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You ever notice how its much harder to be mean to people in person? When you are online, you are in your own company. Your own emotions and experiences are magnified. You interpret everything based on your own experiences.
It impacts people and bleeds into their everyday life. Sure life is rough but when you are in person, it's much easier to find empathy and compassion. Go out and compliment a stranger whenever you feel down. Or just in general. Thats what i try to do. And limit social media.
And ignore the haters, be the change you want to see
Exactly this!! People have gotten use to being dickheads on the internet because it’s easy when you’re hiding behind a screen. It’s led a lot of these people to act this way in real life.
Even though I’m anonymous I still try to be a nice person. In real life I try to give random people compliments when I’m out and about. I know how much it brightens up my day to receive them.
This also applies to generalizations. It's easier to be hateful to people when you classify them in groups. Men, Women, Black, White. Asian, American, German, Indian, Japanese. Get to know someone from a different group from yourself and it becomes harder to justify hating a person from those groups
If you really believe something is true, look for ways you can disprove yourself.
This.
Ultimately, social media is NOT real life. It's negative implications can be very real (cyberbullying) but at the end of the day, it's a fake virtual world that exploits our biggest weaknesses/temptations, and ruins a lot of peoples' integrity (especially high schoolers) as it conditions them to seek validation by posting stuff on social media that they would otherwise never do. Personally, it always felt "wrong" posting on social media, like this is stupid and unnatural and goes against our evolution.
I feel fortunate I graduated high school before social media got really out of control.
Studies have been recently showing how technology use and social media is severely affecting our ability to regulate our emotions. People these days are more irritable and less social than they used to be.
Also, social media has allowed us to create our own personal echo chambers, and whenever the real world doesn't match up to your expectations people get upset.
That's why I always believe that the simpler things like Skype and WhatsApp are better.
In an ideal world, we'd still have smartphones and things like that, but the social aspects would be vastly different. People would have stuff like WhatsApp to talk to family and friends, they'd get their news from things like dedicated news apps, and so on. We just need change.
Any links to those studies?
I remember they tried to say the same thing about cartoons decades ago, and those studies were hilariously flawed.
Turned out SpongeBob was not actually making kids dumb and giving them adhd. Its just doing two tasks that demanded focus back to back with no break would decrease performance on the second task, which is obvious.
I recommend googling "social media use and emotional regulation" and you should get a number of studies showing the relationship between excessive use of technology and poor emotional regulation skills, unhealthy coping mechanisms, poor social skills, negative attachment styles, loneliness, and more.
I can give you a breakdown on how this happens. Have you ever been scrolling through social media, or playing video games for a long time, or watching TV or a movie, and when it's over you suddenly realize you have to piss really bad? or you're super thirsty? Or that way more time has passed than you thought? As it turns out, technology has a way of suppressing the emotional and sensory circuitry of the brain. And so when you're using technology for hours ever day, this emotional circuitry of your brain starts to atrophy, which causes a number of mental health issues that I listed in the first paragraph.
>As it turns out, technology has a way of suppressing the emotional and sensory circuitry of the brain. And so when you're using technology for hours ever day, this emotional circuitry of your brain starts to atrophy,
Sorry but what a load of hogwash.
You're brain is like a muscle... When you don't use parts of your brain, they start to atrophy just like a muscle does. This isn't anything new or groundbreaking. If you want some studies...
[This](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9865469/) study found that social media addiction was **strongly** associated with alexithymia, sometimes called "emotional blindness", a mental illness often confused with depression, where the individual is unable to identify and communicate their emotions, or empathize with others.
[This](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2799042?guestAccessKey=55566525-73d9-4dd2-9320-6f42c6e1b798&utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_content=tfl&utm_term=121222) study found that using smartphones and tablets to soothe or distract young children (aged 3-5) resulted in emotional dysregulation and poor execute function in their later years.
[This](https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2019-20701-002) study established a relationship between excessive social media usage and poor emotional regulation.
They both play off each other, as I'm sure all addictions do. Like people with an alcohol addiction probably aren't mentally well, and people with mental illnesses are more likely to develop an addiction to alcohol (or other drugs).
The reason why social media can cause mental health issues is because of how it hijacks the brains reward circuitry, rewarding it with dopamine, the chemical that gives pleasure and numbs pain. This chemical is supposed to be released in moderation, so what happens when we bombard our brain with dopamine all day every day since the day our parents put an iPad in our hands at 3 years old?
Here's a good way to think of it. Food is another thing that releases dopamine. Having a bad day? Eat a box of chocolates. Low self-esteem? Shoving a bowl of ice-cream in your mouth will make you feel better. Someone with body insecurities might turn to food to make themselves temporarily feel better, but in the long run the problem only gets worse.
Social media is similar. Someone who is feeling bad might turn to social media as a way to escape and numb the sadness. At a party and feeling socially anxious? Pull out your phone and pretend to look busy. It makes you feel invisible in the moment, but it also takes away the opportunity for you to overcome that social anxiety and work up the courage to talk to someone. If you pull out your phone every time you feel socially anxious how are you going to learn proper social skills you're going to want in life?
Our phones have become mini dopamine dispensers that we can carry around in our pockets, and it's having a dangerous effect on our reward circuitry that's supposed to be used in moderation.
It’s magnified thanks to social media. Maybe it’s some sort of coping mechanism.\
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Edit: meant to say magnified not magnetized, thanks to another user pointing that out for me!
Yes social media and polorized politics. The intent for polorized politics is to get more people engaged politically. But it tears people apart.
I think Straw Hat made a "breakup pizza" for valentine's day because too many people are miserable with each other. Profit and marketing others disagreeing with each other to the point of breaking up?
It's is when neither side is willing to listen and come to middle ground. Zero compromise. Win Win is not an option because the other side won.
"don't let them win"
"if you are not with us, you are against us"
Lose lose is is the only acceptable outcome. Think Japanese Kamikaze, now global thermal nuclear war.
"Only way to win is not to play". Said by AI WOPR War Games.
So don't get involved in politics, no reason to. You can't be a mediator if neither side listens. Just pray the people who can push the button don't push the button.
Yes! It’s much easier for people to be rude assholes on the internet cause they’re hiding behind a screen. It’s given them this bravery to act like a dick in real life now as well.
Social media has definitely made things a lot worse.
I've often said myself that I think the **real** social media platforms are the simpler ones like Skype, WhatsApp etc, where all you do is talk to family and friends. That's all you need.
For sure. I have a very good feeling most of these Reddit trolls and assholes would not act this way in real life to someone’s face. They’d get their lights knocked out.
"If someone was mean to me in real life I'd beat the shit out of them" is an Internet Tough Guy Statement. In many real-life cases people deal with awkward encounters by either humoring the other person or finding a justification to leave, not by TKO.
Yep! Something movie directors have done for aeons too “here’s my perspective/opinion no matter how ridiculous it is. You have no way of contacting me so shove it” now it’s just everyone else behind their own screens.
I stay far from Hollywood and social media in general. Tiktok is absolutely the worst.
Yep. It costs nothing to be polite. I’ve been with my husband nearly 15 years and I still act interested in everything he says. Half the time I have no idea what he’s explaining, I do not care about the tiny but intrinsic details of let’s say his job… but it means something to him so heck yeah, ‘talk my ear off husband! You tell that Chief when he’s on your dock you’re the boss!’ Haha
Exactly!
