9 ms·

Drug overdoses and suicides are probably two sides of the same coin. The feeling of "despair" and "hopelessness" that young people often speak of are surely exa

by eric_b 7y ago

Drug overdoses and suicides are probably two sides of the same coin. The feeling of "despair" and "hopelessness" that young people often speak of are surely exacerbating things and causing some of these deaths. And while I can empathize, having been the demographic in question until last year, and having experienced exactly those feelings; I think despair and hopelessness is not so much "real" as it is "manufactured". The media of 2019 is partly to blame. I'm not talking about a specific publication, but the state of "journalism" in general. It's doom and gloom, 24x7 piped to our eyeballs from dozens of sources. Sensationalism and outrage are the goals, and they've gotten very very good at it. Smartphones and social media are another part of the issue. Zombie scrolling through instagram looking at fake lives and photoshopped images, all the while yearning for the things those people have. Or getting worked up over some post on Facebook or some hot take on Twitter. I quit reading media, and eliminated all social media from my life, and I've never been happier. I don't feel that sense of dread and despair I used to. I have more time to create, more time to exercise, and I sleep better at night. Things are actually amazing in 2019 if you think about it. There are endless possibilities for people who want to get out and actually do something.

leggomylibro 7y ago
How do you keep in touch with people, then? I've also cut out social media and started spending more time outside and around cities. And sure, I don't encounter much frustration, outrage, or extreme dysphoria anymore. I also have lots of time to do and see exciting and fulfilling things, which I enjoy. But I can't share the experiences or talk to anyone about them. It seems like there's no way to meet people without social media, bevause a quick introduction or "hello" by someone outside of a pre-approved friends list is universally treated as an aggressive imposition these days, even in group settings where people ostensibly share interests. And none of my friends from when I had Facebook / etc were willing to stay in touch through other means. So this is obviously very anecdotal, but I still deal with crippling loneliness and will probably join the cohort that this study is looking at soon, since it's clear that there is no hope for any of this to change in the near future. But I can hardly blame other people or the media for "manufacturing" those feelings, so I'm not convinced that avoiding toxic screen time is going to be a workable solution for many people.
- eric_b 7y ago
  Well, I did most of my "meeting people" before I turned 30, when you have school and work pools to pull from. Now that I'm in my 30s I mostly just communicate with people I already know (though that is not strictly true, as I continue to meet new people all the time) I use text messages, phone calls and emails primarily. People I continue to keep in touch with are neighbors, family, high school buddies, college buddies, co-workers etc. And I meet new people at the gym, in local music meet ups, etc. I dunno where you live or who you're interacting with, but I have not had the experience you speak of.
  - leggomylibro 7y ago
    Yeah - that's what I tend to hear from almost everyone. "I did all of my meeting people years ago." Well, I'm happy that that worked for you.
    - jackbravo 7y ago
      I don't remember having met someone meaningful in my life over social media only. Unless you count instant messaging. Yes, the usual places are school, university and work. Church and other similar voluntary-non-religious activities are great too. I also used to attend open source conferences regulary and have several meaningful friends from those conferences, and we keep in touch mainly through instant messaging, not through facebook or instagram. Does that count?
- smabie 7y ago
  Go to clubs, do drugs, etc. i’ve met tons of people at festivals or clubs or whatever. Another option is to talk to homeless people, almost all of them love talking to people. Being treated like trash constantly creates a deep sense of isolation. Moreover, talking to homeless people is really interesting, I’ve learned a lot from them. Some of the most memorable and impactful conversations I’ve ever had has been with the homeless. Also, volunteering or even just hanging out at shelters has been very interesting.
- abright 7y ago
nixpulvis 7y ago
IDK, I'm pretty depressed about the environment, China, ICE, and private oligarchies. Sure 2019 is better that the Middle Ages, but let's be honest. Things are not "actually amazing".
- smabie 7y ago
  Well, it’s all relative. Do you have a time period in mind that you would want to live instead of now?
  - nopriorarrests 7y ago
    Late 80's and early 90's as a teenager? Look, you can visit live gigs of Nirvana, Soundgarden, Shotgun Messiah, Bad Religion and such, make some modest money and buy a couple of SF properties? What's not to like about that?
    - smabie 7y ago
      Maybe we should talk about Rawl’s veil of ignorance [1]. If you did not know where you would be born or in what socio-economic class, what time period would you want to live in? Because it’s clear to me living in a 3rd world country (and, formerly, America), that the best time to be alive is now, in aggregate. If you could decide, maybe it would be great to be a king in the Middle Ages, or whatever. But if you didn’t have that choice and instead you randomly became someone, I think most people would agree that today is the best it’s ever been. Empirical statistics back this up as well. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veil_of_ignorance https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veil_of_ignorance
