Had to double check to make sure it wasn't an Onion article.
He certainly has been having a crisis, and as someone else mentioned here, recently read Meditations by Marcus Aurelius and tried to mimic the writing.
But instead, came across as another stressed, lost mind with their head too buried in social media, thinking they have to be at their absolute highlight of their life at any given moment.
I feel sorry for this wife he "courted", she probably asks him to at least help with the dishes sometimes but is responded with another tyrade of "You don't understand, woman, I need to focus on my God-given task of building my little blog with my intellectual friends"
Glad to see this, as someone who has almost only been with people with depression, this article was a very aggressive "You're not doing enough, you're doing it wrong, you're not trying hard enough, you should be doing better" which is hypocritical. The post did not come from a place of compassion or support, but entitlement. This article doesn't understand how hard it is to listen to hours, days, months, years of a person you care about constantly speaking of ending their life. "Just Listen" may be good advice for the first 50 hours or so, but after that is absolutely not a productive suggestion.
All of those with depression who I have been with do a combination of:
- Sleep small amounts of absurd hours
- Eat junk foods
- Spend all their time on video games, YouTube, TV shows, social media
- No exercise
- Take substances such as caffeine or other recreational drugs
And it is indeed coddling that has gotten them to this point. The general response may be "It is so easy for you to say and do", but it really isn't easy for anyone.
With an increase in people who either identify as or are diagnosed with depression, they have continued to claw at other aspects to blame, and it's now shifting to blaming "loved ones" for "failing" them.
In Australia, one of the big reasons have been invasive surveillance - They have multiple cameras set up inside, tracking how many seconds you are looking here or there. If it detects your eyes not doing what the AI deems acceptable, then it pings your manager up in his executive chair and they get to yell at you.
Basically takes your attention completely out of driving the truck and doing your job, to deliberately making actions to stay within the allowed parameters of AI.
I'm glad they got rid of most of them - the description text on startup settings such as "Start minimized" or "Start on bootup" were sentences such as "Have Discord greet you like a good boy", "Have Discord stay in the tray like a good boy"
While it's not trying to downplay anything like OP, it was certainly strange and creepy seeing software adopt Reddit English.
I do agree - If there are two employees with the same work output, the one who took the time and effort to pave his way to replacement is going to be let go first.
And to the comments saying the employer could "replace you any time" - most cases, they just don't know how to do so, or have the time and money to do so.
This strange article teaches you to do your employer's job by making it easier to replace you.
It's a nice nostalgic reminder of what the web used to be - when it was just made up of people wanting to express their interests.
A time where ads, tracking and Javascript weren't a thing.
When you install it, the first window they show you is a Terms of service agreement that has "Agree" "Disagree" buttons - except, it's not a Terms of Service agreement. It's an agreement to turn the program on.
So you have to click "Disagree" and continue the install to have it on.
Though it's cool that someone's trying to help with the JavaScript problem on the internet, since this can't run without JavaScript it only seems to add to the problem.
Still great to see people trying different approaches in avoiding that mess.
I think that's a very sad thing to say. Say conversation is banned but "small talk" is allowed, where's the line between that? And like the guy above said, there's also no line on what's political - even talking about a video game like you said can be political.
So in the end, I believe that would end up with people just avoiding talking to each other at all, to avoid any complications.
And that "Why discuss anything at all?" could be applied to other places - "Why discuss anything political at a school/dance class/supermarket/bar? You're just here to learn/dance/shop/drink-and-relax. Those conversations are _banned_ here".
It seems like a slippery slope to ban this natural social interaction.
It's similar to someone complaining about their job or relationship, but refusing to do anything about it.
Life can be comfortable if you keep thinking to yourself that you are a helpless victim. You become your own biggest hurdle at that point but it's a consistent predictable life people sometimes subconsciously fall into.
It's also still subjective to say not being homeless is all good. Some may even prefer that "free" lifestyle of not having to have responsibilities.
As a non-US person, I used to think "you all just have to stop eating so much" towards those overweight in the US.
But after living in the US you start to understand that it really is not easy.
In other countries, bread is bread, restaurant food is one serving and the snacks your peers bring in are home-made sweets, or cheese and crackers, etc.
In the US, bread is sugary and dense in calories, restaurant food is in two salty-oily servings, and the snacks your peers bring in are donuts and cupcakes.
When I first moved to the US and lived as I normally would, I gained weight quickly. It sucked having to involve yourself mentally in something you normally don't have to think about.