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Mental Health Is the Internet the cause of mental illness?

I believe the internet exacerbates certain types of mental illnesses and creates others. I've questioned for a long time whether the good outweighed the bad.

The Bad
•Social media: "picture-perfect" people making others feel inadequate, people recording/posting moments instead of being in them, and conversely looking at their screens instead of their surroundings.
•Porn: when a group of mental health professionals are trying to figure out how many hours a day of porn is healthy/unhealthy to watch, it's not a good sign. Porn frequently contributes to the inability of some individuals to enjoy sex with another person and can be addictive. Add types of porn such as child porn and snuff porn and it's pathological.
•Gambling sites: self-explanatory
•Games/gaming: They are literally created and enhanced to be addictive. They are.
•Drug availability: the medical system is far from perfect, but people who know little more than that they like certain drugs and people who want to make money off addiction aren't a great combination.
Silk Road was an attempt to "change all that" and it didn't- it became a source for guns, fake IDs murder for hire and eventually a huge bait trap. The Wild West has returned.
•Facilitates communication between members of terrorist organizations and criminal enterprises, either in code or encrypted.
• People choosing to associate almost exclusively with like-minded people and a corresponding narrow and limited viewpoint and mentality.
•Bullying of children, which has been taken to an extreme new level and is appalling.
•Perverts trying to prey on children.

Personally, I like being able to do much faster and comprehensive research in science, learn more about math and science, find people who share similar and somewhat obscure interests like etymology, to read news from a non-American perspective without 15 magazine subscriptions, and lots of other things.

Good for many:
The internet has helped people with rare conditions find support, connected members of disenfranchised communities, allowed people in repressive regimes to get information to the rest of the world, provide real-time information in times of crisis or historical significance and made a lot of things easier to find.

I still think the jury is out, but the convenience is certainly comprised by the dark underbelly, and mental health is certainly a factor in the equation.
 
I don't really do message boards anymore. Guess it depends on what kind you go to, but there are some boards where all people do is pick on each other and bust balls all day. Just tons of assholes. That's why I lurk first just to see what kind of people are there and if I want to join. This is the only forum I frequent because people here are pretty cool.
 
cduggles said:
I believe the internet exacerbates certain types of mental illnesses and creates others. I've questioned for a long time whether the good outweighed the bad.

The Bad
•Social media: "picture-perfect" people making others feel inadequate, people recording/posting moments instead of being in them, and conversely looking at their screens instead of their surroundings.
•Porn: when a group of mental health professionals are trying to figure out how many hours a day of porn is healthy/unhealthy to watch, it's not a good sign. Porn frequently contributes to the inability of some individuals to enjoy sex with another person and can be addictive. Add types of porn such as child porn and snuff porn and it's pathological.
•Gambling sites: self-explanatory
•Games/gaming: They are literally created and enhanced to be addictive. They are.
•Drug availability: the medical system is far from perfect, but people who know little more than that they like certain drugs and people who want to make money off addiction aren't a great combination.
Silk Road was an attempt to "change all that" and it didn't- it became a source for guns, fake IDs murder for hire and eventually a huge bait trap. The Wild West has returned.
•Facilitates communication between members of terrorist organizations and criminal enterprises, either in code or encrypted.
• People choosing to associate almost exclusively with like-minded people and a corresponding narrow and limited viewpoint and mentality.
•Bullying of children, which has been taken to an extreme new level and is appalling.
•Perverts trying to prey on children.

Personally, I like being able to do much faster and comprehensive research in science, learn more about math and science, find people who share similar and somewhat obscure interests like etymology, to read news from a non-American perspective without 15 magazine subscriptions, and lots of other things.

Good for many:
The internet has helped people with rare conditions find support, connected members of disenfranchised communities, allowed people in repressive regimes to get information to the rest of the world, provide real-time information in times of crisis or historical significance and made a lot of things easier to find.

I still think the jury is out, but the convenience is certainly comprised by the dark underbelly, and mental health is certainly a factor in the equation.
Click to expand...


Where do you usually find these communities? I've sniffed around IRC chats to get my fix of socialisation and to find like minded individuals, but they seem to be pretty dead at the moment.
 
Eleusis said:
Where do you usually find these communities? I've sniffed around IRC chats to get my fix of socialisation and to find like minded individuals, but they seem to be pretty dead at the moment.
Click to expand...

