#Presented by Capital One | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

creekfiend · 4 months

Note

Howdy, so Ive got a questions.

I was one of the lucky few mentally ill kids who didn't have a horrific experience with institutionalization, and there's definitely a lot more going on under the hood of my mind than is on any kind of record that i haven't brought to any sort of doctor for fear that i will be denied any sort of recourse in my own life (Autism, CPTSD and suspected BPD). I say this to let you know I'm being genuine in my questioning despite being behind anon.

I saw a post in which it's stated that mental illness as an industry and field of study is meant to pathologize "normal" reactions to capitalism and systemic tragedies, but like. Capitalism didn't make me autistic, or traumatize me, or neglect me into developing a disorder. I agree wholeheartedly that mental illnesses can be developed in response to circumstances outside of someone's control, but i can't in good conscience sit here, remembering a time when i was sat up in bed at 2 am having a psychotic break, convinced that i was still dreaming and that there was something after me as i sob and convulsed in terror and say in good conscience that people who have to experience that sort of terror every day don't need some sort of means to help them maintain some semblance of a life.

I say this because the posts ive been taking issue with are classing the very concept of psychology as a field of study and medicine as an inherent moral evil on the basis of stigma and ableism being prominent in the field. And while i again, wholeheartedly agree that stigma and ableism colors much of psychology, i can't help but see exactly how much good it COULD do should stigma and ableism be removed completely from the equation. Replace biases and preconceived notions with a basis of compassion and understanding, if you will.

Is this a movement that denounces the entire study of mental health and the treatment of it as degrading and immoral by nature? If so, what does the antipsych movement have in mind as a means of helping those in mental distress without a means to examine and classify different types of mental distress? Am i misunderstanding the gist of these concepts? Is there some sort of contingency to deal with those of us with uglier manifestations of mental health to put it lightly? For those whose mental health would absolutely benefit from being placed somewhere safe with other like-minded people for a time, is there any room for such a thing as a treatment, so long as it's voluntary, like an actual hospital treating an illness instead of a prison housing criminals?

I just. Want to understand, because the understanding I'm currently getting is distressing to me, as i initially thought antipsych as a "treat nuerodivergent people like normal actual people and also abolish the use of mental institutions in their current, oppressive form", as opposed to those who seem to be saying (and please, genuinely, correct me if I'm misinterpreting this) to abolish the study of psychology altogether.

if you read the contents of my tag and you still think that this is a relevant question I don't know what to tell you

...

I simply don't im sorry

#i think there is something much more basic that is not connecting for you than this #i am not trying to be mean. but literally no one js claiming that capitalism invented mental illness or psychosis or acute distress.#like youre asking me to explain a position which simply is not present in the literature that i have provided.

25 notes · View notes

rewcana · 1 year

Text

do you spend many of your waking hours on social media? do you feel like it's a problem? in this world of late stage capitalism, your time and attention is actively being harvested by big corporations. it's.. not good. it also just makes you feel bad!

here are some tips that have really helped me reduce the amount of time i give to these apps & get in control of my social media addiction:

1. IDENTIFY PROBLEM APPS

you probably know which apps you spend the most time on. however, looking at real data about usage is very helpful because time spent on social media is very deceiving. keep in mind which apps you spend the most time looking at and interacting with for the rest of this list.

2. TURN OFF NOTIFICATIONS

this is probably the easiest thing to do and it makes an immense difference. it's up to your discretion which notifications you want to keep on (turning on messaging notifications but turning off algorithm and interaction notifs for example) but, the most effective way to stay off problem apps is to turn off ALL notifications.

3. TURN OFF NOTIFICATION SOUNDS

i always keep my phone on silent. i understand that not all people have that privilege but, if you're able to i would highly highly recommend. it has helped me a lot with anxieties regarding waiting for notifications. i used to experienced the phantom vibrate and check my phone obsessively when nothing would happen. you can also just turn off notification sounds and vibrations for any non necessity apps if you don't want to jump to turning off all notifications.

