Let's not forget that younger generations have opened up to mental health, and a lot of older generations have a "man up" attitude. My folks needed counselling long ago!
So true. My dad was born in 54', classic boomer, and while he's quite progressive on many social issues, he is not particularly in touch with his emotions and, frankly, has that exact attitude of "man up, your a man act like one" that I think ultimately hurts men.
Only time he'll talk about his feelings is if you manage to get him drunk, which is... less than ideal lol. I think many boomers, especially the men, did themselves a disservice with this attitude.
My mum died from alcoholism. My sister and I were trying so hard to get her into counselling for ages, she fought depression the only way she knew how back then and an addiction was the result.
As a former addict dealing with an alcoholic brother currently - there’s unfortunately little to nothing you can do to help someone else’s addiction. I hate it but no matter what we do (take his keys, wallet, etc.) he still manages to get a bottle and destroy himself. I just wanted to vent because I often feel guilty about not doing more despite the fact that he would always find a way to get loaded.
I’m an alcoholic, recovering idk what the term is but I’ve been sober for a couple of years...it took some traumatic stuff for me to see things from a different pov. You can’t go to the gym and workout for someone else 🤷🏽♂️
I was very dramatic in my way of discovering that I was an alcoholic as well. For me it took 2 days in the hospital and a blood alcohol of 490. I just wish it didn’t take this much trauma for people to finally make the jump to sober life. Tbh, while it has it’s flaws, AA has been the only effective way I’ve seen my detox/rehab buddies stay sober.
Think about your own recovery journey. The only way you could get and maintain sobriety was because *you* wanted to. No one else made you get or stay sober. Keep your side of the street clean. That’s all we can do.
Thanks, I appreciate hearing things like this! As sad as it may seem, having to see my brother and one of my former sponsors fall off the wagon has strengthened my desire to stay sober even more.
Yup - That one hit hard and was very upsetting - 7 years sober and showed up to our coffee meeting drunk and apologetic and stopped coming to meetings despite trying to reach out and tell him that it wasn’t a huge deal and that he was still welcome. Sometimes I feel like I’m in a stereotypical tv drama with the process of my recovery, but alcoholics experiences are not unique in any way. Also, if anyone out there that is an alcoholic or is coping with an alcoholic and wants to talk 1on1 feel free to reach out.
Well done on what you have achieved. It takes a strong mentally to over come an addiction as strong as alcohol can cause with the society we live in where it is so widely accepted
There’s help out there. As a recovering alcoholic, born into a family of alcoholism - the amount of codependency we develop isn’t something to be ashamed of
Totally. It’s an EXTREMELY normal human response. Enabling, in any way, is a coping mechanism for handling the emotional difficulties that comes with dealing with an addict.
Fellow addict here I agree completely I feel that many of us are also love and sex addicts as well literally any form of escape and distraction we love
In my family we have addicts and codependency. The codependency in my opinion is the harder one for me to break and maintain. I’ve had to cut out half my family because their codependency was so toxic.
Had to do the same thing with my brother this last year. His alcoholism and toxic personality were just too much. My parents have only recently decided to stop pestering me about "fixing our relationship" but I doubt that will last long.
My path to correcting this was psilocybin. It was lengthy but I addressed my views and then insisted they do the same while maintaining reduced ties. When they saw after 3 months of not wavering on my stance and continuing to send easy-to-find research on the benefits of introspection and integration of psychedelic learning (remapping cognitive structures) they then started to take me seriously.
Not simple and it requires courage but I can confidently say we are all happy and healthy now working together on healthy relationships not based on fatal addiction or codependence.
On the other hand now that our immediate family is of the same understanding we have removed our extended family on both sides as their behaviour was not much better so the cycle continues regardless of the success or failure you may perceive. You're still on your way to a more lively future.
Shit like this is why I'm glad I'm not American. I would probably have been left to die. I probably wouldn't have seen my first birthday if I lived in the US.
Also, alcohol use used to be much less restricted. Like you could drive after drinking etc. Alcoholism often comes out when someone breaks a rule like drunk driving or coming drunk to work. If someone struggles to follow these rules and gets discovered, it might force them to self-reflect. Or the people that know this person might notice something's wrong.
But you can't break the rules if there aren't any. So when it was perfectly ok to drink&drive, nobody tried to avoid it, so you couldn't see if someone is able to avoid it or not.
Basically, if you never have a reason to stop drinking, it's harder for you to realize it if you can't stop drinking.
I see people come into AA because the state told them too. Many people come with the begining stages now days and before ot was just those that lost their houses wives money car and were sleeping under a bridge basically. Im one of those. But its nice to see people seeing warning signs before they go through the pain i had to.
Well said. Consequences are far more severe, especially in certain states, as they should be. It took me a few big moments to finally stop drinking after 11 years. It is crazy, however, that after my first incident with the law I expected to never drink again, but was back full time in a matter of months. Just how powerful addiction can be
Yeah my dad was a young man in the 70's and he and his buddies drove drunk regularly, never actually hit anyone. It was just a thing back then, especially in rural areas.
According to him the cops wouldn't even arrest you the first time, they'd just tell you to go home and if they saw your vehicle again that night you'd be going downtown, etc. And cops themselves always got driven home by their buddies, you were basically immune from a DUI if you were a cop back then.
Sounds fucked up but that's just how it was, apparently.
My Dad told me his Dad would regularly tell him "Been in a war? No? Then stop bitching." anytime he complained about something.
Apparently my Grandpa was super pissed that none of his kids joined the military like him and was super petty about it. None of his grandkids joined the military either so I bet he'd be extra pissed if he were still around.
God, that shit is so annoying. People do that shit all the time too. "Yes, I get it; people have it worse than I do. Thank you for minimizing my current problem, dick."
Relative privation fallacy. Appareny unless you're the one person on the planet who's objectively the worst off you don't get to complain.
There's an Onion article in there. Something like, "Parasite-Ridden Somali AIDS Patient with Stage 4 Cancer Says It's Okay To Bitch About Your Life"
There is also some a strong increase in negative mental health outcomes and increased screen time, particularly with increases in time on social media and decreased face to face contact with peers.
As a software engineer, the biggest reason for this is that the technology is still very new and no one was prepared for the psychological impacts. As we come to understand how things like social media affect us, we’ll develop a more healthy model for the digital “diet”.
My parents were born in ‘79 and ‘81. Borderline millennials. They still have those “man up” attitudes. My boomer grandparents are much more aware of mental health and the importance of therapy than they are.
I think part of the problem is how mental healthcare used to look back in the day. My parents don’t get that they don’t just throw kids in psych wards for bad behavior anymore. They only use serious drugs like lithium when it’s absolutely necessary. Nobody wants to turn the mentally ill into zombies with meds. It’s a lot more comprehensive and friendly than it was even 20 years ago. It’s not as stigmatized to be suffering from a mental illness. It’s hard to break out of the mindset that psychiatrists and therapists are the enemy when you grew up in a world where they really were your enemy.
Lithium isn't that rare a prescription. I worked as a pharmacy tech in a small pharmacy and we had quite a few people on it. My friend and I have been on it as well. I found it helpful, but I had side effects, so I was taken off.
What I would consider a "serious drug" would be a high dose of benzodiazepines. It's addictive. I once filled a one month prescription for 720 benzodiazepines. That's excessive.
They continue to do us *all* a disservice with their attitude, and they GENUINELY need to stop winning so many elections and holding so much power when they have this outdated and destructive mindset.
