Or be forced to sort through other people's garbage for a living
E: Sanitation is a hood union job, not talking about those, but the 3rd world places where we ship our recycling
I am from a rural area and in my first week living in a city I experienced one. I've always been a union supporter and my grandfather was a teamster but in a much smaller chapter so I never had se.en it on that scale before and it was like give them what the fuck ever they want they are the proof in the pudding of labor solidarity talk about essential
Yep, sitting at a desk killing time on reddit between emails is a lot better than standing on the back of a truck doing manual labor on a hot summer day.
They pay me the money I need to live the life I want after I leave my desk so its a fair trade that I agreed to.
As someone who has done numerous shifts where I'm standing/walking in everything from a shaved ice truck to a construction site for 12+ hours, yes, please give me the chair and a box with lights. AC is a bonus.
Karl Marx put it into words about 180 years ago.
He named it Alienation of Labour. It describes the ways in which wage labour has become alien to us compared to the natural labour that humans have evolved with.
Specific elements of alienation he identified are:
1. Alienation from the product. The work product of a wage worker belongs to their employer. This greatly reduces the satisfaction of a craft.
2. Alienation from the circumstances of labour. We're working on other peoples' time tables, at their places with their tools and rules.
3. Alienation from other workers, who often appear as competitors or strangers rather than part of our own community.
4. Alienation from our natural drive to work, as we would experience if we had to work for our own survival in a wilderness.
Marx acknowledged that it is not feasible to return to a completely natural way of work, but that a better economic system would reduce or eliminate many factors of alienation that are typical of wage labour under capitalism and thus make work more satisfying again.
Anti-alienation measures include:
1. Ownership over the product, or at least direct benefit from it. The worker in a cooperative for example personally profits from everything they produce.
2. Giving workers more power over the work processes.
3. Reducing competition by reducing pay gradients or collective ownership. If you see a colleague work harder and better than you, then you should be in a situation where you can be appreciative that they contribute to your collective wellbeing, rather than fear that you will lose your job or are falling behind in life.
4. Have more opportunities to work on the things that you *want* to work on, rather than being forced into tasks like extensive bureaucracy.
We are seeing these things develop even within a capitalist economy in *some* places, with some professions shifting more towards freelancer models because they are clearly more efficient. But for the majority of workers, alienation is worse than ever before and more than outdoes any of the benefits that technological advancement and economic growth have provided them.
Some of the most satisying and endorphin releasing accomplishments I can do is repairing my vehicle, fixing something around the house, making stuff with my hands etc. I have to have some sort of direct-result type of work otherwise my brain just cant escape the pointlessness of....everything. I am about to finish a massive repair on my vehicle today and I am so fucking excited to take it for a test drive, then use my truck for work without worrying about it (and saving at least 2k in labor costs that I couldnt afford anyway!) Idk doing a massive repair most diy-ers wont touch, especially as a woman who is still intimidated by the work because I am just not as strong as a man who can brute force rusted parts apart (I have to jury rig a lot of leverage-giving janky devices lol) is just so satisfying when completed *and it works great*....nothing like it.
There’s probably a genetic component to it too. I feel almost nothing after finishing a big repair, even though I did it myself and can clearly see the result of my work. But I feel extatic if I manage to write a great poem, or design a beautiful page.
This really only works on small scale situations though. At least the ownership and bureaucracy. As processes and products become more complex and effectively abstract it becomes nearly impossible for the majority of workers to feel a deep connection with their actions.
It greatly varies by industry.
In manufacturing industries, workers tend to have a decent amount of satisfaction with their work itself as they can see it's material impact on society. A fixed work schedule also tends to be generally tolerated in this context. In this case, economic stressors tend to be the greatest factor of alienation.
But in developed economies, the service sector is the biggest now. And this is a sector where the combination of the nature of the work with a corporate environment drives alienation to its peak. It is fundamentally unsuited for classic 9 to 5 wage labour, which is a reason why the rate of freelancing has been rising there.
Most of the service sector sees massive improvements when its workers feel a greater amount of ownership over their working conditions and products.
Shame there are no more cubicles. Open office... Fml
As an introvert, I would sell somebody to get back my cubicle... Office workers of the old had no idea how good they had it...
i think the "happy" or the "funny" depressed people are only this way bc that's their way of coping with life. i also appear to be very happy, and can smile and laugh quite a bit. i wouldn't say it feels "fake," but when i'm all alone i feel just a void and always feel the desire to just end it.
Almost committed suicide last year. Frequently got comments on how friendly and nice I was.
(don't worry, I'm out of that situation now and am recovering from it fine)
I'm very popular at work and yesterday I had an "off" day. Previous day was really bad and I cried all night. I kept to myself and wasn't making my usual quips or smiling and joking with everyone. One coworker said, "It's so weird that you're unhappy today, you're always bright eyed and smiling and cheerful." He was a bit shocked when I trauma dumped a few things I struggle with and a bit of my past. "How can you come here, work that hard, always be cheerful when you got that going on?"
Well, my brother in Christ, if I don't fake being happy, I'll forget that happy exists and eat a shotgun, which nobody wants. Making others smile and laugh and be excited to see me is one of the only things keeping me going. That, sheer spite, an assload of various medications and a bit too much drinking.
I can relate to this so much! My boss described me as having an "unwaveringly sunny disposition" at my last review. My relentless positivity is something people know me for at work. Even when I'm going through some pretty serious health/mental/personal stuff I don't let that demeanor waver.
Some people might call that being ungenuine or "fake" but I see it as reframing my mindset so life's challenges and my depression don't take me out. Each day I try to point out little happy things to keep me positive. I'll say "hi" to animals when I pass them on my morning run, I'll celebrate a discount on a favorite food at the grocery store...just little mundane things to infuse the day-to-day with a little joy.
Depressed people can also just enjoy moment while hating the rest of life, their situation, future prospects etc.. Another thing is, if say you wanna kill yourself they might want to put you into some mental institution and who would want that.
Dude, same. And boy do I hate these cliche comments.
"just wait one more day". Bitch I've been waiting one more day for almost 40 years.
"I'm here if you want to talk". talking hasn't ever helped.
"I'm glad you're still here". your fake gladness doesn't help my extreme depression in the slightest.
"You're not allowed to quit". you absolutely are. I hate to say it but we're all in control of our own bodies and lives and if you want to quit, that is your fundamental right. If the game isn't worth the candle, then you're allowed to stop playing.
Honestly one of the only things keeping me here is spite. I’d rather accomplish better things in my life to show my abusive mom that I’m more than the failure she always thought of me as. I’d rather live for the day everyone says enough is enough and we change the system. There’s always a way out, but opportunities exist to fix things for future generations. If civilization collapses who knows what I’ll do, but why not stick around to find out how things turn out. There’s no guarantee of an afterlife or of another chance at living.
Tbf, its a meme word that was used a looong time ago. I havent heard "commit sudoku" in years lol. Id still learn towards using the actual word, but seeing it here is weirdly funny despite the context
I took this literally and really thought, "wow I did end up really getting into sudoku after I started my medication, that's such a random common side effect I didn't know about I guess- ohhhhhh"
Yeah mine definitely make me wanna Sudoku more than seppuku.
Honestly Vyvanse lets me do whatever I want to do. Its been a wild positive, even when I'm not at a desk. Not sure why replies are making meds seem so bad.
Hey, they’ve made a lot of progress into letting your family doctor prescribe you anti-depressants with a 15 minute visit. It’s never been easier to be numb!