4. CHANGE THE PLACEMENT OF PROBLEM APPS

i actually learned this trick from facebook when they changed the UI slightly so you had to be more intentional in interacting with the app. changing the layout of the apps on your phone really helps you catch yourself when you are automatically opening up apps that cost you time and attention. instead of keeping social media apps on the homescreen, keep it on a different screen, in a folder, & if possible out of the preview window for the folder.

if you want to expand on this more, you could keep a log in a notes app of every time you reached for an app that has since moved. you can even put the notes app in its place!

5. UTILIZE APP TIMERS

my experience is based on samsung app timers so i'm not sure how it differs in different makes. i really dont like my phone telling me i can't do something so i've set my tumblr timer to the highest end of my usage data (2hrs 10 minutes). another mindfulness thing that i like about using the timers is that when i'm switching between apps, my phone tells me how much time left i have (it's currently 1 hour 21 minutes, most of the 49 minutes i've spent writing this lol). i'm just a slut for data so i really like this aspect of the samsung app timer function and it's very useful besides this point.

6. DELETE APPS

okay, i know this seems drastic. but it doesn't NEED to be depending on your habitual problem apps. apps like youtube, instagram, facebook, and tumblr (to a lesser extent ime) (and probably others these are just the ones i have experience with) can pretty easily be transferred to being used exclusively on a web browser. if you use firefox it will even get rid of ads which is very important for overall sanity and for safe web browsing. one of the biggest plusses to moving from an app to a web browser is that it won't automatically play your platform's version of tiktoks. it also makes it more difficult to upload items which is a plus because it will hinder you from doing so and cut back on the loop of expecting validation from recently posted content.

opening instagram without immediately being enthralled by their endless stream of reels has made it SO much easier to control my time on the site. there are tons of plusses to transferring from app browsing to web browsing.

so on the more drastic side, if you are addicted to tiktok you maybe should just delete it. tiktok is intentionally designed so you can't use it in a web browser and can only use it in the app. i will talk more about tiktok and how evil it is later in this post.

7. MOVE DMS TO MESSAGING APPS

if a hesitation to turning off notifactions or deleting apps is from not wanting to miss conversations from online friends, i understand your pain. but, if you are serious about cutting down screen time on apps that are absolutely draining your attention, talk to your friends about switching to a different messaging app. i would suggest signal personally.

your friends may be experiencing similar problems with phone addiction and even if they aren't, if they care about you, they will make this accommodation to help you in this process. i get that this is very scary but i believe in you.

8. USE TIME ON YOUR PHONE FOR OTHER THINGS

depending on your goals for how you spend your time, there are plenty of alternatives to social media / other problem apps you may have. personally i have downloaded a bunch of books on my reading list and will divert attention from dopamine pumping social media to reading. you can find tons of free pdfs of books online and if you are used to reading on your phone, it won't be a difficult transition to read longer form narratives from short text posts.

there are free art apps, language learning apps, self care / journaling apps, meditation apps, etc. that you can use when on your phone. this may seem counterintuitive, getting more apps to battle certain app addictions. but, simply weakening the habit that brings you to the apps that you spend so much time on should help. but watch out for apps that claim they are to teach or better you but have social media built into them / other tricks that keep you glued to your screen. everyone is trying to mine your attention so be wary of all apps and the methods they use to keep you engaged.

9. DON’T BE AFRAID TO PUT YOUR PHONE BACK DOWN AFTER PICKING IT UP

idk if this is a weird one or not but, you know the feeling of going into a room to do something but you forget what so you putter around trying to remember? i feel like going on your phone when you have a phone addiction is often a state of that except the majority of the time you DON’T have a purpose to go on it. so even though it may feel silly, opening your phone only to close it right after is PERFECTLY FINE.