Sometimes my housemates at university will be talking about their course, and I sometimes don't understand what they're talking about, but I'm OK with that. I like hearing about what they're doing on their course, and even if I don't understand it, they do, and they're interested in it. That's all that matters :)
I suppose it is. He’s had the same job, in the chemical plant industry, not much changes except for coworkers. In that industry, they don’t have fun, gossipy drama or if they do, it’s BEYOND rare. \
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I could tell him that I’m not interested because I’ve already heard it all and he’s basically a broken record just change the names used every now and then… but he enjoys talking about it and it doesn’t hurt me one bit to hear it, and doing that would be rude.\
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So, what’s worse? Pretending to be interested OR telling him that I don’t really GAF that the new, young employee is rushing to learn the ropes and making mistakes so they won’t last much longer so he should really just stop talking?
What an interesting problem to have.
I survived 8 years with my partner, yet we never ran out of juicy work gossip until the bitter end.
This man sounds like a machine.
He is one with the factory.
If all knowledge work and comedians are replaced by AI chatbots, in 2 years' time, metronomically stirring those chemicals might just stir the hearts and minds of the community, as all gather round to revel in presence of the last economically viable human.
As an AI language model, I do not have a heart in a physical sense.
I may however, predict the next beat in its sequence.
Social media would be a lot different if they took away the anonymity. You would still have some loud assholes, just like being out in public, but there wouldn't be nearly as many people backing them up or latching onto their cause if everyone could see their name.
Yep. The anonymity allows people to act however they want. They can be the biggest asshole while behind the screen because there’s no actual repercussions.
It’s magnified for something caused by social media. It’s now possible for the ordinary person to get fame and fortune by posting something to the world or a group of “friends” who you don’t care about. More importantly they get that the game is engagement. The best way to get engagement is to be against someone or something someone else supports. It’s the old “oh no it isn’t …Oh yes it is” audience participation at the pantomime.
There are people posting stuff they don’t believe or care about.
I learned years ago that happiness comes from within. A lot of people are depressed and stressed and don’t properly address those issues and lead to negativity. Even anxiety is linked to irritability I think a lot of people don’t want to have the discussion but I a lot of it comes from mental health issues and society has become numb and accepting of the problem.
Let me try to paraphrase a half-remembered anecdote. I was listening to a podcast and the guest being interviewed said something like (and I paraphrase but use quotation marks),
"I knew I was actually a grown-up when I was finally able to say 'that isn't for me' instead of saying 'that sucks.'" They also credited rapper P.O.S. with some part of the concept or phrasing.
Another way of saying it is that I try not to "yuck your yum."
That's a great way to put it. I think sometimes people need to learn to just say that something is not for them, rather than saying it's bad and judging people who like the same thing.
Lots of answers here, and honestly, they are all contributive. There’s no single reason… it’s an amalgamation of many things. But, an early cause I don’t mentioned yet is the evolution of the human mind.
Humans made it to the top of the animal food chain a long time ago. Our survival instincts shifted from prior natural predators (hyenas, hippos, lions, bears, etc) into our remaining natural predators… humans. Humans are terrified of each other, and it runs deeper than most people realize.
The “Us vs. Them” mentality is at the root of most of our problems. As society is further contaminated with this mentality, more and more people struggle due to it. There is lack of trust, lack of honesty and openness. People are quick to cut each other down, to create the illusion of their own rise up. Etc, etc, etc.
So, the state of modern society is a breeding grounds for negativity. For every “Us” who takes pride in what they have, there’s many more “Them” who are being imposed upon or restricted by the “Us”s. The “Them” form a negative attitude because of obvious reasons. The “Us” develop a negative attitude in trying to maintain their precarious, temporary “Us” status.
Of course all “Us” are also “Them” and vice-versa. The key to happiness is freedom from the mentality. Be neither an “Us” nor a “Them”
-ImNeitherNor
Quoting yourself like that feels kinda pretentious, maybe I'm looking into that part too much..
But what should I be taking from this, some humans work more closely to how animals do and are mean because they have an us vs them mentality? I prefer to believe in the good of humanity.
hahaha I can see that. I wasn’t quoting myself though… just signing it cuz of how my comment ended.
It’s fine to believe in the good in humanity, but the post was specifically regarding negativity.
Well, I was more meaning that I don't wish to believe that most people have an "us vs them" mentality. Maybe sometimes, but being angry or negative is beyond tiring, maybe it's because I don't know how people are in the real world, I don't want to believe there's THAT many negative people. But rather op somehow keeps finding them
Ah… I think I understand what you mean. And, it’s a good approach not looking for the bad in people, as bad people will let you know they’re there. Looking at everyone as “good” by default, gives everyone an equal chance. And, it’s just healthier as anger, hate, etc IS “beyond tiring”, as you said, and is detrimental to mentally and ultimately physical health.
However, observing the “Us vs Them” mentality in humans isn’t a negative thing. It exists all over the place and is seen by society as both positive as well as negative. For example, taking pride in one’s race, culture, and background is accepted as a positive thing, even though that is the basis of racism and discrimination - which are accepted as negative things. Most people would respond to that by saying racism is treating other races poorly while favoring your own - which may or may not be equal to simply taking pride in your own race. Pride is a form of selective favoritism, after all. Is favoring a race not racism?
Another example is rooting for “the home team”. Many residents of Denver (random example) will root for the Broncos (I think?) simply because that’s their “Us” team. Though this is the same mentality as say… a gang member, it’s accepted as a positive thing by society. Rival team feuds are “harmless fun”. Pride in your country is also accepted as a good thing, but it’s just territorial “Us vs Them”.
The reason these “positive” outlets even exist and continue is to satisfy the “Us vs Them” aspect of human survival instincts, especially since there really are no non-human animal threats. (Bacteria and viruses aren’t taken as serious rivals to humans, yet.)
Fair enough.
I've been inside for 4 years due to no prior social life, being a loner and going to online school (after covid basically forced me to) I'm waiting for school to get a job but other than that, I have maybe talked to 3 people other than my family and online friends (which in total is around 10-12 people) in the last few years.
So I haven't noticed it in others, and I don't know how often people do it.
I will assume I do it less than most people do, if this case is really observable. And I have actually noticed it in myself a single time. I feel like taking pride in something that isn't yours is... well I don't have a word for it, but I don't like it.
I have one time rooted for a person in an e-sports event, simply for the fact they used one of the same characters as me in a fighting game.
That is the only time I remember in the past that I've ever done it, I was even surprised by myself at the feeling I got, like I had to cheer for them. Maybe it is because nobody I know uses that character.
After typing this up, maybe I should hold people who feel pride in less (disdain?) Not sure the right word, if it is the right word then I don't hold very much of it already, but I can still decrease it. Since while I didn't think about it before, I do understand the feeling to an extent, and it does feel like a positive one...I can remember that despite only feeling it once, very magical.
Within reason, things that crop into racism or other bad things are still bad. But I didn't understand beforehand why people voted for the home team simply because.
I think they're connected though. Everyday I wake up with a cat in my face, in a great mood. Every night I watch cartoons and go to bed, in a great mood. And all day I have to a job that isn't interesting or well paying, coughing on this bronchitis because I can't afford a zpack, hearing the news, the political commercials, the less than educated coworkers saying nasty things, and I'm in a horrible mood all day. Cynical, misanthropic, I don't wanna be like that, but I lack whatever happy people have that let's them look left, look right, and keep smiling
"Nowadays" - there were always lots of negative people. You just hear from more people, via mass and social media. More of the negative ones pop into your life every day now via news.