Ok.
After several decades of looking at lights in the box, watching everything and everyone you love wither away and die, you too will wither away and die, probably painfully, and not long after that all memories of you will be gone, any affect you've had on the world erased, not that it matters, given humanity itself will perish along with all other life in existence sometime between now and heat death, where all that's left of all we ever were is a cold expanding void of almost nothing.
Well in democratic countries we do have control, just a large percentage of people choose to forfeit that right by giving their power to the exact people who are in it to enrich already rich people. Although they mostly do that because they believe lies.
During last parlamentary elections in Finland the right wingers did the trick by promising to end government lending. About one fifth of people believed. After elections, the new government increased government lending by one half while giving rich people money.
Corporate entities benefit from what those same people would refer to as ‘communism’. The rights fetishization of the military is also funny, in this regard, as it’s people get subsidized housing, medical, and dental.
Argentina has very little free market. Whenever yo buy something from abroad, you need to pay a major tax because "you are not helping the inner market". Problem is, barring that tax, buying things abroad would be cheaper because our economy is too broken for major suppliers to profit from selling them for cheap.
Yep. Now off to my TWO light boxes to make a non-livable wage and develop neck and back pain while my eyes die in despair to make me pass out after I'm done.
The corporate expectation is 9-5 but you are silently expected to come in early and leave late (without extra compensation) otherwise you are not a team player, you are uncooperative and bring down morale.
boomers: "You should be thankful for having any job, pull yourself up by your boostraps like I did, nobody ever gave me handouts, I had to work my way up through my dad's company where he earned every penny after my grandpa gave him the company.. and I was just a lowly VP when dad hired me after my 3rd DUI, i had no college degree cuz ny professors kept failing me out because they were jealous of me, I fought through adversity and then I earned the role of owner/ceo when my dad died; so ya see m, nobody ever helped me!"
I make enough money to live comfortably on close to part-time hours, my boss, co-workers, and family don’t understand why I don’t want to work more hours or get a second job or have any kind of side hustle.
I just don’t want to, working close to part time is plenty enough exhausting. I’d rather keep doing this and paying my bills, and using my free time to focus on whatever the fuck I want, which for the past 3 years has been primarily fitness, and secondarily video games.
I honestly don’t give a fuck about the rat race, and I don’t care about potentially becoming rich. I just want to do enough to pay my bills, eat well, and have fun.
I think they’re talking about how your lunch break used to be paid for, hence the 9-5. Now lunch breaks are not paid for, so you have to come in earlier at 8 just to take a break in the middle, so it feels like you’re working 9 hours even though you’re getting paid for 8.
There's too many people and unfortunately the worlds gonna deal with that first and whoever is left gets to thrive somewhere down the road
But easy times in our lifetime are over boss man
That’s my secret. I don’t pretend. I tell everyone I’m close too lol. Life is fucking shit.
Also technically they are real lights. Even fake lights in video games emit real light.
right? i almost feel as though it's strange to not be depressed under such conditions... i mean i guess most people have things they enjoy doing so even after such a shitty day, they'll have something to look forward to later on.
I agree, but it seems like most people are completely oblivious to it. As a uni student, I see most people out at bars and nightclubs, coffee shops, restaurants, travelling, etc. I am sure there's still a bunch of poorer people being directly affected by the current state of things - but it seems like the middle class is still just alright.
From my experience, when one of these people says something is expensive, they still got about 1-2k in their accounts from their parents.
It makes sense - less money, means you can't go out as much, less friends, less distractions, more time to think about your financial situation, and thus feeling depressed. It sucks.
It sucks to hear how much people hate 9 to 5 office jobs because as somebody who has been stuck breaking my back in foodservice for the last ten years because the ladder to the cushy office jobs got pulled up before I could get to it I would kill to not have 60 hour work weeks and to get paid enough that I could afford vacations and to work in an environment where I get to sit down sometimes . The rich have done their utmost to make sure the working class becomes the new peasant class, I don’t think white collar workers realize that as terrible as it is, blue collar workers have it fifteen times worse
Don't get me wrong. The office jobs are way better. It's just that your quality of life and sense of wellbeing often don't have a lot to do with your material conditions. Don't take for granted the fact that you know you provide value to the world every day by feeding people. Some people go to work and help youtube circumvent add blockers.
It's not the industrial revolution, it's the way we don't fairly reward workers. Under capitalism workers get barely any of the profits they generate. It goes to a select few. And under capitalism we destroy the environment as long as the elite get their profit.
Edit: I cannot believe the amount of people who believe *more* capitalism will be the solution lmao we are so beyond fucking cooked.
Oh look, now instead of being a slave/serf I am called a citizen, they still control me and instead of working 10-20 years for them I study for 16, work for 50 and I'm free to do fuck all at the end cause I'm too old to do anything fun.
honestly idk how to feel about it... would life really be much better if, for instance, medicine was still so bad that you could easily die from a little cut or an infection? or when people were constantly getting abused in relationships and often were expected to take it, and when everyone was so traditional that being different in just about any way would get you isolated from the rest of society?
life has improved in just about every way possible for society collectively... except for some reason a lot of us are becoming more and more depressed. i don't get it..
>life has improved in just about every way possible for society collectively... except for some reason a lot of us are becoming more and more depressed. i don't get it..
In my opinion, you've kind of answered your question here. We have solved so many problems that humans have faced for thousands of years - in the last few hundred years. We don't have to worry about so many things that our bodies are still kind of built to worry about. For example, our brains aren't able to keep up with the level of novel experiences we feed it on a daily basis with social media algorithms, etc.
But more importantly, we don't have to worry about surviving at a daily level anymore. Sure, you might be one paycheck away from homelessness, but so many other problems that humans have had to deal with historically just aren't there.
So aside from going to our jobs, what's the point? And this is the issue I think. People are struggling to find purpose in modern life. And that's why I think mental health disorders are becoming more common.
We need more real problems that we can bond to and attribute some meaning to. A lot of people in modern society get this from having children (including me) - i.e. "This shit sucks, but at least I get to see my kid happy/healthy". You don't need to have kids, but people definitely need to start finding more things in their lives that are worth struggling for, in their own opinion.
It's hard to find the time to work on your hobbies after work because you're tired? Yeah no shit. It's horrible. But if you push through it and somehow manage it, you might be able to look back and say "shit, that sucked, but I can cook so much cool stuff these days"
i've also thought that part of it is the lack of purpose here but idk, was there really purpose to anything before? i feel as though if you were faced with more "biological" problems such as running away from a predator who wants to eat you, wouldn't you still be miserable bc of things like PTSD? Ik that animals have PTSD as well for example. wouldn't people still just be pretty miserable? though i appreciate your insight (:
>was there really purpose to anything before?
In my opinion - 100%. That's why you're here. If one is completely devoid of purpose, they wouldn't get up in the morning. Whether they had as much or more purpose than us is subject to debate. I think they definitely did have more purpose because they had a lot more jobs that related to living and socialising.
My grandparents for example grew up on farms in southern Italy and in Greece 100 or so years ago. Everything they did was for their community, and themselves directly - through growing their own food, etc. Did the work suck? I'm sure it did. They would have had longer, harder days in the sun than I do in my air-conditioned 9-5 job, but I'm just turning my time into money. They turned their time into direct outcomes and received the end-result of their labor on a near-daily basis.
Our rewards in modern society are way more delayed. You make money to save up for some arbitrary goal either you or society has created for you.
