Is there a problem with how the world is today?
| Given a thread on Attention whoring made by MellowJello I said the fallowing. Sorry for typo's in advance "Some people might be going through a hard time in their life and really have no human contact outside of a forum. I find it hillarious in a sad manner that there are more people than ever before, more ways of getting around than ever before, yet the society and the manner it has turned have left a lot of people more alone than ever before." Now that is a view I have based on Observations of our recent times. Why are people so unhappy and alone? Mind you I'm not one of those asshats that thinks you can be happy 24/7. That is only a term and way of thinking coined by the modern coropration. But between airtravel, the net, and public transit, or at least busses and trains in the countryside, why is it so many people seem misrible and alone? Has it always been this way and we only notice now? In part I do not think this is the case as in older times and with many tasks being manual labor and so few "enterianment" options people were more forced to count on one atother and to be more open. However this might be just a rose tinted perspective. Anyways on with my point/possible causes. It is undeniable that a problem in human society or at least the developed half is going on, the rise of the NEET, Left and Right Wing extreamism, based almost whole on what each group wants and see's as best, shut-ins, social apathy, and the general uncarring nature of people today unless a problem directly hits them. Also the massed hypocrisy and sensationalism seen in a number of things. Also declining population births in the developed world, and generally the destruction of the Social unit. Now mind you some of these are not new, and the spread of various things may in fact have contributed to it seeming worse, or at least in being more reported. Or the better standard of living has allowed others to dropout of the system. Where as in the past they could not. What are your views on the matter? Is it a problem? Is it always been this way? Are you happy or unhappy with the state of the world as is? Just Discuss, if you are a bit of a recluse or a shut in, why are you? Concurrently a number of studies some at national level are ongoing on this topic and the concerns are grave for what this will mean for the future of the human race and society. Discuss. Warning long post is long. Anyways my opening post and views on the situation. I think the world DOES have a major mental disorder, and it has a great deal to do with our way of life currently. As to how and what possble effects each item has I will list them as fallows also as to why I am a bit of a shut in. Firstly I think the problems, while always with us have been manifest to a larger degree than before and can be broken down into the fallowing groupings. Values, Communications, Technology, and Commercialization. TL;DR version, we try and sell more shit than we need. Prices are upped at criminal levels in some places to pay meaningless wages, people are told to buy this to be happy. In turn people work longer times, which leads to less family time given TV and the net which takes over in a setting of screwed up double standard morals, respect one persons rights, dog eats dog as a example. In turn people know more of fictional characters and strangers in the same situation than the person that lives in front of them. Or they keep up superfical and false friendships. The Family unit having no bases and the selfish consummerist nature leaves people selfcentred and antagonisitic, or apathtic and depressed. Technology and Education has opend the doors to a lack of apathy where unless it happens to me it doesn't matter at all, and in fact ignorance might be bliss. Am I on to something, or just full of shit, also I stay as a bit of a shut in as I care not for todays way of life, and find so few people I can deal with, and am generally very resentful and hate the way this world and many of its people are. Wall of text below So whats the point of it all if you build up a wall, that vanishes before your eyes? In general maybe its not society but people who are messed up, though our way of life and the apathy aimed at it will never fix the situation. |
RedArmyShogunMay 11, 2013 7:23 AM
| Seems pretty nihilistic to me. I'll say every period has its own problems and maybe similar problems like ones that we see today. So, yes. It always has been this way. |
| ....of all the arts, for us the cinema is the most important. -- Vladimir Lenin |
| Yes, everyone is so goal-driven : money, money, education, work, ... This, of course, in order to survive, so it is understandable, but what bothers me is that most people just take it the way it is, are narrow-minded to put it that way. Should we accept anything they throw at us, government, religion, media, society?... Anyway I don't think the problems are of this modern time only, but our modern society does influence it badly. You know, it's hard to be happy when you know how you're whole life while look like : studying, work, retirement. Besides the future of planet Earth doesn't look very bright either. That said, I think that happiness comes from the little things though, so set the other things aside, and enjoy the small things :) |
Smeithan said: Yes, everyone is so goal-driven : money, money, education, work, ... This, of course, in order to survive, so it is understandable, but what bothers me is that most people just take it the way it is, are narrow-minded to put it that way. Should we accept anything they throw at us, government, religion, media, society?... Anyway I don't think the problems are of this modern time only, but our modern society does influence it badly. You know, it's hard to be happy when you know how you're whole life while look like : studying, work, retirement. Besides the future of planet Earth doesn't look very bright either. That said, I think that happiness comes from the little things though, so set the other things aside, and enjoy the small things :) Hmm I have to say that is a positive way to look at it really. I must say if not for the little things I would have went off the slope years ago. lulz. |
| Let's look at it this way, human beings are still evolutionarily built to survive as hunter-gatherers. Our cultural evolution has left our biological evolution in the dust, and as such, we are currently not biologically adapted to the society we live in. Just look at physical labour to take one example. Humans actually feel better after using their bodies, and all throughout our prehistory, we have survived by using our bodies. But today, we get less and less physical labour and more and more desk jobs. We are also social animals. In the ancient times, we had to cooperate in families and tribes to survive, but when this is no longer a necessity, people might drift apart. Our constant struggle to improve our way of life has slowly stripped away the challenges we were biologically intended to face. We no longer have to stalk through the woods for days to hunt for food, but that is not to say we do not have a psychological need to exert ourselves. Today we have so much freedom that it is easy to get lost in it. When not faced with immediate hurdles to overcome, we become unfocused and feel unfulfilled, seeking out things to fill the holes within ourselves. Our will to survive has shifted focus to consumerism instead, and with too much time on our hands, we have ample time to think and lament our all too luxurious situation. I suppose you could fix it by reverting to a more natural lifestyle where everyday survival is your only concern. Or just grit your teeth and adapt to the world we have created. After all, in this age where it is harder to die than to survive, we have no goals save the ones we make for ourselves. And if you cannot find any, then you must stare into the abyss of nihilism and figure out what to do. |