      - nopriorarrests 7y ago
        idk man? I explicitly specified the country and time frame? From what I know, if we talk about USA in 1985-1990 (and not USSR in 1935), there were no genocide, no mass poverty or concentration camps. Just education and housing were affordable and music was good. You had a good chance of getting almost any college degree, good job and ride the happy 90's without student debt and paying off your mortgage for a property that will increase in price at least x2 next decade.
JacksonGariety 7y ago
> There are endless possibilities for people who want to get out and actually do something. If you're wealthy...
- eric_b 7y ago
  Oh please. You have an axe and you want to grind it. You can make professional level music with a few hundred dollars of software. Less than the cost of a smartphone, and everyone has one of those. The same can be said of visual arts. Last I checked writing was free. So was the public library, and your property taxes pay for parks and other things. If you're "not doing things" because you think only the wealthy can, then you are the problem.
codingdave 7y ago
> There are endless possibilities for people who want to get out and actually do something. Yes, there are. Today. But I believe some of the doom and gloom stems from real concern over what will be here when they are older, when children and grandchildren are older. For us who are already old, we may see some change in our lives. For people who are 20 today, the worst case scenarios over the next 50 years are quite bad. Hopefully the world doesn't go to the worst case scenarios. I would love it if all predictions are wrong, and the world continues improving. But I can understand the anxiety over looking out over 80 years of a unknown personal future.
- eric_b 7y ago
  Eh, the threat of global nuclear war annihilating humanity hung over everyone since the 50's, though it never came to pass, and worrying about it was useless.
  - codingdave 7y ago
    Worrying about our future is not useless. As people worry about things, and as they grow older and become our leaders in government and business, they can push to improve our world. We didn't get to where we are today by people just relaxing and not worrying. Thinking about the future, and worrying about problems, is what drives us to a better place. Some anxiety, therefore, is a good thing. But when there is too much, it overwhelms people, it is a real problem.
    - gpanders 7y ago
      I find the mental model of "circle of concern vs. circle of control" immensely helpful. The only appropriate things to worry about are things within your circle of control. Otherwise, let it go.
      - codingdave 7y ago
        I agree. But people draw that circle far more narrowly than they have to. Clearly you have control over your direct life, but even looking at larger, broader issues... You can vote. You can talk to people about problems and solutions. You can talk to your local and congressional leaders about wide-ranging problems. You can be an activist. You can write about the concerns and have your articles read worldwide thanks to the internet. There is so much you can do about so many things... hence the phrase, "If you aren't part of the solution, you are part of the problem." Draw that "circle of control" widely in your life, and you'll be amazed how much change you can invoke in your world.
jacobwilliamroy 7y ago
Most of the stuff I see on tv is nonsense. Missing person 2,000 miles away. The weather in Canada. Police shootout 1,000 miles away. None of this stuff has any bearing on my life at all. I just watch c-span now.
- TurkishPoptart 7y ago
  C-SPAN is great. I also really enjoy PBS Newshour. It's so strikingly different from the other mainstream news that is feels comforting and fresh.
beatpanda 7y ago
> I quit reading media, and eliminated all social media from my life, and I've never been happier. Staggering numbers of people are dying from opioid overdoses, many of them from opiates that doctors were incentivized to push onto their patients by drug companies, or that were illegally distributed from pharmacies who looked the other way when there were enough pills going out the door to kill the entire population of the town they were in. It's bad enough that someone might even finally be held criminally liable for it. It isn't the media's fault that any of that happened, and it's largely because of media attention that anyone is being held accountable for it. Blaming the media for accurately reporting on the state of the world is always the last refuge of the person who's run out of real arguments. The argument from people who would rather not engage with the state of the world for a long time has been that anyone who complains about the state of the world is just watching the news too much, because "the data" always show that the world is getting inexorably better, all the time. That was always a specious argument, and now that life expectancy in America has been declining for three years in a row, that argument should finally be laid to rest entirely. But here you're reviving it, by blaming the decrease in life expectancy itself on the media. It's very innovative! But it's just as wrong.
- eric_b 7y ago
