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Memes and mental health: How teens are coping with increasing stress

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Re: Memes and mental health: How teens are coping with increasing stress

#31

Post by Log_out_ »

rightbyte wrote: post #7
gchamonlive wrote: post #6

> [...] Gen Z cannot go online or be a part of a social setting without being exposed to the sheer amount of horrors happening around the globe. You can’t turn on the television without being shown the terrors of school shootings, the sorrow in the faces of refugees as they flee their county’s with nowhere to go, and all of this happening while our political structure crumbles. Susan Sontag wrote about this in "Regar…

> It is not something one can run from and everyone will eventually be exposed to it. Oh you can. Just don't visit news sites or watch news TV channels. Paper news papers are way better and don't shove stuff down your throat the same way as rage baiting "this just in" news outlets -- who talks for a day about vague rumors. I think people zoning out from the spam one thing news cycle is the reason The Man decided to s…

Or you just dehumanize those suffering.

Re: Memes and mental health: How teens are coping with increasing stress

#32

Post by snats »

safety1st wrote: post #22
switch007 wrote: post #8

[flagged]

Early 40s man here who happily admits to indulging in grumpy, get-off-my-lawn rants from time to time. Honestly, you are right on every point, A) you don't need to live your life on social media, B) once you do you get sucked into an increasingly weird and unhealthy point of view & behaviors. The only way to win is not to play. Read books instead of doom scroll. Meet friends in meat space, don't text. If they get all…

I am currently in my 20s and decided to basically leave social media when I was 17. It was really difficult for the first couple of months because I was pretty isolated thanks to the pandemic. Now I can tell you that I see the benefits of not being in the loop of local toxic events.

Re: Memes and mental health: How teens are coping with increasing stress

#33

Post by gchamonlive »

Podgajski wrote: post #30
gchamonlive wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is important. Life is not a contest of who suffers the most, but suffering brings us together. There also isn't a scarcity of suffering in the world, so we don't have to go looking for it. On the contrary, we as a society are failing to reduce the suffering of others. Maybe because we can't reconnect with people? They are just numbers and dates in political history? In any case, welcoming pain as immanent in lif…

But I’m sure you want to help the person who is suffering more before you help the person who is suffering less yes? The idea that “suffering is suffering” is almost sociopathic.

Can't both be done? Can't society provide for both in immediate danger as well as those suffering less?

Do we need to stop tending for people's mental health because many are not eating?

Maybe the effort involved in categorising, understanding and prioritising suffering would be better used... well... actually reducing suffering.

Because when we think like this we risk dismanteling efforts that are really important, like protecting other animals from abandonment or abuse, or protecting the environment, because we risk putting them in lower hierarchical priority compared to our own most immediate form of suffering.

Re: Memes and mental health: How teens are coping with increasing stress

#34

Post by [deleted] »

safety1st wrote: post #22
switch007 wrote: post #8

[flagged]

Early 40s man here who happily admits to indulging in grumpy, get-off-my-lawn rants from time to time. Honestly, you are right on every point, A) you don't need to live your life on social media, B) once you do you get sucked into an increasingly weird and unhealthy point of view & behaviors. The only way to win is not to play. Read books instead of doom scroll. Meet friends in meat space, don't text. If they get all…

[deleted]

Re: Memes and mental health: How teens are coping with increasing stress

#35

Post by raincole »

switch007 wrote: post #8

[flagged]

> Nobody is forcing them to be on Instagram and like posts about transgender, Middle Eastern conflicts etc nor forced to change their profile pictures to a faded flag in faux solidarity.

Peer pressure is forcing them.

Yeah, you can say they should just ignore peer pressure and such... but if say, 90% of teens had smoking problem, would you just shrug and say well nothing is forcing them to take a cigarette?

Re: Memes and mental health: How teens are coping with increasing stress

#36

Post by Podgajski »

gchamonlive wrote: post #33
Podgajski wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But I’m sure you want to help the person who is suffering more before you help the person who is suffering less yes? The idea that “suffering is suffering” is almost sociopathic.

Can't both be done? Can't society provide for both in immediate danger as well as those suffering less? Do we need to stop tending for people's mental health because many are not eating? Maybe the effort involved in categorising, understanding and prioritising suffering would be better used... well... actually reducing suffering. Because when we think like this we risk dismanteling efforts that are really important,…

Apparently we can’t. So I’m looking at this as a form of triage. At the very least, we can help those who are suffering the most, right? Because right now I’m neither being treated for my mental illness or my homelessness so there you go.

But yes, many people would rather protect and house animals than protect and house people. So I guess as humans we should have the same priorities, no?

But if you think protecting the environment is more important than providing people shelter I don’t know what to say. And in fact, I am going to state that it is easier to care about the climate than to provide people with housing, which is why people focus on the formal rather than the later.

Re: Memes and mental health: How teens are coping with increasing stress

#37

Post by chiefalchemist »

This isn't going to go over well but it needs to be said:

The solution is obvious and simple...don't go online so much.

It's not nourishment. It's not protection. It's not procreation. It's a fucking slot machine, and the odds will *never* ve in your favor. Succumbing to FOMO is not going to fix and/or change anything.

The Truth is: The System is not designed for Us, it's designed for Them. (Note: There is a spectrum of Thems, choose your poison). To say the answer (i.e. memes) is more of the same (i.e., online is the problem) is naive at best. While I appreciate ppl trying to "self medicate" memes are an enabler. They are a beer & a shot sitting in front of an alcoholic. It's the inevidible waiting to happen. (Note: I'm not making light. Not at all. I have friends doing the 12 Steps. But having an internet hangover and going back for more and more...what is that???)

The point is, memes as a "cure" will only last so long. Eventually it won't be funny any more. The solution is to realize The System is not looking out fir you, and to overcome the gravity of FOMO.

Re: Memes and mental health: How teens are coping with increasing stress

#39

Post by sidlls »

switch007 wrote: post #8

[flagged]

Yes and no. Being a child of the late 70s and early 80s I "predate" most of modern social media. We weren't connected the same way Gen Z and Alpha have been. My generation knows what it's like to not live in a social media bubble, and have the experience/knowledge of how to live without it. These kids have never had that. All they know is the narcissism and peer validation style of this new world. So in some sense "willing" is a bit strong of a word to use here.
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