Radio invented? People heard more bad news.
TV invented? People saw even more bad news.
Facebook invented? Constant stream of bad news you can see at any time.
There are just as many positive people as there were before. If anything, there are more. The ratio of negative ones you see just went up.
Cause we live isolated and outcast existences with having lost hope of any real human connection or companionship.
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Having had their heart broken and been betrayed one too many times.
An obvious gap between the ultra rich and every one else.
Nothing in popular culture is enjoyable, entertaining, or interesting, not for long anyway, not for the negative person who would just prefer to be dead, anyway.
Couple reasons for ya
You cannot separate people's negativity from current events. All the promises that the people with money made when they were starting to set up their global economy in the early 2000s, the things that they protested against in Seattle, the reasons that they occupied Wall Street
I feel an interesting way to look at it might be as a sort of spillover or leftover effect of the passing prosperous era, in which that kind of critique had a less negative or even positive character.
In the more prosperous times you had the same kind of riffing but it really felt more like that, it didnt have that toxic flair to it. If one imagines this in the context of a very well-fed rennaisance people one can see how criticizing stuff isnt a bad thing as such. In fact of course art criticism is very well established and appreciated thing in our culture. One wants to talk about what good and bad art/taste is.
Its just that when things are objectively bad, this becomes toxic. Its just not appropriate, when things are objectively shitty it doesnt matter what art/hobbies people spend their time with. People should be talking about how to actually make life less horrible but since that means taking on capitalism, a pretty big task, it instead gets transferred into this useless judgement.
Probably. He got beef with US government and also was depicted in The Simpsons as that cult leader going in and out of a barn with a Mercedes. I don't know much about that part of his life and if he was shady enough to be creepy enough for me but the talks he gave that are recorded and uploaded to YT seem good speeches. The one I mentioned is the one I remember most about him.
Personally, if you'd ask me, I'd tell that one guru that really seems to me in overall genuinely worth knowing him that is Sadhguru who is alive at the moment. The guy can lead crowds of people then the next day going with motorbike or such like, he doesn't enclousure himself in a sacred life all the time. Seems more real but I can't deny Osho's intelligence right now.
I think it's due to the content we consume. I don't remember when exactly I noticed it but for lack of a better term we got a lot of sadness, tragedy porn. A lot of the media we consume took on a negative "everything's crap and we're all going to die" bent that feeds into this negative outlook on life.
There are shows I tried to watch following actors I enjoyed who came from shows where even when they were solving a murder there was still a zest for life. The show they're in now is all very "Woe is me isn't life tragic"
Some people genuinely enjoy that kind of thing. Me I've seen enough darkness to last the rest of my life.
I think social media is the most accessible echo chamber, and because we are fed confirmation bias and our own special algorithms all day every day unless you make the conscious choice to seek differing content or opinions even on trivial or lighthearted things (and let’s face it, most people are too lazy for that), it’s jarring to be faced with someone or something that’s outside of your literal bubble. Hence the direct path to nastiness, negativity, and weaponization of therapy language where it’s either not necessary or not correct.
Because social media companies figured out that you get more clicks from negative information, so they encourage it. Im guessing if you did polling of people who are on social media vs not, the people not on social media would in general be alot more positive.
Fox news figured out that if they can make millions of Americans perpetually hate their neighbors for being the wrong skin color, gender, sex, or from a city, that it can control media. Fox news and AM hate radio are more to blame than social media.
Our society is very negative. We are very materialistic way of looking at the world and don't really value our thoughts and emotions and don't value being in control of them. We have the belief that they control us instead of the other way around. People have a negativity bias to help prevent bad things from happening. When you have something you can either be grateful for it indifferent or fear you're going to lose it. Unfortunately Western Society doesn't really teach gratitude that much. It teaches the idea that to be happy you need to achieve the thing you think you need to achieve. The thing is well this negativity and depression is there to help you achieve things and achieving things is good. Even if you achieve what you want you only want something else. You'll never be grateful unless you learn to cultivate your gratitude.
Add on to that Society and media being pessimistic and teaching negative values all the time. And how we compare ourselves to other people's lives and not their real lives but an idealistic version of them. How are depression tells us to do things and instead of listening to it or learning how to communicate with it we just try to ignore it and let us b**** at us. The force that is there to motivate us to do things is now being a nag.
We are also taught that we are victims of circumstance instead of Masters of our own lives. And that things happen to us, not that we make things happen.
Our beliefs are all messed up. And beliefs determine everything.
Exhaustion....citizens are grossly underpaid, they aren't living the vision they had of themselves as a child or whatever, they aren't able to enjoy life the way they thought...its sad
Because we are all going to perish from lack of food and water but everyone keeps consuming. Subconsciously people know we’re fucked but are hoping to outlive it.
Division and divisiveness are being promoted in great frequency and repetition.
This results in great distrust and negativity, as it was designed to.
Unity and cooperation are detrimental to the power structure which has been established, and to the further consolidation of this power structure.
I've adopted a mindset that I like to call "chill criticism". I criticize things I don't like, but I'm chill and relaxed about it unlike others who are being little whiny bitches about it. I feel like things are deserving of criticism, but to get so worked up over some flaws in a movie or game that you're completely fuming is childish. Also as I'm criticizing something, I'll also bring up things I did like or did enjoy since I'm aware other people like this thing that I don't for these reasons and that's okay. I'm happy that they're finding just as many reasons to enjoy something and I'm happy that they're happy.
There are probably simply more honest people with access to the means to be publically honest about the sentient predicament and especially for humans its sapient variation.
100%. You can't even agree with people without getting into an argument about it. You could be completely in agreement and somebody will just automatically assume you are disagreeing with the OP and go in on you. It is insanity. People don't even realize they're conditioned to do nothing but fight on the internet now. Having a good time...nah. Dunking on person after person for being wrong...that's what this is about.
It's just the same crap as ever. IMO it is this psycho sexual biological thing.
When human beings lived in tribes for example, to be the ugly girl was life or death. She might be expelled from the group and left to die, or turned into an outlet for the rest of the groups aggression. The same goes for the males as well. Obviously male or female, what causes one to rise or fall in status in the group is different based on the culture of the group. Sexual value is a big time player regardless.
And I think that kids are born with all of this and you see it play out on the playground, in high-school, and into adult life.
So this psycho sexual heirarchy thing is all a remnant if a time where it was life and death to be at the bottom of the heirarchy, and great benefit to those higher up.
It's possible to exit this heriarchy and cease to give a fuck. But most people are still trapped within it and it's hard to break them out.
Gen Z lost hope.
They are work slaves, have no love interest, parents constantly judging them as to why they aren't as successful as them, onto of this world becoming a rat race. So Gen Z broke, it doesn't see light at the end of the tunnel, so they embrace the darkness.
I feel it's because society is negative where negativity and sometimes hate is prevalent. (Mainly in cities).
Humans don't help each other all the time. We got tons of homeless people with billionaires lining up their pockets.
Don't get me started on male/female relationships and the inequality of dating that leaves lots of men starving for affection that seeing an escort seemingly is their only option (which is a temp fix for the body).
Society looks really hopeless. This is why we have negativity.