  > Blaming the media for accurately reporting on the state of the world is always the last refuge of the person who's run out of real arguments. If you really believe the media, any media, is reporting things accurately in 2019 you are not thinking critically or actively searching for the truth. > The argument from people who would rather not engage with the state of the world for a long time has been that anyone who complains about the state of the world is just watching the news too much How much of your own time and money have you spent fighting the opioid epidemic? If you are willing to get ACTIVELY involved in an issue then by all means, consume media on the subject.
  - beatpanda 7y ago
    > If you really believe the media, any media, is reporting things accurately in 2019 you are not thinking critically or actively searching for the truth. Please tell me which media source you consume that's telling you the other media sources are lying to you.
davidw 7y ago
> I think despair and hopelessness is not so much "real" as it is "manufactured". When I was younger, we had Reagan and Bush and Clinton with his BJ and lying about it, and then the war in Iraq, which all had some low points... But now there's a guy trying to cheat to win the next election, who basically believes he's above the law, and half the country is lining up behind him. That's our democracy at stake. I feel quite a sense of despair, and I'm old enough to have seen a lot of back-and-forth in politics. But despair can't lead to inaction. I've been doing more than I ever have to try and make a difference.
dcolkitt 7y ago
Social media and sensationalized news is definitely not helping. But I think the bigger issue is lack of community and close social bonds. Americans have significantly fewer close friends than previous generations[1]. They're much less likely to know their next-door neighbors[2]. Church attendance (which has traditionally been a major source of social capital) is way down, especially among young people[3]. Membership in civic organizations like the Masons and League of Women Voters has virtually disappeared among young people[4]. Adult sports leagues have sharply declining participation[5]. Even family reunions are disappearing[6]. These trends all started in the 1980s, well before social media and clickbait headlines. Robert Putnam published Bowling Alone in 2000. In a lot of ways I think modern Internet culture is a reaction, not a cause, of our social atomization and anomie. People are lonely and searching for human interaction in any form, even if it's just culture war bickering with strangers on the web. Of course the problem is its a poor substitution for real-life relationships. Online interaction offers a temporarily relief of loneliness without conferring any of the long-term mental health benefits of actual social interaction. [1] https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5509381 https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=550938... [2] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/daily-digit-americans-dont-know-neighbors-144721502.html https://finance.yahoo.com/news/daily-digit-americans-dont-kn... [3] https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/ https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christ... [4] https://prospect.org/infrastructure/strange-disappearance-civic-america/ https://prospect.org/infrastructure/strange-disappearance-ci... [5] https://www.athleticbusiness.com/Recreation/slow-pitch-softball-s-participation-decline-challenges-rec-professionals.html https://www.athleticbusiness.com/Recreation/slow-pitch-softb... [6] https://www.wyso.org/post/family-reunions-tradition-decline https://www.wyso.org/post/family-reunions-tradition-decline
- hcurtiss 7y ago
  This all strikes me as pretty compelling. Unfortunately, I struggle to identify an elegant solution. It seems to be a global phenomenon. https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/2150720/asias-lonely-youth-are-turning-machines-companionship-and-support https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/2150720/asias-lonely-youth...
stuntkite 7y ago
I quit media and social media and almost don't use my phone anymore. It worked for a while but after a job change and a move I feel more isolated than I ever have. The existential dread of how the world is doesn't help. I feel hopeless and terrible and it's effecting the relationships I do have and my work. I'm seeing a therapist and started working out and cooking for myself more and it seems to just be getting worse.
- momokoko 7y ago
  The best advice one can possibly give is to start attending a regularly scheduled event that involves a lot of people. Whether that is season tickets to a sporting event, attending church, a weekly tech meetup, volunteering on a regular schedule, a weekly open mic night, going to the same bar that has your favorite team playing, frequently attending art openings in town etc, all that matters is that people are partly there to socialize and it happens with the same group of people regularly. Then, once you start going and seeing a few people more frequently, often you will naturally exchange phone numbers and/or get invited to another event and friendship will blossom. And on that, seriously pay attention to your appearance. This means nice fitting clean clothing and shoes etc. Really make an effort to look good. Nothing fancy or expensive, just don't look like you just rolled out of bed. Even if you aren't in great shape, simply looking well put together helps 1000% in meeting new people. Keep an open mind and avoid pushing your beliefs on others. Don't give up my friend, there are so maybe people who feel just the same way that would love to hang out with you and become friends.
  - stuntkite 7y ago
