iltoroargento

Are you me?

This is my main issue with this type of journalism as well. The one author of the paper comes off as flippantly myopic and that’s partially due to the way the article itself is written. If dude doesn’t have a really informed view of the underlying causes of the data being observed, don’t just throw some dumb quote he pulled out of his ass into the article lol.

It’s increasingly difficult to find articles that pose deeply thought out questions and analyses when every writer is pressured to produce something that satisfied their editors’ want for a story with a quick answer that doesn’t rock the boat or upset shareholders.

• Ted Kaczinsky (The Unabomber)

Absolutely. I totally agree that social media is a manipulative lens based on those engagement algorithms. I definitely see that as having amplified these issues (and in many cases, misrepresented and confused, as you said, which also drives despair and conflict).

I also didn’t mean to sound extremely dour in the first place, there are, of course, some aspects of society and progress worth celebrating, and I’m not particularly unhappy, so much as worried for others, myself.

The reality and perception of existential threats like climate change, violence, and exploitation is no doubt amplified by the lens of social media, but I would argue that those pressures would still be felt, regardless of that amplification, leading me to see them as the root causes.

I also agree that social media in general is another root cause, but argue that just throwing that out there as “the” root cause, as Bellflower does in his quote, is reductive and looks out of touch.

Lol this dude sounds super out of touch. There are a whole lot of societal and economic factors around the '00s and '10s that are likely contributing.

Fuggin’ “cellphones” sounds like a typical boomer answer.

Also, there is likely some lag time between a population’s perception of traumatic or disturbing events and the onset of despair. I know that learning more about the financial crises around the late '00s did not help my mental health and only really occurred some time after in the mid '10s as people had time to analyze the root causes of these issues.

The continual deathmarch of climate change, growing awareness of the exploitation of the working class, and the reactionary violence and hate bred by right wing fanatics and politicians which surged beginning in the early '10s are all contenders for massive, culturally debilitating, trends. Lol “cellphones”.

Smart phones and social media are obviously amplifiers of these issues and are part of the problem, but the quote is remarkably reductive and does not address the root cause of what makes the information communicated through cell phones and social media so disheartening. Maybe we are given poor context for the quote and maybe it was something Blanchflower said in passing during the interview, but, still, not a good look.

Unironically, I have that ad saved under comedic commercials.

I feel distressed, tbh…

Nice, yeah, that’s kinda how I was thinking. Thanks for the recommendation!

Ooh. Those price points are pretty solid. If you had to pick one for daily use, including travel, would you go InkPad 4 or one of the eras?

Commenting to come back to this. Also interested!

“More at six…”

“Glory! To you and your ass!”

Exactly what I want from my medical “professional” lol.

If I’m not haggling them or any other business/provider down to a price that barely doesn’t make me cry, I haven’t had a fun day.

/s

Stay strong, neighbor. You sound like a good one.

Edit: Just Anglosphere things lol

The first dentist I ever went to was great. He was good with kids and adults and did his job. He was realistic about kids being kids and gave us the tools and information to make sure our teeth were healthy. I had him all the way through my braces and into high school. He then retired.

My next dentist was a horrendous, preachy, asshole who loved to tell all of his patients what was wrong with them, make people feel bad for their decisions to drink soda, and surmised that we were all eating too much junk food (which he wouldn’t really elaborate on when asked). My diet wasn’t perfect, but I had mostly home cooked meals with steamed vegetables, along with the occasional fast food lunch with friends.

He was also Mormon and I know a lot of Mormons love to get on their high horse and take pleasure in being petty, insufferable, assholes. I haven’t read their batshit book (albeit, most in that genre are similarly zany and harebrained), but there must be some discussion on how to be a bad neighbor to everyone you meet in there based on their predilictions for unfair/unwarranted judgement and exclusion. He only hired other Mormon dentists to his practice and all the dental assistants were similarly preachy and religious.

I dreaded going to the dentist for mostly social reasons and didn’t want to be shamed by being told that I had better take care of my teeth (which were fine) because my parents had spent a lot of money on my braces (and it wasn’t that much money because the first dentist wasn’t a sneering profiteer).

I ditched that asshole once I went to college and have had a couple dentists since then who were fine, did their job and didn’t give me a bunch of flak for not flossing after every meal like a fucking psychopath.

Fundamentally, I think the issue with dentists is that when you get a bad one, they make you feel bad, which is the absolute antithesis of healthcare.

Additionally, because of the arbitrary and asinine distinction in the US between oral care and basically the rest of the body, dentistry is seen as cosmetic and unnecessary, often allowing or obligating dentists to charge an arm and a leg for most of their services. We all know how prices ratchet up from initial obligations to cover higher costs into “fuck the consumer, they were fine paying the higher prices anyway so let’s increase our profit margin”.

Compound that with the ridiculous price setting and insurance rackets baked into anything close to the health sector, and you have a lot of frustration even before patients get into the chair.

If you’re not a dentist who will practice compassionate care, at least be one who just shuts the fuck up and does their job. Of course let the patient know what’s going on in their mouth and how they can better take care of themselves or treat something they’re dealing with, but chill the fuck out with the fire and brimstone shit about missing a cleaning or not flossing all the time.

Healthcare is all about bedside manner. If you don’t have it, you’re not a good provider and your business can and should suffer (the fact that our healthcare structures are businesses and profit motivated is fundamentally opposed to effective care, anyway, but that’s the subject of another essay).

Edit: Cleaned it up a bit and added that my first dentist retired.

Wait, I take a week off and threads federating is possible? What the hell?

This is the worst second breakfast meme I’ve come across yet… And, sadly, the most relatable.