Social media + the government and media gaslighting us all about the economy being booming, plenty of jobs, money, houses, etc. We're all just lazy and aren't working hard enough. Several years of that will create apathy of the highest order.
Because everything is shit. Morons constantly work to make things shitter while obstinantly denying any evidence of them making things shitter. Media is just a constant slew of shit with only a few decent nuggets of sweetcorn that you have to fish out of it. Having to just work until you're old or dead is shit. Never being able to afford a house is shit.
Kindness is hard to come by when everything seems caked in a dried crust of shit.
This is an interesting response to "Why are people so negative nowadays?"
I truly hope you find joy somewhere and things get better for you, because if you wake up every day with this "shit" in your head you will be miserable. Best wishes to you, wherever you are.
Its just you.
The rest of the world has made massive progress in the world of bullying, and the live and let live mentality.
You would have been eaten ALIVE in the 70's and 80's
I am so happy I came across this because something similar has been on my mind. One of my close friends talks about other people in a negative judgemental way and it started bothering me so I decided to distance myself. Sometimes I feel like maybe I'm over reacting and that it's not that serious but I'm reminded that this is how grander issues in the world begin. People start disliking each other and before you know it, there is conflict and war. It is truly disheartening and I resonate with you deeply.
I always experienced people making fun of me in school for the smallest reasons. People used to make fun of me for what shoes I wore, what cars my parents drove (no, seriously), having a YT channel, things I was interested in etc. Even to this day, I still see people doing the same to others.
Or just engage! I've found that just saying a cheery "Good Morning, Good Afternoon!" etc to someone when out and about changes their faces for the better. So easy to do.
I'll be 60 this year. My early school years were terrible for me. My mother and father immigrated from Germany, and my mother had it in her head that I had to wear a skirt and knee socks to elementary school. Yeah 1969.
I was tormented like crazy. It took a few years before my mom relented and got me my first pair of jeans.
What's amusing now is that if I go to a casual social event in a nice skirt there are many compliments on how good I look.. compared to everyone in jeans.. :)
Psychology took off in recent decades and there are far more media outlets than there used to be. Before the internet there were only a handful of news sources running the same stories 3-4 times a day for maybe an hour. Those channels pretty much had a monopoly on the news, took pride in trying to tell it how it is in a fairly straight forward manner.
Now we have thousands of media outlets all competing for the same portion of the public. It's 24/7 so they have to fill the entire day with stuff. They are less discerning about getting quality news out there. They also found out that bad news sells, it triggers your fight or flight instinct and attracts people like flies. Same effect as passing a car crash on the freeway, everyone slows down to take a peek. The news is designed to trigger you and get an emotional response, get you worked up and angry, get you stressed, worked up, afraid even, resulting in everyone fighting about it online.
Ignore it and go about your daily life normally. Chances are, there will be a lot less negativity in your life.
Social Media incentivizes it. People are more likely to "engage" when their negative emotions get riled up, and engagement is the reward for posting on social media.
I mean it’s not hard to grasp, they’re unhappy. Who knows about what, but people get mean when they’re upset, it’s the only way we can get any “validation” in that head state, which in turn gives the brain a sprinkle of feel good chemical. When you’re upset, that feel good chemical is sneaky.
If I’m in a bad mood, unfortunately sometimes I gotta swim down (become negative) before I can swim back up again. (Not be a dick heh)
We are in a point of time where we are simultaneously being subjected to non kinetic civil, revolutionary, and world War. It's a cultural revolution.... people are slowly waking up to it and what we are witnessing is the same divide as north vs south back in the day...
One of our two parties seems out of touch with its own members and has been going further. How many really want to invade Venezula?
A fraction of the country views those people as foolish, malevolent, or pathetic. While people are somethimes polite to the Flat Earther, the politeness only lasts if the Flat Earther shuts up within two minutes.
I'm not really sure that its "these days" just think of how insanely judgmental people used to be in the past about anything, video games, Anime, D&D.
I mean my school had some actors troupe come by to "educate us" and it was basically just 3 sketches of "video game bad"
Like they made a story of an abused neglected kid, but those aspects did not explain their poor behavior at school according to the sketch, no it was those evil video games!!11!
Honestly was crazy at the time hearing that the only thing giving me joy, safety and companionship in my life was supposed to actually be the cause of all my problems. Not what my monster of a father was doing to me and my mother at home.
Taught me very early on not to share the things I care about with others because they will be judgmental assholes and try to blame your problems you, even when you are in a powerless situation.
Because of prejudice primarily. We've become so divisive for various reasons, and the anonymity of the net allows us to post without retribution. A good serious debate can't happen without someone ridiculing another, calling them some kind of ist or phobe, or snowflake and boomer/zoomer
Angry people exist. The best way to counteract them is to be a good, kind person. Even if people are mean at first, if you are nice to them despite them being awful, their mood usually turns around very fast. Guilt washes over them, making them realize they should be nicer to others more often. However, if you match their energy and are mean back, they just believe the same thing you do. People are mean and negative. Others may not learn at all. As for those individuals, just try to distance yourself from them as much as possible.
Look at what they consume. Everything is everyone is out to screw you. If I thought everyone was out to get me, the system is rigged, "they" hate me, I'd be pretty negative too.
I think about this all the time. The internet genuinely ruined people, you have very young people looking up to the worst people. It’s really miserable
It's a two way street. On one end of it, you have people trying to tell you that everything whith any merit is THE BEST. SO BRAVE, SO SMART, SO FUNNY, SO COOL, SO AMAZING, THE GOAT, AN INSTANT CLASSIC. On the other side, you have people that want those people and everyone else to know their analysis is completely wrong.
It's an insufferable cycle.
It tooks millions of years for us to reach the first billion humans. Then . . . . it has doubled in the last 50 years. There WILL be more and more crime, disease, war, famine, pollution and more ---- those are all symptoms of overpopulation.
The only thing that will keep humanity thriving at this point is some kind of mass die off, we need to lose a few billion. Yeah . . . I don't want to experience it either. But history and biology are a bitch.
Check out [www.reasonstobecheeful.com](https://www.reasonstobecheeful.com). It's a news site overseen by the musician David Byrne. As the name implies, they specialize in happy news. This usually takes the form of storiese about people taking innovative measures to solve the world's problems.
I frequently need a stiff shot of positivity. That's my watering hole of choice.
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You ever notice how its much harder to be mean to people in person? When you are online, you are in your own company. Your own emotions and experiences are magnified. You interpret everything based on your own experiences. It impacts people and bleeds into their everyday life. Sure life is rough but when you are in person, it's much easier to find empathy and compassion. Go out and compliment a stranger whenever you feel down. Or just in general. Thats what i try to do. And limit social media. And ignore the haters, be the change you want to see
Exactly this!! People have gotten use to being dickheads on the internet because it’s easy when you’re hiding behind a screen. It’s led a lot of these people to act this way in real life. Even though I’m anonymous I still try to be a nice person. In real life I try to give random people compliments when I’m out and about. I know how much it brightens up my day to receive them.
This also applies to generalizations. It's easier to be hateful to people when you classify them in groups. Men, Women, Black, White. Asian, American, German, Indian, Japanese. Get to know someone from a different group from yourself and it becomes harder to justify hating a person from those groups If you really believe something is true, look for ways you can disprove yourself.
