We just rely on layers and layers of cruft. We then demand improvements when things get too bad, but we're only operating on the very top layer where even dramatic improvements and magic are irrelevant.
Windows is especially bad at this due to so much legacy reliance, which is also kind of why people still bother with Windows. Not to claim that Linux or MacOS don't have similar problems (ahem, Catalyst) but it's not as overt.
A lot of the blame gets placed on easy to see things like an Electron app, but really the problem is so substantial that even native apps perform slower, use more resources, and aren't doing a whole lot more than they used to. Windows Terminal is a great example of this.
Combine this with the fact that most teams aren't given the space to actually maintain (because maintaining doesn't result in direct profits), and you've got a winning combination!
Part of the distinction between why this process has been made harder is primarily due to finances. If you do not get a scholarship, you are expected to have a job. Not a good job either specifically crafted for 18 year olds so they can get used to work and also handle school properly. No, we throw them into the depths of dealing with ghoulish customers with no way to climb so of course they feel they have to go to school to get out. It's a self reinforcing cycle of pressure.
It's also important to note that social media doesn't operate in isolation. We can blame social media all we want, but when we keep preferring candidates in the hiring process who have presentable social media, it's just amplified for teens. Now they have to keep up a grand social media presence, good grades, stay in physical shape, manage their changing family dynamics, get and hold a job, and their own internal systems changing on them.
It's no wonder stress levels are peaking. We demand they carry immense burdens the second they're able to hold a full conversation, but without any of the freedoms associated with responsibility. Can't move out, can't afford help, so what do we really expect to happen when people are placed into such conditions?
We place them under constant pressure, and act surprised that this pressure hurts. Why can't you be more like your sister who's doing good in school? Look at your cousin he got a job already and he's only 16. When you turn 18 you need to have your act together because I'm kicking you out. Endless pressure because we are unable to process our own feelings of insignificance, we just project it on kids all without the help of social media.
The rising wealth inquality amplifies these problems more in every way.
Social media gets a lot of negative attention but there's also a huge positive here. You can connect with others who get you and can maybe help you get through those unbearable days - they make it feel tolerable. And so for people to pin the blame entirely on social media, we're just going to cause so much more harm when we realize how many teens are out there that are only avoiding suicide marginally because of social media.
Haha, freelancing ADHD is a classic! We seek being our own boss so we don't have to be forced to do what we cannot, only to then intensely struggle completing tasks we know we are capable of due to executive dysfunction, and then feel so much shame and guilt over a struggling freelance business leading to even more restlessness!
Anyways definitely seek a specialist, there are many options and even if it's not ADHD they've got access to a lot of really great resources to cope with what you do struggle with.
Windows is especially bad at this due to so much legacy reliance, which is also kind of why people still bother with Windows. Not to claim that Linux or MacOS don't have similar problems (ahem, Catalyst) but it's not as overt.
A lot of the blame gets placed on easy to see things like an Electron app, but really the problem is so substantial that even native apps perform slower, use more resources, and aren't doing a whole lot more than they used to. Windows Terminal is a great example of this.
Combine this with the fact that most teams aren't given the space to actually maintain (because maintaining doesn't result in direct profits), and you've got a winning combination!