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>Go outside and it's more or less the same as it has always been That's because the author is living in a bubble. And also because, go figure, your cashier's

>Go outside and it's more or less the same as it has always been That's because the author is living in a bubble. And also because, go figure, your cashier's depression isn't visible when they're forced to smile at you, and people with crippling depression are more likely to not get out of home at all (unless it's for work, if they have it and it's not remote). And because people mask their symptoms of anxiety, but (go figure!) would be more willing to be open about it online, where they're anonymous and won't be judged by people who don't understand what the problem is because things are the same as they ever were. They aren't, and we aren't.

miloignis 4y ago
What's your explanation for what's different?
- romwell 4y ago
  Real estate crisis, wage stagnation, ballooning college debt (and a degree required for barely-middle-class living), increasing wealth gap, increasingly unaffordable healthcare, a full frontal attack on civil rights (abortion is just one example), militarization of police and impunity when they break the law, ultra-right (aka fascist) groups taking over the conservative party on a platform of division and hurting "the other side", COVID-19 also being a mental health crisis (while mental healthcare is still out of reach), expectation of constant availability by employers, deteriorating worker's rights (what's a union?), lack of public transportation infrastructure (hello, 3 hour commute!), ... That's to start. Maybe be that girl posting a picture of her latte on Instagram isn't the primary cause of everyone being on the edge.
  - miloignis 4y ago
    Most of those have happened before, and within the last ~100/120 years or so (indeed, lots around the 1920s) - Jim Crow laws, WW1, Spanish Flu, WW2, the Great Depression, the Red Scare / McCarthyism, the Civil Rights movement, etc, etc I think the point is is there something different this time, perhaps because of the internet or social media? Or is it just that a lot of these things are overlapping? Because where everything you mention is a serious problem, most of them are smaller versions of problems that we've been through already. On the front page right now: (Nature paper: Negativity drives online news consumption - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-023-01538-4 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-023-01538-4 )

miloignis 4y ago

What's your explanation for what's different?

romwell 4y ago
Real estate crisis, wage stagnation, ballooning college debt (and a degree required for barely-middle-class living), increasing wealth gap, increasingly unaffordable healthcare, a full frontal attack on civil rights (abortion is just one example), militarization of police and impunity when they break the law, ultra-right (aka fascist) groups taking over the conservative party on a platform of division and hurting "the other side", COVID-19 also being a mental health crisis (while mental healthcare is still out of reach), expectation of constant availability by employers, deteriorating worker's rights (what's a union?), lack of public transportation infrastructure (hello, 3 hour commute!), ... That's to start. Maybe be that girl posting a picture of her latte on Instagram isn't the primary cause of everyone being on the edge.
- miloignis 4y ago
  Most of those have happened before, and within the last ~100/120 years or so (indeed, lots around the 1920s) - Jim Crow laws, WW1, Spanish Flu, WW2, the Great Depression, the Red Scare / McCarthyism, the Civil Rights movement, etc, etc I think the point is is there something different this time, perhaps because of the internet or social media? Or is it just that a lot of these things are overlapping? Because where everything you mention is a serious problem, most of them are smaller versions of problems that we've been through already. On the front page right now: (Nature paper: Negativity drives online news consumption - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-023-01538-4 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-023-01538-4 )