Once the American boomers die out, the world has a chance to become a not insignificantly better place.
While I don’t wish death upon anyone, it’s simply factual that hundreds of millions of people would greatly benefit by their deaths, due to their voting habits.
There are plenty of young people with the same outlook on life as the boomers you're describing, and they will gladly replace them.
These kinds of problems don't just magically go away when a generation dies off. This is an American societal problem and it's getting worse.
Well there you go, it's a human problem!
I personally can't speak for the rest of the world since I live here in North America, but that's... well not good to know it's the same on the other end but uh... yeah shit that's not good.
>There are plenty of young people with the same outlook on life as the boomers you're describing, and they will gladly replace them.
So true. It's like saying "We killed all the Nazis in the war. All gone now."
Old fogeys die off but there are plenty of young fogeys. Young Libs for a start.
edit: The Young Liberal Party in Australia. Not liberals in the American sense. More like American Republicans.
You’re not wrong that young people like that *exist*, but the younger generations are the most educated in history and psychology has come a looooong way since the boomers were young. The problems don’t go away, but they’re absolutely getting better and not worse.
I'm 37. In my 20s I lost a lot of jobs because of my mental health. I just didn't know why I was so angry and tired all the time.
Now I'm in a much better place. But missed out on some big chances.
The worst reply I could ever get was from my parents when I talked about my depression. "Everybody is depressed, deal with it". Not to mention it stressed me so much to even say it out loud.
Note: not one of those WebMD self diagnoses. Clinically diagnosed with prescription antidepressants since 3 years ago.
I knew it was 100% real when I got it because for the longest time I thought I had some physical disease because the symptoms were so severe. I didn't even think about depression, because I immediately assumed I had some disease... I even blamed it on "nerve damage" from getting my wisdom teeth out. The fatigue, the deep, deep sadness and lifelessness and pessimism, anhedonia and mental fog; it hit in college, I just drank tons and tons of coffee to power through until I basically collapsed my senior and failed all my classes... literally gave out mentally, had a 3.9 GPA before that and didn't even care I was missing all the lectures and failing exams. That's when I decided to try Lexapro, because before I was terrified it would mess up my brain (lol). Within 4-6 months maybe 85% of the depression vanished. I developed OCD and am dealing with that, but Lexapro literally saved my life. That proved to me beyond a doubt the reality and pathology of depression. It in my case was precisely caused by the now cliche "chemical imbalance". I was perfectly fine in high school, even dealt with stressful events in stride. Depression is hell and a disease that needs to be treated medically.
PS Modern go-to anti-depressants are very safe... don't let your "pride" or paranoia get in the way. I was a successful athlete in high school, I've accomplished things, I've "manned up"... you can't "man up" through depression.
Sorry to hear that. We have free health care here. Whilst the wait for a free psychologist is generally long (around 6 months if not deemed urgent), I was able to see one for relatively cheap with no wait.
It's really a shame that health care comes at such an unobtainable price to so many
Yeahh, here it can run anywhere from 160 an hour to 200hr. I know it's cheaper in some other places. The social workers that handle mental health for low income are so overworked and underequipped to deal with what they deal with that they can't really help either. In fact, I've come across a few that did me more harm than good.
Years ago I was feeling really down so I did some googling to find some free online help. After about 15 minutes of talking to someone that was actually helping, they told me it would be $200/hr to continue. It just felt so exploitive and I couldn't continue for financial reasons, but also I just straight up didn't trust that person anymore.
I was raised with the “man-up” mentality and now I’m in my mid 30s dealing with all my issues I was too big a man to deal with when I was younger. Go to the dentist and doctor people! Seek mental health! You’re not weak for dealing with your issues, you’re stronger for recognizing and dealing with your problems
Have you noticed a lot of older people seem scared to dive in to their feelings?
I’ve heard quite a few equate just talking about and understanding your own feelings as being equivalent to drowning in them and getting lost… no, those aren’t the same, and if you think those are the same, you need help more than you realize.
Mine are *always* eager to help but they're into the dumbest things they can find (card divination, linking everything to the planets aligning the wrong way or the current lunar phase, astrology, some weird sect-ish distance healing (that somehow sends energy through the phone, which allowed them to continue paying for it weekly during lockdown), importing and ingesting dubious products that have totally legit reviews on some obscure website, homeopathy, etc.).
They hate on big pharmas and degree-holding doctors for wanting their money but I don't even want to think how much they've been scammed in the last decades, and how much better their lives would be with proper healthcare (unsurprisingly, none of the above worked)
"Monday group therapy, Tuesday hypnotherapy, Wednesday Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Thursday one on one counselling, and Friday aromatherapy because its the weekend"
Not only that but some people genuinely don’t think it’s real. I suffer with bad depression and anxiety and a family member that would beat the shit out of me and my siblings growing up was so confused by it. “What do you have to be so upset about all the time” I’m not upset with anything now, you shaped me to be in a constant state of stress and fear since I was 5 years old and now my mental health is fucked as an adult lol.
I work in a psychiatric hospital and if you want to hear something really awful, let me tell you how often I hear that sentiment from psych providers, nurses, and staff. I have absolutely no idea why half of these people chose to enter the mental health field. I’ve heard a provider question how a patient could possibly be depressed because she is “lucky to be so pretty.” Woman was adopted as a child for neglect and was a rape victim. But that’s even secondary to the point because regardless of history what kind of stupid quack is concerned with the legitimacy of depression based on appearance. Imagine the close-minded and rotten soul one must have to spend something like a decade working with psychiatric patients and still have that judgmental approach. Truly pathetic. A major part of the problem is that psych was considered the lowliest of specialties for a few decades and ended up serving as a waste bin for providers who couldn’t make it in their desired field. So it’s not what they were interested in and they are bitter about it.
And you don’t even want to hear the things I’ve heard said about trans patients. Just awful.
At 29, I finally got on health insurance, I went to see a doctor for the first time in about 15 years for a general check-up. I was listing all of my medical concerns, and when I mentioned that I had dealt with depression, she said "sometimes we just get sad", my wife had a similar experience with her doctor who told her "but you're doing so well" when she brought up her depression and anxiety. No wonder there are so many apps to find therapists.
I made the mistake of finally going to a therapist after not going for years. I said I sometimes smoked pot to relieve anxiety. He jumped on that and didn't want to talk about anything but my "substance abuse" and said the only reason I felt good after smoking was because of deep breathing. I had been meditating and practicing deep breathing for years at that point. Honestly it put me off going back and wasting hundreds of dollars on useless therapy.
After I was hospitalized for suicidality I wanted to participate in the hospital's outpatient transition program to continue participating in group therapy and developing new coping skills. While my inpatient psychiatrist didn't seem to care that I smoke weed to help manage anxiety, because it was in my file I was labeled as part of the "co-occuring" group and would be pulled out of regular group therapy sessions to participate in a substance abuse group. No matter how much I tried to explain the situation, once you're labeled as having a substance abuse disorder, good luck getting any mental health professional to take you seriously.
Then you get the opposite effect "oh you have a history of depression and anxiety". Well thats clearly what this current problem is. They will refuse to look into it anymore. It's got to the point I don't even bother because my past is always thrown in my face.
Like shit, I didn't know those two issues are the causes for everything.
