Morning Wire XX
[0] The suicide rate in America has reached another record high, with older white men suffering the most significant losses.
[1] There's no single cause, but what is unquestionably clear is that we have a pandemic of loneliness.
[2] I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Editor -in -Chief John Bickley.
[3] It's August 26th, and this is a Saturday edition of Morning Wire.
[4] A California mom became the latest victim of overzealous activists after speaking out against sex and gender content.
[5] in her child's school.
[6] Are you letting me go because I spoke at a school board meeting and then some radical lunatics in town wrote letters about it?
[7] And more parents are swiping left on the idea of giving their kids smartphones.
[8] Why are more parents waiting till eighth grade or later?
[9] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[10] Stay tuned.
[11] We have the news you need to know.
[12] New data from the CDC reveals that the U .S. suicide rate hit a record high in 2022.
[13] Experts are calling it a silent public health crisis.
[14] Daily Wire Culture reporter, Megan Basham, is here now with more details on the CDC's data and what's driving the suicide epidemic.
[15] So, Megan, nearly 50 ,000 Americans committed suicide in 2022.
[16] That's the highest number we have on record.
[17] What does the data show us about who is doing this and why?
[18] Yeah, and you know, just to quantify that, that's about one suicide every 10 minutes, a nearly 3 % increase over 2021, and the year before that saw a 5 % increase.
[19] So I don't think it's hyperbole to say that this is really just a skyrocketing rate.
[20] And the biggest driver of these statistics are adults 65 and older.
[21] Their suicide rate increased the most of any group, up 8%.
[22] Now, the second highest increase was 45 to 64 -year -olds, up nearly 7%.
[23] Men and women were about evenly split, but older white men were at the highest grip.
[24] Now, there is one bright spot in these stats, and that's that kids and young people between 10 years old to 24 years old actually went down by about 8 .5%.
[25] So some important context here is that none of this is new.
[26] Some minor temporary dips, notwithstanding, we have been seeing these steady increases for the last 20 years.
[27] And yet, if you go back before that, the U .S. actually had almost 15 years of decline.
[28] So something seems to have shifted right about the turn of the millennium.
[29] Are there any hypotheses about what shifted?
[30] You know, that is the big question, since it's widespread across demographics and appears to be multi -causal.
[31] So in addressing the statistics, Health and Human Services Secretary Javier Bacera said that nine in ten Americans believe that America is facing a mental health crisis.
[32] And one factor in particular that he and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy are pointing to is social isolation, particularly during the pandemic.
[33] Lack of access to typical mental health services may have caused some of that post -2020 spike.
[34] But again, that doesn't account for the endurance of this trend, which does predate COVID by quite a long shot.
[35] This was Dr. Alok Patel addressing a variety of factors on ABC recently.
[36] This is a headline we never wanted to see.
[37] The number of suicides in this country have actually been increasing since 2006.
[38] Slight dip in 2019 to 2020.
[39] When we look at the root causes of mental illness, it's multifactorial, things ranging from genetics to the environment, somebody's social situation, finances, relationships.
[40] But you take all that and you add on the stigmas we have and a lack of mental health resources.
[41] We have a setup for a really big problem.
[42] There's been a lot of talk surrounding this latest CDC report about the availability of guns since about half of suicides do involve firearms.
[43] But that doesn't really tell us about the why.
[44] And the number of people who have a gun in the home has actually gone down since the 1990.
[45] Now, some research has suggested that an increase in suicidal thoughts among teens, particularly girls, is connected to social media, but it's hard to show causation as opposed to correlation there.
[46] And even as the risky behavior researchers thought was associated with teen suicide, drinking, drugs, that kind of thing, well, that's gone down while teen suicide rate has continued to go up.
[47] So for older people, one issue that family researchers are pointing to is the declining marriage rate.
[48] If you put suicide in with other deaths of despair like overdose and alcohol abuse, unmarried people fare far worse than married.
[49] But again, that's tough to tease out.
[50] Looking at all of it, Dr. Jonathan Singer, who is president of the American Association of Suicidology, said in 2020, and I'm quoting here, we don't have a good answer.
[51] That's the most accurate answer.
[52] Well, one thing that those experts did not mention that I know you've reported on in the past is the decline in religiosity.
