As a teacher, I can't help but agree - you see parents basically mollycoddle their kid and it's all about supporting their feelings when we're like, for goodness sake, just deal with it! Life is going to get harder for you so just take it on the chin and move on. It's always 'what can you do to make my Johnny's life easier' instead of 'Johnny, you made the mistake, you deal with it'.
I also absolutely agree that without getting out and moving about their mental health isn't going to be as good. A lot of absent or overworked parents that can't be around mentally or physically to control what screen time the kids have, and brutal peer pressure combined with alogoriths that feed dopamine addictions guarantee this will happen. And the parents are doing the same thing, with no understanding of what it's doing to them.
But, it gives me hope that it's not all kids. I know so many that reject this 'modern' life and choose their hobbies and interests over slavery to their phones. They don't WANT to be the tik tok generation.
As for nutrition, jesus. I've been working at middle to upper class independent schools and they're all well fed. Their healthy skin and even moods are a stark contrast to the overweight, pimply teenagers I've seen in public schools when I've worked there. And you just KNOW that skipping breakfast and eating junk isn't doing their mental health and behaviour any good. I used to have one kid who'd eat a pack of skittles before the last periods of the day and he would quite literally bounce in and then out the fire escape. My friend just got back from working at an indig. shcool in Gulf of Carpentaria where kids had these INSANE mood swings that were directly attributed to their sugar intake - these kids drink a 2 litre bottle of coke a day. Forget the paternalistic banning of alcohol - sugar should also be banned. And we use sugary sweets as a reward for behaviour!!! Both me and Jamie refused to do that as teachers, even if students love the teachers who bake them muffins and give them little mars bars.