Well, let’s have a think about this:
- Prices are skyrocketing, and pay isn’t increasing
- Companies posting huge profits while laying off thousands
- Unstable economy and political landscape in the west
- War and uncertainty spreading across the globe
- Another rise in right-wing, populist anger
- Mere years removed from the worst global pandemic in a century
- Several generations living a missold dream of being able to work a job and afford to live
- Damaged mental health from growing up with social media (and yes, I appreciate the irony of posting this on social media)
With all this in mind, is it any wonder why so many aren’t doing well? Pair this with people that are used to being unashamedly open on social media, especially when piggybacking on a popular post from a “celebrity”, and I’m surprised that it isn’t even worse…
yeah. this may be a little better or worse depending on where you are in the planet but its grim.
i’m either wasting away at work all day every day because now bosses act like they own you too much and don’t owe you for what you do so i have no time to live, or i’m a depressed and unemployed wasting away because i have no money to live.
not being able to afford anything for a seemingly infinite amount of meaningless work where you are not respected. that feeling we are just deluxe slaves working though the apocalypse. your worth is calculated based on how good of a slave you are.
capitalism enshitifying not only tech, but just about everything is getting ever more crappy expensive and disposable. we are on this hamster wheel where we need those expensive gadgets and a shitty app for everything, but they are expected to break soon so you need to pay for another and another and so on while contributing to the end of the planet because of it.
the fact we are products/cattle being monetized in all sorts of unhealthy ways and watched 24/7 by our own appliances. they use advanced psychology to control and make us submissive. dont you dare actually trying to improve things or we will use our vast surveillance network to strike you the fuck down.
culture of everyone being hyper individualistic, alienated and self centered (possibly including myself here) contrary to our nature. everyone has less and less friends, everyone is alone and we hate on eachother because of distractions.
…and the internet is now a dopamine trap instead of the beautiful place for connection and knowledge it used to be, but somehow everyone is way more dependent on it for socialization. corporations mediate our relationships and making us alone depressed and angry is more beneficial for them.
capital is literally destroying the planet, poisoning the air we breathe, turning it into an oven, killing massive amounts of life just so a handful of sociopathic people can be god-level powerful over us.
and the sheer amount of death being brought upon us by them for trivial reasons, like a convoluted way someone can have more shitty pieces of paper by murdering people everywhere around the planet.
we cant afford to start families or even be completely financially independent. life is an eternal struggle for meaningless pieces of paper (more like stupid numbers on a shitty bank computer now) and they are always finding new ways to oppress us financially and making us pay more for basic, low tech and low cost necessities that werent a problem for past generations to have.
we know we have no future, no love and no hope. we know we will starve or suffocate to death, but are being played on by the system to turn on eachother instead. the future is looking more and more like apocalypse-techno-dystopia. if it isnt that already.
and nothing we can immediatly do about any of it. people act like i am batshit insane for wanting to throw this shit away and have a revolution to remove our current kings. people immediatly try to excuse them even though their life garbage because our fear of change is probably being weaponized against us, like seemingly every single human instinct. hell, it seems some people dont even want to admit to themselves they are suffering because that would make them lazy leeches or something.
do i even need to keep going? you can tell i woke up on the wrong fucking foot today cant you?
All I can say is you’re not alone and I really wish I could give you a hug right now, friend. :(
I got this favorite literary passage for you though. I think we all ought to hear it a bit more often:
Frodo: I can’t do this, Sam…
Sam: I know! It’s all wrong! By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. Because they were holding on to something.
Frodo: What are we holding on to, Sam?
Sam : That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.
Let’s remember this was written by a fellow who survived the hellish trenches of WW1. A conflict that felt ridiculously pointless for all the bloodshed it caused.
Here we are in our own figurative trenches. We are weathering our own crisis after crisis, wondering if it’s all worth it in the end. “But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow.”
We can’t give up and give in to despair, because friends, family, people we don’t even know, need us to all keep each other going. Our time will come. Don’t give up on exposing this nonsense in the most loving way you can, showing people alternatives, and building the resistance to State and corporate tyranny. One changed mind at a time.
I need to read Lord Of The Rings again. That was beautiful.
Somethings gotta give soon…
When I was much younger, 22 or so years ago, I had a few suicide attempts. What I’m dealing with now is so, so much worse. Orders of magnitude worse.
I have a cat now, though. Who would take care of my cat? I can’t leave my cat alone.
