Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

It’s not Tourette’s but a new type of mass sociogenic illness

academic.oup.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 704 posts

Re: It’s not Tourette’s but a new type of mass sociogenic illness

#151

Post by rendall »

bognition wrote: post #54
ccity88 wrote: post #33

What's interesting to me is that if we're able to accept the idea that mass social media-induced illness can be developed just by virtue of video watching TikTok or YouTube, then this opens new doors to examining the behaviour of other illnesses such as gender dysphoria that are statistically over represented. This is probably going to get downvoted to oblivion, because nobody wants to confront the idea that we can _…

Counter hypothesis. For the last several decades society put massive pressure on kids to conform to heteronormativity. With these pressures lessening more and more people are feeling empowered to explore their sexuality. Social media is absolutely involved, but we really don't know what the base rate would be in a society devoid of this kind of pressure.

> For the last several decades society put massive pressure on kids to conform to heteronormativity

This is patently untrue. Since the 60s, western society has been increasingly accomodating to the non-gender-conforming. Especially with the rise of the internet, people who once felt isolated with whatever made them different were able to find others like themselves.

Re: It’s not Tourette’s but a new type of mass sociogenic illness

#152

Post by brookst »

ccity88 wrote: post #33

What's interesting to me is that if we're able to accept the idea that mass social media-induced illness can be developed just by virtue of video watching TikTok or YouTube, then this opens new doors to examining the behaviour of other illnesses such as gender dysphoria that are statistically over represented. This is probably going to get downvoted to oblivion, because nobody wants to confront the idea that we can _…

> statistically over represented

Over represented compared to what? The incidence of these disorders back when admitting them would get you bullied / raped / killed?

An alternative explanation is that reducing the social straitjackets that enforced conformity is leading to greater diversity of human behavior. Maybe yes, maybe no, but it’s at least a hypothesis worth considering.

BTW your point would be stronger without the persecution complex. And stronger yet with an acknowledgement that, while tic-like behavior and multi-year cognitive identity issues may have correlations, also they may not.

Re: It’s not Tourette’s but a new type of mass sociogenic illness

#153

Post by pjc50 »

dusted wrote: post #46
AstixAndBelix wrote: post #9

If social contagion can get people to develop serious ticks imagine how many things we automatically do or feel or think that are a mere result of random social pressures

My main concern is how to induce specifics in people and start profiting from it :D Wouldn't it just be wonderfully dystopic if we could induce ticks in people that made them clean the streets and do the grunt work? :D

> how to induce specifics in people and start profiting from it

Have you heard of "advertising"?

Re: It’s not Tourette’s but a new type of mass sociogenic illness

#154

Post by christophilus »

maxbond wrote: post #37
lzaaz wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

If it's not worth saying, it's not worth vagueposting about either.

If it’s not worth vagueposting about, it’s worth tweeting and TikToking about.

Re: It’s not Tourette’s but a new type of mass sociogenic illness

#155

Post by kayodelycaon »

xd wrote: post #85
bognition wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Counter hypothesis. For the last several decades society put massive pressure on kids to conform to heteronormativity. With these pressures lessening more and more people are feeling empowered to explore their sexuality. Social media is absolutely involved, but we really don't know what the base rate would be in a society devoid of this kind of pressure.

As a parent I have no idea what you are trying to say with this idea of pushing "heteronormativity" - I don't and don't know any parents that push anything sexual let alone encouraging kids to explore sexuality .. they are kids and will be kids until they mature and begin to feel the urge to explore. This normalising of sexualising of children is abhorrent. Edit: the voting on this comment is crazy.. the number of HN…

It’s pretty simple. I grew up with the social expectation I would be some special attraction to girls beyond friendship. There were some people shamefully attracted to boys.

I’m neither of these. I’ve never experienced sexual attraction to anyone. Every relationship I have is happily platonic. I have several good, close friends, so I capable of deep emotional bonds to people of any gender.

This would have been fine if I didn’t have a high sex drive. But I do. You’re not supposed to have a high sex drive while being completely uninterested.

I’ve wondered most of my life why I was broken. It was extremely isolating to be constantly surrounded by messages telling me there is something wrong with me.

Then I found out what asexuality is. That’s what I am. Romantic attraction can be completely devoid of sexual attraction. Someone’s sex drive can be independent of a person’s sexuality.