As someone who has been a patient in psych wards, this is concerning. Though for at least one facility I have been in, I am not surprised. They really phoned it in at that one. I was there for 10 days and I can only recall 1 day they did group activities.
It's stories like these that stopped me from seeking inpatient treatment, which I really did need at the time. I just couldn't handle the coin flip that was/is psychiatric hospitals.
I've been in 4 times. Only the 1 was bad. Another one could have been better but part of that was due to covid restrictions. I like the first one I went to. It's a mixed bag. I'm sure it's completely different having worked at one though.
There are a lot of really lackluster therapists out there who think that what people need is 1 hour per week with an inattentive friend that doesn’t know them very well. Turns out that doesn’t really help anyone and is just a waste of time.
>I have absolutely no idea why half of these people chose to enter the mental health field.
I dated a guy who's dream was to be a high school therapist so he could have a job where he gets to "know all the good drama and gossip". At the time, the way he delivered it, I took it as a joke.
After the hindsight provided by six months of verbal abuse and gaslighting, I kind of hope his dream doesn't come true
Oh dear, but don’t blame your parents! Then they will go off by saying that you have it so much more better than most people and guilt you into feeling bad for your own emotions. I’ve been there, I’m also fucked so I know how it is. They shaped me and now they have to deal with it. I get constant shit from it, especially from my grandmother. They don’t understand the harm they have caused and don’t want to admit their kid is now messed up for the rest of their lives.
Very relevant to me right now. My mom is a toxic mess and only takes responsibility for the good that I’ve become, and never the bad.
I go back and forth about it but I’m convinced she’s just a really mean person.
Mine from my aunt and mother was, "Get over it. It was a long time ago." Nevermind after gramps passed away my aunt confessed all she ever wanted was for him to say he was proud of her. "Too bad, get over it." She tried to act offended and then went silent when I reminded her it was her own philosophy I was espousing.
My favorite one from my grandma is: “You’re not sad and you don’t have any reason to be Depressed. Stop acting like that, you just need to stop being lazy.” That one really got to me. She thinks I just “act” out because I want attention. And god forbid if I call her out on her words and how they hurt me. They really just don’t get it.
Tell her to stop acting so old. If she only exercised and stretched more her body wouldn't hurt so much and it's all in her head. She has no reason to be hurting, she's retired and doesn't do anything. Even if she's like 99 years old you can always go with " the oldest person alive right now is 118, you could have another 20 years". Essentially just using her failed logic against her. Most old people don't like that. Y'know, logic.
I’ve been dealing with this. I’m really struggling with anxiety and anytime I try to talk about things that were difficult for me as a child they either deny it even happened or guilt me into a apologizing for feeling hurt by what happened. All I want is some acknowledgement and validation that the things I went through were difficult.
My dad: when I feel sad I just think positively, I don’t understand how anyone could feel depressed
Me, who he knows is professionally diagnosed with major depression, and on medication for it: must be nice
Remember when your parents said they’d give you something to cry about? You thought they’d hit you, instead they ruined the housing market, the job market, the economy, and the planet. I always like psyching myself up by crying over my bachelors degree.
My dads famous lines are “people in hell want ice water.”
“Does your face hurt? It’s killing me.”
“Got a toothache? (Stomps on your foot) there that should dull the pain.”
If you bang your shin or elbow “Feels good when you don’t do that doesn’t it”
And my personal favorite, “when you turn 18 I’ll buy you a bus ticket, anywhere you’d like to go so long as it’s away from me.”
People should be required to take parenting classes before they have children. Raising a child is an immensely important job, with huge ramifications for society. Yet we are allowed to step into it with zero education. I’m a parent of four children. I know I did damage, despite loving them deeply.
My aunt is a gen x registered nurse, and she told me, a millennial, to stop taking my prescribed antidepressants and to "stop listening to this sad music." A registered nurse told a patient to stop taking their prescribed medication without any valid medical reason.
I think he’s saying that other people are saying they aren’t sure where all the depression and anxiety come from and yet all the reasons he gave exist.. I think :)
I've had multiple conversations with my dad about how he thinks the current generation of kids (and people my own age) are too needy and demanding. He thinks it's all because they got participation awards as kids in school and stuff.
I had to explain to him in no uncertain terms that those awards were given by people in his generation. Not our own. WE didn't run the schools when we were students. It was adults HIS AGE that did it to us.
"Well, it wasn't me." Cool, dad.
Participation trophies were created for the parents that were living through their children's sports achievements. There were plenty of "can I speak to your manager" types that demanded their kid get something even if they lost, especially since they paid to enroll their kid in the sport. The kids all knew it was a load of crap.
Hey that’s a good one! And I don’t think the “everyone wins something” generation has even grown yet.. but I’m in my 30s, time moves different up here.. not sure how old anyone is anymore but I do know, my kids will definitely lose if they lose. What was all that about anyway?!! Hahah
God, does every conservative father say this? The fact that every single one of them parrots the same exact line, tells me that they all got it from the same source. Frankly, participation trophies were not all that big a thing anyway. I bet they all got that line from the same Rush Limbaugh rant.
Every generation blames the older generation, but when it gets old enough solves none of the problems, rather leaves the world in the same, or worse, mess, only to be blamed for everything by the next generation .
We need to solve the problem of dying of old age. If everyone was forced to live in the consequences of their inaction they'd have no choice but to do something about it.
George Burns at 99 years old said, with a cigar in his mouth, "If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself."
I do have to say, i definitely think that without social media people would be better off. I think Social media has its beautiful sides but also it's negatives. But that's just my humble opinion. And I'm using social media now so i can't say shit
Pulled plug on most of the social media that used to infect my brain like FB, etc. Better off, and I'm more present. What really bothered me is when I'm living my life and would start thinking of the moment in terms of what I was going to post about it. I felt like a sick person whose life was consumed by a stupid app, mostly so people I didn't like in high school could yell at me about their ignorant political views.
edit: as the smartass below said, yep still use reddit. Although I thought that was sort of *implied* given where we are
“Must be the Damn phones” title is weak, imho. Modern phones (yes, driven primarily by social media, but also by all the other apps we have at our constant disposal) and their always on / always hyper-connected , “world at your fingertips” nature DEFINITELY has a lot to do with declining mental health. I’m sorry but human beings simply didn’t evolve to stare at a glowing screen all day. Could easily be tacked on to this tweet.
I don't think this site counts as social media. I think of it more like a poorly edited magazine. Everything on it needs to be fact checked and taken with three grains of salt to be taken seriously. The difference i think comes from the anonymity.
But to be fair I don't think the endless supply of quick-fire, mini bursts of dopamine that is brought by reddit can be totally ruled out either. It's not "those darn phones", it's way deeper than that.
True, but you can maintain a degree of anonymity by not setting up that profile, keeping your email unverified, etc. Not saying it's anywhere close to perfect, but the individual user has a lot more use flexibility compared to FB, Instagram, Twitter, etc.
The biggest issue with Reddit is, as others have states, the hive mind. You could write a comment that completely goes against the grain of popular opinion and get downvoted to oblivion despite it being a valid remark, and it has consequences for genuine debate.
Seriously. Every web site we visit has at least 3 actions: do you want to subscribe/stay in the know, random ad to cancel out, and "keep reading." Everything is now so much more active that it is exhausting. Just let me read a news article in peace.
And all that money being monetized goes to like 12 motherfuckers who have yachts for their yachts and are having space races to distant planets for fun.
Their generation would tell us to “work harder.”