    Thank you. That's pretty good advice. I recently got a small warehouse space to use as an art studio and I've been thinking about starting a community gardening meetup or maybe one related to neighborhood mesh networking in the space. Maybe both. I also reached out to a local homelessness charity to see about volunteer work. I've struggled with depression my entire adult life. This current one is familiar to one of my worst periods. The hardest part is the loss of interest in anything. I need to get out and see people and maintain routine which is hard when everything feels like I'm watching a black and white live stream of my life. One foot in front of the other and hopefully I'll get myself back.
momokoko 7y ago
We've seen that suicide rates in very poor countries tend to be quite a bit lower. This leads some, my self included, to hypothesize that it is the cliff that one can fall off of in society that causes more of these issues. In the US, a person can go from making an upper middle class salary to barely being able to feed and house themselves in less than a year. If a person has a criminal record(even a misdemeanor) and no college degree, their odds of any type of success plummet. With high divorce rates and custody issues, many people find themselves unable to regroup social and spend the rest of their lives essentially alone. As we have a more and more polarized society of winners and losers, we will see drug use and suicide continue to increase as people lose hope for improving their situation or cannot cope with significant, and likely permanent, regressions in their quality of life.
- dv_dt 7y ago
  This downturn is a uniquely US situation vs stable nations that are both poor and rich. I my opinion it is basically the effects of inequality causing regressions in living quality advancements writ large across the population.
  - momokoko 7y ago
    Correct, the US is unique in developed nations in that it does not have much of a safety net so most people tend to fall much harder and faster than they would in another high wealth country.
fzeroracer 7y ago
Social media has very, very little to do with it. The fact is that no, things are not amazing in 2019 and there are not endless possibilities for people. You've traded social media for being blind to the woes that the poor face every day. People are dying because death is better than saddling your family with generational medical debt, the stress of losing everything if you get sick once pushes people beyond the limits they can handle and the lack of social opportunities due to working 24/7 to live piles on top. I've had this discussion with my parents before, where they've straight up mentioned that they'd sooner die than potentially saddle me with debt if they ever get cancer or some other debilitating condition. What kind of fucking life is that to live?
- nradov 7y ago
  You aren't liable for your parents' debt unless you voluntarily sign on as a guarantor.
  - fzeroracer 7y ago
    That's objectively wrong, considering there are states with filial responsibility laws that can pass down medical debt from the parent to the child. That also ignores that when a family member is sick even on Medicaid they're going to require assistance from the family, which can mean losing your job or benefits in order to support them. As someone that works out of state from the rest of my family, if my parents were to get sick or injured that would lead to the loss of my job if I chose to prioritize them over my career.
Apes 7y ago
Life for those in the 25-35 demographic is extremely shitty when compared to the four generations that came before. Millenials entered into an economy where Boomers had accumulated the majority of all assets at bargain basement prices, and have been working non-stop to inflate those prices. Boomers have consistently enacted policies which have caused the price of their assets to skyrocket, locking out younger generations from the same opportunities Boomers had. With the market cornered and controlled, Boomers collect massively overinflated rent from Millennials that massively subsidizes their unsustainable lifestyles. Millennials as a whole have effectively become an indentured servant class that exist primarily to subsidize rent seeking Boomers who continue to take far more share than any generation in history. Even for the healthiest sectors of the economy, like tech, it turns out that a huge amount of the wealth being generated by the tech industry is just being captured by Boomer land lords sitting on their asses doing nothing productive. I've heard estimates that around 40% of the money put into the tech industry just passes through to land lords. A sickening amount to go to a group whose main quality is that they were just born in the right place at the right time. Life is cut throat for Millenials. The margin for error is narrow than its been in almost 100 years, and that is extremely stressful. The unprecedented levels of drug abuse among Millenials is testament to just how high stress levels are on average for Millenials. Many choose to self medicate, and it doesn't end well for them. Millenials have it really bad, and there's good reason for the feelings of "despair" and "hopelessness".
- TurkishPoptart 7y ago
  At least now we have Russian Doomer music to help us cope! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgjguiFxtps https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgjguiFxtps /s
- RhysU 7y ago
  All of the world's wealth goes to those who were conceived in the right place at the right time. Think of the injustice!
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by eric_b 7y ago