I have the same thing with my dog. I made an attempt when I was 18, then got a dog at 20. I’m 24 now and still struggle a lot with depression, wishing the attempt had worked and all that, but would never do it now because I can’t imagine leaving my dog all by himself.
Commenting in both of these comments so y’all both see it, but be careful with having a living thing as your safety net. It’s tough to think about, but at some thine they will pass and the ground will fall out from under you. Speaking from experience here.
Edit: Sorry, not trying to darken an already dark topic.
what a shitty thing to say.
edit: replying in both places because you said it twice
Yikes. I don’t know a better way to phrase it, but I sure as hell wish someone had said that to me 10 years ago; before my dog who was my safety net got a brain tumor out of nowhere and had to be put down. What do you do when the only thing that’s keeping you afloat becomes an anchor? Animals are absolutely great and I’m not saying they shouldn’t have them or even use them to help mental health. But having a living thing that is the only thing stopping you from self-harm is dangerous.
I am also alive because cat.
::hugs::
the psychological impact of a cat existing near you never fails to impress.
Plus there is that 100% percent certainty that the cat will start munching on your ears as soon as your pulse stops.
Well the first problem is the question was asked on Musk’s hellsite. No one who still uses that platform is ok.
deleted by creator
Elmo you are on the inside, you can get places we can’t, you are trusted. Help us change things. I have a list of names.
Elmo might be on the inside….
But his puppet masters are still fisting him all the same. (Sorry for ruining childhoods.)
When an Elmo stands up for himself he gets silenced and they stitch a new one. Younger. Innocent. A naïve Elmo that doesn’t get the same education so he’s easier to control.
Fist Me Elmo! was a b8g seller a5 thevFolsombStreet Faire
Let’s see my list of anxiety:
- Climate Change
- The rise of fascism (and being in a marginalized group targeted by fascists)
- Inflation eating into my earnings and savings
- The entire marketplace being dominated by broken, fake or scam services and products.
- Pretty severe imposter syndrome and the related feeling that my job mobility is bad because I’m not valuable.
- Anxiety and ADD feeling worse than ever and having little hope to get help treating it.
God damnit. Am I leaving comments from alt accounts in my sleep again?
All this and also my roof is leaking because my fucking landlord only gets hack fixes from a fucking handyman instead of maintaining my goddamn home
Document it and withhold rent until it’s remedied properly. Is there a tenant union in your area you could reach out to for assistance and guidance?
Its ok she will fix it, its just going to be 4 shitty repairs instead of one good one, besides my parents are on the lease and they don’t want to raise a fuss. Thanks for your advice.
i like how it’s some fucking revolation. Like, just look around. poke around on the internet for 10 min. Large, HUGE amounts of people have not been ok for a long time. What’s sad is everyone has their fucking heads too buried in their phones and ipads to notice.
The only reason I’ve not killed myself is cos I’ve been failing for 20yrs to do it. Don’t expecyt me to enjoy this fucked up existence just because I have no fucking choice but to live in it.
Life is just a different type of prison.
Step away from the news cycle, friend. Stick to topics that bring you joy, be it space, guitars, whatever. Three weeks of that, and your outlook will be better. Also, cut your social media consumption down to one, maybe two days per week.
I’m not saying that’s all you need to do. I know mental health is a very complicated subject! I myself suffer from anxiety. But I did the above, and it’s made a difference.
You matter, friend!
I don’t think this advice actually works well for everyone. Receding more into isolation is just as exhausting and depressing to some as being aware but part of the mess.
I honestly think people just want to feel productive and see strives for making things better. Stuff that is hard to do personally and unfortunately not very present in society at large.
Ignorance is bliss only if you start and stay ignorant. You can’t put the horrors of the world back in the box once the lid is opened.
I know you mean well but I personally see how this can feel very surface level and not be super helpful even though I don’t personally know what advice is. It’s kinda hard for a singular person to truly understand another. We try and that’s good though, it’s what really makes us human. Hope we get more of that.
Thanks for your insight, and I of course agree with you.
I guess my advice is incomplete. More isolation sucks for many for sure, yes. Something that I have also done is change communities for a while. Or at least turn off those individuals that aren’t nothing but doom and gloom and “debbie downers.” Plus trying to remember that social media life is not real life can help a little. If you see a friend on a yatch, what you don’t see if the times that friend has a pretty much boring life, or even hitting rock bottom.