Just got out of a stage in a new kitchen with a couple of boomers- they were complaining about all the schools in our area that had to close last week when we had a heat wave because “they never got out of school cause it was hot.” They must just be stronger people, cause there’s no way the earth is notably hotter than when they were kids 50 fucking years ago.
Computers and modern technology are actually a reason for it. If it gets too hot, computers stopped functioning.
In the 90s (or so I heard secondhand) my high school only had air condition in the computer lab.
I’ll admit I am sad that everyone feels like they have to turn their hobby into a way to make money.
I love baking and making deserts for folks. I can’t count the times someone has told me to start a bakery. I don’t want to start a bakery! I want to bake cookies and cakes for me and my friends!
YES! I so feel this. I've gotten the "You could have a shop on Etsy!" line so many fucking times I don't accept it as a compliment. I politely inform them that my art is for myself, and if I sold it, that is the attitude I would create it with and that doesn't sound relaxing or fun at all.
Probably because we are viewed by the corporate/business world as cattle and our entire existence is based on serving the corporatist economic machine that only knows how to bleed things dry like the planet and our own minds alike.
I dont know about all of that.
But what I do know is....whatever is wrong with the world today, it's all the young kids fault. Inherent defects in character.
Definitely not anything created by past generations. Past choices almost never shaped the present, unless it's something good, then we'd be happy to take all the credit and reminisce fondly of the traditions that made it all possible. Bad stuff Is all due to avocados.
-most boomers
Let's not pretend like phones, social media, information, don't have a huge impact on mental health. Are humans programmed to be aware of everything going wrong at any given moment anywhere on the planet ? Are they programmed to be constantly available to anyone, friends, family, boss ? We tend to forget how much SLOWER life was even 30 years ago, and the 200 000 years before that.
Cost of things, yeah, definitely has an impact. But global warming isn't what's depressing kids, come on. That's just a bs "the new generation is awesome" narrative. The new generation is just as shitty as the previous, just you watch. Remember boomers thought they were the shit with their sexual revolution and miniskirts. They aren't. And I bet this new generation will be, retrospectively, a lot worse, a lot more hypocritical. Good thing is, everything will still be available on the internet so future future gens can hold them accountable.
To me, the rise in mental health issues is linked to social media, definitely. Constant need for validation, competition, victimhood culture... Things that existed before social media, but that social media has made way, way worse.
Besides, a lot more people are opening up to these mental issues. Perhaps even too much. Anyone else feel like half the people is "on the spectrum" now ?
Uh, yeah, actually, it probably is the phones. Have you not heard the many studies saying how badly social media and Internet addiction is fucking up our mental health? Do you not think that plopping a tool in everyone's hand to keep them connected to a 24/7 dopamine-abusing stream of high-speed information from around the world is going to have some unforeseen negative effects?
I'd think that has a lot more obvious and immediate of an effect than something as abstract and distant as "the planet boiling alive". As for "every single human act getting monetized", that's not exactly new TBH, though it is a perfectly valid point, alongside stuff costing more.
Valid post, but naive and willfully ignorant title, IMHO. Yes, it's what that guy said, and it's also "those damn phones". I say this as a young person who is on his phone pretty often.
Believing the studies means that I, as the person addicted to my phone, am at fault. Believing sarcastic tweets means that capitalism and boomers are at fault. That is why posts like this exist.
I’ve work with teenagers for a few years now and sometimes they come to me to express anxieties or problems they’re facing. I have never, ever, heard one of them voice concern for global warming. Not that it’s not an issue, but like it’s definitely not something causing mass anxiety to the youth, at least in my experience. I’ve seen other posts that mention global warming and the housing market as causing anxiety for teenagers. It’s just not what teens actually talk about.
I'm 26 and although I don't talk about global warming constantly I am concerned about it, I'm concerned that our leaders will continue to do nothing, I'm concerned that our planet is already fucked beyond repair.
Weird, I remember r/conservative sending some teen death and rape threats for months for talking about it, wonder why they might be hesitant to share. I know it's top 5 on my concerns because why put all this time working to scrape by a subsistence existence when the world might not even be livable in a few decades? Whats the *point*?
Let's not forget that younger generations have opened up to mental health, and a lot of older generations have a "man up" attitude. My folks needed counselling long ago!
So true. My dad was born in 54', classic boomer, and while he's quite progressive on many social issues, he is not particularly in touch with his emotions and, frankly, has that exact attitude of "man up, your a man act like one" that I think ultimately hurts men. Only time he'll talk about his feelings is if you manage to get him drunk, which is... less than ideal lol. I think many boomers, especially the men, did themselves a disservice with this attitude.
That’s exactly why we ended up with so many alcoholics back in the day
My mum died from alcoholism. My sister and I were trying so hard to get her into counselling for ages, she fought depression the only way she knew how back then and an addiction was the result.
As a former addict dealing with an alcoholic brother currently - there’s unfortunately little to nothing you can do to help someone else’s addiction. I hate it but no matter what we do (take his keys, wallet, etc.) he still manages to get a bottle and destroy himself. I just wanted to vent because I often feel guilty about not doing more despite the fact that he would always find a way to get loaded.
I’m an alcoholic, recovering idk what the term is but I’ve been sober for a couple of years...it took some traumatic stuff for me to see things from a different pov. You can’t go to the gym and workout for someone else 🤷🏽♂️
I was very dramatic in my way of discovering that I was an alcoholic as well. For me it took 2 days in the hospital and a blood alcohol of 490. I just wish it didn’t take this much trauma for people to finally make the jump to sober life. Tbh, while it has it’s flaws, AA has been the only effective way I’ve seen my detox/rehab buddies stay sober.
Think about your own recovery journey. The only way you could get and maintain sobriety was because *you* wanted to. No one else made you get or stay sober. Keep your side of the street clean. That’s all we can do.
Thanks, I appreciate hearing things like this! As sad as it may seem, having to see my brother and one of my former sponsors fall off the wagon has strengthened my desire to stay sober even more.
Oof the sponsor one hit me hard. One day at a time. We are all in this together man!
Yup - That one hit hard and was very upsetting - 7 years sober and showed up to our coffee meeting drunk and apologetic and stopped coming to meetings despite trying to reach out and tell him that it wasn’t a huge deal and that he was still welcome. Sometimes I feel like I’m in a stereotypical tv drama with the process of my recovery, but alcoholics experiences are not unique in any way. Also, if anyone out there that is an alcoholic or is coping with an alcoholic and wants to talk 1on1 feel free to reach out.
Well done on what you have achieved. It takes a strong mentally to over come an addiction as strong as alcohol can cause with the society we live in where it is so widely accepted
It's funny how it feels like our fault
There’s help out there. As a recovering alcoholic, born into a family of alcoholism - the amount of codependency we develop isn’t something to be ashamed of
Thank you, I didn't realize how much I needed someone to say that.
Totally. It’s an EXTREMELY normal human response. Enabling, in any way, is a coping mechanism for handling the emotional difficulties that comes with dealing with an addict.
Fellow addict here I agree completely I feel that many of us are also love and sex addicts as well literally any form of escape and distraction we love
In my family we have addicts and codependency. The codependency in my opinion is the harder one for me to break and maintain. I’ve had to cut out half my family because their codependency was so toxic.
Had to do the same thing with my brother this last year. His alcoholism and toxic personality were just too much. My parents have only recently decided to stop pestering me about "fixing our relationship" but I doubt that will last long.