leggomylibro 7y ago

How do you keep in touch with people, then? I've also cut out social media and started spending more time outside and around cities. And sure, I don't encounter much frustration, outrage, or extreme dysphoria anymore. I also have lots of time to do and see exciting and fulfilling things, which I enjoy. But I can't share the experiences or talk to anyone about them. It seems like there's no way to meet people without social media, bevause a quick introduction or "hello" by someone outside of a pre-approved friends list is universally treated as an aggressive imposition these days, even in group settings where people ostensibly share interests. And none of my friends from when I had Facebook / etc were willing to stay in touch through other means. So this is obviously very anecdotal, but I still deal with crippling loneliness and will probably join the cohort that this study is looking at soon, since it's clear that there is no hope for any of this to change in the near future. But I can hardly blame other people or the media for "manufacturing" those feelings, so I'm not convinced that avoiding toxic screen time is going to be a workable solution for many people.

eric_b 7y ago
Well, I did most of my "meeting people" before I turned 30, when you have school and work pools to pull from. Now that I'm in my 30s I mostly just communicate with people I already know (though that is not strictly true, as I continue to meet new people all the time) I use text messages, phone calls and emails primarily. People I continue to keep in touch with are neighbors, family, high school buddies, college buddies, co-workers etc. And I meet new people at the gym, in local music meet ups, etc. I dunno where you live or who you're interacting with, but I have not had the experience you speak of.
- leggomylibro 7y ago
  Yeah - that's what I tend to hear from almost everyone. "I did all of my meeting people years ago." Well, I'm happy that that worked for you.
  - jackbravo 7y ago
    I don't remember having met someone meaningful in my life over social media only. Unless you count instant messaging. Yes, the usual places are school, university and work. Church and other similar voluntary-non-religious activities are great too. I also used to attend open source conferences regulary and have several meaningful friends from those conferences, and we keep in touch mainly through instant messaging, not through facebook or instagram. Does that count?
smabie 7y ago
Go to clubs, do drugs, etc. i’ve met tons of people at festivals or clubs or whatever. Another option is to talk to homeless people, almost all of them love talking to people. Being treated like trash constantly creates a deep sense of isolation. Moreover, talking to homeless people is really interesting, I’ve learned a lot from them. Some of the most memorable and impactful conversations I’ve ever had has been with the homeless. Also, volunteering or even just hanging out at shelters has been very interesting.
abright 7y ago

nixpulvis 7y ago

IDK, I'm pretty depressed about the environment, China, ICE, and private oligarchies. Sure 2019 is better that the Middle Ages, but let's be honest. Things are not "actually amazing".

smabie 7y ago
Well, it’s all relative. Do you have a time period in mind that you would want to live instead of now?
- nopriorarrests 7y ago
  Late 80's and early 90's as a teenager? Look, you can visit live gigs of Nirvana, Soundgarden, Shotgun Messiah, Bad Religion and such, make some modest money and buy a couple of SF properties? What's not to like about that?
  - smabie 7y ago
    Maybe we should talk about Rawl’s veil of ignorance [1]. If you did not know where you would be born or in what socio-economic class, what time period would you want to live in? Because it’s clear to me living in a 3rd world country (and, formerly, America), that the best time to be alive is now, in aggregate. If you could decide, maybe it would be great to be a king in the Middle Ages, or whatever. But if you didn’t have that choice and instead you randomly became someone, I think most people would agree that today is the best it’s ever been. Empirical statistics back this up as well. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veil_of_ignorance https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veil_of_ignorance
    - nopriorarrests 7y ago
      idk man? I explicitly specified the country and time frame? From what I know, if we talk about USA in 1985-1990 (and not USSR in 1935), there were no genocide, no mass poverty or concentration camps. Just education and housing were affordable and music was good. You had a good chance of getting almost any college degree, good job and ride the happy 90's without student debt and paying off your mortgage for a property that will increase in price at least x2 next decade.

