Non-political thread: Did you mental health take a nosedive?

[Anonymous]

I don't need to know which side of the middle east conflict you are on, but I felt like I was finally getting my head above water and treading water a bit post COVID/pandemic, Russia/Ukraine war breaking out, family illnesses and deaths, parenting stressors, sandwich generation stress and then *bam* the world explodes. I know it was heating up before this, but didn't expect things to erupt like this.

I know to take breaks from the news, do things I enjoy, immerse myself in work, appreciate the family I have (b/c FOO is a disaster), exercise, eat healthy...I will survive, but it's all so surreal. The world was already a mess and now it's just like a wildfire spreading to our town. You can't get away from it sometimes. There are reminders everywhere.

**Again, no need to know what side you are on or how you think we got here since that can be discussed on the politics board, just wondering how others are doing. How are you??

[Anonymous]

Agree surreal. I admit- the number of people protesting has surprised me.

[Anonymous]

Same. I feel like the world is a pit of despair with no way out.

[Anonymous]

I reduced my news to preserve my health. We see (witness??) more atrocities because someone invented the internet and social media. If it was 1890, we would not have the same quantity of bad news thrown on us.

There are a lot of wars happening. We hear news of two of them mostly.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I feel this. Similar life situation, too, which I think adds to it.

There is also a specific thing about the discussion/divisiveness around the conflict that brings up something traumatic from my past that I do NOT want to think about. I was talking to my therapist about it last week and was feeling bad that this is even an issue for me because it's not even related to the conflict directly. But she talked about how this is actually true of many people with trauma histories. It's war, it's traumatizing by nature, of course it will dredge up other issues too.

[Anonymous]

I can’t wrap my head around so many things theses days.

[Anonymous]

It's the type of divisiveness. We've seen the country go from moderate on both sides, to moderate and left battling crazy fiction and conspiracy, as if anyone can battle that. Then we have this middle east debacle where everyone has found another group to battle, including those who were once like minded, yet now against each other.
Political parties are meaningless now, we're all just in changing tribes on single issues.
It's almost as if Russian is looking for a last chance tactic for the 2024 election and it is working.
One thing is for certain- social media is not helping.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think there were fewer atrocities happening in the world 20-30 years ago and certainly not during world wars I and II. But today, we get info that is not only instantaneous, but also often manipulated and falsified. When 9/11 happened, I don’t think people were circulating fake photos or misrepresenting photos from other tragedies to the degree that we see today. And put all of this against the backdrop of impending ecological catastrophe. It’s really a lot. I would just turn the news off, but I have to stay somewhat informed as a citizen. I am not even on social media, but I still feel the negative effects because other people are on it and acting on what they see.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think there were fewer atrocities happening in the world 20-30 years ago and certainly not during world wars I and II. But today, we get info that is not only instantaneous, but also often manipulated and falsified. When 9/11 happened, I don’t think people were circulating fake photos or misrepresenting photos from other tragedies to the degree that we see today. And put all of this against the backdrop of impending ecological catastrophe. It’s really a lot. I would just turn the news off, but I have to stay somewhat informed as a citizen. I am not even on social media, but I still feel the negative effects because other people are on it and acting on what they see.

Yes and if we have so many manipulations of the news now, as AI further develops, how will future generations ever know what is really happening in the world?

[Anonymous]

I'm not on any side in the mid east conflict, but I am staying away from the news because it's just so horrible. On both sides.

[Anonymous]

Yes, it absolutely did. I had bronchitis and went to the doctor about 6 days after the conflict started. My blood pressure was way up, my heart rate was abnormally high, and the doctor asked "Are you under any stress?" and I was like "Well, I've been jewish all week, so ... yes?" And I immediately stopped reading social media posts about it, stopped reading news articles about it, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think there were fewer atrocities happening in the world 20-30 years ago and certainly not during world wars I and II. But today, we get info that is not only instantaneous, but also often manipulated and falsified. When 9/11 happened, I don’t think people were circulating fake photos or misrepresenting photos from other tragedies to the degree that we see today. And put all of this against the backdrop of impending ecological catastrophe. It’s really a lot. I would just turn the news off, but I have to stay somewhat informed as a citizen. I am not even on social media, but I still feel the negative effects because other people are on it and acting on what they see.

Yes and if we have so many manipulations of the news now, as AI further develops, how will future generations ever know what is really happening in the world?

Pp. Yes, exactly. And our capability of detecting false images will always be overrun by more sophisticated ways to produce them. Help me see a way forward that doesn’t include future generations either becoming so easily duped by deepfakes or paralyzed by distrust of images and video. And I am at a loss when I think about GPT-4, the latest and greatest chatGPT.

[Anonymous]

It does indeed seem like a wildfire, but I am good at compartmentalizing. As long as my family and immediate surroundings are ok -that’s most important.

[Anonymous]

It has been giving me anxiety. I am worried about global war. I am worried about the divisiveness in this country. I am afraid. I think people can no longer talk and hear out other opinions. I worry about the decline of this country. I am a teacher and see every day how kids can't cope with even the smallest setback. They are weak.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It has been giving me anxiety. I am worried about global war. I am worried about the divisiveness in this country. I am afraid. I think people can no longer talk and hear out other opinions. I worry about the decline of this country. I am a teacher and see every day how kids can't cope with even the smallest setback. They are weak.

+1
I’m also a teacher (HS). While I have glimmers of hope that some of them will become nuanced thinkers, so many of them have no motivation and no critical thinking skills. Then I look around at the adults … 😳😭

Internet+social media+AI+lack of critical thinking … I’m afraid we are actively watching the downfall of society.