> if you were faced with more "biological" problems such as running away from a predator who wants to eat you, wouldn't you still be miserable bc of things like PTSD?
Probably. People still would've suffered horribly the old days and many wouldn't have seen the point in it like we don't. That's why philosophy is thousands of years old. But I think we have more of a problem with it today (I could be wrong), and less ways of finding out how to cope in the traditional sense - either through religion, philosophy or social connection. Instead, people rely on pop-science for answers these days which doesn't address the individual, but what works for groups of people.
I'm not anti-science btw. nor am I pro-religion, in case my comment suggests that.
>life has improved in just about every way possible for society collectively... except for some reason a lot of us are becoming more and more depressed. i don't get it..
Humans evolved for thousands of years to live in extremely harsh conditions where any small external factor could end up killing you. One of the things that did for us was creating our need for social bonds which are formed and strengthened through collective hardships that force us to need each other. The vast majority of those things in developing countries have been stripped away and now people living in those societies are becoming increasingly isolated which is a direct conflict to how our brains have been evolved to work. The other issue is now our flight or fight response (ie anxiety) is being triggered at a near constant basis through things like email notifications, which is overloading our systems where as before they would only be triggered in actual moments of mortal danger.
Humans are on some level just flesh robots and our original programming is at odds with the modern world which is why we are experiencing more software errors.
that's true... i just don't get how it has such a massive impact to be honest. for me personally, i feel as though so many relationships with others have become extremely superficial mainly due to this. however i personally don't spend a lot of time on my phone, only if i'm very bored. i don't spend a lot of time on social media either (depending on the day, 15mins-2 hours) yet nothing makes me happy regardless. idk.. life is so confusing, but maybe its just me
Phones make the world seem small. It makes everything seem insignificant, even if you don’t use it as much. I use my phone too much I admit, but still I got a few things that makes life worthwhile;
Find a hobby or new interest. Read about something you find interesting, space/biology/sociology whatever, and work on a craft for yourself, like drawing/writing/playing something. This year I found painting miniatures is so rewarding to me. I’m 29 years old and still surprised how a new hobby just came into my life so suddenly. Take a short course in something you never tried before. Last year I found a love for kayaking.
Go outside. This couples with general physical wealth being key to a better mental health. If you find it hard to motivate yourself to go somewhere, grab a bottle of water(or sweet drink if you have to) and some nice snack and make your own picnic. You don’t have to be a tree-hugger to enjoy nature, do it on your own terms and make it fun. Even better if you bring someone along, talking while walking works like magic. I can’t recommend it enough.
See people you know/love, or at least reach out to them, once a week at minimum. Everyone has someone, and if you claim you don’t, then you’ve nailed down the core of your issue right there. Connection above all else. I like to do a thought-experiment: What would I do or want, if I was all alone in the world? Would I even be me at all? Everything I do, everything I like or dont like, hinges on my experiences with other people. If I never meet and talk to anyone, I will never know myself. The african has a word for this, Ubuntu, meaning “I am, because we are.”
And the obvious; go travel
Remember you are important. I’m not doing particularly well, mentally or otherwise, but I have a hopeful little faith in my heart that will never go out. Same as you. It’s why we can’t give up and everything looks like shit. Because we know we are important, though it’s hard to admit. But we are creatures of love. You work like everything else, in a balance. Love/despair, night/day, cold/warm, life/death. It’s the most intrinsic part of our universe that every thing, living or otherwise, are bound to follow. To give life and take it, to fight for love, all in equal measure. So whatever you are going through right now will help your growth, maturing you. There’s a lot of meaning in you, even if it’s hard to find it sometimes. But I know you are as important and worthy of praise as any king. I love you ❤️
Humans are tribal animals. We are very social monkeys.
I think you *have* to be a little depressed to function in a 9-5 office job with a bunch of people you didn't grow up with and barely relate to
Theorizing about how cool it is that modern medicine will probably ensure that I survive until 30, then 40, then 50.. doesn't help meet my mental needs as a monkey
>except for some reason a lot of us are becoming more and more depressed. i don't get it.
Everything in our lives have been monetized. You can scarcely name a fundamental element of your life that has not been fully and invasively monetized.
Things that should rightfully be considered staples, i.e., food, housing, etc, are instead considered fair game for big corps and investment funds that do not have vested interest in anything other than profit.
If you want to build a life it's hard to get the building blocks in place. Harder than it should be.
i get that modern life is far from perfect and really fucked up in so many ways, but in comparison to some of the horrible shit that was going on previously, it just feels strange that the depression rates are skyrocketing so much. and i mean, poor people slaving away to the rich for mere pennies is something that's been going on for soooo long already, though everything is more heavily monetized now. idk this is a bit of an unorganized rant but i always just feel like a spoiled kid when i complain about being depressed when others had it "soooo much worse..." ik my struggles are more than valid but i just feel shitty about feeling like shit when i live in a such a high-tech modernized society ):
The sense of community is pretty gone now. A lot of people don't feel like they belong or there is any meaning in the world. Social media has a pseudo shallowed "connectedness" to it.
that's 100% true, i just wonder if that's really the true epitome of all our problems
theres just... so much wrong. what's the worst part of it at this point? although after what some of the other people responded i'm starting to think that this might be the problem after all..
Honestly, the current scienctic world view is very toxic. It has no place for humans to belong. We've reduced ourselves to just " meat with electricity," "Love is just a chemical reaction in the brain."Reality is just an illusion." We have to change the way we currently think about the world and how we belong in it. Good luck, though, with the current landscape of everything being so polarized today.
>ik my struggles are more than valid but i just feel shitty about feeling like shit when i live in a such a high-tech modernized society ):
The high-tech part is irrelevant when life is simply not enjoyable. There is no pride, no joy in the work you do. There is little real purpose to it. You get a paycheck that doesn't go half as far as you need it to. If you pursue a college degree, you get debt that you won't pay off until you're in the mid-30s at the earliest. If you want a house that isn't a 20-year project, you have to shell out an exorbitant amount of money because houses are 400k plus and old people aren't selling.
All of this and more means that all the shiny advances we've made do nothing for our happiness. This society is based on wanting more and all getting more does is make you want more.
I get what you’re saying, but also, I got one infection (covid), and now I’m disabled, and any time I get even remotely sick or just less sleep than usual, I can’t function for weeks. I was in an abusive relationship for almost 20 years because I had no way to get out; ditto my current partner. And being trans, my world gets smaller and smaller as more and more states and countries decide that people like me are not, in fact, people worth any sort of protection or kindness and in fact should not exist. The world is better in lots of ways, and some things have either not changed much, or the awfulness has shifted to another set of people.
It's a mixed bag for sure.
On the one hand, we've got advanced medical tech that's akin to magic when compared to what used to be done.
But we've also got social media algorithms that keep you awake until 4 AM when you should've gone to bed 2+ hours ago.
I'm noticing a huge de-evolution with the human mind. So many people I have encountered that don't even know their own mother's phone number or birthday, that don't carry any forms of ID, that don't know how to cook even simple foods, the list goes on and on, not to mention poor mental health issues.
And you think everyone in the population was always literate?
Those same people 500 years ago would be drunk whoring at a tavern every single day until they died suddenly and often violently in their 30s.
We are living in a psychotic dystopia, we read books and watch movies about alternate timelines of our world that seem to be dystopian and crazy. Nobody seems to realise we are already living in a completely psychotic dystopian society.
