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  • I mean to me this feels "correct," but this analysis is kind of mid. Like, obviously the world is a waking nightmare and the demonic "communication tool" that monopolises all of our free time is a coping mechanism. But I'm not sure "logging off" is the solution when there is no "reality" to log off to. The internet bleeds over into "real life." And "real life" hasn't been "real" for decades now. This article could benefit from speaking about the Spectacle, spectacular life. Get some Debord and Baudrillard in here and you're really cooking.

  • The internet is, in my mind, an information delivery service. It has made me more aware of worldwide tragedies. It has also made me more aware of the causes of those tragedies; without the internet, I would probably be a pro-American liberal.

    Not deeply emphasizing with all of this is not necessarily a flaw. Humans aren't built to deal with that on a regular basis. Not engaging with things that don't affect you is normal. For most of human history, that's not an issue, but with the world's information at your fingertips, it suddenly is.

    The author has decided to do this by logging off. That's fine, and it's probably the correct response if the internet is significantly damaging your mental health. I don't think it's required for most people, though, and modern people being more aware of the world is a good thing - it's hard to imagine a generation of Americans who are generally critical of capitalism, and yet here we are. I hope this weird new enlightenment leads to people that are more ready that previous generations to fight back against systems that are transparently unjust, but only time will tell.

  • So, from skimming the article it kinda frames it like, you are either traumatized or not and you should "act" like it all the time.

    I'm of the opinion, from various life experiences, that a traumatic event is kinda like a bullseye. The center is where those most immediately and severely impacted are at and every "ring" emanating from the center is a group of people who are impacted less and less directly and severely.

    Things like 9/11/2001 in the USA only really had a small number of people at the "bullseye" and the rest of us were way out in the rings. Sure there were effects to my life but nothing really traumatic so there really isn't anything that needs to be dealt with. Me making fun of it, is less about dissociation and more about how the event doesn't deserve to be memorialized in the way to be a thought terminating cliche.

    I remember being in high school and it seemed like, for a pretty small down, one high school aged kid a year at a minimum died. It was kinda sad, but unless you were a friend or family, there really wasn't anything to be traumatized about. All of the teachers were acting like we were all supposed to be terribly upset, some of the students acted like they were really upset, and it was kinda expected that you were to play along and be sullen and quiet.

    My mom told me a story about when she had to tell her coworkers that she had cancer and then had to spend days consoling everybody else who was upset that she had cancer. She hated every minute of it. Then I had to deal with the same thing when my mom died of her cancer, I told my bosses at work (as warning that I might need to duck out of work at random times to deal with paperwork stuff), and then had to deal with some uncomfortably long situations where another employee was very very VERY upset.... for me. It was exhausting and time consuming and after dealing with dozens of people for various "executor of an estate" reasons I couldn't stop rolling my eyes at people who said "sorry for your loss".

    • It's not really about 9/11, though I get what you're saying.

      I think the proximity of the Internet prolongs the trauma.

      Internet is useful, but too much of it causes... problems, imho.

  • Okay I had a chance to read it. I appreciate the perspective and agree with it but I also think it's pretty on-the-nose and just reminds me of something a mental health influencer would say, with a bit of leftist language peppered in. Scrolling is absolutely a coping mechanism for unresolved trauma and any type of mental illness, really. Double that for someone who's autistic or has ADHD; it can be soothing and is a dopamine machine so that HAS to make it even more alluring. But there are many self destructive coping mechanisms that a traumatized person can turn to. If you are simply in a state of coping, that in and of itself is not healing the trauma. Therefore I think any way that you decide to cope with traumatic events is simply prolonging it and that's not exclusive to internet addiction.

    Before cell phones, I had drugs and booze and my iMac. Before drugs I had videogames. An entire lifetime of coping mechanisms to help me avoid processing my feelings. Would you not describe the experience of dissociation from substances as some sort of simulacrum?

    I've gone to therapy for 10+ years. It has helped to untangle a lifetime of traumatic experience for me, but it was not something that magically cured my need to cope in whatever ways I can. I am still mentally ill. I'm still neurodivergent. Still living in a capitalist hellscape as we all are. Not everyone has access to therapy. So, then what do you do? Get rid of your coping skills, no matter how harmful, to just sit with your thoughts, not knowing how to work through them and let them eat you alive? Fuck that, give me cute capybara videos to scroll through please.

    I agree that internet addiction is a real problem, and the access we have to it can make it a real hindrance to being in community. I'm experiencing this first hand. But I think the conversation is more nuanced and I wish the writer would have taken it farther.

29 comments