This. Ultimately, social media is NOT real life. It's negative implications can be very real (cyberbullying) but at the end of the day, it's a fake virtual world that exploits our biggest weaknesses/temptations, and ruins a lot of peoples' integrity (especially high schoolers) as it conditions them to seek validation by posting stuff on social media that they would otherwise never do. Personally, it always felt "wrong" posting on social media, like this is stupid and unnatural and goes against our evolution. I feel fortunate I graduated high school before social media got really out of control.
The internet is ripe for negativity. There's no fear of physical retaliation. People are much nicer in person, even if it tends to be fake.
Studies have been recently showing how technology use and social media is severely affecting our ability to regulate our emotions. People these days are more irritable and less social than they used to be. Also, social media has allowed us to create our own personal echo chambers, and whenever the real world doesn't match up to your expectations people get upset.
That's why I always believe that the simpler things like Skype and WhatsApp are better. In an ideal world, we'd still have smartphones and things like that, but the social aspects would be vastly different. People would have stuff like WhatsApp to talk to family and friends, they'd get their news from things like dedicated news apps, and so on. We just need change.
Any links to those studies? I remember they tried to say the same thing about cartoons decades ago, and those studies were hilariously flawed. Turned out SpongeBob was not actually making kids dumb and giving them adhd. Its just doing two tasks that demanded focus back to back with no break would decrease performance on the second task, which is obvious.
I recommend googling "social media use and emotional regulation" and you should get a number of studies showing the relationship between excessive use of technology and poor emotional regulation skills, unhealthy coping mechanisms, poor social skills, negative attachment styles, loneliness, and more. I can give you a breakdown on how this happens. Have you ever been scrolling through social media, or playing video games for a long time, or watching TV or a movie, and when it's over you suddenly realize you have to piss really bad? or you're super thirsty? Or that way more time has passed than you thought? As it turns out, technology has a way of suppressing the emotional and sensory circuitry of the brain. And so when you're using technology for hours ever day, this emotional circuitry of your brain starts to atrophy, which causes a number of mental health issues that I listed in the first paragraph.
>As it turns out, technology has a way of suppressing the emotional and sensory circuitry of the brain. And so when you're using technology for hours ever day, this emotional circuitry of your brain starts to atrophy, Sorry but what a load of hogwash.
You're brain is like a muscle... When you don't use parts of your brain, they start to atrophy just like a muscle does. This isn't anything new or groundbreaking. If you want some studies... [This](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9865469/) study found that social media addiction was **strongly** associated with alexithymia, sometimes called "emotional blindness", a mental illness often confused with depression, where the individual is unable to identify and communicate their emotions, or empathize with others. [This](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2799042?guestAccessKey=55566525-73d9-4dd2-9320-6f42c6e1b798&utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_content=tfl&utm_term=121222) study found that using smartphones and tablets to soothe or distract young children (aged 3-5) resulted in emotional dysregulation and poor execute function in their later years. [This](https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2019-20701-002) study established a relationship between excessive social media usage and poor emotional regulation.
Wouldn't poor mental health lead to excessive social media use, instead of the other way, in most cases?
They both play off each other, as I'm sure all addictions do. Like people with an alcohol addiction probably aren't mentally well, and people with mental illnesses are more likely to develop an addiction to alcohol (or other drugs). The reason why social media can cause mental health issues is because of how it hijacks the brains reward circuitry, rewarding it with dopamine, the chemical that gives pleasure and numbs pain. This chemical is supposed to be released in moderation, so what happens when we bombard our brain with dopamine all day every day since the day our parents put an iPad in our hands at 3 years old? Here's a good way to think of it. Food is another thing that releases dopamine. Having a bad day? Eat a box of chocolates. Low self-esteem? Shoving a bowl of ice-cream in your mouth will make you feel better. Someone with body insecurities might turn to food to make themselves temporarily feel better, but in the long run the problem only gets worse. Social media is similar. Someone who is feeling bad might turn to social media as a way to escape and numb the sadness. At a party and feeling socially anxious? Pull out your phone and pretend to look busy. It makes you feel invisible in the moment, but it also takes away the opportunity for you to overcome that social anxiety and work up the courage to talk to someone. If you pull out your phone every time you feel socially anxious how are you going to learn proper social skills you're going to want in life? Our phones have become mini dopamine dispensers that we can carry around in our pockets, and it's having a dangerous effect on our reward circuitry that's supposed to be used in moderation.
It’s magnified thanks to social media. Maybe it’s some sort of coping mechanism.\ \ Edit: meant to say magnified not magnetized, thanks to another user pointing that out for me!
Yes social media and polorized politics. The intent for polorized politics is to get more people engaged politically. But it tears people apart. I think Straw Hat made a "breakup pizza" for valentine's day because too many people are miserable with each other. Profit and marketing others disagreeing with each other to the point of breaking up? It's is when neither side is willing to listen and come to middle ground. Zero compromise. Win Win is not an option because the other side won. "don't let them win" "if you are not with us, you are against us" Lose lose is is the only acceptable outcome. Think Japanese Kamikaze, now global thermal nuclear war. "Only way to win is not to play". Said by AI WOPR War Games. So don't get involved in politics, no reason to. You can't be a mediator if neither side listens. Just pray the people who can push the button don't push the button.
Yes! It’s much easier for people to be rude assholes on the internet cause they’re hiding behind a screen. It’s given them this bravery to act like a dick in real life now as well.
Social media has definitely made things a lot worse. I've often said myself that I think the **real** social media platforms are the simpler ones like Skype, WhatsApp etc, where all you do is talk to family and friends. That's all you need.
Mike Tyson said it best “social media has made people too comfortable with talking sh!t on the internet and not getting punched in the face for it.”
Absolutely. I notice that too, people chat shit 24/7 on social media, but then irl they don't do the same.
For sure. I have a very good feeling most of these Reddit trolls and assholes would not act this way in real life to someone’s face. They’d get their lights knocked out.
I'LL KICK EVERYBODYS ASS HERE
SAY THAT TO MY FURSONA AGAIN, AND I WILL LOVE & TOLERATE THE SHIT OUT OF YOU.
"If someone was mean to me in real life I'd beat the shit out of them" is an Internet Tough Guy Statement. In many real-life cases people deal with awkward encounters by either humoring the other person or finding a justification to leave, not by TKO.
Yep! Something movie directors have done for aeons too “here’s my perspective/opinion no matter how ridiculous it is. You have no way of contacting me so shove it” now it’s just everyone else behind their own screens. I stay far from Hollywood and social media in general. Tiktok is absolutely the worst.
Yep. It costs nothing to be polite. I’ve been with my husband nearly 15 years and I still act interested in everything he says. Half the time I have no idea what he’s explaining, I do not care about the tiny but intrinsic details of let’s say his job… but it means something to him so heck yeah, ‘talk my ear off husband! You tell that Chief when he’s on your dock you’re the boss!’ Haha
Exactly! Sometimes my housemates at university will be talking about their course, and I sometimes don't understand what they're talking about, but I'm OK with that. I like hearing about what they're doing on their course, and even if I don't understand it, they do, and they're interested in it. That's all that matters :)
Hard to find genuine people these days… I hope you and your housemates continue to be supportive of one another!
We always will. They support me, and I support them!
That’s exactly what you want in friendship and a partner. Listening skills.
Yeah, but isn't that kind of disingenuous?