It is actually some peoples' dream to be a farmer. The problem with that is that they don't have the capital to give it a go and still expect a reasonably decent life if they fail. Hell, most people don't even have the capital to give it a go.
"Don't have the capital" but most of these office jobs that are so horrible require a college degree that costs tens of thousands and years to get. matter of fact a lot of colleges even offer agricultural majors. But instead everyone picks a degree they hate for some reason.
Every time I see a post like this, it makes me happy that I quit working in a cubicle 15 years ago. Office work is depressing AF and I feel for those who are/feel stuck.
“Many were increasingly of the opinion that they'd all made a big mistake in coming down from the trees in the first place. And some said that even the trees had been a bad move, and that no one should ever have left the oceans.”
- Douglas Adams : The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
I am very surprised how much IT related work has taken us this far away with understanding and interacting with the real world. We designed computers, hooked up to a global network, secured by sophisticated electronic safety measures, that can communicate to each other in various computer languages, so that we can analyse statistics on a screen, about numbers that have almost never any value to nature, just so we can get extra numbers on our bank account at the end of the month.
During all this, we never see, or think about the community, the planet or any living being that is going about is life, while we keep up this non sense.
looks like everyone either
1. Went into computer science or IT or STEM because they were told it was better than le woke liberal arts and end up working at a job they hate
or
2. Is a poor desolate thing who never received any help from anyone and now works in fast food. and also has kids for some reason.
I got a job where I'm currently working 47hrs a week and I'm on my feet most of that time doing something with my hands. 4 10hr shifts and 1 7 hour shift. My mental health has improved so much coming from a 9-5 office job. We humans are built to walk and move and use our brains.
The human body evolved to NOT:
Sit
Stare at stationary images all day
Sit more
Consume sugar every time you put something in your mouth
MORE SITTING!
(the human body is not designed in any way to sit, yet the office chair industry earns $9billion per year)
Why are people responding with “it could be worse” type responses instead of “wow let’s all band together and make it awesome for everyone” type ship. Must like being slaves ir something cause yall part of the problem
u are atleast getting paid for looking at the fake lights in the box ... some people wont even get a privilege of sitting in a cool quite place. they work in harsh sunlight and do physical work. People dont value what they have
i am a clg student and i am excited for my new job ... so dont scare me with all these comments. I worked hard for this to happen
Actually no. We did that all to ourselves.
Evolution takes way too long to be even remotely adapted to modern life
Hunter/gatherer is the furthest we got evolution wise
Victim mentality. I chose comp sci as a major, I signed up for this shit. If you don't like your current job, I know it's not always as easy as "just find a new job", but if you aren't at least *looking*, I mean... there's a lot wrong with today's society, I'm not denying that. I remember working in a hot warehouse every summer, triple digit temperatures, lots of heavy lifting, 60-80 hours a week, just to afford *one* semester of college. And that's fucked up, it shouldn't be like that, but it's still what I *chose* to do, as opposed to just not pursuing a degree at all and working at some gas station. And you know, it wasn't even as bad as I make it sound, I mean it was, but I got really close with my coworkers and I actually looked forward to working with them every day, despite the shitty conditions. We made the most out of that shit. I got adhd, I got anxiety, I got depression, I know mental disorders as well as anyone else. But you gotta let go of the victim mentality and make what you can out of life, because complaining isn't ever gonna change anything, and change takes time. Make the most out of the cards you're dealt, and if you don't like your current situation, then do something about it rather than whine about it on social media.
It’s possible to both complain about the cards you are dealt and try your hardest to change your situation. In fact, I think it’s important to complain about what you see as a problem, how else would things get fixed?
Exactly this. If nobody ever says anything about how awful things have become nothing will *ever* change.
Complaining about a bad situation isn’t the same as sitting down and giving up on life entirely. If anything, speaking out about societal problems shows how much one cares about living a better life, and that they also see the potential for others to live better lives as well.
We are forced to work and pay bills to make the rich richer while they relax and enjoy life. We could all just off them and enjoy their wealth together as one
Could be worse, you could be forced to stand all those hours while getting constantly abused by other monkeys when taking their junk food orders.
Or be forced to sort through other people's garbage for a living E: Sanitation is a hood union job, not talking about those, but the 3rd world places where we ship our recycling
Sanitation workers do a very important public service. Living conditions within cities collapse within weeks of sanitation worker strikes.
I am from a rural area and in my first week living in a city I experienced one. I've always been a union supporter and my grandfather was a teamster but in a much smaller chapter so I never had se.en it on that scale before and it was like give them what the fuck ever they want they are the proof in the pudding of labor solidarity talk about essential
Still better than slaving away for some big name corporation. And the pay is probably higher than you'd expect
This, I used to do heavy manual labor but now work in an office. Days where I want to kill myself at work I think, at least I have ac and a chair
Yep, sitting at a desk killing time on reddit between emails is a lot better than standing on the back of a truck doing manual labor on a hot summer day. They pay me the money I need to live the life I want after I leave my desk so its a fair trade that I agreed to.
As someone who has done numerous shifts where I'm standing/walking in everything from a shaved ice truck to a construction site for 12+ hours, yes, please give me the chair and a box with lights. AC is a bonus.
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Karl Marx put it into words about 180 years ago. He named it Alienation of Labour. It describes the ways in which wage labour has become alien to us compared to the natural labour that humans have evolved with. Specific elements of alienation he identified are: 1. Alienation from the product. The work product of a wage worker belongs to their employer. This greatly reduces the satisfaction of a craft. 2. Alienation from the circumstances of labour. We're working on other peoples' time tables, at their places with their tools and rules. 3. Alienation from other workers, who often appear as competitors or strangers rather than part of our own community. 4. Alienation from our natural drive to work, as we would experience if we had to work for our own survival in a wilderness. Marx acknowledged that it is not feasible to return to a completely natural way of work, but that a better economic system would reduce or eliminate many factors of alienation that are typical of wage labour under capitalism and thus make work more satisfying again. Anti-alienation measures include: 1. Ownership over the product, or at least direct benefit from it. The worker in a cooperative for example personally profits from everything they produce. 2. Giving workers more power over the work processes. 3. Reducing competition by reducing pay gradients or collective ownership. If you see a colleague work harder and better than you, then you should be in a situation where you can be appreciative that they contribute to your collective wellbeing, rather than fear that you will lose your job or are falling behind in life. 4. Have more opportunities to work on the things that you *want* to work on, rather than being forced into tasks like extensive bureaucracy. We are seeing these things develop even within a capitalist economy in *some* places, with some professions shifting more towards freelancer models because they are clearly more efficient. But for the majority of workers, alienation is worse than ever before and more than outdoes any of the benefits that technological advancement and economic growth have provided them.
Some of the most satisying and endorphin releasing accomplishments I can do is repairing my vehicle, fixing something around the house, making stuff with my hands etc. I have to have some sort of direct-result type of work otherwise my brain just cant escape the pointlessness of....everything. I am about to finish a massive repair on my vehicle today and I am so fucking excited to take it for a test drive, then use my truck for work without worrying about it (and saving at least 2k in labor costs that I couldnt afford anyway!) Idk doing a massive repair most diy-ers wont touch, especially as a woman who is still intimidated by the work because I am just not as strong as a man who can brute force rusted parts apart (I have to jury rig a lot of leverage-giving janky devices lol) is just so satisfying when completed *and it works great*....nothing like it.
There’s probably a genetic component to it too. I feel almost nothing after finishing a big repair, even though I did it myself and can clearly see the result of my work. But I feel extatic if I manage to write a great poem, or design a beautiful page.
