In amongst all the hullaballoo about the UK potentially banning under 16s from social media⁰, I saw a prominent historian say:

i assume banning kids from social media will be accompanied by a huge investment in teen-friendly communtiy [sic] spaces (like youth clubs) and social activities?

No?

Huh.

But, here's the thing. He's wrong. You can argue about whether the UK's Labour Government is doing the right thing¹, but they are pouring huge amounts of money and effort into youth provision.

• Young Brits are set to benefit from Dutch style employment support as the Government steps up localised support to tackle rising NEET numbers.
  • "Almost 180 new Youth Hubs will begin opening from next week which will provide wraparound services – coordinating education, welfare, and employment support."
• Prime Minister announces major expansion of youth services and real-world opportunities to re-connect young people with the world around them
  • "Announcing a new £88 million package of support to transform opportunities for young people across the country, the Prime Minister will make clear that this government is picking this challenge up and seeing it for what it is – a worrying trend – and delivering real-life solutions for the long-term, investing in opportunities for young people."
• £30m pledged for youth club in each London borough
  • "Sir Sadiq Khan said £30m of the £50m allocated in this year's budget for supporting young people would be used to fund a "Youth Lates" programme in the capital's 32 boroughs."
• Youth Matters: Your National Youth Strategy
  • "spending nearly £70 million over the next 3 years to help local areas better support young people and develop a network of up to 50 Young Futures Hubs by March 2029"

When I raised this with him, the Doomer could only say it wasn't enough. When asked how much would be enough, there was no reply. I think that's because people like this don't want to engage with the world. They're desperate to show that nothing is being done. And, when it is pointed out that something is being done, all they can fall back on is that is it never enough.

If you push back even slightly on their Doomer views, you'll get a litany of complaints about how everything is taking too long (well, duh, there's a couple of decades worth of austerity to unpick) and how they have no faith in any of this making a difference (because they won't give it a chance) and that nothing is being done (even though they refuse to look at the evidence).

Similarly, I'm sure you've all seen someone moaning the the planet is fucked because we're doing nothing about it. But that simply isn't true:

The UK's greenhouse gas emissions have fallen sharply: in 2024 they were 54% lower than in 1990, according to provisional data.

Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx238yyr40qo

Everywhere you look there are signs of progress and hope.

Doomerism, by its nature, is a reactionary concept. It's like those weirdos who reply to every funny story on the web with "didn't happen". An utter unwillingness to acknowledge that - yeah - some stuff happens. The world doesn't change as quickly as you'd like and politicians are never quite as brave in government as they are when campaigning - but stuff gets done!

When the Mayor of London introduced various measures to prevent polluting vehicles from poisoning London, the Doomers said it was pointless. Today we know it led to a substantial reduction in hospital admissions.

You see Doomers bleating about how the Panama Papers exposé led to nothing. That's contrary to all the people prosecuted. Did everyone get the justice they deserve? No. But to reduce it to a nothingburger is the essence of Doomerism. "I don't remember anything important happening, therefore the world is terrible."

Doomerism always feels to me like a psyop designed to keep people dispirited. When everything is reduced to a "yeah, but they won't do anything" then you end up disenfranchising people.

Are there terrible things which need changing? Absolutely!

Are politicians doing everything that you specifically want? Probably not!

Are incremental changes happening if you bother looking for the evidence? Yes.

Why aren't these people looking at what is actually happening, reading about what is being tried, understanding what trade-offs are being considered? Is engaging with reality really that difficult?

I guess a nuanced or positive take doesn't get you as much social media engagement as a childish howl of rage.