[53] Yeah, and you know, I was surprised that that hasn't been more of a focus, especially as we do know that it's one way that past generations found community and overcame that sense of isolation.
[54] So hopefully we'll see some more exploration of that in the future.
[55] All right.
[56] Well, Megan, thanks so much for reporting.
[57] Any time.
[58] A mother of three became the target of local activists and was eventually fired from her job after speaking out at a California school board meeting where she voiced her concern over LGBT curriculum for kids.
[59] Here to discuss is Daily Wire Reporter Amanda Presta Giacomo.
[60] Hey Amanda.
[61] So let's get into what precipitated this whole campaign against this mother, Janet Robertson.
[62] What did she say at this Benicia Unified School District Board meeting that set this whole thing off?
[63] Hey, John.
[64] Well, Robertson attended this school board meeting on April 20th, and she voiced her concerns over a newly passed curriculum that she described as unscientific and inaccurate.
[65] Here's part of what she told the board.
[66] We are alarmed that gender identity is now being.
[67] discussed in math classes.
[68] This takes time from core learning and does not benefit the students or our community.
[69] Teaching kids that there isn't any standard or truth and that you can believe anything you want to believe is not scientifically accurate or medically correct.
[70] For example, the notion that a girl can decide to be a boy or a boy can decide to be a girl is not true and should not be taught.
[71] I spoke to Robertson and she told me she was speaking on behalf of herself.
[72] She has three kids in the district, one child in elementary, one in middle, and one in high school.
[73] But she was also speaking for other parents who agreed with her that the curriculum was troubling.
[74] Now, only a few parents had made formal complaints, and that's why it passed.
[75] But she believes that's only because a lot of parents aren't aware of all that's in the curriculum.
[76] My guess is if parents actually knew any of this, you would have had hundreds of parents there objecting.
[77] And I can tell you for a fact, since this has gone viral, I've had hundreds, if not thousands, frankly, I haven't called through at all.
[78] Emails, texts, voicemails from parents saying, wow, I had no idea.
[79] So 100 % had the parents actually known the content of the curriculum, people would have spoken out.
[80] And after she spoke out about the curriculum, Robertson started to notice some blowback from local activists.
[81] Tell us about that.
[82] That's right.
[83] Robertson told me two local papers published letters that complained about her comments at the board meeting.
[84] In the Vallejo Times, Harold, for example, a former city council candidate named Billy Inez identifies Robertson as a compass real estate agent numerous times in the piece.
[85] Robertson told me she thinks that was done intentionally to try to get her fired.
[86] And he further claimed that Robertson delivered a, quote, lengthy bigoted diatribe denouncing gender inclusionary language.
[87] He also claims Robertson promotes racism, transphobia, anti -COVID safety, and content that, quote, favors eugenics on her website.
[88] website.
[89] Robertson denies all these claims and called them horrifying.
[90] And I should note that I saw nothing of the sort on that website.
[91] There was also a letter written to Compass from a woman named Natalie Christian.
[92] She's a treasurer of the Progressive Democrats of Benicia and is a story development coordinator for the Benicia Independent.
[93] That's an openly left -wing blog.
[94] Christian told Compass that Robertson has an anti -equity, anti -trans, anti -black, and anti -choice agenda, and suggest that Roberson be fired from the company.
[95] The letter asked about Compass's DEI practices and how they, quote, discipline agents who are openly engaging in divisive, hateful, harassing, or abusive rhetoric in their, quote, personal lives.
[96] Christian gave the company a deadline of 9 a .m. on May 1st for a response, less the Benicia and dependent move forward with this post on Roberson.
[97] Notably, Christian writes that the post will reach between 1 ,300 to 1 ,500 people and will quote, reference that Ms. Robertson is currently employed by Compass.
[98] Robertson, who was an independent contractor with Compass, was let go on May 1st.
[99] I just randomly got a call on May 1st, which was the deadline date that the treasurer of the progressive Democrats had ridden and corporate director said, well, Janet, I'm calling to say you can no longer do business as a Compass agent.
[100] And my heart just dropped.
[101] I was absolutely devastated.
[102] And I said, but my performance.
[103] is great.
[104] My sales have been stellar.
[105] I'm an earner.
[106] And he said, this has nothing to do with business.
[107] Compass has received backlash over this apparent move to let someone go for speaking at a school board meeting.