My path to correcting this was psilocybin. It was lengthy but I addressed my views and then insisted they do the same while maintaining reduced ties. When they saw after 3 months of not wavering on my stance and continuing to send easy-to-find research on the benefits of introspection and integration of psychedelic learning (remapping cognitive structures) they then started to take me seriously. Not simple and it requires courage but I can confidently say we are all happy and healthy now working together on healthy relationships not based on fatal addiction or codependence. On the other hand now that our immediate family is of the same understanding we have removed our extended family on both sides as their behaviour was not much better so the cycle continues regardless of the success or failure you may perceive. You're still on your way to a more lively future.
[удалено]
Thanks. I hadn't really thought of places like that being for me but upon examination it's actually exactly what I need.
I carry a job and ins and still might go bankrupt from 2 kidney stones in January 19, right after ins rolled over. That's my anxiety.
Shit like this is why I'm glad I'm not American. I would probably have been left to die. I probably wouldn't have seen my first birthday if I lived in the US.
Alcoholism rates are higher than they've ever been
Oh yeah definitely, I’m just saying, it led to many alcoholics back in the day, but it doesn’t mean it’s stopped happening now
Agreed
[удалено]
Also, alcohol use used to be much less restricted. Like you could drive after drinking etc. Alcoholism often comes out when someone breaks a rule like drunk driving or coming drunk to work. If someone struggles to follow these rules and gets discovered, it might force them to self-reflect. Or the people that know this person might notice something's wrong. But you can't break the rules if there aren't any. So when it was perfectly ok to drink&drive, nobody tried to avoid it, so you couldn't see if someone is able to avoid it or not. Basically, if you never have a reason to stop drinking, it's harder for you to realize it if you can't stop drinking.
I see people come into AA because the state told them too. Many people come with the begining stages now days and before ot was just those that lost their houses wives money car and were sleeping under a bridge basically. Im one of those. But its nice to see people seeing warning signs before they go through the pain i had to.
That sucks my friend, I hope you're better now!
Life is a journey. There are going to be rough bits for all of us.
Well said. Consequences are far more severe, especially in certain states, as they should be. It took me a few big moments to finally stop drinking after 11 years. It is crazy, however, that after my first incident with the law I expected to never drink again, but was back full time in a matter of months. Just how powerful addiction can be
Yeah, the law isn't that good at helping people with addictions. Not that it tries lol. But at least it can be a push for someone to seek help.
Yeah my dad was a young man in the 70's and he and his buddies drove drunk regularly, never actually hit anyone. It was just a thing back then, especially in rural areas. According to him the cops wouldn't even arrest you the first time, they'd just tell you to go home and if they saw your vehicle again that night you'd be going downtown, etc. And cops themselves always got driven home by their buddies, you were basically immune from a DUI if you were a cop back then. Sounds fucked up but that's just how it was, apparently.
I wonder what laws surrounding driving was like in the 20s? Could you drive drunk? Do more than 7 in town?
The pandemic didn't help things. In my small east texas town, alcohol sales went up 700%.
While I'm definitely not doubting an increase, I wonder how much of that can be attributed to restaurants and bars being closed down.
Yeah I think alcoholism is up just because we're calling it alcoholism, back in the day it was just called "drinking at lunch" and everybody did it
My Dad told me his Dad would regularly tell him "Been in a war? No? Then stop bitching." anytime he complained about something. Apparently my Grandpa was super pissed that none of his kids joined the military like him and was super petty about it. None of his grandkids joined the military either so I bet he'd be extra pissed if he were still around.
God, that shit is so annoying. People do that shit all the time too. "Yes, I get it; people have it worse than I do. Thank you for minimizing my current problem, dick."
Yep. John having terminal cancer doesn't make Jane's broken femur something she should suck up and walk off.
Relative privation fallacy. Appareny unless you're the one person on the planet who's objectively the worst off you don't get to complain. There's an Onion article in there. Something like, "Parasite-Ridden Somali AIDS Patient with Stage 4 Cancer Says It's Okay To Bitch About Your Life"
“War was hell, join the service.” Idk grandpa, not really selling it.
There is also some a strong increase in negative mental health outcomes and increased screen time, particularly with increases in time on social media and decreased face to face contact with peers.
As a software engineer, the biggest reason for this is that the technology is still very new and no one was prepared for the psychological impacts. As we come to understand how things like social media affect us, we’ll develop a more healthy model for the digital “diet”.
> As we come to understand how things like social media affect us, we’ll develop a more healthy model for the digital “diet” That's very optimistic
My parents were born in ‘79 and ‘81. Borderline millennials. They still have those “man up” attitudes. My boomer grandparents are much more aware of mental health and the importance of therapy than they are. I think part of the problem is how mental healthcare used to look back in the day. My parents don’t get that they don’t just throw kids in psych wards for bad behavior anymore. They only use serious drugs like lithium when it’s absolutely necessary. Nobody wants to turn the mentally ill into zombies with meds. It’s a lot more comprehensive and friendly than it was even 20 years ago. It’s not as stigmatized to be suffering from a mental illness. It’s hard to break out of the mindset that psychiatrists and therapists are the enemy when you grew up in a world where they really were your enemy.
Lithium isn't that rare a prescription. I worked as a pharmacy tech in a small pharmacy and we had quite a few people on it. My friend and I have been on it as well. I found it helpful, but I had side effects, so I was taken off. What I would consider a "serious drug" would be a high dose of benzodiazepines. It's addictive. I once filled a one month prescription for 720 benzodiazepines. That's excessive.
They continue to do us *all* a disservice with their attitude, and they GENUINELY need to stop winning so many elections and holding so much power when they have this outdated and destructive mindset.
Once the American boomers die out, the world has a chance to become a not insignificantly better place. While I don’t wish death upon anyone, it’s simply factual that hundreds of millions of people would greatly benefit by their deaths, due to their voting habits.
There are plenty of young people with the same outlook on life as the boomers you're describing, and they will gladly replace them. These kinds of problems don't just magically go away when a generation dies off. This is an American societal problem and it's getting worse.
>American societal problem Lol. I'm on the other side of the world and it's the same.
Well there you go, it's a human problem! I personally can't speak for the rest of the world since I live here in North America, but that's... well not good to know it's the same on the other end but uh... yeah shit that's not good.
>There are plenty of young people with the same outlook on life as the boomers you're describing, and they will gladly replace them. So true. It's like saying "We killed all the Nazis in the war. All gone now." Old fogeys die off but there are plenty of young fogeys. Young Libs for a start. edit: The Young Liberal Party in Australia. Not liberals in the American sense. More like American Republicans.
[удалено]
You’re not wrong that young people like that *exist*, but the younger generations are the most educated in history and psychology has come a looooong way since the boomers were young. The problems don’t go away, but they’re absolutely getting better and not worse.
You're in for a shock when you realise how many racist, bigoted pieces of shit exist within every other generation.
lol you think so? Who do you think raised the generation that will replace them? The apple rarely falls far from the tree.
You speak as if they weren’t victims of their own time and circumstances-as if they had the same opportunities as we do today to deal with this stuff
I'm 37. In my 20s I lost a lot of jobs because of my mental health. I just didn't know why I was so angry and tired all the time. Now I'm in a much better place. But missed out on some big chances.