Hi Eleusis,
What type of community are you looking for? I will try to help any way I can. PM me if you'd prefer.
Best, CD
 
If it weren't for the internet, I'd probably be in better shape at least mentally if not physically. Some days I'll browse for hours.

Also, I avoid Facebook. Had one of my FB friends brag about something that I'd rather not discuss here. Not good at all.
 
I'll tell ya what, especially lately what with just recently moved and don't have shit technology wise besides a smartphone, I enjoy coasting around back on bluelight a HELLUVA lot more than any time I spend on Facebook.

I almost always post uplifting photography on my FB of flowers, sunsets ,nature and probably a bit too many selfies (lol) but hey, I've only had a smartphone for like 3 1/2 months....yes, I was able to keep away from smartphones for YEARS and finally had to cave but for more professional reasons such as being able to access important emails regarding a peace organization I belong to and leadership stuff that has to be done.

But yeah, fb sucks.....a lot of the time. I going to take a break from it for awhile, it is very healthy to do so.

I miss the early days of the internet, when everyone had aim and dial up modems and ahhh it was just so cool just logging onto the net back then.

I am a very nostalgic person.
 
The best thing I did was quit Twitter weeks ago! Everything is about Trump, bad news all around. Not worth it at all.

The more followers you have, the more you see subtweets. You start to think the subtweets are losers ways of indirectly talking about you.

Glad it’s over. Good riddance! It’s not healthy.
 
Though the internet may exasperate some peoples mental illnesses.
 
Excessive use of social media has been shown to reduce self-esteem. I am a professional educator and believe that the increased excessive use of tablets and other electronic screens before 1st grade may possibly be linked to the increase incidence of aspergers.

The internet is a great escape and easily compulsive when avoiding trying to deal with life problems and monotony. But I think that the fast pace stress of the 21st century and rising costs of education / degree inflation / healthcare is the biggest culprit. Mental illness has been well documented for at least 5 thousand years. It's hard to say if it's more prevalent now than historically. I do hope I live to see the distinction erased from physical illness, as if the brain is less an organ than the heart or liver.
 
I don't think humans were ready to all of a sudden have access to all this information and constant mental simulation with such ease.
 
Technology is scary if you really think about it. Look at how every one is lining up to give their privacy away so easily. The government knows all of your damn business because you’re busy trying to impress strangers on social media. The new iPhone has face recognition. The sheep will let a phone scan their face so they can fit in and look “cool”. It’s so stupid! No way I would let a phone scan my face. You don’t know who is looking and what they will use it for.

Technology is making people dumber actually.
 
I've used the internet a lot since a very young age. At least two hours a day, if not more. I consider myself part of the generation that's "hooked" to the net. I've gone without it for long periods and I don't freak out but it still feels foreign.

The internet has definitely contributed to my mental health problems. It has also given me an outlet for them. So it's not cut and dry. Probably a little bit from Column A and Column B.

The way it has harmed me is that I use it as an avoidance strategy for pretty much anything I don't want to do or face. Bigtime enabler of procrastination. There have also been times when the one thing I really needed the most was to step outside and have some human interaction, but I got so caught up in being online that I de-prioritized other people and my depression got worse.

It's sort of hard to see that you're caught up in being online until you're away from the computer for a while. I can go hours and hours without eating or really moving when I'm engrossed in something online.

I can't imagine my life without the internet. I would probably go crazy. The day to day world is incredibly mundane and I'm so introverted by default.
 
You bring up an excellent point about using the internet as a way of avoidance. That’s how I used Twitter for years. Instead of logging off and actually facing my problems, I got lost in distractions.

I’m an introvert too so actually I’m thankful for this outlet. It was only social media that made things worst for me.

The saying “Don’t cast your pearls before swine” is true. That’s what was happening on Twitter. Got caught up looking for validation from others who weren’t even worth my time in the end. I did meet a celebrity in IRL who recognized me from it. That was a highlight.
 
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I dont know about cause of mental illness but it definitely adds to loneliness and individuals falling outside social interactions with other humans which is a must. We are social creatures after all and I find being on my laptop as I am now and have being for last while, it relegates my time for social interactions with other members of the species. Causes you to be more withdawn and closet while we manifest ourselves across the web via forums and doing shit like this.
 
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