JacksonGariety 7y ago

> There are endless possibilities for people who want to get out and actually do something. If you're wealthy...

eric_b 7y ago
Oh please. You have an axe and you want to grind it. You can make professional level music with a few hundred dollars of software. Less than the cost of a smartphone, and everyone has one of those. The same can be said of visual arts. Last I checked writing was free. So was the public library, and your property taxes pay for parks and other things. If you're "not doing things" because you think only the wealthy can, then you are the problem.

codingdave 7y ago

> There are endless possibilities for people who want to get out and actually do something. Yes, there are. Today. But I believe some of the doom and gloom stems from real concern over what will be here when they are older, when children and grandchildren are older. For us who are already old, we may see some change in our lives. For people who are 20 today, the worst case scenarios over the next 50 years are quite bad. Hopefully the world doesn't go to the worst case scenarios. I would love it if all predictions are wrong, and the world continues improving. But I can understand the anxiety over looking out over 80 years of a unknown personal future.

eric_b 7y ago
Eh, the threat of global nuclear war annihilating humanity hung over everyone since the 50's, though it never came to pass, and worrying about it was useless.
- codingdave 7y ago
  Worrying about our future is not useless. As people worry about things, and as they grow older and become our leaders in government and business, they can push to improve our world. We didn't get to where we are today by people just relaxing and not worrying. Thinking about the future, and worrying about problems, is what drives us to a better place. Some anxiety, therefore, is a good thing. But when there is too much, it overwhelms people, it is a real problem.
  - gpanders 7y ago
    I find the mental model of "circle of concern vs. circle of control" immensely helpful. The only appropriate things to worry about are things within your circle of control. Otherwise, let it go.
    - codingdave 7y ago
      I agree. But people draw that circle far more narrowly than they have to. Clearly you have control over your direct life, but even looking at larger, broader issues... You can vote. You can talk to people about problems and solutions. You can talk to your local and congressional leaders about wide-ranging problems. You can be an activist. You can write about the concerns and have your articles read worldwide thanks to the internet. There is so much you can do about so many things... hence the phrase, "If you aren't part of the solution, you are part of the problem." Draw that "circle of control" widely in your life, and you'll be amazed how much change you can invoke in your world.

jacobwilliamroy 7y ago

Most of the stuff I see on tv is nonsense. Missing person 2,000 miles away. The weather in Canada. Police shootout 1,000 miles away. None of this stuff has any bearing on my life at all. I just watch c-span now.

TurkishPoptart 7y ago
C-SPAN is great. I also really enjoy PBS Newshour. It's so strikingly different from the other mainstream news that is feels comforting and fresh.

beatpanda 7y ago

> I quit reading media, and eliminated all social media from my life, and I've never been happier. Staggering numbers of people are dying from opioid overdoses, many of them from opiates that doctors were incentivized to push onto their patients by drug companies, or that were illegally distributed from pharmacies who looked the other way when there were enough pills going out the door to kill the entire population of the town they were in. It's bad enough that someone might even finally be held criminally liable for it. It isn't the media's fault that any of that happened, and it's largely because of media attention that anyone is being held accountable for it. Blaming the media for accurately reporting on the state of the world is always the last refuge of the person who's run out of real arguments. The argument from people who would rather not engage with the state of the world for a long time has been that anyone who complains about the state of the world is just watching the news too much, because "the data" always show that the world is getting inexorably better, all the time. That was always a specious argument, and now that life expectancy in America has been declining for three years in a row, that argument should finally be laid to rest entirely. But here you're reviving it, by blaming the decrease in life expectancy itself on the media. It's very innovative! But it's just as wrong.