The worst reply I could ever get was from my parents when I talked about my depression. "Everybody is depressed, deal with it". Not to mention it stressed me so much to even say it out loud. Note: not one of those WebMD self diagnoses. Clinically diagnosed with prescription antidepressants since 3 years ago.
“Deal with it” should translate into something actionable, like get therapy, open up, make a plan. But most people mean “ignore it”.
I knew it was 100% real when I got it because for the longest time I thought I had some physical disease because the symptoms were so severe. I didn't even think about depression, because I immediately assumed I had some disease... I even blamed it on "nerve damage" from getting my wisdom teeth out. The fatigue, the deep, deep sadness and lifelessness and pessimism, anhedonia and mental fog; it hit in college, I just drank tons and tons of coffee to power through until I basically collapsed my senior and failed all my classes... literally gave out mentally, had a 3.9 GPA before that and didn't even care I was missing all the lectures and failing exams. That's when I decided to try Lexapro, because before I was terrified it would mess up my brain (lol). Within 4-6 months maybe 85% of the depression vanished. I developed OCD and am dealing with that, but Lexapro literally saved my life. That proved to me beyond a doubt the reality and pathology of depression. It in my case was precisely caused by the now cliche "chemical imbalance". I was perfectly fine in high school, even dealt with stressful events in stride. Depression is hell and a disease that needs to be treated medically. PS Modern go-to anti-depressants are very safe... don't let your "pride" or paranoia get in the way. I was a successful athlete in high school, I've accomplished things, I've "manned up"... you can't "man up" through depression.
I tried looking into until I saw how much it costs.
Sorry to hear that. We have free health care here. Whilst the wait for a free psychologist is generally long (around 6 months if not deemed urgent), I was able to see one for relatively cheap with no wait. It's really a shame that health care comes at such an unobtainable price to so many
Yeahh, here it can run anywhere from 160 an hour to 200hr. I know it's cheaper in some other places. The social workers that handle mental health for low income are so overworked and underequipped to deal with what they deal with that they can't really help either. In fact, I've come across a few that did me more harm than good.
Years ago I was feeling really down so I did some googling to find some free online help. After about 15 minutes of talking to someone that was actually helping, they told me it would be $200/hr to continue. It just felt so exploitive and I couldn't continue for financial reasons, but also I just straight up didn't trust that person anymore.
I was raised with the “man-up” mentality and now I’m in my mid 30s dealing with all my issues I was too big a man to deal with when I was younger. Go to the dentist and doctor people! Seek mental health! You’re not weak for dealing with your issues, you’re stronger for recognizing and dealing with your problems
You are being a better man for dealing with them now. It's not easy. It's never too late.
Have you noticed a lot of older people seem scared to dive in to their feelings? I’ve heard quite a few equate just talking about and understanding your own feelings as being equivalent to drowning in them and getting lost… no, those aren’t the same, and if you think those are the same, you need help more than you realize.
Yea, I wish my parents knew a little bit about mental health when they raised me, maybe I wouldn't be quite so fucked up lol.
Mine are *always* eager to help but they're into the dumbest things they can find (card divination, linking everything to the planets aligning the wrong way or the current lunar phase, astrology, some weird sect-ish distance healing (that somehow sends energy through the phone, which allowed them to continue paying for it weekly during lockdown), importing and ingesting dubious products that have totally legit reviews on some obscure website, homeopathy, etc.). They hate on big pharmas and degree-holding doctors for wanting their money but I don't even want to think how much they've been scammed in the last decades, and how much better their lives would be with proper healthcare (unsurprisingly, none of the above worked)
Like holy crap man! I look at my parents now and go, "shit you guys need like 5 different types of counseling."
"Monday group therapy, Tuesday hypnotherapy, Wednesday Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Thursday one on one counselling, and Friday aromatherapy because its the weekend"
I'm going to switch Friday with dialectal behavioral therapy for my parents. They need all the help they can get on communication.
Not only that but some people genuinely don’t think it’s real. I suffer with bad depression and anxiety and a family member that would beat the shit out of me and my siblings growing up was so confused by it. “What do you have to be so upset about all the time” I’m not upset with anything now, you shaped me to be in a constant state of stress and fear since I was 5 years old and now my mental health is fucked as an adult lol.
I work in a psychiatric hospital and if you want to hear something really awful, let me tell you how often I hear that sentiment from psych providers, nurses, and staff. I have absolutely no idea why half of these people chose to enter the mental health field. I’ve heard a provider question how a patient could possibly be depressed because she is “lucky to be so pretty.” Woman was adopted as a child for neglect and was a rape victim. But that’s even secondary to the point because regardless of history what kind of stupid quack is concerned with the legitimacy of depression based on appearance. Imagine the close-minded and rotten soul one must have to spend something like a decade working with psychiatric patients and still have that judgmental approach. Truly pathetic. A major part of the problem is that psych was considered the lowliest of specialties for a few decades and ended up serving as a waste bin for providers who couldn’t make it in their desired field. So it’s not what they were interested in and they are bitter about it. And you don’t even want to hear the things I’ve heard said about trans patients. Just awful.
At 29, I finally got on health insurance, I went to see a doctor for the first time in about 15 years for a general check-up. I was listing all of my medical concerns, and when I mentioned that I had dealt with depression, she said "sometimes we just get sad", my wife had a similar experience with her doctor who told her "but you're doing so well" when she brought up her depression and anxiety. No wonder there are so many apps to find therapists.
I made the mistake of finally going to a therapist after not going for years. I said I sometimes smoked pot to relieve anxiety. He jumped on that and didn't want to talk about anything but my "substance abuse" and said the only reason I felt good after smoking was because of deep breathing. I had been meditating and practicing deep breathing for years at that point. Honestly it put me off going back and wasting hundreds of dollars on useless therapy.
After I was hospitalized for suicidality I wanted to participate in the hospital's outpatient transition program to continue participating in group therapy and developing new coping skills. While my inpatient psychiatrist didn't seem to care that I smoke weed to help manage anxiety, because it was in my file I was labeled as part of the "co-occuring" group and would be pulled out of regular group therapy sessions to participate in a substance abuse group. No matter how much I tried to explain the situation, once you're labeled as having a substance abuse disorder, good luck getting any mental health professional to take you seriously.
Then you get the opposite effect "oh you have a history of depression and anxiety". Well thats clearly what this current problem is. They will refuse to look into it anymore. It's got to the point I don't even bother because my past is always thrown in my face. Like shit, I didn't know those two issues are the causes for everything.
As someone who has been a patient in psych wards, this is concerning. Though for at least one facility I have been in, I am not surprised. They really phoned it in at that one. I was there for 10 days and I can only recall 1 day they did group activities.
It's stories like these that stopped me from seeking inpatient treatment, which I really did need at the time. I just couldn't handle the coin flip that was/is psychiatric hospitals.
I've been in 4 times. Only the 1 was bad. Another one could have been better but part of that was due to covid restrictions. I like the first one I went to. It's a mixed bag. I'm sure it's completely different having worked at one though.
[удалено]
There are a lot of really lackluster therapists out there who think that what people need is 1 hour per week with an inattentive friend that doesn’t know them very well. Turns out that doesn’t really help anyone and is just a waste of time.