IN CONCLUSION, phone usage is pretty inevitable in this day and age. i've considered getting rid of my phone entirely but, between the expectation to be constantly reachable from employers to QR code menus at restaurants, it just doesn't seem reasonable to get rid of my phone completely. and i will readily admit its convenience and functionality is life changing and wonderful.

however in late stage capitalism, technology doesn't only work for you but it harvests you -- your data, your habits, your time, your attention, your wants, your needs, your thoughts. even leftist spaces with good intentions can trap you (doom scrolling). when i was becoming radicalized during the beginning of the pandemic i spent sooo much time online reading about all these horrible truths of imperialism, colonization, and capitalism, and i felt it was my duty to share these horrors with other people to radicalize them. but it was so unhealthy, especially when shit hit the fan (which it was like constantly doing) because everyone was posting about the horrors and it felt utterly inescapable.

after following some of these steps (which i did in stages over the course of a few years), my relationship with social media has improved greatly and my mental health is actually significantly better. all of this is based on personal experience and observation and this post is specifically for people who want to cut down on phone usage, it's not supposed to be a preachy post that's telling people they spend too much time on their phone.

it's also nowhere near complete. it doesn't tackle addictions to games on phones nor the notorious tiktok. i said i would talk about it later and here it is. i have a chalkboard in my kitchen and all it has written on it is "tiktok is the devil". i have never seen such a commonly used app that has such a degrading effect on all of its users. and it set a precedent to all other social media apps for autoplaying videos that demand user engagement. i was on tiktok for a little less than a year and the way that it would sap anywhere from 20 minutes to over 3 hours of my time when i told myself i'd only watch a few videos was insane. as an aspiring creator i felt that i needed to hop on it to get recognition but now, i don't see it as anything more than a tarpit to trap as many people as possible in its dopamine rich algorithm. but whatever, that's just my little rant. as a social experiment i think it's fascinating lol and i for the creators it's benefited im very happy for them.

anywayy, i hope this helps someone if it gets any attention at all lol. remember no one can make the decision of how you spend your time on or offline but you. not some stranger on the internet, not corporations, no one. you are in control of your time (well besides the whole having to work most of your waking hours to survive but that's what communism is for yayy).

#tumblr #social media #social media addiction #phone addiction #capitalism #dystopia #important #i hope at least one person reads this 😭#but forreal distancing myself from my phone and being more present in my life has improved it sooo much #cannot emphasize this enough #also phone addiction is not a morally bad thing just like any addiction!!!#the irony of me posting this and then staying on the app waiting to see if it gets engagement #ahhh addiction

167 notes · View notes

mihai-florescu · 5 months

Text

Going on a perilous journey (girl who lives on one side of bucharest trying to get to the very opposite end)

#i cant stress it enough how much its quicker to go from my uni city to the capital in the nl than one end of bucharest to the other #but alas. i dont feel well but im going with dad to pick up my mom's christmas present and look for some things they only have over there #sigh

19 notes · View notes

parasitoidism · 24 days

Text

the reason i specifically try to avoid any and all persona related leaks is because if I hear anything about a persona 1 2 or 4 remake it's going to pre-emptively kill off a substantial number of my braincells. different reasons for each game

#p1 and 2 my opinion is more just like they could benefit from a remaster or something to get more people to play them and maybe touch up a #few gameplay related issues and also RESTORE THE ORIGINAL P1 OST but im more forgiving to the idea of a capital r remake with p1 i guess #p4 though? just write that one off completely man. leave it in the vault #the problem is though the writing problems in p4 like the weird inconsistencies and ways the story just dragggs and drags and the shitty wa #social links work and all like THERE IS A LOT THERE THAT COULD BENEFIT FROM A SECOND PASS like with maybe #time to finish the script and shit. like maybe just come up with one idea for what the tv world is and run with that yeah? but oh my god.#i can't do it. i cannot deal with people talking about that game. persona fans. are so . fucking. stupid.#p4 discourse is genuinely like thats what theyre gonna do to me when i die and go to hell is make me argue with someone on twitter who #mindlessly accepts everything presented in the narrative of a video game at face value as Correct and also acts like the characters #are real human beings making their own decisions instead of a collection of words and images designed to serve various aspects of a narrati #ve

12 notes · View notes

conchfritters · 4 months

Text

i need to get less ashamed of talking about my interests on my 0 follower tumblr blog because if i don't point out that despite having one of the most interesting concepts ever presented in a genshin event, shadows amidst snowstorms was not actually well written, and was in fact pretty Poorly written, then who else will. Who else will.

