Do you think modern society is creating the modern mental health crisis itself? (addiction, anxiety)

[Luciano700]

Full title: Do you think there is somewhat of a link between the overexposure of modern life/society, the lack of a common moral ground(and there for normalization of nihilism) and the modern mental health crisis?


Really trying to formulate this into a coherent thought here, I think, within modern society there's the illusion of so much happening and occurring all at once

When I say illusion I mean to the individual mind


And so you deal with a bit of a stimuli overload from everything and all facets of society including politics, sports, social media, the internet, pop culture, current events, but there is no centralized focus at all within modern human civilization, is as secular and nihilistic as it gets


Perhaps that could be a contributing factor to our mental health crisis?

one of the more unignored contributing factors to our declining attention spans as a society is the information paralysis/overload of the modern world and also the lack of centralized focus within modern life

As humans we evolved from tribal lifestyles, ever since the advent of civilization something that I have noticed is how much of a lack of centralized focus society has had to deal with

This is what one could call a form nihilistic/existential distress, in that as a species we're always trying to obsess over a common goal, a common struggle as a people


As society gets more nihilistic, everyone is having to figure out more of their own idolatry in life


However you're basically dealing with a burden of information overload from current events and news to politics to social media to career goals, to the economy, so on and so forth like I stated in the beginning of the post

You're dealing with so an abundance of so many percieved choices it almost overwhelms you


This is why the news industrial complex has become one of the most powerful shaping forces of the 21st century, we like to feel a sense of currentness with things, Covid was somewhat of an attempt in recent times to replicate this effect where everybody and the entire world basically marched against the one common perceived threat which was Covid


In Tribal times it was much easier to go about having a more common goal


But in modern times never had we had so many opportunities and choices of outlets to fill in our existential voids from jobs & careers to hobbies to politics to news & current events to social media & the internet to holidays to shopping & consumerism to sports & fitness and yet the people get so overwhelmed of the abundance of choices we're not hardwired to process so many choices all at once



Not sure if what I am saying comes off as coherent, but I think you all get what I am trying to say

[tnff]

I don't think it's information overload so much as a combination of some other happenings. One being the almost worship of "celebrities" (meaning influencers, music stars, Hollywood stars, and "reality TV" stars) who seem to relish in being dysfunctional and putting their disfunction out in public for everyone to adore that disfunction. Add in TV shows featuring completely dysfunctional families as if that's the norm in society.

Couple that with a breakdown in societal values, to where the extreme ends of the distribution are presented as if they were the expected values, and the middle of the distribution is presented as extremes.

Net result is both the creation of the appearance of a mental health crisis because that is what is show in all forms of media AND an increase due to people, esp younger and more impressionable, into becoming what they see.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by tnff

I don't think it's information overload so much as a combination of some other happenings. One being the almost worship of "celebrities" (meaning influencers, music stars, Hollywood stars, and "reality TV" stars) who seem to relish in being dysfunctional and putting their disfunction out in public for everyone to adore that disfunction. Add in TV shows featuring completely dysfunctional families as if that's the norm in society.

Couple that with a breakdown in societal values, to where the extreme ends of the distribution are presented as if they were the expected values, and the middle of the distribution is presented as extremes.

Net result is both the creation of the appearance of a mental health crisis because that is what is show in all forms of media AND an increase due to people, esp younger and more impressionable, into becoming what they see.

There's also the breakdown in the family. The extended family is mostly gone with our mobile society and the nuclear family is disintegrated.

[heavymind]

Originally Posted by Luciano700

Do you think there is somewhat of a link between the overexposure of modern life/society, the lack of a common moral ground(and there for normalization of nihilism) and the modern mental health crisis?

Can you define or give examples of this "crisis", in your opinion and experience?

Personally, I often feel like I'm surrounded and outnumbered by either drug addicts or tech/media/phone addicts. Neither are good and both have caused me to retreat into solitude, having lost all desire to interact with most people anymore. (By drug addict, I'm referring to any and all substances, legal or not. Seems like the majority of people are medicated in some way, Americans in particular, just to cope with life.)

We're seeing the extreme effects of this in our urban centers, especially west coast, with a growing population of street zombies living in tents drugged out of their minds. It's my thought that most of them simply gave up. Stopped trying to participate in our f'ed up system, and no longer care. I feel like I'm not too far distanced from them.

I think our culture and society is long overdue for a good flush or wake up call.

[harry chickpea]

"Full title: Do you think there is somewhat of a link between the overexposure of modern life/society, the lack of a common moral ground(and there for (sic) normalization of nihilism) and the modern mental health crisis?"


