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Nobody has a personality anymore: we are products with labels

freyaindia.co.uk

381–390 of 537 posts

Re: Nobody has a personality anymore: we are products with labels

#381

Decades ago in my first abnormal psych course, the prof warned us that there was an almost iron-clad law that students will immediately start self diagnosing themselves with “weak” versions of every disorder we learn about. In my years since then, it has absolutely held true and now is supercharged by a whole industry of TikTok self-diagnoses. But there are a few things we can learn from this: - if you give people th…

The author's concerns would mostly all be ameliorated by logging out of TikTok and never logging back in. They seem to think that "TikTok" and "Society" are synonyms. They are not.

Tiktok seems to have between 1 and 2 billion users. It's not just something for the terminally online

Re: Nobody has a personality anymore: we are products with labels

#382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - if you give people the chance to place a label on themselves to give a name/form to a problem, they’ll take it. This one is widespread among the young people I’ve worked with recently. It’s remarkable how I can identify the current TikTok self diagnosis trends without ever watching TikTok. There’s a widespread belief that once you put a label on a problem, other people are not allowed to criticize you for it. Man…

This is simultaneously funny and sad. I wonder when alcoholism will get a front row seat during zoom meetings (or even IRL meetings). "Can't help it hick I'm an alcoholic". I think a lot of societal change these days can be summarized by the idea that self-labeling is seen as transforming something into "everyone else's problem".

As the great philosopher Hedberg once said, alcoholism is the only disease you can get yelled at for having.

Re: Nobody has a personality anymore: we are products with labels

#384
post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Disciplined at home" is being a maybe not perpetual but victim of the system for something like 18 years though. I don't get where this idea that kids are coddled with comes from. They usually are not even allowed to wear the cloths they want or choose the food they want and get pushed around to silly extents. Kids almost never gets it their way.

> Kids almost never gets it their way. Speak for yourself. I've seen 2 year olds being able to choose their clothes and if they don't get their way, they throw a temper tantrum so bad they vomit. And I fear, the child will turn into another Cartman. I.e. spoiled beyond any belief.

There’s enormous variation, from giving the kid whatever they want, to giving them no choice and then punishing them for doing what they’re told.

If you imagine it from the perspective of aliens with very different biology, it’s kind of crazy that this important and difficult task is given to people with zero training or qualifications.

Re: Nobody has a personality anymore: we are products with labels

#385

Decades ago in my first abnormal psych course, the prof warned us that there was an almost iron-clad law that students will immediately start self diagnosing themselves with “weak” versions of every disorder we learn about. In my years since then, it has absolutely held true and now is supercharged by a whole industry of TikTok self-diagnoses. But there are a few things we can learn from this: - if you give people th…

> - if you give people the chance to place a label on themselves to give a name/form to a problem, they’ll take it. This one is widespread among the young people I’ve worked with recently. It’s remarkable how I can identify the current TikTok self diagnosis trends without ever watching TikTok. There’s a widespread belief that once you put a label on a problem, other people are not allowed to criticize you for it. Man…

And long before the internet there was horoscope signs that, somehow, still manage to stick around.

Re: Nobody has a personality anymore: we are products with labels

#386
post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, calling depression a "disorder" sometimes misses the point entirely when despair is a logical response to how things are

Cheer up! For the average HN user, things are better now than they ever have been in human history.

If my finger is broken and someone says "Cheer up! Your neighbor lost his leg and is in an incredible amount of pain", I may feel sympathy for my neighbor but, crucially, my finger still hurts just as much.

Re: Nobody has a personality anymore: we are products with labels

#387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think after a few expressions of time blindness, they'll discover that their contracts have continuity deficiency and their career vertical expression challenges. The feedback of reality will fix it, like for all young people.

>The feedback of reality will fix it, like for all young people. "A child who isn't disciplined at home, will be disciplined outside of the home" - old African proverb. The issue is kids growing up without being taught accountability, but instead that they're perpetual victims of "the system" created by evil old white men, and therefore nothing they do is ever their fault. This is the fault of the parents, school sys…

I've seen this kind of thing and it annoys me to no end. However that seems to be a small minority among many.

But the majority of young adults are rightfully asking hard questions.

Why should they suffer the consequences of political and corporate mismanagement ? Why is accountability rarely invoked when it comes to people in power? Why is it OK for old disgruntled people to yell at them for things they have nothing to do with? Why should they take us seriously if we don't take them seriously?

Again, I agree with you that some are hiding behind these things in order to deflect blame, but let's not pretend that the young don't have every right to be mad at us.

Re: Nobody has a personality anymore: we are products with labels

#388
post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Time blindness” is not named anywhere in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5, 2013) nor in the DSM-5-TR (text-revision, 2022). It is not recognized as a stand-alone disorder or an official diagnostic criterion.

Even if it were in DSM-5-*, would that mean it's a standalone disorder? I haven't read much psychology, but this article suggests a lot of psychological diagnoses are just labels for symptoms: https://slimemoldtimemold.com/2025/02/06/the-mind-in-the-whe... Imagine that your car breaks down and you bring it to a mechanic and he tells you, “Oh, your car has a case of broken-downness.” You’d know right away: this guy ha…

What a terrible analogy. Diagnosing a car with “broken-downness” would be like a mental health professional diagnosing you with “bad.” Diagnosed aren’t always great, but they’re not that ridiculous.

Still down a bit and you’ll find plenty of vagueness with mechanics. “You have a bad tie-rod end.” Ok, cool. What caused that, why did mine fail when my buddy’s didn’t, how can I avoid this? Shrug. Once you’ve got it down to a part, you just replace it with a new one. Can’t do that with mental health. “Your time management unit is bad, we can replace it with a manufacturer part for $2,000, or an aftermarket equivalent for $1,500.”

Re: Nobody has a personality anymore: we are products with labels

#389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is simultaneously funny and sad. I wonder when alcoholism will get a front row seat during zoom meetings (or even IRL meetings). "Can't help it hick I'm an alcoholic". I think a lot of societal change these days can be summarized by the idea that self-labeling is seen as transforming something into "everyone else's problem".

This is interesting point. Western society has basically built a hyper capitalist system that creates individualistic consumers, but has failed to hold individuals accountable to minimum standards. The bar has never been lower and we just sort of amble on as a lonely, isolated society so long as the stock market grows quarter to quarter.

No that is ridiculous. Stop blaming capitalism for every problem in the world, it just makes you look childish.

Especially when it comes to alcoholism. As if the soviet union was a bastion of soberness with a high bar or something.

Re: Nobody has a personality anymore: we are products with labels

#390
post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, calling depression a "disorder" sometimes misses the point entirely when despair is a logical response to how things are

Cheer up! For the average HN user, things are better now than they ever have been in human history.

Cheer up, the lake of shit you’re caged in is at its lowest level on record.

Slightly more seriously, things will be on an upward trajectory until they aren’t. There are some decent reasons to think we might be nearing the peak.

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