That’s the scariest thing about this all to me. I’m middle-aged and happily married, but my own youth was a long battle with various mental heath struggles, social isolation, abuse, extreme loneliness, and having to figure out so much of my life without enough help. I have no doubt that if this bullshit were available to me back then I’d have been very susceptible to it carrying me off into far deeper unhealthy mental states and worse decisions than the ones I ended up with. I had my own poor decisions, hard lessons, and all-around awful shit to wade through, but ultimately I was able to learn, work, grow, and find myself somewhere better.

I have a very good life now, with a real human partner, family, friends, and others who appreciate my existence as I appreciate theirs. I’m not rich or famous or whatever, but I’m constantly grateful to be doing as well as I am. It absolutely fucking devastates me how much more difficult finding one’s way to a more positive future is now for kids who are dealing with anything like I was back then, with uncaring capitalist asshole-fueled bullshit like this getting in the way.