The Distorted Reality of Silicon Valley

Let’s talk about the cutthroat community that calls the Bay Area home
By Hayley Ipsaro on April 12, 2022

I spent the first 18 years of my life living in the Bay Area of California, but it never felt

like home. My childhood has been clouded by repressed memories of academic trauma and the

pain of never fitting the mold. I never realized how unorthodox my middle school and high

school years were until I left the Bay Area — that was when I realized my “normal” was not as

normal as it was played off to be. I don’t see it as a safe place to live anymore and it’s in

desperate need of radical change. The unparalleled academic pressure, sky-high cost of living

and diminishing culture trap you in the bubble that is Silicon Valley.

The suicide rates in Bay Area high schools are 5 times the national average — the

academic pressure students face has fostered mental health issues to an extent never seen before.

Repeatedly, we are told we are not good enough if we don’t take AP classes, if we don’t make

the speech and debate team, if we don’t get into a University of California (UC) school. Do not

even get me started on what faculty try to tell you if you do not take interest in STEM. In short,

you’re a failure. When did high school become an Apple engineer breeding ground?

I vividly remember sitting in my seventh-grade algebra class being told by a peer that I’ll

be “flipping burgers at McDonalds” because I failed our first exam. I determined my worth off a

letter grade, a percentage. This sickness and obsession destroyed people and unfortunately kids

succumbed to it. Two schools in my area, Palo Alto and Gunn high school, became the epicenter

of a phenomenon that struck the Bay Area: suicide clusters. It was beyond tragic; one year our

community lost five kids in seven months. I was furious as to why it took so long for action to

take place. A clear pattern and a clear motive — these kids were so deeply depressed and so
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terrorized by the pressure they delt with every day. They did not think they could find any other

way out. Public schools do not have enough money to hire proper counselors and have genuine

mental health resources. The amount of shame and stigma surrounding mental health in the Bay

Area makes taking about depression or suicidal ideation virtually impossible. When I lived there,

I felt hopeless, and I can’t imagine much has changed for people since I left.

Yet another statistic to grapple with: 81% of San Francisco homes are worth $1 million

or more, versus the 4% average in most cities the United States. My hometown of San Jose has

70% of properties meeting this mark. Despite the excessive cost of living, the Bay Area doesn’t

really look or feel like an affluent metropolitan area, distorting kids' reality of the privilege they

have. You’re surrounded by so much wealth and so much snobbery that even the most privileged

kids won’t understand their financial situation until they leave the Bay Area. Our suburbs are

dirty and crowded, our cities and downtown areas filled with the tents and sleeping bags of the

homeless. If you were born in the Bay Area, you know no difference, which leads the youth to

have such a distorted perception of what lower- and middle- class even looks like. Your friends'

parents tell you, “Without a six-figure salary you’ll be living in your parent's basement” and that

“You should reconsider that communications degree.” It is complex — you never truly realize

how lucky you were until you come to the realization that you’ll never be able to afford to live

there by yourself. Maybe you’ll never be able to live there ever again. It took my escape from

Silicon Valley to check myself, educate myself and take account of my privilege where I was

raised. Just another shameful byproduct of the Silicon Valley bubble.

I think the nail in the coffin for the Bay Area was Big Tech. San Francisco, a city famous

for its artistic and counterculture-fueled roots, now a capitalistic and tech-dominating epicenter.

Culturally diverse people and communities have long defined the Bay Area, but with the rise of

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Big Tech has come the rise of housing costs and the loss of heritage. Working-class families are

being pushed out to make way for the workers and engineers of the dot com economy. Sure, as

much as I want to hate everything the community has become, I must recognize some positives.

Tech has created thousands upon thousands of jobs in the Bay Area for all social classes. The

Bay Area breeds innovation and grit, and I have been surrounded by so many motivated people

that have helped me build the work ethic I have today. With that being said, Apple and Google

are not my biggest complaint. It’s the people that tech has brought and bred. The freeness and

diversity that used to pull people into the Silicon Valley is being destroyed by the people that it

attracts. It is cutthroat, it is snobby, and it is uptight. I truly do believe that the Bay Area has lost

our soulfulness and inclusivity.

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