#seashell resonance #Anyway amber hasn't shown up in any content since 1.0 where she wasn't optional or thrown out entirely in favor of standing as an #advertisement for euIa. case in point in the scene in shadows amidst snowstorms where you're waiting outside the cave for albedo the last #person joel was left with was amber. when euIa confronts albedo about the fake trying to lead joel away...there's no mention ever of the #fact that amber...was With Joel. Amber who is an Outrider trained to Notice Danger. Either left joel with fakebedo without noticing anythin #or the actual explanation: hoyo didn't care enough to write her because. well. Amber Bad #the next time we see her is when she shows up with bennett #amber used to have a lot of fire to her and this sort of unique not quite cockiness but like. easy way to tell she used to be the difficult #kid we hear about in her character stories and teapot dialogue #she serves no purpose in shadows amidst snowstorms #an event that easily could've capitalized on the Horror aspect of being trapped with a doppelganger of one of your coworkers and shown off #ALL the characters (because get this. You can make people wanna spend on characters who aren't meta by making them Like Them.)#but amber? no value in any event she's ever been in. she talks about good hunter and sticky honey roast. she gets flustered. euIa pays for #her meal. Remember how she was in Almost All of razor's story quest and then when they needed a knight to give him a gift in weinlessefest #they chose...SUCROSE AND NOELLE?#remember how collei has had more on screen interactions with fucking euIa and sucrose than AMBER #how amber and collei's reunion was what people wanted to see and instead it happens off screen and amber simply isn't relevant during #windblume? how amber didn't get a skin with lisa and kaeya? how amber has no appearance in kaeya's hangout event despite their dynamic in #the webtoon and her being suspicious of him presenting so much room to work with?#her tcg dialogue has a meta joke in it. Because amber bad and amber doesn't exist outside of euIa and connecting collei to euIa #and i could go on. about the writing for cyno. about collei. about the way they write kokomi or any genius character. about albedo even.#about all my Other gripes with euIa because they go to about every single aspect of her character except her Basic personality #which is to say the personality we see in most of her voicelines. she could've literally been a saving grace for the cast if she weren't on #of the like top 3 worst written characters #i could talk about like almost any character's decay but that's not the point. Not the point. Nobody look atme.#i tried to replace the L in euIa's name with a capital i to make this post not show up in front of her enjoyers somehow but if it does #sorry about that! no problems with you it's hoyoverse who has my ire #i have so much more to say even just about amber specifically since she is. Unfortunately my fav and unfortunately almost the only characte #i care about whenever my enjoyment of genshin even Slightly wanes #but nobody will ever see it because that essay i write in my head seven times a day is for Me. I'll die before i crack open google docs

11 notes · View notes

marsbotz · 3 months

Text

my list of pretentious art critic media that changedddd my brain chemistry like actually.

- the beginners guide

- its such a beautiful day

- the stanley parable (AND the demo.)

- swiss army man

- presentable liberty

- fight club

#and more. that i forget bc my memory sucks #ohhhh stanley parabel demo save me……#not even a contest. even tho its funny #ummm. best to quickly get into is tsp demo. its free and like 15 mins #and honestly yeah for me its as good as the full game #w the nature of tsp as a game the demo is completely different to the full version #different themes different setting. and not multiple paths #but ohhhhh my god its so so good.#if you do one thing for me ever pplssss pls play tsp demo.#rlly funny AND makes me cry. IN 15 MINS #tbg i wld rec to anyone who considers themself a creative of any sort #speaks so well to the experience of posting art online #swiss army man is REALLY weird. so i wldnt rec it to most ppl but it is super interesting #i rlly love the trans allegory interpretation..#fight club is like the most basic on this list but i like it. and its vaguely conplicated and Themey so it belongs #PRESENTABLE LIBERTY…. i have never even actually played #super artsy tho lol. ur stuck in a jail cell the whole game and get letters that tell u abt the world dying off from a plague (n capitalism)#hits very different after covid but its superrrr super good. CRAZY boring but its the point. lol #oh yeah thr actually stanley parable. one of my favs of all time. EVER #rlly funny. but also crazy fucking sad #the relationship between stanley and the narrator is super interesting and it makes me sad theres not more exploration of it in fandom outsi #outside shipping #in terms of ending a few of my favs r explosion.. phone #uhhh. space. and of course confusion #in terms of ultra deluxe i REALLY love the 2 endings. rlly dont like all the bucket endings #i think some are fun but it feels a little bit of a mean trick. promising so many more endings and then them all being just alt versions of #oh by 2 endings i mean the epilogue LOL. its been a while. but yeah all that shit was STELLARRR esp the skip button room #i cld make a whole post on my tspud thoughts. but yeah. i still prefer the original by far but the sequel/epilogue stuff is awesome #UM. think i deleted the tags for space isabd is sooo good but so draining. rlly rlly rough watch but so good. makes me bawl