It hasn’t been any less isolating, but at least I know there is nothing wrong with me as a person.

Re: It’s not Tourette’s but a new type of mass sociogenic illness

#156

Post by refurb »

dsiegel2275 wrote: post #108
xd wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a parent I have no idea what you are trying to say with this idea of pushing "heteronormativity" - I don't and don't know any parents that push anything sexual let alone encouraging kids to explore sexuality .. they are kids and will be kids until they mature and begin to feel the urge to explore. This normalising of sexualising of children is abhorrent. Edit: the voting on this comment is crazy.. the number of HN…

I think "pushing heteronormativity" doesn't need to be a conscious, deliberate act and it doesn't need to be anything related to sex. It can be as simple as a parent buying their son a toy truck for their birthday while buying a barbie doll for their daughter: a reinforcement of socially acceptable gender roles

Your use of "heteronormative" doesn't make a lot of sense.

Heteronormativity is "heterosexual is the normal state of being".

Playing with trucks if you're a girl has nothing to do with whether you're hetero or homosexual.

Re: It’s not Tourette’s but a new type of mass sociogenic illness

#157

Post by mc32 »

TrispusAttucks wrote: post #131
pjc50 wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've not noticed the pink for girls/blue for boys distinction?

The colors used to be switched in the 1800s. Pink for boys and blue for girls.

And before that color was too expensive. But one wouldn’t say that gender roles did not exist. Color is nothing but an added expression like lipstick or horsehair wigs.

For some today black is the macho color, for others it’s the artistic color.

Re: It’s not Tourette’s but a new type of mass sociogenic illness

#158

Post by adolph »

api wrote: post #65
bognition wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Counter hypothesis. For the last several decades society put massive pressure on kids to conform to heteronormativity. With these pressures lessening more and more people are feeling empowered to explore their sexuality. Social media is absolutely involved, but we really don't know what the base rate would be in a society devoid of this kind of pressure.

This brings to mind one of my rules about conservative panics: If laws against witchcraft are removed and/or witchcraft is destigmatized and then all the sudden there appears to be an explosion of witches, the explanation is probably not that hordes of people are adopting witchcraft. I'll leave it to the reader to guess the simplest and most likely explanation.

The Satanic panic is a moral panic consisting of over 12,000 unsubstantiated cases of Satanic ritual abuse (SRA, sometimes known as ritual abuse, ritualistic abuse, organized abuse, or sadistic ritual abuse) starting in the United States in the 1980s, spreading throughout many parts of the world by the late 1990s, and persisting today.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satanic_panic

Re: It’s not Tourette’s but a new type of mass sociogenic illness

#159

Post by the_af »

xd wrote: post #117
pjc50 wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've not noticed the pink for girls/blue for boys distinction?

Yes and me and my wife laugh about it but there is an obvious distinctive preference for kids male and female which will play into sales .. no one is forcing anyone to buy anything and even back in the 80s growing up I knew kids that would buy toys you'd associate with the other gender.

A societal pressure doesn't mean it's forced. Most societal pressures aren't. Instead, they are strong expectations and in occasions, frowning upon behavior that deviates from the expectation. This creates tremendous pressure. Just look at teenager social dynamics, lots of "unenforced" expectations become critical for them.

Re: It’s not Tourette’s but a new type of mass sociogenic illness

#160

Post by efkiel »

xd wrote: post #85
bognition wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Counter hypothesis. For the last several decades society put massive pressure on kids to conform to heteronormativity. With these pressures lessening more and more people are feeling empowered to explore their sexuality. Social media is absolutely involved, but we really don't know what the base rate would be in a society devoid of this kind of pressure.

As a parent I have no idea what you are trying to say with this idea of pushing "heteronormativity" - I don't and don't know any parents that push anything sexual let alone encouraging kids to explore sexuality .. they are kids and will be kids until they mature and begin to feel the urge to explore. This normalising of sexualising of children is abhorrent. Edit: the voting on this comment is crazy.. the number of HN…

heteronormativity include sexual behavior, but mostly contains other behavior. Like the way you dress, talk or present yourself, the activities or kind of play you do or like. Parent comment is mostly talking about non-sexual heteronormativity, which is often presented as the norm. An obvious example would be an adult insisting that pink is for girl and blue for boys, and shaming a kid for liking what's not the (hetero-)norm.
Post reply on HN