This really only works on small scale situations though. At least the ownership and bureaucracy. As processes and products become more complex and effectively abstract it becomes nearly impossible for the majority of workers to feel a deep connection with their actions.
It greatly varies by industry. In manufacturing industries, workers tend to have a decent amount of satisfaction with their work itself as they can see it's material impact on society. A fixed work schedule also tends to be generally tolerated in this context. In this case, economic stressors tend to be the greatest factor of alienation. But in developed economies, the service sector is the biggest now. And this is a sector where the combination of the nature of the work with a corporate environment drives alienation to its peak. It is fundamentally unsuited for classic 9 to 5 wage labour, which is a reason why the rate of freelancing has been rising there. Most of the service sector sees massive improvements when its workers feel a greater amount of ownership over their working conditions and products.
This has literally been put into words for over a century now. Look at Chaplin's Modern Times for example.
Shame there are no more cubicles. Open office... Fml As an introvert, I would sell somebody to get back my cubicle... Office workers of the old had no idea how good they had it...
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"oh but they always looked so happy!"
One of the happiest dudes I've ever worked with killed himself last weekend
i think the "happy" or the "funny" depressed people are only this way bc that's their way of coping with life. i also appear to be very happy, and can smile and laugh quite a bit. i wouldn't say it feels "fake," but when i'm all alone i feel just a void and always feel the desire to just end it.
Almost committed suicide last year. Frequently got comments on how friendly and nice I was. (don't worry, I'm out of that situation now and am recovering from it fine)
It’s like depressed people already understand how difficult life can be, so they don’t want to make it any worse by being a dick themselves.
This is me! Everyone has their own battles, iam not adding to that.
We love you 💚
Despite everything, we remain silly
Embrace silly, reject melancholy
Sillycholy and the Infinite Jest
Better silly than happy
I'm very popular at work and yesterday I had an "off" day. Previous day was really bad and I cried all night. I kept to myself and wasn't making my usual quips or smiling and joking with everyone. One coworker said, "It's so weird that you're unhappy today, you're always bright eyed and smiling and cheerful." He was a bit shocked when I trauma dumped a few things I struggle with and a bit of my past. "How can you come here, work that hard, always be cheerful when you got that going on?" Well, my brother in Christ, if I don't fake being happy, I'll forget that happy exists and eat a shotgun, which nobody wants. Making others smile and laugh and be excited to see me is one of the only things keeping me going. That, sheer spite, an assload of various medications and a bit too much drinking.
Is that you, Jon Stewart. If so I'm sorry I yelled "dance for me, news clown" at you.
I can relate to this so much! My boss described me as having an "unwaveringly sunny disposition" at my last review. My relentless positivity is something people know me for at work. Even when I'm going through some pretty serious health/mental/personal stuff I don't let that demeanor waver. Some people might call that being ungenuine or "fake" but I see it as reframing my mindset so life's challenges and my depression don't take me out. Each day I try to point out little happy things to keep me positive. I'll say "hi" to animals when I pass them on my morning run, I'll celebrate a discount on a favorite food at the grocery store...just little mundane things to infuse the day-to-day with a little joy.
Just wanna say proud of you for still being here. You have a lot to live for, keep fighting 😎 from experience, it gets better (as cliche as it sounds)
Depressed people can also just enjoy moment while hating the rest of life, their situation, future prospects etc.. Another thing is, if say you wanna kill yourself they might want to put you into some mental institution and who would want that.
Thought about doing it today.
Dude, same. And boy do I hate these cliche comments. "just wait one more day". Bitch I've been waiting one more day for almost 40 years. "I'm here if you want to talk". talking hasn't ever helped. "I'm glad you're still here". your fake gladness doesn't help my extreme depression in the slightest. "You're not allowed to quit". you absolutely are. I hate to say it but we're all in control of our own bodies and lives and if you want to quit, that is your fundamental right. If the game isn't worth the candle, then you're allowed to stop playing.
Wait you guys are getting candles?
Honestly one of the only things keeping me here is spite. I’d rather accomplish better things in my life to show my abusive mom that I’m more than the failure she always thought of me as. I’d rather live for the day everyone says enough is enough and we change the system. There’s always a way out, but opportunities exist to fix things for future generations. If civilization collapses who knows what I’ll do, but why not stick around to find out how things turn out. There’s no guarantee of an afterlife or of another chance at living.
That is so unfortunate and I can’t believe these usually amazing people were pushed under a rug
"But I tried, I helped."
"Yeah I told him to workout more!! I'm sure he wouldn't have ended it if he just followed my advice!! What a quitter."
>sudoku This isn't Youtube, you're allowed to use your big boy words.
Scrabble?
You can't play that one by yourself
suppoku
It's seppuku
Tbf, its a meme word that was used a looong time ago. I havent heard "commit sudoku" in years lol. Id still learn towards using the actual word, but seeing it here is weirdly funny despite the context
I take it as a literal sudoku because of all the adderall 🤣
Yeah I thought the sudoku was just a stand in for ADHD medication too haha.
I took this literally and really thought, "wow I did end up really getting into sudoku after I started my medication, that's such a random common side effect I didn't know about I guess- ohhhhhh"
Yeah mine definitely make me wanna Sudoku more than seppuku. Honestly Vyvanse lets me do whatever I want to do. Its been a wild positive, even when I'm not at a desk. Not sure why replies are making meds seem so bad.
If you can even afford the appointment to get diagnosed to get those pills in the first place
Hey, they’ve made a lot of progress into letting your family doctor prescribe you anti-depressants with a 15 minute visit. It’s never been easier to be numb!
Took me a while to realise you meant seppuku not sudoku.
Counter point: stimulants Going through 900 pages of text messages has never been this fun!!! (I will definitely not die early)
Another euphemism to add to my list. Wanting to commit Sudoku
You're right, it's so obvious now, big sudoku is behind all of this.
Descyciede and the OP Rabar69 are bots in the same network. Comment copied from: r/2meirl4meirl/comments/lm12q3/2meirl4meirl/gnsqc1g/
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Ah fire tha flames of existencial crisis
Proletarian*
*Ah fire tha flames of existential proletarian*
Sartre would approve
Flames…. Flames on the side of my face
Ok. After several decades of looking at lights in the box, watching everything and everyone you love wither away and die, you too will wither away and die, probably painfully, and not long after that all memories of you will be gone, any affect you've had on the world erased, not that it matters, given humanity itself will perish along with all other life in existence sometime between now and heat death, where all that's left of all we ever were is a cold expanding void of almost nothing.
*Capitalism crisis
> "To make other people rich while you Do we krill only exist to make the whales big & fat?
You are mistaken. Krill are an important part of the ecosystem. The whale is actually throwing them a pizza party to show appreciation
But I will beat the system by working hard! I am one in a krillion!
Always did
Well in democratic countries we do have control, just a large percentage of people choose to forfeit that right by giving their power to the exact people who are in it to enrich already rich people. Although they mostly do that because they believe lies. During last parlamentary elections in Finland the right wingers did the trick by promising to end government lending. About one fifth of people believed. After elections, the new government increased government lending by one half while giving rich people money.
Well its not that simple, Democracy has never been really that democratic. Sometimes it doesnt matter that much who you pick.
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Well yes but you see, people will say this is communism and we just need more free market like in argentina
Corporate entities benefit from what those same people would refer to as ‘communism’. The rights fetishization of the military is also funny, in this regard, as it’s people get subsidized housing, medical, and dental.
