What the hell happened?

 I am utterly fascinated by this chart:

Not the political aspect- Liberals being more depressed than conservatives, or women being more depressed than men.  I'm sure there are a 1,000 theories explaining that.

What I'm fascinated is why depression starting rising in 2014, and continues to rise today.

What the hell happened in 2014?

If it had started in 2008, I'd explain it was because of the economic collapse.  If it had started in 2001, I'd blame 9/11.  If it had started in 2020, I'd understand it was because of COVID.

But 2014?  What gives?

I don't see it as politics- in 2014, Congress went from Democrats to the Republicans... but the Democrats held the White House.  And since 2014, we've gone through every iteration of the two parties being in and out of power.  Depression keeps rising.  So I don't see politics being the cause of the depression.

I have two theories, and I suspect it's a combination of both, plus other factors I haven't realized yet.

The first was offered by my friend Don Mewha- who aruged that we've always been this depressed and are just doing a better job measuring.  It's a valid theory... I do think people are more willing to accept being depressed nowadays compared to the past, and that this is a recent development.

And yet... if this were the main cause, I'd expect a sudden jump in depression levels, not a steady rise over the years.  I'd also expect it to even out.  And- this is anectotal- more people I know first seem more depressed or angry now than they did a decade earlier. I'm not ruling out this idea, but I don't think this is the main reason

My other theory?  Social Media.  Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram.  It was around before 2014, but we seemed to have reached a critical mass right around when the depression levels shot up:

I'm not quite sure why there is a strong correlation between social media usage and depression levels.  Maybe because social media is a drug that pours outrage and awful behavior into it's users.  Maybe because as people have to ability to speak to the world and listen to anyone in the world, they are drawn to the most horrific stories, depressing them.  Maybe...

I don't know why.  But there seems to be a strong correlation- to the point that, if I were a father, I'd ban my children having a cell phone or account on social media until they had graduated highe school.  

I am open to being wrong on my theories.  But I don't know a better one that explains things.