| Yes. Lots of problems. The world is a chaotic mass run by madmen, there is no coherence to society, only the vague notion of progress tauted by corporate propaganda (advertising) and subservient academia. Buy the next smartphone, consume the next mass media hit, or take on even more debt because you have to buy more to be happy. We are owned by corporations, every bit of our life is segmented into our dealings with brand names. That is part of the problem. You have made some very good points, though I don't think that the masses are to blame for any of it. They have been brainwashed into docile, obedient consumerism. Summed up best by this image:  |
TimeTerrorist said: Summed up best by this image: I fully agree with you that this is the sad truth we live in. Now don't get depressed, there's is room for change! |
Smeithan said: TimeTerrorist said: Summed up best by this image: I fully agree with you that this is the sad truth we live in. Now don't get depressed, there's is room for change! FREEDOM BIZNITCHES!! The thing is, every era has it's issues. Until we can achieve a perfect utopia where there is no hunger, no stress, no angst, etc, people will always feel this way. |
| Yaaay... you made the thread! As for my (vaguely) uninformed opinion, I'll answer these questions: What are your views on the matter? Is it a problem? Is it always been this way? Are you happy or unhappy with the state of the world as is? Just Discuss, if you are a bit of a recluse or a shut in, why are you? It sucks, but my life is currently way more important than whatever miserable lives other people are having. I'm sorry, but you're just gonna have to try to pick yourself up out of your situation. At one point I tried to care about it, but... you can't save everyone, right? It's a problem I wish I could care for, if maybe I had the resources or ability to. Actually, I think it's a recent thing. My reason for this is simple: too much freedom. Not just civil liberties freedom, but freedom of employment (NEET status), socialization (you can choose who your friends are nowadays), entertainment (don't like doing "popular" stuff? watch anime), etc. There's just so many options in 1st world countries that some people get overwhelmed and decide to do... nothing. That's their choice, and as long as they don't die because of it, I'm fine with it. I'm fine with it. I've started to lose my enthusiasm for things going on outside of my apartment, since... well I'm just focusing on graduating. And I do believe that "status quo is God". Life (for me) is great the way it is. Well just going by MAL polls, most people here are introverts, myself included. That tends to include a large fraction of the shut-in demographic. Thankfully I'm neither a recluse or shut-in. Despite my massive amount of time spent on MAL, I do have a life, thank you. There's just too much out in the world to explore and experience to be bogged down with staying inside forever. Plus, "the greatest way to bring a shut-in out is to make him hungry". I need a job, and being a recluse is the #1 way of making that not happen. |
| i blame capitalism since it promotes winners-takes-all for success and losers-takes-nothing or almost nothing so its pressuring everyone to win, the overpopulation does not help at all too it creates too much competition, in the job market for example employers will say you are easily replaceable same is true with friends because there are so many to choose from, and the amount of jobs available is decreasing too due to automation/machination/computerization so its easy to see why their are lots of NEET and underemployed (high population and high automation are the main cause of low job vacancy) some articles ive read about this in the past http://phys.org/news/2013-01-future-machines-jobs.html http://bigthink.com/politeia/why-do-we-still-have-to-work |
Smeithan said: I have to say though. This is infinitely better than 500 years ago in a lawless land, death by preventable diseases, innocently butchered by vagrants, where 1% controls the 99%.TimeTerrorist said: Summed up best by this image: I fully agree with you that this is the sad truth we live in. Now don't get depressed, there's is room for change! I'd choose diabetes over starvation. I'd choose watching TV than watching people get hanged. And so on and so forth. The illusion of freedom is certainly better than no freedom at all. |
| while i agree the modern world is better when it comes to human mortality rate we still got problems according to recent news We're living longer but with more disability The Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 (GBD 2010), has found people around the world are living longer but often with many years of compromised health. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-longer-disability.html Mental illness the largest contributor to disability worldwide http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-mental-illness-largest-contributor-disability.html Obesity linked to economic insecurity The study compared ‘market-liberal’ countries (United States, Britain, Canada and Australia) with seven relatively affluent European countries that have systems that traditionally offer stronger social protection (Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain and Sweden). It concludes that economic security plays a significant role in determining levels of obesity. Countries with higher levels of job and income security were associated with lower levels of obesity. http://phys.org/news/2011-01-obesity-linked-economic-insecurity.html i guess socialism is the better way since capitalism is bringing up this problems |
| My problem with modern society is everything is too liberal, people are too loose with morals, every thing is too "politically correct". |
| A real problem with the modern world (Britain and the USA) is the erosion of family values, you have these kids who discard their parents/ parents who discard their kids, families that break up at the drop of a hat because people are too busy over arguing over some piece of random shit that's completely insignificant in the long run. It's time these people took a leaf out of Asia's or the Mediterranean's book and sorted themselves out, there's no way the welfare state can replace your family, no amount of disposable income can give people the same feeling of security. If you've got strong family ties you'll never be alone wherever you are (even if you live far away from them). Friends have become value-exchanging acquaintances, there's absolutely no self-sacrifice, no concern for one another it's just hey let's go crash party X, have dinner at Y's. I feel like 10 years ago Britain used to be really community oriented, but maybe that's just my childhood talking. |
apatch3May 11, 2013 9:25 PM
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