9 notes · View notes

urne-buriall · 9 months

Text

so I remember the outage at Kate in this update the first time around. she's a nurse and should know better than to tell John what Dean said, especially when Dean is stuck in this very isolated place with him. and that's all true, she should know

but we don't know how exactly the conversation started. there's just one clue for us: Dean's been working in the barn for some time before he decides to pick up the phone and call Cas. he hasn't heard the phone ring, or he might wonder about the line being in use

this tells us that John called Kate, not the other way around

the rest below a cut because it's what I think, but it's not in the text for a few reasons, and as is my calling, it just makes things complicated with no black or white resolution

John called Kate. not because he knows anything has gone on, just to have a chat. his kid just stormed out and it's time to work on his other family, where he can start fresh. (Sam called it in his last scene. he's astute that way.) but this means Kate's plan to take some time and think about everything she just learned goes out the window. not ready to talk to John, she probably tried to get off the line, but he needled. picked up there was something off and tried to ask if there was some issue between them (with Sam walking out, a statement of failure on John's part, he's not gonna play the loser twice in a row)

not wanting to draw attention to the fact that there IS an issue, maybe she thought she could be clever. confirm the truth of the surprising things Dean told her. maybe she started by asking about Sam, thinking she'll catch John in a lie. and oh, Sam, he's gone back to school, yeah, they start early there. has John said how proud he is of that kid, how he could get into any college in the world from here? and Adam will be a smart one like Sam, no doubt about it, and go to a smartypants school too, or whatever school Kate wants him in. it's hard when the kids are far from home but at least Dean's stayed close by and John's always got him for the farm, he's invaluable for that

and this is. not what she expected. during her visit, they seemed like such a put-together household, which is what John is reflecting now. which is not what Dean said over the phone. and I think she's still cautious, but now she's confused, and she tries asking another canny question but she slips up. it wouldn't take much to trigger John's suspicion, and he has one goal, which is: don't lose Kate

and he says he can tell something's the matter and she tries to say there isn't and that's when we get into the kind of back and forth where John is playing to his strength. hell, he'd even offer to hang up and give her some time, but in a way that now she's the one apologizing (just like Dean apologizes in another scene, when he isn't the one who should be saying sorry). and when he asks what's changed she admits she had a strange call from Dean and she doesn't know what to make of it. she still doesn't intend to say anything about the content of that call, but John knows enough. he knows what to ask, what to plant, what to make her question Dean's motives until she is revealing more and he's twisting up her doubts and reflecting them back and insisting Dean's story doesn't add up, which, maybe it doesn't? and this is confusing, upsetting, she doesn't know which way is up, and John is just so certain. has an explanation for everything

by the time the call is ending she's just agreeing with everything John's saying because he's shot down every single other point so efficiently that it seems there's no purpose in searching for exhausting counterarguments with him. and she's confused and defeated. and once she hangs up, she knows less than when she started. she doesn't know if the sick feeling in her stomach is worry that Dean was telling the truth and she's just betrayed him or if it's the distaste of Adam having a half-brother, one he's met and adores, who's a sociopath that would make up anything to keep her away. she's stuck between two realities because she knows someone is lying to her very well but can't tell which one

she doesn't speak to John again, letting his calls go to voicemail. if she thinks about making a tip, she doesn't know who it will help or hurt. a week after this, she gets a call from Dean at a different number. she is partly relieved to hear his voice because she's been concerned she got it all wrong, but also unsure at the start of whether she'll be hearing another fabulation to keep her away

