Baby names, mental health stats and AI’s latest venture

Greetings, all. First, an interesting tidbit — the Social Security Administration has announced the top baby names in Wisconsin for 2022 (that is, of the infants who received a Social Security number). For boys, they were: 1. Henry, 2. Oliver, 3. Liam, 4. Theodore and 5. Noah. The most popular girl names were: 1. Charlotte, 2. Olivia, 3. Evelyn, 4. Amelia and 5. Emma. Nationwide, the most popular boy name was Liam. For girls, it was Olivia. You can visit ssa.gov to view the list and search your name to see where it ranked in popularity over the years.

On the topic of births, does it seem like a lot of babies have been born recently? Maybe it’s just the people I happen to know.

In the United States, most births occur between June and early November, meaning most conceptions take place in the fall or winter. States in the North have a birth peak of early summer (June to July), while states in the South have a birth peak a little later in the year (October to November). However, for decades now, the trend has been getting weaker. Smithsonian Magazine reports that this loss of birth seasonality “may be partially due to social factors, such as pregnancy planning and the increasing disconnect humans have with the natural environment and, therefore, the seasons.” - We’ve all heard about the decline in mental health in our country, but some recent statistics really hit home. Podcaster and political commentator Matt Walsh shared these in a recent show.

In 2004, about 13 percent of Americans said they had visited a counselor or psychiatrist in the last year. Now that number has increased to about a quarter of all American adults.

We also are medicating more to combat mental health concerns. About 65 million Americans, or roughly 20 percent of the U.S. population, have been prescribed at least one psychiatric drug. That’s a significant jump from 2016, when the number was 40 million, or about 12 percent of the population.

Finally, in a recent poll from Gallup, about 18 percent of adults reported being depressed or receiving treatment for depression. That is a jump of more than seven percentage points since 2015. Young adults reported higher rates of depression than any other age group, with nearly a quarter of adults age 30 or younger saying they’re depressed.

There is a slight upside, as apparently more people are admitting they are struggling and seeking help rather than shoving their problems under the rug, which isn’t going to solve anything. Still, the surge in numbers is certainly troubling.

Walsh gave what he sees as three major reasons for the steep decline in mental health. One is, “our lives have been taken over by screens.” People are feeling more lonely and isolated at least in part due to substituting virtual interaction for face-to-face interaction. Two, our culture has lost its sense of purpose and meaning. Walsh tied this in with the decrease in church attendance and increase in agnosticism and atheism. If life lacks any purpose beyond the here and now, it can be easy to descend into nihilism. Third, we as a society spend a lot of time gazing inwards and thinking about our own feelings, to the point of an unhealthy obsession, Walsh argued.

“We are constantly asking ourselves how we feel and how we feel about how we feel… It becomes this kind of infinite regression. We can’t get out of our own heads. We’re circling the drain of our own ego,” said Walsh.

While I’m all for some healthy introspection and understanding oneself, I agree there comes a point where too much is unhelpful.

The good news is we have agency over own lives and the ability to change the factors Walsh described. We can set limits on technology use and prioritize in-person interactions. We can lean into our faith in order to find meaning, and focus more on others instead of ourselves. Please understand: I’m not saying that if you struggle with mental health that it’s somehow your fault or you just need to take these three easy steps to make your life better. Rarely is it that simple. And sometimes, life is just tough.

However, if we want to talk about how to improve mental health as a whole in our country, maybe addressing these areas would be a good place to start. -I mentioned technology’s intrusion into our lives — one popular Snapchat influencer has taken that to a whole new level by creating a virtual version of herself powered by artificial intelligence (AI). As reported by NBC News, a new “virtual girlfriend” known as CarynAI sends individualized text and audio messages to users in a chat format. The chatbot was trained on thousands of hours of video of Caryn Marjorie, the social media influencer, to mimic what she would say. Marjorie claims the chatbot is an extension of her consciousness. Users can go on virtual dates, train via “Workout Mode” or receive advice in “Life Coach Mode.” Marjorie began by charging $1 per minute for access to the chatbot and made $72,000 in the first week, with over 1,000 users.

The virtual girlfriend was created by Forever Voices AI, founded by John Meyer. Since its launch, Meyer has received a lot of pushback from people on the potential negative psychological effects of having a fake girlfriend.

Meyer responded, in part, “The fact is, this concept was always inevitable, and we think we are best equipped to do it right… This product provides a monumental add-on to someone’s life to help cure loneliness (and) provide therapeutic support… We are living in a new time of AI-to-Human co-existence. In 5 years, I believe most Americans will have an AI companion of some sort in their pocket — whether it’s a friend, tutor, influencer, or lover.”

That’s a frightening thought. Especially for those people who only have a tenuous grip on reality, at best, giving them an AI companion is not going to help them distinguish between the real world and an imaginary world, and which is the more important of the two.

I am glad that our little corner of the world here in central Wisconsin seems to be relatively sane and grounded, although it’s good to at least be aware of what could very well be on the horizon in the technological realm.

Have a blessed week!

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