Your question doesn't make sense on many levels, but my answer to part of it would be "slightly, possibly."

People who live in cults, those who have all their information processed through cult leaders and avoid other information, often have an appearance of having "moral ground" and no obvious mental health issues to the untrained. Only those with outside or greater knowledge can see through that cult mind.

People have lived in multicultural areas for centuries without it being a major cause of mental distress.

While I am at it, "Crisis" is an overused word that is completely inappropriate hyperbole, much as claiming a child who opens a door for their pet to get out of the rain is a "hero." If you want to be understood, and to understand, you must use the language in ways that focus your questions, and avoid the "hot" words used to obfuscate or create emotion.

You use the word nihilism in a way that shows you have never been taught exactly what it means and what it doesn't. Nihilism is a word used in some circles as a bait, usually meaning not being a follower of some specific religion or sect, but actively engaged in destructive behavior. The correct word for someone wanting to cripple and destroy society is "anarchist." A nihilist would not get that involved.

This might be a longer read than you want, but it does a good job of explaining nihilism:
https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/w...hilism-is-not/ Beware of people outside of philosophy professors trying to define the word. They don't generally have the background to do anything other than parrot the general nonsense. The word comes from a very specific source and means a very specific thing.

The concept of common goal as a unifying measure can have an uplifting effect, but all too often the goal is shallow, ill-considered, and even reactionary. During the enlightenment, there were various attempts to define high-reaching unifying goals. We have "We, the people..." and "all men are created equal" as our touchstones.

The fracturing of society and its relation to mental health is more a subject for the P& O.C. forum. Hopefully, in my attempt at explanation, I haven't already doomed the thread.

Cheers

[Mikala43]

I think society is mostly what you choose to make of it.

Any information overload is self inflicted, and can be changed easily. Families being far apart can be a problem, but do you think it would be much different if they were close? Did you guys hang out a lot before they moved?

I guess you are of the "ignorance is bliss" mindset?

[WannabeCPA]

Your post is full of opinions that may or may not have evidence to support them. As far as mental health goes, how do we know that mental illness wasn't just as prevalent in the past as it is today, but we're just better at diagnosing it today? As far as a "crisis", that's entirely subjective. For your question, my answer is "maybe", but I have no way of proving so and I doubt anyone does. Society changes constantly. I actually feel we're living in pretty good times compared to just about anytime in human history. This despite various "crises" humanity is supposedly experiencing pretty much all the time.

[farm108]

Originally Posted by Luciano700

Is there a link between the overexposure of modern life/society including lack of a common moral ground - and the mental health crisis?

Yes, there is indeed a link.

Technological advancements were tremendous in the last 100 years for instance. But spirituality in people (in consciousness, in mental habits, in the thinking process etc) didn't advance at the same level.

The degradation in moral values contributed to this also. This is reflected everywhere in society. In education, family, at work, entertainment industry, TV, the news, politics, nutrition, sports, art, social media, fashion, even religion.

Many think today that they can live without a moral compass, without some sort of moral rules of conduct. You may call it God or decency or some sort of self-respect and common sense. The voice of reason, your own conscience. It doesn't matter if you believe in a God or not. Your conscience tells you when you do right or wrong. If you don't listen to it and always do what you feel like/want in a moment (and you know it's bad)...then, gradually, you lose this conscience. You can't hear this voice anymore. And are lost. And miserable.

Lack of jobs/work (manufacturing industry went all to China) destroyed many workers' lives. A normal person needs to work. Many went into drugs/alcohol/other addictions in order to cope with this. Thus the result of: zombies on the streets, confused violent teens etc.

A return to simplicity and contentment, decency and moral values is going to happen. I don't know when, in a few years in a few decades...sometime in the future. It will be by force (war, depression, calamities) I have no idea. I can only speculate. But it will happen.

In my opinion it's all about vibrations. What vibrations do you send around. Every moment. Do you try to flirt online with married women? Negative vibrations. Do you drive like a moron without any regard for the other drivers? Negative vibrations. Do you go out dressed in your underwear and your breasts hanging out desperate for attention? Negative vibrations.

What you send out - you receive back. Until you start changing for the better, nothing will change.
("you" in general, this is valid for me too)

[Mikala43]

Not sure who you're hanging with, but the morals are fine in my world.

Mental health is no longer something to hide, and people now freely share that they have anxiety, and other mental health issues. Which is great, when they share they find other people have the same problems, and how they handle different situations.

[otterhere]

One word: technology.