Dean's not looking for sympathy or an apology or any of that. he's not calling to accuse her or even tell her directly of her role in that final fight. he just says that he wanted her to know he's pressing charges with the police, here's the case number and this is Jody's extension, and that if Kate and Adam would like to set up no-contact orders it wouldn't be a bad idea and they could piggy-back off Dean's case. he's applying to be Sam's legal guardian, and he doesn't have a fixed place to stay yet but here's where to write or call. that if it's alright with Kate, he'd like to stay in touch with Adam, even if what they share is a rotten dad

she knows, then. she puts the pieces together and I think that guilt plagues her. she apologizes, desperately apologizes and tries to explain, and Dean goes quiet. then says he knows what his dad is like. he always believed John too. it's not an "I forgive you" but it's a sense of commiseration. he wouldn't wish John on anybody, and everything that happened was done by John, not her

#spirit of the west daily #this is a story and not a case study on helping abuse victims #people don't do the right thing in every moment #and anyone who is in John's range is going to be lied to and deliberately deceived #to Kate‚ John is the father of her kid who's been reconnecting with her and hinting at marriage #Dean contradicted the version of reality John presented her for months and now John is reaffirming it and he's the one she thinks she knows #and she thought she had a read on Dean from her brief visit and she thought she had a read on John #but she's wrong about one of them and her judgement is shot and John would capitalize on that #the relationship between Dean and Kate would likely be rather cool after this #but I see him staying connected with Adam and having him out for visits in later years

18 notes · View notes

stromer · 11 months

Text

who else up pondering how the hell quinn went to college?????

#he's the guy you sit next to in your COMM01 class and he's SOOO bad. he barely hits the required 5mins on his speeches and the monotone!!!!!#known college dropout capital L Loser quinn. pro hockey was literally the best-case scenario #one of my summer classes started this week and i have some shit due today that's got me feeling evil and nasty #its for a comm class... yeah comm major whatever that's on me #but my prof is like wooOoooOOOooo pick 3 objects that represent your past present and future and give a speech wOOooOOOoo 🔮#sorry that is so balls off the wall stupid what if i just didn't do that... cuz i'm feeling mean LOL

23 notes · View notes

menlove · 7 months

Text

lots of talk rn about how fucked up the US education system is rn (like "8th graders not knowing the first 7 letters of the alphabet regardless of income/ability" fucked up) w lots of reasons given like covid, lack of parent engagement, "kids these days being lazy", etc. and while i definitely think at least the first two have impact on the situation

mostly i'm just like....... all of these things people are pointing out is problems that low SES teachers & students have been pointing out for decades. these are problems that students have been struggling with for decades in low SES schools. and now that it's applying to rich white kids too people are talking about it. but it has always been a fundamental flaw and issue in our schooling system. and the biggest issue here is, imo, that we are living in late stage capitalism & our school system was NOT built to handle a single thing going on rn. just like it wasn't built for lower-class students to thrive. the problem is now most households and schools are facing the same issues these lower SES households and schools have always faced.

but it's just a little wild bc for years the concerns and problems that teachers and students in lower SES schools have brought up have been routinely ignored and brushed aside and these students just got pushed along and the schools kept getting less funding and no one bothered to try and fix it so now we have a crisis bc it's happening everywhere

#like unfortunately this is what happens when you have large class sizes to a single teacher #when you lack funding #when you stop teaching phonics and only rely on teaching kids sight words #when you do not offer enough parental education and support/after school programs #when you rely on 'no child left behind' and do not bother to catch students up and just push them to the next grade #when no one stops and catches learning deficits early so now you have middle/hs teachers having to teach basics they were not trained to #when you do not pay teachers enough and overwork them and also do not train them on diversity or classroom management #and these are aaaall problems that have been present for decades now. but covid and late stage capitalism have made them everyone's problem #so it's harder to ignore now

10 notes · View notes