental health issue that ignores the wicked problem phenomena.

Possible Short-term Solutions – Unsolicited Advice :)

Media can be alarmist—so watch less media! Not just social media, reduce your exposure to the news. Maybe not engage in the conversations leading to, or perpetuating drama or social contagions. News channels of all sorts are fighting for viewership and still running the death, disease, and disaster stories first, and often without the supportive counter and preventative context to reduce the newly induced fear the story brought on! Remember what Hans Rosling has been trying to tell us; the world is getting better and better, not worse, so try to not fall prey to fear-mongering.

—————————————— Nevin J. Harper ————————————————

Nevin is a nature-based therapist, author, and educator based on Vancouver Island, Canada. A Professor at the University of Victoria, he specializes in recreation and health education, with a focus on outdoor and experiential approaches. With over 30 years of experience as an outdoor skills instructor, wilderness guide, youth worker, and registered clinical counsellor, Nevin is an international leader in outdoor therapies.

He co-authored Nature-based Therapy (2019) and co-edited Outdoor Therapies (2020), shaping the dialogue on outdoor approaches to therapy, health, and wellbeing. His research and practice emphasize ecological identity, resilience-building, and the transformative advantage of connecting with natural environments.

LinkedIn

ResearchGate

NevinHarper.com