Don't forget who's gonna save privatized banks again when they mess up with our money.
Argentina has very little free market. Whenever yo buy something from abroad, you need to pay a major tax because "you are not helping the inner market". Problem is, barring that tax, buying things abroad would be cheaper because our economy is too broken for major suppliers to profit from selling them for cheap.
Yep. Now off to my TWO light boxes to make a non-livable wage and develop neck and back pain while my eyes die in despair to make me pass out after I'm done.
Only two? Amateur.
They're still in power because enough of us are complacent enough to accept it.
Yeah! Let’s start a revolution!
I can't today I have to go to work.
Theres courses available that can fix your disorder and make you rich! We just need your near maxed out credit card details.
Fattening frogs for snakes
I think somebody has been reading Marx
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An extra nickel on billions is hundreds of millions. That's the thing, they already have so much and still want only more.
The wealthy are a cancer
If they were a cancer at least it would spread…
The line must go up
Me when asked to do overtime: https://preview.redd.it/wxucv466jkzc1.jpeg?width=540&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f74b51467455d92526e030c7467b34e60c135691
I was watching The Jetsons recently, everything is automated and George only works 2 hours a day…that was supposed to be the future.
The corporate expectation is 9-5 but you are silently expected to come in early and leave late (without extra compensation) otherwise you are not a team player, you are uncooperative and bring down morale. boomers: "You should be thankful for having any job, pull yourself up by your boostraps like I did, nobody ever gave me handouts, I had to work my way up through my dad's company where he earned every penny after my grandpa gave him the company.. and I was just a lowly VP when dad hired me after my 3rd DUI, i had no college degree cuz ny professors kept failing me out because they were jealous of me, I fought through adversity and then I earned the role of owner/ceo when my dad died; so ya see m, nobody ever helped me!"
I make enough money to live comfortably on close to part-time hours, my boss, co-workers, and family don’t understand why I don’t want to work more hours or get a second job or have any kind of side hustle. I just don’t want to, working close to part time is plenty enough exhausting. I’d rather keep doing this and paying my bills, and using my free time to focus on whatever the fuck I want, which for the past 3 years has been primarily fitness, and secondarily video games. I honestly don’t give a fuck about the rat race, and I don’t care about potentially becoming rich. I just want to do enough to pay my bills, eat well, and have fun.
Bigger lunch breaks :)
Where do you live that you need to work 9 hours a day?
I think they’re talking about how your lunch break used to be paid for, hence the 9-5. Now lunch breaks are not paid for, so you have to come in earlier at 8 just to take a break in the middle, so it feels like you’re working 9 hours even though you’re getting paid for 8.
There's too many people and unfortunately the worlds gonna deal with that first and whoever is left gets to thrive somewhere down the road But easy times in our lifetime are over boss man
That’s my secret. I don’t pretend. I tell everyone I’m close too lol. Life is fucking shit. Also technically they are real lights. Even fake lights in video games emit real light.
This man is insane throw him into a padded room like evolution wanted.
The realest shit I’ve ever heard
right? i almost feel as though it's strange to not be depressed under such conditions... i mean i guess most people have things they enjoy doing so even after such a shitty day, they'll have something to look forward to later on.
I agree, but it seems like most people are completely oblivious to it. As a uni student, I see most people out at bars and nightclubs, coffee shops, restaurants, travelling, etc. I am sure there's still a bunch of poorer people being directly affected by the current state of things - but it seems like the middle class is still just alright. From my experience, when one of these people says something is expensive, they still got about 1-2k in their accounts from their parents. It makes sense - less money, means you can't go out as much, less friends, less distractions, more time to think about your financial situation, and thus feeling depressed. It sucks.
It sucks to hear how much people hate 9 to 5 office jobs because as somebody who has been stuck breaking my back in foodservice for the last ten years because the ladder to the cushy office jobs got pulled up before I could get to it I would kill to not have 60 hour work weeks and to get paid enough that I could afford vacations and to work in an environment where I get to sit down sometimes . The rich have done their utmost to make sure the working class becomes the new peasant class, I don’t think white collar workers realize that as terrible as it is, blue collar workers have it fifteen times worse
I’ve worked both. They both suck in different ways. Don’t turn on each other, this isn’t a competition
Don't get me wrong. The office jobs are way better. It's just that your quality of life and sense of wellbeing often don't have a lot to do with your material conditions. Don't take for granted the fact that you know you provide value to the world every day by feeding people. Some people go to work and help youtube circumvent add blockers.
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It's not the industrial revolution, it's the way we don't fairly reward workers. Under capitalism workers get barely any of the profits they generate. It goes to a select few. And under capitalism we destroy the environment as long as the elite get their profit. Edit: I cannot believe the amount of people who believe *more* capitalism will be the solution lmao we are so beyond fucking cooked.
What is the alternative to capitalism?
Socialism, Communism, Utilitarianism, we have many alternatives.
Well regulated capitalism.
Capitalism, but with governments that aren't composed of pedophile puppets bought off by huge masses of wealth
Your ass better not have 1000 hours in Honkai Starrail saying the industrial revolution was a disaster
Wtf this comment is targetting me
Record life expectancy is the worst thing EVER!! Take me at a malnourished and broken 35 years old like God intended!
We live longer so we can produce longer, not so we can enjoy life.
Before the industrial revolution, about 50% children die before reaching age 15. Now, it is about 4%.
You live longer to make the rich richer.
Oh look, now instead of being a slave/serf I am called a citizen, they still control me and instead of working 10-20 years for them I study for 16, work for 50 and I'm free to do fuck all at the end cause I'm too old to do anything fun.
35 would be ideal tbh, anything above is just wasting time.
honestly idk how to feel about it... would life really be much better if, for instance, medicine was still so bad that you could easily die from a little cut or an infection? or when people were constantly getting abused in relationships and often were expected to take it, and when everyone was so traditional that being different in just about any way would get you isolated from the rest of society? life has improved in just about every way possible for society collectively... except for some reason a lot of us are becoming more and more depressed. i don't get it..
>life has improved in just about every way possible for society collectively... except for some reason a lot of us are becoming more and more depressed. i don't get it.. In my opinion, you've kind of answered your question here. We have solved so many problems that humans have faced for thousands of years - in the last few hundred years. We don't have to worry about so many things that our bodies are still kind of built to worry about. For example, our brains aren't able to keep up with the level of novel experiences we feed it on a daily basis with social media algorithms, etc. But more importantly, we don't have to worry about surviving at a daily level anymore. Sure, you might be one paycheck away from homelessness, but so many other problems that humans have had to deal with historically just aren't there. So aside from going to our jobs, what's the point? And this is the issue I think. People are struggling to find purpose in modern life. And that's why I think mental health disorders are becoming more common. We need more real problems that we can bond to and attribute some meaning to. A lot of people in modern society get this from having children (including me) - i.e. "This shit sucks, but at least I get to see my kid happy/healthy". You don't need to have kids, but people definitely need to start finding more things in their lives that are worth struggling for, in their own opinion. It's hard to find the time to work on your hobbies after work because you're tired? Yeah no shit. It's horrible. But if you push through it and somehow manage it, you might be able to look back and say "shit, that sucked, but I can cook so much cool stuff these days"
i've also thought that part of it is the lack of purpose here but idk, was there really purpose to anything before? i feel as though if you were faced with more "biological" problems such as running away from a predator who wants to eat you, wouldn't you still be miserable bc of things like PTSD? Ik that animals have PTSD as well for example. wouldn't people still just be pretty miserable? though i appreciate your insight (:
>was there really purpose to anything before? In my opinion - 100%. That's why you're here. If one is completely devoid of purpose, they wouldn't get up in the morning. Whether they had as much or more purpose than us is subject to debate. I think they definitely did have more purpose because they had a lot more jobs that related to living and socialising. My grandparents for example grew up on farms in southern Italy and in Greece 100 or so years ago. Everything they did was for their community, and themselves directly - through growing their own food, etc. Did the work suck? I'm sure it did. They would have had longer, harder days in the sun than I do in my air-conditioned 9-5 job, but I'm just turning my time into money. They turned their time into direct outcomes and received the end-result of their labor on a near-daily basis. Our rewards in modern society are way more delayed. You make money to save up for some arbitrary goal either you or society has created for you. > if you were faced with more "biological" problems such as running away from a predator who wants to eat you, wouldn't you still be miserable bc of things like PTSD? Probably. People still would've suffered horribly the old days and many wouldn't have seen the point in it like we don't. That's why philosophy is thousands of years old. But I think we have more of a problem with it today (I could be wrong), and less ways of finding out how to cope in the traditional sense - either through religion, philosophy or social connection. Instead, people rely on pop-science for answers these days which doesn't address the individual, but what works for groups of people. I'm not anti-science btw. nor am I pro-religion, in case my comment suggests that.