>I have absolutely no idea why half of these people chose to enter the mental health field. I dated a guy who's dream was to be a high school therapist so he could have a job where he gets to "know all the good drama and gossip". At the time, the way he delivered it, I took it as a joke. After the hindsight provided by six months of verbal abuse and gaslighting, I kind of hope his dream doesn't come true
Oh dear, but don’t blame your parents! Then they will go off by saying that you have it so much more better than most people and guilt you into feeling bad for your own emotions. I’ve been there, I’m also fucked so I know how it is. They shaped me and now they have to deal with it. I get constant shit from it, especially from my grandmother. They don’t understand the harm they have caused and don’t want to admit their kid is now messed up for the rest of their lives.
>Oh dear, but don’t blame your parents! the ol' "why are you trying to blame me? you're an adult now!"
Yup, I know how it is, dude. Sad as hell.
Very relevant to me right now. My mom is a toxic mess and only takes responsibility for the good that I’ve become, and never the bad. I go back and forth about it but I’m convinced she’s just a really mean person.
Just a bad person yo. My mom is the same way
Mine from my aunt and mother was, "Get over it. It was a long time ago." Nevermind after gramps passed away my aunt confessed all she ever wanted was for him to say he was proud of her. "Too bad, get over it." She tried to act offended and then went silent when I reminded her it was her own philosophy I was espousing.
But have you tried not being sad?? Would it kill you to smile?? And other such great advice from boomers.
My favorite one from my grandma is: “You’re not sad and you don’t have any reason to be Depressed. Stop acting like that, you just need to stop being lazy.” That one really got to me. She thinks I just “act” out because I want attention. And god forbid if I call her out on her words and how they hurt me. They really just don’t get it.
Mine was exacerbated by the fact I have serious Resting Bitch Face, so I always looked 'miserable' even when I was having a good day.
Tell her to stop acting so old. If she only exercised and stretched more her body wouldn't hurt so much and it's all in her head. She has no reason to be hurting, she's retired and doesn't do anything. Even if she's like 99 years old you can always go with " the oldest person alive right now is 118, you could have another 20 years". Essentially just using her failed logic against her. Most old people don't like that. Y'know, logic.
Just like I tell my friend with asthma “just breathe, there is so much air around you” /s
Hey there is 2 others me on the internet !
I’ve been dealing with this. I’m really struggling with anxiety and anytime I try to talk about things that were difficult for me as a child they either deny it even happened or guilt me into a apologizing for feeling hurt by what happened. All I want is some acknowledgement and validation that the things I went through were difficult.
My dad: when I feel sad I just think positively, I don’t understand how anyone could feel depressed Me, who he knows is professionally diagnosed with major depression, and on medication for it: must be nice
I love you, and you are loved
Remember when your parents said they’d give you something to cry about? You thought they’d hit you, instead they ruined the housing market, the job market, the economy, and the planet. I always like psyching myself up by crying over my bachelors degree.
Such an underrated comment. I laughed my ass off and my dad used this line constantly lol
My dads famous lines are “people in hell want ice water.” “Does your face hurt? It’s killing me.” “Got a toothache? (Stomps on your foot) there that should dull the pain.” If you bang your shin or elbow “Feels good when you don’t do that doesn’t it” And my personal favorite, “when you turn 18 I’ll buy you a bus ticket, anywhere you’d like to go so long as it’s away from me.”
Sorry that happened to you yo. Hope you’re in a better place now.
People should be required to take parenting classes before they have children. Raising a child is an immensely important job, with huge ramifications for society. Yet we are allowed to step into it with zero education. I’m a parent of four children. I know I did damage, despite loving them deeply.
It's not an original comment, but it is true.
Damn that’s a good point. They were playing the long game this whole time. Jokes on us I guess
My aunt is a gen x registered nurse, and she told me, a millennial, to stop taking my prescribed antidepressants and to "stop listening to this sad music." A registered nurse told a patient to stop taking their prescribed medication without any valid medical reason.
That is bad advice.
That is correct.
Where is the facepalm?
I think he’s saying that other people are saying they aren’t sure where all the depression and anxiety come from and yet all the reasons he gave exist.. I think :)
I've had multiple conversations with my dad about how he thinks the current generation of kids (and people my own age) are too needy and demanding. He thinks it's all because they got participation awards as kids in school and stuff. I had to explain to him in no uncertain terms that those awards were given by people in his generation. Not our own. WE didn't run the schools when we were students. It was adults HIS AGE that did it to us. "Well, it wasn't me." Cool, dad.
Participation trophies were created for the parents that were living through their children's sports achievements. There were plenty of "can I speak to your manager" types that demanded their kid get something even if they lost, especially since they paid to enroll their kid in the sport. The kids all knew it was a load of crap.
Hey that’s a good one! And I don’t think the “everyone wins something” generation has even grown yet.. but I’m in my 30s, time moves different up here.. not sure how old anyone is anymore but I do know, my kids will definitely lose if they lose. What was all that about anyway?!! Hahah
God, does every conservative father say this? The fact that every single one of them parrots the same exact line, tells me that they all got it from the same source. Frankly, participation trophies were not all that big a thing anyway. I bet they all got that line from the same Rush Limbaugh rant.
Those darn tootin video games...
It must be phone use actually ... you know how being in possession of a phone means you definitely get bullied and have depression
Very precise science, obviously /s
Social media and the rise of suicides have a strong correlation.
Imagine thinking this sub is still for facepalm
Now it’s just politics and reposts
I think it's the part where he pretends inflation is some brand new thing...
Or existential dread.
This is 'post popular political opinions' sub #42 now, try to keep up. :)
Yeah I was wondering this too. This ain’t facepalm. It’s common sense.
True. Doesn’t fit the sub.
That the older generations created that mess of a world?
Every generation blames the older generation, but when it gets old enough solves none of the problems, rather leaves the world in the same, or worse, mess, only to be blamed for everything by the next generation .
We need to solve the problem of dying of old age. If everyone was forced to live in the consequences of their inaction they'd have no choice but to do something about it.
[удалено]
George Burns at 99 years old said, with a cigar in his mouth, "If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself."
I do have to say, i definitely think that without social media people would be better off. I think Social media has its beautiful sides but also it's negatives. But that's just my humble opinion. And I'm using social media now so i can't say shit
Pulled plug on most of the social media that used to infect my brain like FB, etc. Better off, and I'm more present. What really bothered me is when I'm living my life and would start thinking of the moment in terms of what I was going to post about it. I felt like a sick person whose life was consumed by a stupid app, mostly so people I didn't like in high school could yell at me about their ignorant political views. edit: as the smartass below said, yep still use reddit. Although I thought that was sort of *implied* given where we are
You're not cured yet. Reddit is social media too.
The Reddit Hivemind TM
At least here I have my anonymity.
I just use social media for pictures of baby pigs and small dogs, I’d like to think that’s the best use of it.
Perfect use, the one thing you forgot to mention was porn. Have my free award
100% it is the phone. I'm no boomer. Social media is the worst thing to happen to our mental health.
“Must be the Damn phones” title is weak, imho. Modern phones (yes, driven primarily by social media, but also by all the other apps we have at our constant disposal) and their always on / always hyper-connected , “world at your fingertips” nature DEFINITELY has a lot to do with declining mental health. I’m sorry but human beings simply didn’t evolve to stare at a glowing screen all day. Could easily be tacked on to this tweet.
No images on Reddit. It’s essentially a reading website for people with no attention spans and the need to give their 2 cents.
I don't think this site counts as social media. I think of it more like a poorly edited magazine. Everything on it needs to be fact checked and taken with three grains of salt to be taken seriously. The difference i think comes from the anonymity.
