3 ms·

So I agree with everyone who says if you are having an issue, or a struggle, you should see a mental health professional. First and foremost, get the help you n

So I agree with everyone who says if you are having an issue, or a struggle, you should see a mental health professional. First and foremost, get the help you need to get your life stable. But as a secondary aside, there has been an awful lot of talk about mental health on this forum as of late. I hear about it daily in articles. You see increasing rates of suicide. People I talk to are generally miserable. Some more than others, but the trend seems to be a general dissatisfaction with life. Does anyone else think about this? It has been on my mind for sometime. I have a feeling that there is something about the way our society, culture, technology is changing that does not jive with our biology. Maybe the level of interconnectedness that is causing our competitive nature to make us feel like perpetual failures. Maybe its the technological isolation or lack of social interaction and contact with other people. Maybe its the economy, lack of faith in our future economic wellbeing. What do you guys think? Personally I feel a constant tension, being constantly pinged by my devices "so and so just got a house"... "so and so is on vacation"... "see what so and so is doing, thats more interesting than what you are doing".... "so and so just got promoted to a more prestigious title than you"... and then you want to say screw that, I'm unplugging, but everyone else is plugged in, and stuck, so when are you ever going to interact with them otherwise?

lbotos 8y ago
I think humans have a natural desire to be connected. I think "FOMO" is driving people to be over-connected to the wrong things. I dated a girl whom often had 100s of news notifications on her phone's lock screen. That was overwhelming for me to see out of the corner of my eye. Additionally, we are always "feeding". We are getting sick from over-indulging. My friend group is starting to coordinate board game nights. Also good old fashion gatherings, and just making a point to be present as much as possible. I find myself using a phone as a digital communication device as much as possible, where I think for a lot of people it's become a digital consumption device.
Joeri 8y ago
The trick to news and social media seems to be to adopt a pull instead of push model. Turn off all badges and notifications and deliberately check the sources you care about at opportune times. It helps to get rid of the feeling of being overwhelmed without requiring a complete disconnect. Personally a big difference was only consuming proper newspapers in the morning instead of tv and news sites during the day. The quality of the information is greater and I don’t experience fomo as much.
throwaway987909 8y ago
Addictions love to trick you into thinking you can't live without them. Also those interactions are like food without nutrients. You think you are getting sustenance but it's void and stuff stops working properly after a while. Also, In general society has lied to us about what makes humans content. So there's weird thing happening where I'm doing everything the TV/Movies/Inst/FB told me would make me happy and I'm not. It's very confusing and depressing and can make you feel hopeless and empty.
DoreenMichele 8y ago
Re social media: Learn the platform, then arrange to engage with it in a way that works for you. The kinds of things you choose to post or respond to influence the kinds of information/followers/etc you attract. Pick and choose your notifications. Learn to block, mute, unfollow, etc judiciously. Be mindful that what you post will shape how other people engage you. If you don't like the kinds of interactions you are getting, look to your own behavior first. Experiment with posting different things and then invest more in the kinds of behaviors that get results you like.
vokep 8y ago
If you take an animal and put it in the wrong habitat, even if it has what it needs to survive, it will become depressed sooner or later. Why? because it has instincts which are not compatible, if it can't satisfy instincts, the brain goes "wtf". Same with humans who evolved hunting together - running through the wild chasing danger - who now sit idle with screens and then wonder why things feel off. The thing is, I don't think we need some crazy transformation, the world that respects our biology and instincts doesn't look very different. It works mostly the same except that people are generally happier and outside more and talking to eachother face to face. Not because facetime isn't cool too, but facetime isn't the same
iamcasen 8y ago
I think about it a lot. The term is eco-psychology. You should look into it, it's really interesting! You're right to say that we have evolved alongside nature, and it is really only since the industrial revolution that we have fully diverged from the natural world. We live, eat, breath, sleep, and dream completely man-made everything. Things like Google can exist, because of our collective imagination and effort to sustain it. What that means for us is that we are ignoring our biology and the habitat we have evolved to thrive in. We think we are all geniuses because we've created this artificial landscape, but we still have barely scratched the surface of our own bodies and how they work and why.

lbotos 8y ago

I think humans have a natural desire to be connected. I think "FOMO" is driving people to be over-connected to the wrong things. I dated a girl whom often had 100s of news notifications on her phone's lock screen. That was overwhelming for me to see out of the corner of my eye. Additionally, we are always "feeding". We are getting sick from over-indulging. My friend group is starting to coordinate board game nights. Also good old fashion gatherings, and just making a point to be present as much as possible. I find myself using a phone as a digital communication device as much as possible, where I think for a lot of people it's become a digital consumption device.

Joeri 8y ago

The trick to news and social media seems to be to adopt a pull instead of push model. Turn off all badges and notifications and deliberately check the sources you care about at opportune times. It helps to get rid of the feeling of being overwhelmed without requiring a complete disconnect. Personally a big difference was only consuming proper newspapers in the morning instead of tv and news sites during the day. The quality of the information is greater and I don’t experience fomo as much.

throwaway987909 8y ago

Addictions love to trick you into thinking you can't live without them. Also those interactions are like food without nutrients. You think you are getting sustenance but it's void and stuff stops working properly after a while. Also, In general society has lied to us about what makes humans content. So there's weird thing happening where I'm doing everything the TV/Movies/Inst/FB told me would make me happy and I'm not. It's very confusing and depressing and can make you feel hopeless and empty.

DoreenMichele 8y ago

Re social media: Learn the platform, then arrange to engage with it in a way that works for you. The kinds of things you choose to post or respond to influence the kinds of information/followers/etc you attract. Pick and choose your notifications. Learn to block, mute, unfollow, etc judiciously. Be mindful that what you post will shape how other people engage you. If you don't like the kinds of interactions you are getting, look to your own behavior first. Experiment with posting different things and then invest more in the kinds of behaviors that get results you like.

vokep 8y ago

If you take an animal and put it in the wrong habitat, even if it has what it needs to survive, it will become depressed sooner or later. Why? because it has instincts which are not compatible, if it can't satisfy instincts, the brain goes "wtf". Same with humans who evolved hunting together - running through the wild chasing danger - who now sit idle with screens and then wonder why things feel off. The thing is, I don't think we need some crazy transformation, the world that respects our biology and instincts doesn't look very different. It works mostly the same except that people are generally happier and outside more and talking to eachother face to face. Not because facetime isn't cool too, but facetime isn't the same

iamcasen 8y ago

I think about it a lot. The term is eco-psychology. You should look into it, it's really interesting! You're right to say that we have evolved alongside nature, and it is really only since the industrial revolution that we have fully diverged from the natural world. We live, eat, breath, sleep, and dream completely man-made everything. Things like Google can exist, because of our collective imagination and effort to sustain it. What that means for us is that we are ignoring our biology and the habitat we have evolved to thrive in. We think we are all geniuses because we've created this artificial landscape, but we still have barely scratched the surface of our own bodies and how they work and why.