71–80 of 119 posts
I think the article describes the behavior of escapists. The constant need to be distracted in order to avoid facing one's own reality.
Fascinating stuff. Just today I was looking at the 30-40 tabs I bring up each time I start Chrome and I was wondering: doest having all this data in front of me help me remember to do various internet chores? Or does it get in the way? Better still, is it a sign I'm actually experiencing some other condition that shows itself in my context-switching? I think there's something to this. Having said that, I found this w…
I am a visual person and that's why tabs help me, they are queues. Perhaps what I need is to learn some discipline in opening a 'TODO' task list daily, though then I find that overwhelming; Maybe I need to try to give that a bit more of a chance, and maybe I just haven't found the right tool(s) that work for me?
I imagine if I found a way to be more organized then my creative flow and potentially creative capacity would be diminished. I would potentially become too fixed on organization as the main importance, and that would take away from fluidity that creativity needs; Perhaps I need this, I don't know.
If a service that tracked my behaviours was used to suggest better tools for me to use based on my patterns, then that'd be neat - however because they are a business and want to make profits - I can see it being used in less-than-pure ways.
I think the article describes the behavior of escapists. The constant need to be distracted in order to avoid facing one's own reality.
I feel we all give our brains far too much to try to comprehend, list size wise, when it comes to tasks to do. People that become really good at it find their own very unique way, from what I have read and where I see my own endeavours leading me.
I think the article describes the behavior of escapists. The constant need to be distracted in order to avoid facing one's own reality.
Lots of sub-personalities involved with that behaviour. Focusing on helping people determine why their sub-personalities exist, why they formed, is the key. And you need to become aware of those behaviour patterns, and learn how to better organize when you need to; Get things sorted immediately, so there's not just a big pile + learn how to prioritize it. I feel we all give our brains far too much to try to comprehen…
I've noticed that many of the techniques or guidelines out there on the web involve resisting society or technology in someway. For example, quitting Facebook and Twitter, helped improve productivity and satisfaction. Saying "no" to many of the things that define and shape the society we live in, indicates to me, at least, that there's nothing abnormal with being depressed or being an escapist. It's the natural response, I believe.
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Totally; some companies may use it to identify depressed employees just to fire them (because they think depressed people is less efficient).
Hmm. I wonder if that would be possible to do without risking lawsuits. Wouldn't depression fall under a medical condition?
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Lots of sub-personalities involved with that behaviour. Focusing on helping people determine why their sub-personalities exist, why they formed, is the key. And you need to become aware of those behaviour patterns, and learn how to better organize when you need to; Get things sorted immediately, so there's not just a big pile + learn how to prioritize it. I feel we all give our brains far too much to try to comprehen…
Perhaps it's not that we overload our brains with information, rather it's the way society expects us to be. We turn into walking talking trivia machines. There's so much information that it becomes a necessary skill to separate or distill essential information from the non-essential. I've noticed that many of the techniques or guidelines out there on the web involve resisting society or technology in someway. For ex…
Perhaps you're saying that modern life pushes people away from healthy eating and exercise and sensible worklife balance and towards alcohol and caffeine, and that depression is the natural result of that. In which case, I agree.
You mention information overload. Here's a nice example of sub-optimal advice about procrastination. It's too long for anyone prone to procrastination to actually read.
Well, this article started interesting, and ended in a somewhat scary proposal that universities log students' internet usage and data-mine it using robo-depression-screening software that would report them to counselors. The caveat ("raises privacy concerns that would have to be addressed") does not really reassure me... My hope is that's just a cynical eye-on-funding thing thrown in, and the researchers are really…
It would be simple to create a program to log the usage and recommend the user seek counselling, without having to log thousands of peoples internet usage. I don't get why 1) everyone has to be HAPPY , and 2) why the high ups seem so intent on making sure we're HAPPY . Here's reality: life can be utterly fucking shitty. People get depressed. Then you get over it and life goes on and eventually someone will die, or yo…
On a less anarchistic note, we need to start questioning the mental health of our society as a whole (the abyss might stare back at you but you stared first, stick with it).
That there is an obsession with everyone being in a particular state is indicative of anxiety. That it cannot comprehend the fact that our emotional states are the products of our physical and social environments indicates denial.
It's just like family therapy - no single member of a family can be mentally ill in isolation - the whole family needs treatment. So it is with humanity - the sky high levels of reported anxiety and depression are not isolated to the individuals suffering from them, they are a result of the very fabric of our society. It's the way we look at and treat each other, it's the inequality, the prejudice, the hatred, the litigation, the constant shifting of blame and severe lack of responsibility that's endemic in our culture. THAT is what's making people feel bad.
Treating individuals is patching the symptoms and not addressing the root causes.
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Exactly.. So basically people who are engaged fully in the "web" experience are depressed?
> So basically people who are engaged fully in the "web" experience are depressed? How could you read comments on HN, reddit and youtube and not be depressed?