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We don't take the time to process and grieve anymore. In the same way that a minor physical act can result in a major physical injury, we can often endure great

We don't take the time to process and grieve anymore. In the same way that a minor physical act can result in a major physical injury, we can often endure great trauma from seemingly small events. And yet, we have built so many fire hoses ready to bath us in small events, never really knowing or understanding the impact of these minor events on our psyche. Many people wake up, pick up their phone/tablet and immediately subject their brain to defensive thought patterns. We get to work, now often in what used to be our relaxing space at home, and we have very little social chit chat opportunities to explore our feelings on topics. When our day is done, how do we relax? - Watching endless streams of depressing media on TV - Playing games with conflict loops - Doom scrolling news - Rapid-fire bite sized thoughts (tiktok, youtube, twitter, imgur, 90% of reddit) You can't even escape it doing mundane things like going to the store or restaurants anymore. How many places have either news or sports on the media player? That's never ending conflict being sprayed all over you. What happens when a person is in a never ending defense mode for years? How does the brain change physically? How does the person engage with their children, and then how do those children engage with each other? I've tried to break out of this, and feel like I've made progress. I ignore the news most of the time and try to focus more on long form analysis. I don't inundate myself with current events anymore. And then when I try to talk to people about how much happier I am, I get the worst response: how can you ignore something that might affect you? I tell them well, I have to for my sanity. A life of perpetual preparation for the zombie apocalypse is not much better than living through the zombie apocalypse.

scottLobster 5y ago
For my family, I prefer the more positive connotation of "building an Ark for the inevitable flood" or the classic "make hay while the sun shines". Both of which can be healthy if done right. As for the information loops you mention, that's why discernment is now more important than access. But I wouldn't blame media/games/the internet entirely for our perception of the state of the world. I grew up upper-middle-class in the 90s with all the optimism that came with it, school plays about how great the future is going to be, in 6th grade choir they actually made us sing a really cringe song called "We are the people of the 21st century" basically about how awesome the future is going to be, link if you want a listen (https://www.musick8.com/html/current_tune.php?songorder=5&numbering=46 https://www.musick8.com/html/current_tune.php?songorder=5&nu...). Well fast forward 22 years since I was forced to sing that, and at least here in the US, everything you need to live a middle class life (housing, education, healthcare, even food these days) is substantially, sometimes multiple times more expensive than it used to be, and wage growth has been stagnant. Meanwhile we've lived through several "once in a generation" crises. All of which we were not simply unprepared for, we were explicitly told the opposite was going to happen our whole lives. It wasn't really until the GFC that the facade started to crack. There will be "a future" for us, but it's not guaranteed positive anymore, particularly on an individual level. I'm in the process of spinning up lifestyle businesses I don't particularly like in addition to my 9-5 so my kids to have what my dad could afford with just his 9-to-5. And I'm one of the lucky ones to even have that possibility. I'm also sticking close to family, for the time being I'm refusing to move anywhere out of the US NorthEast corridor and surrounding regions. I'm lucky to have largely supportive family, and I'd be foolish to abandon that resource for a job I "might" like better 1000 miles away, especially if things are going to get worse before they get better. A recession is basically baked in at this point, although it's impossible to say exactly when. Maybe things will get better, but don't bet on it. If there's one thing current events do bear out: Complacency kills.
DoneWithAllThat 5y ago
The extent to which the bulk of the comments here illustrate your points is breathtaking. Most of them represent a profoundly dismal and cynical view of both the now and the future, angrily lashing out at their preferred culprits.
shrimp_emoji 5y ago
>Playing games with conflict loops How could a game not have a "conflict loop"? Even Minecraft in Creative god mode has the "conflict loop" of "am I creative/smart enough to build something cool in this sandbox?"
- cheschire 4y ago
  Ehhh in my opinion creative Minecraft is closer to art than to a traditional game loop. I mean I get what you’re saying. “Man vs Self” is definitely implemented in some gameplay loops but I’m not sure every implementation of creative mode is equivalent to it. People can add challenge on top of it, I.e. recreating the shire or an APU in Minecraft, but that’s a layer added by the player.

scottLobster 5y ago

For my family, I prefer the more positive connotation of "building an Ark for the inevitable flood" or the classic "make hay while the sun shines". Both of which can be healthy if done right. As for the information loops you mention, that's why discernment is now more important than access. But I wouldn't blame media/games/the internet entirely for our perception of the state of the world. I grew up upper-middle-class in the 90s with all the optimism that came with it, school plays about how great the future is going to be, in 6th grade choir they actually made us sing a really cringe song called "We are the people of the 21st century" basically about how awesome the future is going to be, link if you want a listen (https://www.musick8.com/html/current_tune.php?songorder=5&numbering=46 https://www.musick8.com/html/current_tune.php?songorder=5&nu...). Well fast forward 22 years since I was forced to sing that, and at least here in the US, everything you need to live a middle class life (housing, education, healthcare, even food these days) is substantially, sometimes multiple times more expensive than it used to be, and wage growth has been stagnant. Meanwhile we've lived through several "once in a generation" crises. All of which we were not simply unprepared for, we were explicitly told the opposite was going to happen our whole lives. It wasn't really until the GFC that the facade started to crack. There will be "a future" for us, but it's not guaranteed positive anymore, particularly on an individual level. I'm in the process of spinning up lifestyle businesses I don't particularly like in addition to my 9-5 so my kids to have what my dad could afford with just his 9-to-5. And I'm one of the lucky ones to even have that possibility. I'm also sticking close to family, for the time being I'm refusing to move anywhere out of the US NorthEast corridor and surrounding regions. I'm lucky to have largely supportive family, and I'd be foolish to abandon that resource for a job I "might" like better 1000 miles away, especially if things are going to get worse before they get better. A recession is basically baked in at this point, although it's impossible to say exactly when. Maybe things will get better, but don't bet on it. If there's one thing current events do bear out: Complacency kills.

DoneWithAllThat 5y ago

The extent to which the bulk of the comments here illustrate your points is breathtaking. Most of them represent a profoundly dismal and cynical view of both the now and the future, angrily lashing out at their preferred culprits.

shrimp_emoji 5y ago

>Playing games with conflict loops How could a game not have a "conflict loop"? Even Minecraft in Creative god mode has the "conflict loop" of "am I creative/smart enough to build something cool in this sandbox?"

cheschire 4y ago
Ehhh in my opinion creative Minecraft is closer to art than to a traditional game loop. I mean I get what you’re saying. “Man vs Self” is definitely implemented in some gameplay loops but I’m not sure every implementation of creative mode is equivalent to it. People can add challenge on top of it, I.e. recreating the shire or an APU in Minecraft, but that’s a layer added by the player.