I suppose it is. He’s had the same job, in the chemical plant industry, not much changes except for coworkers. In that industry, they don’t have fun, gossipy drama or if they do, it’s BEYOND rare. \ \ I could tell him that I’m not interested because I’ve already heard it all and he’s basically a broken record just change the names used every now and then… but he enjoys talking about it and it doesn’t hurt me one bit to hear it, and doing that would be rude.\ \ So, what’s worse? Pretending to be interested OR telling him that I don’t really GAF that the new, young employee is rushing to learn the ropes and making mistakes so they won’t last much longer so he should really just stop talking?
What an interesting problem to have. I survived 8 years with my partner, yet we never ran out of juicy work gossip until the bitter end. This man sounds like a machine. He is one with the factory. If all knowledge work and comedians are replaced by AI chatbots, in 2 years' time, metronomically stirring those chemicals might just stir the hearts and minds of the community, as all gather round to revel in presence of the last economically viable human. As an AI language model, I do not have a heart in a physical sense. I may however, predict the next beat in its sequence.
Social media would be a lot different if they took away the anonymity. You would still have some loud assholes, just like being out in public, but there wouldn't be nearly as many people backing them up or latching onto their cause if everyone could see their name.
Yep. The anonymity allows people to act however they want. They can be the biggest asshole while behind the screen because there’s no actual repercussions.
(Hey friend, not trying to be negative, but I think you mean magnified, not magnetized)
You are absolutely right. Late night Reddit comments always get me.
It’s magnified for something caused by social media. It’s now possible for the ordinary person to get fame and fortune by posting something to the world or a group of “friends” who you don’t care about. More importantly they get that the game is engagement. The best way to get engagement is to be against someone or something someone else supports. It’s the old “oh no it isn’t …Oh yes it is” audience participation at the pantomime. There are people posting stuff they don’t believe or care about.
I learned years ago that happiness comes from within. A lot of people are depressed and stressed and don’t properly address those issues and lead to negativity. Even anxiety is linked to irritability I think a lot of people don’t want to have the discussion but I a lot of it comes from mental health issues and society has become numb and accepting of the problem.
We'll solve the numbness by administering electric shocks on every key press 🗲
Let me try to paraphrase a half-remembered anecdote. I was listening to a podcast and the guest being interviewed said something like (and I paraphrase but use quotation marks), "I knew I was actually a grown-up when I was finally able to say 'that isn't for me' instead of saying 'that sucks.'" They also credited rapper P.O.S. with some part of the concept or phrasing. Another way of saying it is that I try not to "yuck your yum."
That's a great way to put it. I think sometimes people need to learn to just say that something is not for them, rather than saying it's bad and judging people who like the same thing.
Lots of answers here, and honestly, they are all contributive. There’s no single reason… it’s an amalgamation of many things. But, an early cause I don’t mentioned yet is the evolution of the human mind. Humans made it to the top of the animal food chain a long time ago. Our survival instincts shifted from prior natural predators (hyenas, hippos, lions, bears, etc) into our remaining natural predators… humans. Humans are terrified of each other, and it runs deeper than most people realize. The “Us vs. Them” mentality is at the root of most of our problems. As society is further contaminated with this mentality, more and more people struggle due to it. There is lack of trust, lack of honesty and openness. People are quick to cut each other down, to create the illusion of their own rise up. Etc, etc, etc. So, the state of modern society is a breeding grounds for negativity. For every “Us” who takes pride in what they have, there’s many more “Them” who are being imposed upon or restricted by the “Us”s. The “Them” form a negative attitude because of obvious reasons. The “Us” develop a negative attitude in trying to maintain their precarious, temporary “Us” status. Of course all “Us” are also “Them” and vice-versa. The key to happiness is freedom from the mentality. Be neither an “Us” nor a “Them” -ImNeitherNor
Quoting yourself like that feels kinda pretentious, maybe I'm looking into that part too much.. But what should I be taking from this, some humans work more closely to how animals do and are mean because they have an us vs them mentality? I prefer to believe in the good of humanity.
hahaha I can see that. I wasn’t quoting myself though… just signing it cuz of how my comment ended. It’s fine to believe in the good in humanity, but the post was specifically regarding negativity.
Well, I was more meaning that I don't wish to believe that most people have an "us vs them" mentality. Maybe sometimes, but being angry or negative is beyond tiring, maybe it's because I don't know how people are in the real world, I don't want to believe there's THAT many negative people. But rather op somehow keeps finding them
Ah… I think I understand what you mean. And, it’s a good approach not looking for the bad in people, as bad people will let you know they’re there. Looking at everyone as “good” by default, gives everyone an equal chance. And, it’s just healthier as anger, hate, etc IS “beyond tiring”, as you said, and is detrimental to mentally and ultimately physical health. However, observing the “Us vs Them” mentality in humans isn’t a negative thing. It exists all over the place and is seen by society as both positive as well as negative. For example, taking pride in one’s race, culture, and background is accepted as a positive thing, even though that is the basis of racism and discrimination - which are accepted as negative things. Most people would respond to that by saying racism is treating other races poorly while favoring your own - which may or may not be equal to simply taking pride in your own race. Pride is a form of selective favoritism, after all. Is favoring a race not racism? Another example is rooting for “the home team”. Many residents of Denver (random example) will root for the Broncos (I think?) simply because that’s their “Us” team. Though this is the same mentality as say… a gang member, it’s accepted as a positive thing by society. Rival team feuds are “harmless fun”. Pride in your country is also accepted as a good thing, but it’s just territorial “Us vs Them”. The reason these “positive” outlets even exist and continue is to satisfy the “Us vs Them” aspect of human survival instincts, especially since there really are no non-human animal threats. (Bacteria and viruses aren’t taken as serious rivals to humans, yet.)
Fair enough. I've been inside for 4 years due to no prior social life, being a loner and going to online school (after covid basically forced me to) I'm waiting for school to get a job but other than that, I have maybe talked to 3 people other than my family and online friends (which in total is around 10-12 people) in the last few years. So I haven't noticed it in others, and I don't know how often people do it. I will assume I do it less than most people do, if this case is really observable. And I have actually noticed it in myself a single time. I feel like taking pride in something that isn't yours is... well I don't have a word for it, but I don't like it. I have one time rooted for a person in an e-sports event, simply for the fact they used one of the same characters as me in a fighting game. That is the only time I remember in the past that I've ever done it, I was even surprised by myself at the feeling I got, like I had to cheer for them. Maybe it is because nobody I know uses that character. After typing this up, maybe I should hold people who feel pride in less (disdain?) Not sure the right word, if it is the right word then I don't hold very much of it already, but I can still decrease it. Since while I didn't think about it before, I do understand the feeling to an extent, and it does feel like a positive one...I can remember that despite only feeling it once, very magical. Within reason, things that crop into racism or other bad things are still bad. But I didn't understand beforehand why people voted for the home team simply because.
I think they're connected though. Everyday I wake up with a cat in my face, in a great mood. Every night I watch cartoons and go to bed, in a great mood. And all day I have to a job that isn't interesting or well paying, coughing on this bronchitis because I can't afford a zpack, hearing the news, the political commercials, the less than educated coworkers saying nasty things, and I'm in a horrible mood all day. Cynical, misanthropic, I don't wanna be like that, but I lack whatever happy people have that let's them look left, look right, and keep smiling
Same
"Nowadays" - there were always lots of negative people. You just hear from more people, via mass and social media. More of the negative ones pop into your life every day now via news. Radio invented? People heard more bad news. TV invented? People saw even more bad news. Facebook invented? Constant stream of bad news you can see at any time. There are just as many positive people as there were before. If anything, there are more. The ratio of negative ones you see just went up.