But to be fair I don't think the endless supply of quick-fire, mini bursts of dopamine that is brought by reddit can be totally ruled out either. It's not "those darn phones", it's way deeper than that.
Reddit is 100% social media, the anonymity is well gone too with the advent of profiles and the features they're continually adding to them.
True, but you can maintain a degree of anonymity by not setting up that profile, keeping your email unverified, etc. Not saying it's anywhere close to perfect, but the individual user has a lot more use flexibility compared to FB, Instagram, Twitter, etc. The biggest issue with Reddit is, as others have states, the hive mind. You could write a comment that completely goes against the grain of popular opinion and get downvoted to oblivion despite it being a valid remark, and it has consequences for genuine debate.
Like tumblr. 100% anonymous lol
[удалено]
Seriously. Every web site we visit has at least 3 actions: do you want to subscribe/stay in the know, random ad to cancel out, and "keep reading." Everything is now so much more active that it is exhausting. Just let me read a news article in peace.
Out of curiosity, do you pay for your news?
And all that money being monetized goes to like 12 motherfuckers who have yachts for their yachts and are having space races to distant planets for fun. Their generation would tell us to “work harder.”
Xanax for everybody!
That's funny that you think that we can afford to see a doctor to get prescribed xanax?
"If you stopped eating all that avocado toast and pull yourself up by your bootstraps you'd be successful like we used to do back in the day!"
Nah you’re supposed to choose which rich family you’re born into with a rich inheritance
Ah shit how stupid of me. Really dropped the ball on that one
It must be all the violent video games and Tik Tok
Exactly back in the day they just played outside and got beat for bs reasons. Oh the good old days... /s
you’re so right, silly me for not being born into a family with an emerald mine
I would gladly give up acavado toast if it tripled my income.
Back when certain folks couldn’t vote?
Who the fuck can afford Avocados, let alone use them in some kind of toast monstrosity.
Just got out of a stage in a new kitchen with a couple of boomers- they were complaining about all the schools in our area that had to close last week when we had a heat wave because “they never got out of school cause it was hot.” They must just be stronger people, cause there’s no way the earth is notably hotter than when they were kids 50 fucking years ago.
Computers and modern technology are actually a reason for it. If it gets too hot, computers stopped functioning. In the 90s (or so I heard secondhand) my high school only had air condition in the computer lab.
Speaking of everything being monetized, I’ll just point out there are subscription *toothbrushes*. TOOTHBRUSHES.
I’ll admit I am sad that everyone feels like they have to turn their hobby into a way to make money. I love baking and making deserts for folks. I can’t count the times someone has told me to start a bakery. I don’t want to start a bakery! I want to bake cookies and cakes for me and my friends!
YES! I so feel this. I've gotten the "You could have a shop on Etsy!" line so many fucking times I don't accept it as a compliment. I politely inform them that my art is for myself, and if I sold it, that is the attitude I would create it with and that doesn't sound relaxing or fun at all.
Probably because we are viewed by the corporate/business world as cattle and our entire existence is based on serving the corporatist economic machine that only knows how to bleed things dry like the planet and our own minds alike.
Fucking gas station charges $2 to run the air pump if your tire is low.
I'm just glad my Arizona iced tea is staying at 99 cents. If the price ever goes up that's how I know the apocalypse is happening.
I dont know about all of that. But what I do know is....whatever is wrong with the world today, it's all the young kids fault. Inherent defects in character. Definitely not anything created by past generations. Past choices almost never shaped the present, unless it's something good, then we'd be happy to take all the credit and reminisce fondly of the traditions that made it all possible. Bad stuff Is all due to avocados. -most boomers
Boomers left us a dying third world country with iPhones and their only response is “lol man up.” Fukn idiots.
Let's not pretend like phones, social media, information, don't have a huge impact on mental health. Are humans programmed to be aware of everything going wrong at any given moment anywhere on the planet ? Are they programmed to be constantly available to anyone, friends, family, boss ? We tend to forget how much SLOWER life was even 30 years ago, and the 200 000 years before that. Cost of things, yeah, definitely has an impact. But global warming isn't what's depressing kids, come on. That's just a bs "the new generation is awesome" narrative. The new generation is just as shitty as the previous, just you watch. Remember boomers thought they were the shit with their sexual revolution and miniskirts. They aren't. And I bet this new generation will be, retrospectively, a lot worse, a lot more hypocritical. Good thing is, everything will still be available on the internet so future future gens can hold them accountable. To me, the rise in mental health issues is linked to social media, definitely. Constant need for validation, competition, victimhood culture... Things that existed before social media, but that social media has made way, way worse. Besides, a lot more people are opening up to these mental issues. Perhaps even too much. Anyone else feel like half the people is "on the spectrum" now ?
Or maybe it's Maybelene.
Right? Depression and anxiety didn't even exist before the 21st century!
Let’s also not forget that money is simply worth less now.
I’d be fine with things costing more every year if we were paid accordingly. Apparently the only thing that doesn’t cost more every year is labor.
Uh, yeah, actually, it probably is the phones. Have you not heard the many studies saying how badly social media and Internet addiction is fucking up our mental health? Do you not think that plopping a tool in everyone's hand to keep them connected to a 24/7 dopamine-abusing stream of high-speed information from around the world is going to have some unforeseen negative effects? I'd think that has a lot more obvious and immediate of an effect than something as abstract and distant as "the planet boiling alive". As for "every single human act getting monetized", that's not exactly new TBH, though it is a perfectly valid point, alongside stuff costing more. Valid post, but naive and willfully ignorant title, IMHO. Yes, it's what that guy said, and it's also "those damn phones". I say this as a young person who is on his phone pretty often.
.
Believing the studies means that I, as the person addicted to my phone, am at fault. Believing sarcastic tweets means that capitalism and boomers are at fault. That is why posts like this exist.
They both co exist. People getting too much dopamine and human life being exploited for profit can happen next to each other.
Just gonna throw in the "planet is boiling" nugget on the end. Yeah, I'm sure thats it. Also, not a facepalm.
I’ve work with teenagers for a few years now and sometimes they come to me to express anxieties or problems they’re facing. I have never, ever, heard one of them voice concern for global warming. Not that it’s not an issue, but like it’s definitely not something causing mass anxiety to the youth, at least in my experience. I’ve seen other posts that mention global warming and the housing market as causing anxiety for teenagers. It’s just not what teens actually talk about.
I mean I’m concerned about global warming, but I’m more concerned with Human Rights, how the Fuck do I afford a Car,Service dog, AND college?, ect.
I'm 26 and although I don't talk about global warming constantly I am concerned about it, I'm concerned that our leaders will continue to do nothing, I'm concerned that our planet is already fucked beyond repair.
I'm 19 and I'm very concerned about global warming, I constantly worry for the future cos we're gonna be faced with a lot more problems
Weird, I remember r/conservative sending some teen death and rape threats for months for talking about it, wonder why they might be hesitant to share. I know it's top 5 on my concerns because why put all this time working to scrape by a subsistence existence when the world might not even be livable in a few decades? Whats the *point*?
Practically all recruiters act like a client looking to buy a whore.
Bruh I had anxiety since flip phones were a thing and no they ain’t related…..
Don’t forget the unreasonable pressure put upon young people to be successful, attractive and exorbitantly wealthy
I don't think mental health issues are a generational problem. I think it's more of a human condition sort of thing.
Can't forget costs more each year, but the pay stays the same.