Here’s an extreme, but I know people who have amazing instagram photos, and they’re dealing with drugs, alcohol and an abusive partner, for instance - yeah, I’d rather have my “boring life.” But I digress.
Mental health is a complicated matter, and I hope OP is reading this thread. Ultimately, what matters is that OP reaches out to someone, preferably a professional, and share their struggles.
I think that “heads buried” comment may just be the newest “kids these days”. It was always complaints going back to television, then radio, even as far back as carrying newspapers on the morning trolley.
I know it often seems like people just aren’t engaged - but it’s usually how they engage, for better or worse.
Except it’s not just “kids”. It’s everyone. Look around.
I’m sad there’s been virtually no snow all winter and I’m in Canada. That’s a bad sign. Ski slopes might as well close for good.
I live in Iowa but work remotely for a company in Minnesota - we got like 2 feet more snow than Minnesota did with the blizzard a few weeks back. The climate has been so crazy these last few months
Is that abnormal?
The last few winters my dad had to drive up to Minnesota when he wanted to snowmobile - we would have like 1 inch of snow while they had feet of it
Just to be a contrarian, I’m doing OK.
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don’t hate my job and make very decent money, pretty stable financially
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have a lovely wife and two healthy young kids
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decent apartment with plans for an energy positive house as the kids are growing
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fun family friendly car, cool gadgets at home, lots of toys to play with, endless entertainment online
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AI is making lots of tasks easier, will only get better
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robots and machines making home tasks easier as well
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live in a country with an acceptable government (that I didn’t vote for, but am OK with), universal Healthcare and strong social safety net
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medicine constantly improving
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china installing solar panels like maniacs, rapidly getting cheaper and more ubiquitous
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Middle East is as fucked as ever, nothing I can do about it
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Russia is always invading neighbors, and this time at least they got a fucking punch in the face
I’ve been much worse in the past.
- Your quality of life is about to be destroyed when billions are made homeless through environmental disaster.
I don’t think so. Climate could be fixed and humans are resilient.
And even if so, nothing I can do to prevent it. Just enjoy the present.
You’re not okay, you lack empathy. Me as well, I have nothing to complain about, and I am able to enjoy life despite all the shit that’s wrong in the world, but I can read the room and don’t feel the need to rub that in people’s faces when clearly a lot of people are struggling. Also, I am sad for those people and frustrated that voting isn’t enough, while doing “enough” would mean giving up a large part of my comfortable life, not because that’s what it would take, but because too many people are doing jack shit to improve the world, or rather actively contributing to the clusterfuck that the world is in.
A lot of people are always struggling. Even in this thread you’ll see some people complaining about exisistential dangers and other people complaining about Netflix and Microsoft windows.
There have always been wars, sickness, hunger and suffering. We are probably near the minimum of all of those in this century. On a historical scale, a working poor today lives better than a king a thousand years ago, at least in most European countries. You have guaranteed shelter, high quality safe food, clean water, modern healthcare and all the knowledge of humanity in the palm of your hand (besides access to unlimited free education).
I vote my conscience, I pay my taxes (almost 40% of my income) and I even donate to local charities on top of that, but I refuse to let other people’s problems ruin my day every day.
It’s not lacking empathy, it’s setting limits and taking care of my own mental health.
it’s not about “letting other people’s problems ruin your day”, it’s about being content with your life without going on some online forum and announcing unasked in a thread about the growing existential problems of a large part of the world’s population that you’re doing great. Bless your heart, but that doesn’t help the people who are NOT doing great. That is what this thread is about, and that is my point.
You don’t know what helps or doesn’t help other people, speak for yourself. Nor do you decide what the thread is or isn’t about. Feel free to Downvote and move along if you don’t like it.
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I’ve been working harder at work for a promotion. I’m not going to get it. I fucking hate work, it’s not particularly hard, it’s just unfulfilling and boring. I dread work every day. I would go somewhere else but hate interviewing because even for 1 job it’s at least 4 interviews and tests. I can’t afford to take a cheaper job. I took today off though so that’s nice.
Enjoy the day off
I am legitimately trying to figure out why the fuck it is I am seemingly the only person in the world who is okay right now.
What the hell are you all doing or going through that is ruining your life, and how can I help alleviate your suffering?