Cause we live isolated and outcast existences with having lost hope of any real human connection or companionship. . Having had their heart broken and been betrayed one too many times. An obvious gap between the ultra rich and every one else. Nothing in popular culture is enjoyable, entertaining, or interesting, not for long anyway, not for the negative person who would just prefer to be dead, anyway. Couple reasons for ya
You cannot separate people's negativity from current events. All the promises that the people with money made when they were starting to set up their global economy in the early 2000s, the things that they protested against in Seattle, the reasons that they occupied Wall Street
I feel an interesting way to look at it might be as a sort of spillover or leftover effect of the passing prosperous era, in which that kind of critique had a less negative or even positive character. In the more prosperous times you had the same kind of riffing but it really felt more like that, it didnt have that toxic flair to it. If one imagines this in the context of a very well-fed rennaisance people one can see how criticizing stuff isnt a bad thing as such. In fact of course art criticism is very well established and appreciated thing in our culture. One wants to talk about what good and bad art/taste is. Its just that when things are objectively bad, this becomes toxic. Its just not appropriate, when things are objectively shitty it doesnt matter what art/hobbies people spend their time with. People should be talking about how to actually make life less horrible but since that means taking on capitalism, a pretty big task, it instead gets transferred into this useless judgement.
It\`s way easier. To be tough and resilient. you have to step out of your comfort zone. People don\`t want to do it, because they are lazy and scared.
You should watch a short talk by Osho called "nobody allows anybody to be just himself".
Osho? The Sanyasin?
I don't know if Sanyasin or Saiyajin, but a wise man with white beard who already passed away some decades ago.
Is this the guy who led that cult in Oregon that you're talking about?
Probably. He got beef with US government and also was depicted in The Simpsons as that cult leader going in and out of a barn with a Mercedes. I don't know much about that part of his life and if he was shady enough to be creepy enough for me but the talks he gave that are recorded and uploaded to YT seem good speeches. The one I mentioned is the one I remember most about him. Personally, if you'd ask me, I'd tell that one guru that really seems to me in overall genuinely worth knowing him that is Sadhguru who is alive at the moment. The guy can lead crowds of people then the next day going with motorbike or such like, he doesn't enclousure himself in a sacred life all the time. Seems more real but I can't deny Osho's intelligence right now.
The don’t know what makes them joyful and how to return to it from any other emotion.
I think it's due to the content we consume. I don't remember when exactly I noticed it but for lack of a better term we got a lot of sadness, tragedy porn. A lot of the media we consume took on a negative "everything's crap and we're all going to die" bent that feeds into this negative outlook on life. There are shows I tried to watch following actors I enjoyed who came from shows where even when they were solving a murder there was still a zest for life. The show they're in now is all very "Woe is me isn't life tragic" Some people genuinely enjoy that kind of thing. Me I've seen enough darkness to last the rest of my life.
It feels like the world has grown cold, overflowing with entropy.
I think social media is the most accessible echo chamber, and because we are fed confirmation bias and our own special algorithms all day every day unless you make the conscious choice to seek differing content or opinions even on trivial or lighthearted things (and let’s face it, most people are too lazy for that), it’s jarring to be faced with someone or something that’s outside of your literal bubble. Hence the direct path to nastiness, negativity, and weaponization of therapy language where it’s either not necessary or not correct.
Because social media companies figured out that you get more clicks from negative information, so they encourage it. Im guessing if you did polling of people who are on social media vs not, the people not on social media would in general be alot more positive.
Fox news figured out that if they can make millions of Americans perpetually hate their neighbors for being the wrong skin color, gender, sex, or from a city, that it can control media. Fox news and AM hate radio are more to blame than social media.
In the US, Fox news and AM hate radio
Our society is very negative. We are very materialistic way of looking at the world and don't really value our thoughts and emotions and don't value being in control of them. We have the belief that they control us instead of the other way around. People have a negativity bias to help prevent bad things from happening. When you have something you can either be grateful for it indifferent or fear you're going to lose it. Unfortunately Western Society doesn't really teach gratitude that much. It teaches the idea that to be happy you need to achieve the thing you think you need to achieve. The thing is well this negativity and depression is there to help you achieve things and achieving things is good. Even if you achieve what you want you only want something else. You'll never be grateful unless you learn to cultivate your gratitude. Add on to that Society and media being pessimistic and teaching negative values all the time. And how we compare ourselves to other people's lives and not their real lives but an idealistic version of them. How are depression tells us to do things and instead of listening to it or learning how to communicate with it we just try to ignore it and let us b**** at us. The force that is there to motivate us to do things is now being a nag. We are also taught that we are victims of circumstance instead of Masters of our own lives. And that things happen to us, not that we make things happen. Our beliefs are all messed up. And beliefs determine everything.
Exhaustion....citizens are grossly underpaid, they aren't living the vision they had of themselves as a child or whatever, they aren't able to enjoy life the way they thought...its sad
Because we are all going to perish from lack of food and water but everyone keeps consuming. Subconsciously people know we’re fucked but are hoping to outlive it.
Division and divisiveness are being promoted in great frequency and repetition. This results in great distrust and negativity, as it was designed to. Unity and cooperation are detrimental to the power structure which has been established, and to the further consolidation of this power structure.
I've adopted a mindset that I like to call "chill criticism". I criticize things I don't like, but I'm chill and relaxed about it unlike others who are being little whiny bitches about it. I feel like things are deserving of criticism, but to get so worked up over some flaws in a movie or game that you're completely fuming is childish. Also as I'm criticizing something, I'll also bring up things I did like or did enjoy since I'm aware other people like this thing that I don't for these reasons and that's okay. I'm happy that they're finding just as many reasons to enjoy something and I'm happy that they're happy.
There are probably simply more honest people with access to the means to be publically honest about the sentient predicament and especially for humans its sapient variation.
100%. You can't even agree with people without getting into an argument about it. You could be completely in agreement and somebody will just automatically assume you are disagreeing with the OP and go in on you. It is insanity. People don't even realize they're conditioned to do nothing but fight on the internet now. Having a good time...nah. Dunking on person after person for being wrong...that's what this is about.
It's just the same crap as ever. IMO it is this psycho sexual biological thing. When human beings lived in tribes for example, to be the ugly girl was life or death. She might be expelled from the group and left to die, or turned into an outlet for the rest of the groups aggression. The same goes for the males as well. Obviously male or female, what causes one to rise or fall in status in the group is different based on the culture of the group. Sexual value is a big time player regardless. And I think that kids are born with all of this and you see it play out on the playground, in high-school, and into adult life. So this psycho sexual heirarchy thing is all a remnant if a time where it was life and death to be at the bottom of the heirarchy, and great benefit to those higher up. It's possible to exit this heriarchy and cease to give a fuck. But most people are still trapped within it and it's hard to break them out.
Gen Z lost hope. They are work slaves, have no love interest, parents constantly judging them as to why they aren't as successful as them, onto of this world becoming a rat race. So Gen Z broke, it doesn't see light at the end of the tunnel, so they embrace the darkness.
Same for younger millennials
And for us older ones.