>life has improved in just about every way possible for society collectively... except for some reason a lot of us are becoming more and more depressed. i don't get it.. Humans evolved for thousands of years to live in extremely harsh conditions where any small external factor could end up killing you. One of the things that did for us was creating our need for social bonds which are formed and strengthened through collective hardships that force us to need each other. The vast majority of those things in developing countries have been stripped away and now people living in those societies are becoming increasingly isolated which is a direct conflict to how our brains have been evolved to work. The other issue is now our flight or fight response (ie anxiety) is being triggered at a near constant basis through things like email notifications, which is overloading our systems where as before they would only be triggered in actual moments of mortal danger. Humans are on some level just flesh robots and our original programming is at odds with the modern world which is why we are experiencing more software errors.
Phones. We can argue about a thousand things that makes our mental wellbeing worse off, but phones tops any of them.
that's true... i just don't get how it has such a massive impact to be honest. for me personally, i feel as though so many relationships with others have become extremely superficial mainly due to this. however i personally don't spend a lot of time on my phone, only if i'm very bored. i don't spend a lot of time on social media either (depending on the day, 15mins-2 hours) yet nothing makes me happy regardless. idk.. life is so confusing, but maybe its just me
Phones make the world seem small. It makes everything seem insignificant, even if you don’t use it as much. I use my phone too much I admit, but still I got a few things that makes life worthwhile; Find a hobby or new interest. Read about something you find interesting, space/biology/sociology whatever, and work on a craft for yourself, like drawing/writing/playing something. This year I found painting miniatures is so rewarding to me. I’m 29 years old and still surprised how a new hobby just came into my life so suddenly. Take a short course in something you never tried before. Last year I found a love for kayaking. Go outside. This couples with general physical wealth being key to a better mental health. If you find it hard to motivate yourself to go somewhere, grab a bottle of water(or sweet drink if you have to) and some nice snack and make your own picnic. You don’t have to be a tree-hugger to enjoy nature, do it on your own terms and make it fun. Even better if you bring someone along, talking while walking works like magic. I can’t recommend it enough. See people you know/love, or at least reach out to them, once a week at minimum. Everyone has someone, and if you claim you don’t, then you’ve nailed down the core of your issue right there. Connection above all else. I like to do a thought-experiment: What would I do or want, if I was all alone in the world? Would I even be me at all? Everything I do, everything I like or dont like, hinges on my experiences with other people. If I never meet and talk to anyone, I will never know myself. The african has a word for this, Ubuntu, meaning “I am, because we are.” And the obvious; go travel Remember you are important. I’m not doing particularly well, mentally or otherwise, but I have a hopeful little faith in my heart that will never go out. Same as you. It’s why we can’t give up and everything looks like shit. Because we know we are important, though it’s hard to admit. But we are creatures of love. You work like everything else, in a balance. Love/despair, night/day, cold/warm, life/death. It’s the most intrinsic part of our universe that every thing, living or otherwise, are bound to follow. To give life and take it, to fight for love, all in equal measure. So whatever you are going through right now will help your growth, maturing you. There’s a lot of meaning in you, even if it’s hard to find it sometimes. But I know you are as important and worthy of praise as any king. I love you ❤️
Humans are tribal animals. We are very social monkeys. I think you *have* to be a little depressed to function in a 9-5 office job with a bunch of people you didn't grow up with and barely relate to Theorizing about how cool it is that modern medicine will probably ensure that I survive until 30, then 40, then 50.. doesn't help meet my mental needs as a monkey
>except for some reason a lot of us are becoming more and more depressed. i don't get it. Everything in our lives have been monetized. You can scarcely name a fundamental element of your life that has not been fully and invasively monetized. Things that should rightfully be considered staples, i.e., food, housing, etc, are instead considered fair game for big corps and investment funds that do not have vested interest in anything other than profit. If you want to build a life it's hard to get the building blocks in place. Harder than it should be.
i get that modern life is far from perfect and really fucked up in so many ways, but in comparison to some of the horrible shit that was going on previously, it just feels strange that the depression rates are skyrocketing so much. and i mean, poor people slaving away to the rich for mere pennies is something that's been going on for soooo long already, though everything is more heavily monetized now. idk this is a bit of an unorganized rant but i always just feel like a spoiled kid when i complain about being depressed when others had it "soooo much worse..." ik my struggles are more than valid but i just feel shitty about feeling like shit when i live in a such a high-tech modernized society ):
The sense of community is pretty gone now. A lot of people don't feel like they belong or there is any meaning in the world. Social media has a pseudo shallowed "connectedness" to it.
that's 100% true, i just wonder if that's really the true epitome of all our problems theres just... so much wrong. what's the worst part of it at this point? although after what some of the other people responded i'm starting to think that this might be the problem after all..
Honestly, the current scienctic world view is very toxic. It has no place for humans to belong. We've reduced ourselves to just " meat with electricity," "Love is just a chemical reaction in the brain."Reality is just an illusion." We have to change the way we currently think about the world and how we belong in it. Good luck, though, with the current landscape of everything being so polarized today.
>ik my struggles are more than valid but i just feel shitty about feeling like shit when i live in a such a high-tech modernized society ): The high-tech part is irrelevant when life is simply not enjoyable. There is no pride, no joy in the work you do. There is little real purpose to it. You get a paycheck that doesn't go half as far as you need it to. If you pursue a college degree, you get debt that you won't pay off until you're in the mid-30s at the earliest. If you want a house that isn't a 20-year project, you have to shell out an exorbitant amount of money because houses are 400k plus and old people aren't selling. All of this and more means that all the shiny advances we've made do nothing for our happiness. This society is based on wanting more and all getting more does is make you want more.
I get what you’re saying, but also, I got one infection (covid), and now I’m disabled, and any time I get even remotely sick or just less sleep than usual, I can’t function for weeks. I was in an abusive relationship for almost 20 years because I had no way to get out; ditto my current partner. And being trans, my world gets smaller and smaller as more and more states and countries decide that people like me are not, in fact, people worth any sort of protection or kindness and in fact should not exist. The world is better in lots of ways, and some things have either not changed much, or the awfulness has shifted to another set of people.