Tbh I just want to work a job that can pay the bills and support a potential retirement. For so many of us this is all we want. We are willing to work, just not to some abhorrent degree or in wholly unreasonable, inhumane conditions. Many of us aren’t asking to become filthy rich, just rich enough that things like bills and a scraped knee don’t extend our retirement age another 20 years.
I think asking is good, and this may be worth getting into for other reasons - but know that this is a one way trip.
I’d suggest starting with the things that helped me unfuck my shit (partially, anyway!). First, if you haven’t already, check out Kurzgesagt’s Optimistic Nihilism video. If you find that interesting, continue on to absurdist philosophy, especially Camus (Sisyphus, Stranger) and Sartre (Nausea). After that, existentialism - I think I’d probably start with Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl.
Once you begin to get a feel for these ideas, I think a high-level reevaluation of deeply held beliefs and how you perceive the world around you becomes inevitable.
In terms of your question and what you are seeing, I believe these trends represent a larger collective awakening. Not a miracle, but something borne out of necessity: for anyone brave enough to take their head out of the sand for thirty seconds, environmental concerns alone are completely fucking overwhelming, and obviously that’s just a start.
I do take solace in this development, though. Somehow, even without actively studying philosophy, teens today (and even younger!) appear to have, to a degree, an intuitive understanding of these concepts. That’s wild! When I was in high school in the late 90s, genuinely thinking for yourself wasn’t tolerated the way it is today. Sure, there were punks and goths and whatever, but for anyone who dared to question the paradox of asserting one’s uniqueness through group affiliation, the road was much bumpier than it seems to be today.
I actually had to remind one of my children at around 10 years of age that she should be careful telling her peers things like “god isn’t real and nothing really matters” … admittedly she was raised in a “we always respect people with different beliefs even if we find it difficult to respect their beliefs” home, so the “god isn’t real” part wasn’t a surprise, but she found existentialism on her own.
Consider the complexity of the humour in memes today - I think a lot of older folks dismiss it as vapid and banal, and while some definitely lands there, the baseline tends to include a lot more irony, sarcasm, and even elements of these more abstract philosophical ideas in ways that older generations tend to struggle with. At first glance it appears completely nonsensical, but upon superficial understanding it quickly becomes “antisocial” and offensive: how dare you find camaraderie in joking about suicide, and do you really think the collapse of civilization would be a good thing? This is more than gallows humour.
And perhaps your comment was more flippant than my initial interpretation and this will just come across as obtuse and condescending - I hope not, as that is definitely not my intent. If it was sincere and you are just beginning down this path, I hope my perspective makes a difference for you. I suspect it is obvious, but my own experience with this was not pleasant; it took me many years to find my way through and feel ok about continuing, in the broadest sense. With a bit of discipline and thoughtfulness, I think you should be able to mitigate the psychological risks inherent in exploring some of the more fundamentally challenging implications of nihilism.
For mental health, I hope this helps - vent your frustrations to the whole world little froggy:-).
My favorite will always be the scrooge one he did on Christmas Wednesday
Link? I saw Christmas but never a Scrooge one.
Though I felt like the death metal one fit the OP better:-).
OMG thank you for that experience!!! Ngl it had me in that first half… :-D
I don’t think I will ever be able to watch another YouTube video ever again, without half expecting this to occur again. Like lightning striking twice, it will almost never happen, but IF it did, dude IF it only would… :-P
Just the sound changing as he closes the window gets me every time.
That’s how you know that it’s a true story:-D.
I’m doing ok and I hope for the best for all the rest of you who are struggling
Let’s see, I’m a month away from being $500 short on rent. Me and my wife separated this year after 3 years. I’m a single parent of a two year old. I was diagnosed with autism and panic disorder last august at the age of 35. My mom died of a fentanyl overdose in 2021, two weeks before my son was born. I’ve been dealing with work burnout after working in food/retail management during Covid, the lockdown, and customers cussing me out over Covid policies and being disgusting in general. I changed jobs, hate the current job, still burnt out. And I’ve had Covid 3 times and my lungs haven’t been the same since the first time.
I’m honestly doing OK. I’ve found my passion for my hobbies again and am feeling confident I can weather this
Sorry to dump all that on you . It’s like therapy.
Seems like you’re focusing the good, more power to ya. I’d say it gets better, but that’s a crapshoot, you can however learn to cope better, be well.
I’m definitely not doing okay considering I’ve got an appointment at the Mayo Clinic in March… but hey, the end of this month will be my six month anniversary of not eating any solid food. So hooray!
Oof…