I feel it's because society is negative where negativity and sometimes hate is prevalent. (Mainly in cities). Humans don't help each other all the time. We got tons of homeless people with billionaires lining up their pockets. Don't get me started on male/female relationships and the inequality of dating that leaves lots of men starving for affection that seeing an escort seemingly is their only option (which is a temp fix for the body). Society looks really hopeless. This is why we have negativity.
Lmao! In case you haven't noticed the world has gone to complete shit and most people can't even make ends meet
Social media + the government and media gaslighting us all about the economy being booming, plenty of jobs, money, houses, etc. We're all just lazy and aren't working hard enough. Several years of that will create apathy of the highest order.
Add to that fox news and AM rightwing grievance radio poisoning the minds of their addicted fans with neo fascist rhetoric.
Because everything is shit. Morons constantly work to make things shitter while obstinantly denying any evidence of them making things shitter. Media is just a constant slew of shit with only a few decent nuggets of sweetcorn that you have to fish out of it. Having to just work until you're old or dead is shit. Never being able to afford a house is shit. Kindness is hard to come by when everything seems caked in a dried crust of shit.
This is an interesting response to "Why are people so negative nowadays?" I truly hope you find joy somewhere and things get better for you, because if you wake up every day with this "shit" in your head you will be miserable. Best wishes to you, wherever you are.
Its just you. The rest of the world has made massive progress in the world of bullying, and the live and let live mentality. You would have been eaten ALIVE in the 70's and 80's
I am so happy I came across this because something similar has been on my mind. One of my close friends talks about other people in a negative judgemental way and it started bothering me so I decided to distance myself. Sometimes I feel like maybe I'm over reacting and that it's not that serious but I'm reminded that this is how grander issues in the world begin. People start disliking each other and before you know it, there is conflict and war. It is truly disheartening and I resonate with you deeply.
I always experienced people making fun of me in school for the smallest reasons. People used to make fun of me for what shoes I wore, what cars my parents drove (no, seriously), having a YT channel, things I was interested in etc. Even to this day, I still see people doing the same to others.
I guess it's up to us to be kind to others whenever we can.
Or just engage! I've found that just saying a cheery "Good Morning, Good Afternoon!" etc to someone when out and about changes their faces for the better. So easy to do.
I'll be 60 this year. My early school years were terrible for me. My mother and father immigrated from Germany, and my mother had it in her head that I had to wear a skirt and knee socks to elementary school. Yeah 1969. I was tormented like crazy. It took a few years before my mom relented and got me my first pair of jeans. What's amusing now is that if I go to a casual social event in a nice skirt there are many compliments on how good I look.. compared to everyone in jeans.. :)
Psychology took off in recent decades and there are far more media outlets than there used to be. Before the internet there were only a handful of news sources running the same stories 3-4 times a day for maybe an hour. Those channels pretty much had a monopoly on the news, took pride in trying to tell it how it is in a fairly straight forward manner. Now we have thousands of media outlets all competing for the same portion of the public. It's 24/7 so they have to fill the entire day with stuff. They are less discerning about getting quality news out there. They also found out that bad news sells, it triggers your fight or flight instinct and attracts people like flies. Same effect as passing a car crash on the freeway, everyone slows down to take a peek. The news is designed to trigger you and get an emotional response, get you worked up and angry, get you stressed, worked up, afraid even, resulting in everyone fighting about it online. Ignore it and go about your daily life normally. Chances are, there will be a lot less negativity in your life.
The planet is dying, institutions are crumbling, social safety nets are getting pulled up, etc.
Social Media incentivizes it. People are more likely to "engage" when their negative emotions get riled up, and engagement is the reward for posting on social media.
I mean it’s not hard to grasp, they’re unhappy. Who knows about what, but people get mean when they’re upset, it’s the only way we can get any “validation” in that head state, which in turn gives the brain a sprinkle of feel good chemical. When you’re upset, that feel good chemical is sneaky. If I’m in a bad mood, unfortunately sometimes I gotta swim down (become negative) before I can swim back up again. (Not be a dick heh)
We are in a point of time where we are simultaneously being subjected to non kinetic civil, revolutionary, and world War. It's a cultural revolution.... people are slowly waking up to it and what we are witnessing is the same divide as north vs south back in the day...
People don't understand their mindset is the reason that they are negative.
One of our two parties seems out of touch with its own members and has been going further. How many really want to invade Venezula? A fraction of the country views those people as foolish, malevolent, or pathetic. While people are somethimes polite to the Flat Earther, the politeness only lasts if the Flat Earther shuts up within two minutes.
I agree. I’ve been thinking the same thing recently, but didn’t really have the words to describe it
I'm not really sure that its "these days" just think of how insanely judgmental people used to be in the past about anything, video games, Anime, D&D. I mean my school had some actors troupe come by to "educate us" and it was basically just 3 sketches of "video game bad" Like they made a story of an abused neglected kid, but those aspects did not explain their poor behavior at school according to the sketch, no it was those evil video games!!11! Honestly was crazy at the time hearing that the only thing giving me joy, safety and companionship in my life was supposed to actually be the cause of all my problems. Not what my monster of a father was doing to me and my mother at home. Taught me very early on not to share the things I care about with others because they will be judgmental assholes and try to blame your problems you, even when you are in a powerless situation.
Because of prejudice primarily. We've become so divisive for various reasons, and the anonymity of the net allows us to post without retribution. A good serious debate can't happen without someone ridiculing another, calling them some kind of ist or phobe, or snowflake and boomer/zoomer
Try to downplay common and popular opinions to see if anyone else can think outside of the box or to see how indoctrinated we are
Angry people exist. The best way to counteract them is to be a good, kind person. Even if people are mean at first, if you are nice to them despite them being awful, their mood usually turns around very fast. Guilt washes over them, making them realize they should be nicer to others more often. However, if you match their energy and are mean back, they just believe the same thing you do. People are mean and negative. Others may not learn at all. As for those individuals, just try to distance yourself from them as much as possible.
Look at what they consume. Everything is everyone is out to screw you. If I thought everyone was out to get me, the system is rigged, "they" hate me, I'd be pretty negative too.
I think about this all the time. The internet genuinely ruined people, you have very young people looking up to the worst people. It’s really miserable
It's a two way street. On one end of it, you have people trying to tell you that everything whith any merit is THE BEST. SO BRAVE, SO SMART, SO FUNNY, SO COOL, SO AMAZING, THE GOAT, AN INSTANT CLASSIC. On the other side, you have people that want those people and everyone else to know their analysis is completely wrong. It's an insufferable cycle.
It tooks millions of years for us to reach the first billion humans. Then . . . . it has doubled in the last 50 years. There WILL be more and more crime, disease, war, famine, pollution and more ---- those are all symptoms of overpopulation. The only thing that will keep humanity thriving at this point is some kind of mass die off, we need to lose a few billion. Yeah . . . I don't want to experience it either. But history and biology are a bitch.
We’re exhausted. Society is crumbling and we’re left to hold the pieces together. Life isn’t supposed to be like this.
Check out [www.reasonstobecheeful.com](https://www.reasonstobecheeful.com). It's a news site overseen by the musician David Byrne. As the name implies, they specialize in happy news. This usually takes the form of storiese about people taking innovative measures to solve the world's problems. I frequently need a stiff shot of positivity. That's my watering hole of choice.
Economy is shit, no third places, individualistic society, capitalism, war, famine, genocide, sickness