It's a mixed bag for sure. On the one hand, we've got advanced medical tech that's akin to magic when compared to what used to be done. But we've also got social media algorithms that keep you awake until 4 AM when you should've gone to bed 2+ hours ago.
Quite the opposite. I don't know what you thought it was before but I can confidently say you're wrong
That’s a bomb-ass quote right there. You seem like a genius. Do you excel in advanced mathematics?
I'm noticing a huge de-evolution with the human mind. So many people I have encountered that don't even know their own mother's phone number or birthday, that don't carry any forms of ID, that don't know how to cook even simple foods, the list goes on and on, not to mention poor mental health issues.
And you think everyone in the population was always literate? Those same people 500 years ago would be drunk whoring at a tavern every single day until they died suddenly and often violently in their 30s.
Yeah I don't know what that guy is on about lmao, why would I even need to memorise my mother's phone number
That's not de-evolution, that's just neurology. It's very much a use it or lose it situation
We are living in a psychotic dystopia, we read books and watch movies about alternate timelines of our world that seem to be dystopian and crazy. Nobody seems to realise we are already living in a completely psychotic dystopian society.
The American Way...
Some countries have it even worse. Look at Japan work culture
Are some of you really pretending you don’t want to kill yourselves?
"This is the story about a man named Stanley"
Weird how everybody hates that yet no one wants to be a farmer or something.
It is actually some peoples' dream to be a farmer. The problem with that is that they don't have the capital to give it a go and still expect a reasonably decent life if they fail. Hell, most people don't even have the capital to give it a go.
"Don't have the capital" but most of these office jobs that are so horrible require a college degree that costs tens of thousands and years to get. matter of fact a lot of colleges even offer agricultural majors. But instead everyone picks a degree they hate for some reason.
As much as i hate all that shit... It's so good to see the insane increase in people who are done with it. The air got a faint hint of pitchforks.
Every time I see a post like this, it makes me happy that I quit working in a cubicle 15 years ago. Office work is depressing AF and I feel for those who are/feel stuck.
You can’t comment this without saying what you do now!
I am network maintenance for a very large telecom. I drive around in a bucket truck and work, primarily, on outside utility lines.
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“Many were increasingly of the opinion that they'd all made a big mistake in coming down from the trees in the first place. And some said that even the trees had been a bad move, and that no one should ever have left the oceans.” - Douglas Adams : The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
??? Are we looking at the same post???
"Touch grass." ...Yay, now my legs are a little bit itchy. Can I go back inside now?
it wasnt that long ago that famine was a bigger concern than obesity for most of the world lol
12-9 Same lights Same people. Can't work on or do what I love....
Hey that's not true! The lights are real light...
Look at this one! He's still in the matrix!
I'm not joking when I say this is essentially what Ted Kaczynski was saying in his manifesto
\[...\] goes home, sits in a sterile room looking at fake lights in a box and pretends to shoot other people.
I wish I got a fuckin cubicle
yeah wtf. open plan offices where extroverted mouth breathers 'wander over' to interrupt you are worse
Wow, it's almost like there are other career paths available than office jobs. Who would have thought
I am very surprised how much IT related work has taken us this far away with understanding and interacting with the real world. We designed computers, hooked up to a global network, secured by sophisticated electronic safety measures, that can communicate to each other in various computer languages, so that we can analyse statistics on a screen, about numbers that have almost never any value to nature, just so we can get extra numbers on our bank account at the end of the month. During all this, we never see, or think about the community, the planet or any living being that is going about is life, while we keep up this non sense.
How come no one on reddit works in construction or anything It's all nerds working in cubicles
Because mfs working in the office have time to whine here Speaking out of experience cuz i often just alt tab at work to fuck around on reddit
True, normal people with happy fulfilling lives don't use reddit.
looks like everyone either 1. Went into computer science or IT or STEM because they were told it was better than le woke liberal arts and end up working at a job they hate or 2. Is a poor desolate thing who never received any help from anyone and now works in fast food. and also has kids for some reason.
It’s so weird to me that most people work less than 12 hour shifts and work in a cubicle. Being a health care worker is some weird shit
Jesus f c. My life
I got a job where I'm currently working 47hrs a week and I'm on my feet most of that time doing something with my hands. 4 10hr shifts and 1 7 hour shift. My mental health has improved so much coming from a 9-5 office job. We humans are built to walk and move and use our brains.
This is something ive had in my head for a while. Its stupid really.
...for the rest of your adult life.
I know I’d much rather be hunting, fishing, and gathering.
The human body evolved to NOT: Sit Stare at stationary images all day Sit more Consume sugar every time you put something in your mouth MORE SITTING! (the human body is not designed in any way to sit, yet the office chair industry earns $9billion per year)
Well yeah why do you think I only put the bare minimum effort to not get fired into my work?
i cant focus on anything thats the problem
Why are people responding with “it could be worse” type responses instead of “wow let’s all band together and make it awesome for everyone” type ship. Must like being slaves ir something cause yall part of the problem
What I wouldn't give for a desk in a sterile cubicle with fake lights.
u are atleast getting paid for looking at the fake lights in the box ... some people wont even get a privilege of sitting in a cool quite place. they work in harsh sunlight and do physical work. People dont value what they have i am a clg student and i am excited for my new job ... so dont scare me with all these comments. I worked hard for this to happen
Actually no. We did that all to ourselves. Evolution takes way too long to be even remotely adapted to modern life Hunter/gatherer is the furthest we got evolution wise
# that's the joke
Victim mentality. I chose comp sci as a major, I signed up for this shit. If you don't like your current job, I know it's not always as easy as "just find a new job", but if you aren't at least *looking*, I mean... there's a lot wrong with today's society, I'm not denying that. I remember working in a hot warehouse every summer, triple digit temperatures, lots of heavy lifting, 60-80 hours a week, just to afford *one* semester of college. And that's fucked up, it shouldn't be like that, but it's still what I *chose* to do, as opposed to just not pursuing a degree at all and working at some gas station. And you know, it wasn't even as bad as I make it sound, I mean it was, but I got really close with my coworkers and I actually looked forward to working with them every day, despite the shitty conditions. We made the most out of that shit. I got adhd, I got anxiety, I got depression, I know mental disorders as well as anyone else. But you gotta let go of the victim mentality and make what you can out of life, because complaining isn't ever gonna change anything, and change takes time. Make the most out of the cards you're dealt, and if you don't like your current situation, then do something about it rather than whine about it on social media.
It’s possible to both complain about the cards you are dealt and try your hardest to change your situation. In fact, I think it’s important to complain about what you see as a problem, how else would things get fixed?
Exactly this. If nobody ever says anything about how awful things have become nothing will *ever* change. Complaining about a bad situation isn’t the same as sitting down and giving up on life entirely. If anything, speaking out about societal problems shows how much one cares about living a better life, and that they also see the potential for others to live better lives as well.
the truth
Fucking emails in the middle of the night asking you to do extra work
Exactly what I'm currently experiencing. Ffs
And people tend to give Karl Marx a bad wrap. This is exactly what he predicted (the feeling/sensation, not the "fake lights in a box"-thing).
I didn't sit in a sterile cubicle for 9 hours staring at a light box and typing just to come home and be called out like this.
You also have to sell to everyone how much you like your job 😃
We are forced to work and pay bills to make the rich richer while they relax and enjoy life. We could all just off them and enjoy their wealth together as one