eric_b 7y ago
> Blaming the media for accurately reporting on the state of the world is always the last refuge of the person who's run out of real arguments. If you really believe the media, any media, is reporting things accurately in 2019 you are not thinking critically or actively searching for the truth. > The argument from people who would rather not engage with the state of the world for a long time has been that anyone who complains about the state of the world is just watching the news too much How much of your own time and money have you spent fighting the opioid epidemic? If you are willing to get ACTIVELY involved in an issue then by all means, consume media on the subject.
- beatpanda 7y ago
  > If you really believe the media, any media, is reporting things accurately in 2019 you are not thinking critically or actively searching for the truth. Please tell me which media source you consume that's telling you the other media sources are lying to you.

davidw 7y ago

> I think despair and hopelessness is not so much "real" as it is "manufactured". When I was younger, we had Reagan and Bush and Clinton with his BJ and lying about it, and then the war in Iraq, which all had some low points... But now there's a guy trying to cheat to win the next election, who basically believes he's above the law, and half the country is lining up behind him. That's our democracy at stake. I feel quite a sense of despair, and I'm old enough to have seen a lot of back-and-forth in politics. But despair can't lead to inaction. I've been doing more than I ever have to try and make a difference.

dcolkitt 7y ago

Social media and sensationalized news is definitely not helping. But I think the bigger issue is lack of community and close social bonds. Americans have significantly fewer close friends than previous generations[1]. They're much less likely to know their next-door neighbors[2]. Church attendance (which has traditionally been a major source of social capital) is way down, especially among young people[3]. Membership in civic organizations like the Masons and League of Women Voters has virtually disappeared among young people[4]. Adult sports leagues have sharply declining participation[5]. Even family reunions are disappearing[6]. These trends all started in the 1980s, well before social media and clickbait headlines. Robert Putnam published Bowling Alone in 2000. In a lot of ways I think modern Internet culture is a reaction, not a cause, of our social atomization and anomie. People are lonely and searching for human interaction in any form, even if it's just culture war bickering with strangers on the web. Of course the problem is its a poor substitution for real-life relationships. Online interaction offers a temporarily relief of loneliness without conferring any of the long-term mental health benefits of actual social interaction. [1] https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5509381 https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=550938... [2] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/daily-digit-americans-dont-know-neighbors-144721502.html https://finance.yahoo.com/news/daily-digit-americans-dont-kn... [3] https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/ https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christ... [4] https://prospect.org/infrastructure/strange-disappearance-civic-america/ https://prospect.org/infrastructure/strange-disappearance-ci... [5] https://www.athleticbusiness.com/Recreation/slow-pitch-softball-s-participation-decline-challenges-rec-professionals.html https://www.athleticbusiness.com/Recreation/slow-pitch-softb... [6] https://www.wyso.org/post/family-reunions-tradition-decline https://www.wyso.org/post/family-reunions-tradition-decline

hcurtiss 7y ago
This all strikes me as pretty compelling. Unfortunately, I struggle to identify an elegant solution. It seems to be a global phenomenon. https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/2150720/asias-lonely-youth-are-turning-machines-companionship-and-support https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/2150720/asias-lonely-youth...

stuntkite 7y ago

I quit media and social media and almost don't use my phone anymore. It worked for a while but after a job change and a move I feel more isolated than I ever have. The existential dread of how the world is doesn't help. I feel hopeless and terrible and it's effecting the relationships I do have and my work. I'm seeing a therapist and started working out and cooking for myself more and it seems to just be getting worse.

momokoko 7y ago
The best advice one can possibly give is to start attending a regularly scheduled event that involves a lot of people. Whether that is season tickets to a sporting event, attending church, a weekly tech meetup, volunteering on a regular schedule, a weekly open mic night, going to the same bar that has your favorite team playing, frequently attending art openings in town etc, all that matters is that people are partly there to socialize and it happens with the same group of people regularly. Then, once you start going and seeing a few people more frequently, often you will naturally exchange phone numbers and/or get invited to another event and friendship will blossom. And on that, seriously pay attention to your appearance. This means nice fitting clean clothing and shoes etc. Really make an effort to look good. Nothing fancy or expensive, just don't look like you just rolled out of bed. Even if you aren't in great shape, simply looking well put together helps 1000% in meeting new people. Keep an open mind and avoid pushing your beliefs on others. Don't give up my friend, there are so maybe people who feel just the same way that would love to hang out with you and become friends.
- stuntkite 7y ago
  Thank you. That's pretty good advice. I recently got a small warehouse space to use as an art studio and I've been thinking about starting a community gardening meetup or maybe one related to neighborhood mesh networking in the space. Maybe both. I also reached out to a local homelessness charity to see about volunteer work. I've struggled with depression my entire adult life. This current one is familiar to one of my worst periods. The hardest part is the loss of interest in anything. I need to get out and see people and maintain routine which is hard when everything feels like I'm watching a black and white live stream of my life. One foot in front of the other and hopefully I'll get myself back.