[108] And in a post on X, the company said the decision to disassociate Robertson's license was made at the request of her team's owner.
[109] And as for Robertson, she told me she's devastated about losing her job, but she's not deterred about making her voice heard.
[110] For me to lose a job is horrible and not okay, but I would be willing to do it again, absolutely, to speak the truth and to stand for freedom and for what our Constitution stands for, 100%.
[111] Well, we're hearing of more examples of doxing and targeting for political speech, so we'll watch what happens here.
[112] Amanda, thanks for reporting.
[113] Anytime.
[114] The backlash against smartphones for kids has officially begun.
[115] More and more parents are encouraging their children to engage with the real world by holding off on giving them a smartphone.
[116] Here with the details is Daily Wire contributor, Charlotte Pence Bond.
[117] So Charlotte, I think most people at this point have some intuition that smartphone use probably isn't great for kids.
[118] What does the research say?
[119] Hey, Georgia.
[120] Well, a 2018 study from the National Library of Medicine found that frequent mobile device use could, in fact, be detrimental to children's social development and that it might be linked to behavioral issues.
[121] A study from Sapien's labs found that the younger a child was when he or she got their first smartphone, the worse the mental well -bees.
[122] was of that child.
[123] Girls were particularly affected.
[124] Of the girls who got a smartphone before the age of 10, their mental health scores were, quote, in a clinically distressed range.
[125] Psychiatrist Adriana Stacy, who is holding off on giving her children smartphones, had this to say.
[126] I'll get a patient in my office, usually a teenager, who all of a sudden started to really struggle with anxiety and depression.
[127] Pretty much every time we can trace that back to when did you get a phone.
[128] Now, at this point, I think most high school kids have phones.
[129] Do we know what percent of middle or elementary kids have their own phone right now?
[130] That information is hard to nail down, but according to a 2020 Pew Research poll, 60 percent of parents who have a child younger than 12 said their child uses or interacts with a smartphone.
[131] Of those parents, around a third of them, said their child started using a smartphone before the age of two.
[132] But it's not just a problem when the child uses the phone.
[133] A study published last year showed that kids are even, affected when their parents used their phones in front of their children.
[134] The study looked at the emotional intelligence scores reported by children's parents, and it showed that the cohort of kids whose parents used their phones more in front of them scored lower on emotional intelligence than the kids whose parents used phones less in their presence.
[135] That's frightening for parents to hear, I bet.
[136] Now, obviously, a lot of adults are pretty addicted to their phones.
[137] Is the answer to just try to unplug more as a household?
[138] Yeah, it seems to be.
[139] Experts say the best option is to hold the line and don't give in to a child's request for a phone, and don't give all your attention to your own phone.
[140] But, of course, in our day and age, it's difficult to make your kid the only one who doesn't have a phone in the group.
[141] One group of parents has started a group called Wait Until 8th, where a parent signed a pledge saying they will wait to give their kids phones until 8th grade at least.
[142] The idea here is that, as more kids don't have phones, it will be easier for the parents to take a stand.
[143] Now, I remember years ago, there was a product for seniors that was basically like a stripped down phone that just did calls and texts.
[144] Has the market responded with any options like that for kids?
[145] Yes, there are more products like that coming out.
[146] Lance Black is a founding partner of Gab Wireless, which makes phones for kids that look like smartphones but don't have internet or social media.
[147] He told me that demand is growing for their product.
[148] Parents are looking for a solution because they don't want to give full -on tech to their kids because they have developing minds and, you know, these addictions are real.
[149] Some Jen's years are actually looking to buy flip phones to break themselves from the constant stimulation.
[150] Here's psychology professor at San Diego State University, Dr. Gene Twangy.
[151] Gen Z understands the impact technologies having on their lives.
[152] They know that having grown up in this time of smartphones and social media hasn't been good for their mental health.
[153] Well, it's clear at this point that we're all kind of living through this society -wide social experiment.
[154] Great to see some people are taking a closer look, trying to be a little more intentional.
[155] Charlotte, thanks for reporting.
[156] Thanks for having me. That was Daily Wire contributor, Charlotte Pence Bond.
[157] All right, that's all the time we've got this morning.
[158] Thanks for waking up with us.
[159] We'll be back this afternoon with an extra edition of Morning Wire.