momokoko 7y ago

We've seen that suicide rates in very poor countries tend to be quite a bit lower. This leads some, my self included, to hypothesize that it is the cliff that one can fall off of in society that causes more of these issues. In the US, a person can go from making an upper middle class salary to barely being able to feed and house themselves in less than a year. If a person has a criminal record(even a misdemeanor) and no college degree, their odds of any type of success plummet. With high divorce rates and custody issues, many people find themselves unable to regroup social and spend the rest of their lives essentially alone. As we have a more and more polarized society of winners and losers, we will see drug use and suicide continue to increase as people lose hope for improving their situation or cannot cope with significant, and likely permanent, regressions in their quality of life.

dv_dt 7y ago
This downturn is a uniquely US situation vs stable nations that are both poor and rich. I my opinion it is basically the effects of inequality causing regressions in living quality advancements writ large across the population.
- momokoko 7y ago
  Correct, the US is unique in developed nations in that it does not have much of a safety net so most people tend to fall much harder and faster than they would in another high wealth country.

fzeroracer 7y ago

Social media has very, very little to do with it. The fact is that no, things are not amazing in 2019 and there are not endless possibilities for people. You've traded social media for being blind to the woes that the poor face every day. People are dying because death is better than saddling your family with generational medical debt, the stress of losing everything if you get sick once pushes people beyond the limits they can handle and the lack of social opportunities due to working 24/7 to live piles on top. I've had this discussion with my parents before, where they've straight up mentioned that they'd sooner die than potentially saddle me with debt if they ever get cancer or some other debilitating condition. What kind of fucking life is that to live?

nradov 7y ago
You aren't liable for your parents' debt unless you voluntarily sign on as a guarantor.
- fzeroracer 7y ago
  That's objectively wrong, considering there are states with filial responsibility laws that can pass down medical debt from the parent to the child. That also ignores that when a family member is sick even on Medicaid they're going to require assistance from the family, which can mean losing your job or benefits in order to support them. As someone that works out of state from the rest of my family, if my parents were to get sick or injured that would lead to the loss of my job if I chose to prioritize them over my career.

Apes 7y ago

Life for those in the 25-35 demographic is extremely shitty when compared to the four generations that came before. Millenials entered into an economy where Boomers had accumulated the majority of all assets at bargain basement prices, and have been working non-stop to inflate those prices. Boomers have consistently enacted policies which have caused the price of their assets to skyrocket, locking out younger generations from the same opportunities Boomers had. With the market cornered and controlled, Boomers collect massively overinflated rent from Millennials that massively subsidizes their unsustainable lifestyles. Millennials as a whole have effectively become an indentured servant class that exist primarily to subsidize rent seeking Boomers who continue to take far more share than any generation in history. Even for the healthiest sectors of the economy, like tech, it turns out that a huge amount of the wealth being generated by the tech industry is just being captured by Boomer land lords sitting on their asses doing nothing productive. I've heard estimates that around 40% of the money put into the tech industry just passes through to land lords. A sickening amount to go to a group whose main quality is that they were just born in the right place at the right time. Life is cut throat for Millenials. The margin for error is narrow than its been in almost 100 years, and that is extremely stressful. The unprecedented levels of drug abuse among Millenials is testament to just how high stress levels are on average for Millenials. Many choose to self medicate, and it doesn't end well for them. Millenials have it really bad, and there's good reason for the feelings of "despair" and "hopelessness".

TurkishPoptart 7y ago
At least now we have Russian Doomer music to help us cope! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgjguiFxtps https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgjguiFxtps /s
RhysU 7y ago
All of the world's wealth goes to those who were conceived in the right place at the right time. Think of the injustice!

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