The Dog Eat Dog Race To the Bottom: Is It Damaging to our Collective Mental Health?

JupiterKid

I am currently reading the book The Compassionate Mind by Paul Gilbert and it is a very informative read that has given me plenty of food for thought.

In his book, Gilbert asserts that as humans, we have an innate need to belong and to feel empathy and compassion towards us by both others and ourselves. Very often the greatest difficulty for us as people is to feel compassion towards ourselves and the self-critic is very powerful. I certainly can see it working in myself as I have perfectionistic tendencies.

Gilbert also suggests that in the past 30 or so years, Western society has moved away from a collaborative and consensus-based approach to working in favour of a much more competitive model which seeks efficiencies and profits at an ever more ruthless pace. And it is damaging our mental health, with anxiety, insecurity and depression increasing at a concerning rate.

I pretty much agree with this theory. The drive towards a targets-based and fast paced working environment, aided by developments in IT and telecommunications, is eroding the ability of people to cope with challenges and stresses and making more and more of us uneasy, anxious and unhappy.

Despite the supposed improvements in the “standard of living” - namely very narrow indicators such as wages, material wealth and the acquisition of things, our quality of life - for instance time spent with family and friends, on favourite hobbies and pastimes and being generally content at at peace with our lot is not in great shape and the repercussions in the medium to long-term could be very destructive to society, a society increasing atomised, individualistic and alienated from things that we find pleasure and contentment in.

Anyone else agree with this? Or is Gilbert’s theory of a lack of compassion in the modern world exaggerated and too simplistic? Does anyone think that their lives are too pressured and devoid of quality time, mutual respect, connectedness with others and empathy?

uch

I Like Cake, and nobody's going to read all that

Ninthlife

That wall of text is damaging my mental health at this hour

uch

Canelo Kovalev wrote: »

Scandinavian Bob has some good things to say about mental health. For one thing, stop masturbating to porn.

Oh Hi Bob

JupiterKid

Hmmmm...maybe I made the first post of this thread a bit long and pedantic?

But anyhow, the trend towards profit maximisation, treating both employees and customers like cattle or worse, the drive for efficiency at any cost, insecure employment, zero hour contracts, very long commutes in order to secure an affordable home to live in, less and less time spend connecting with others, such as family and friends, feeling more isolated generally, more stressed out, more pressured and more insecure...

Along with the environmental crisis unfolding, it’s a very important issue I believe.

...these things must surely be very detrimental to our mental health and well-being? Will something have to give? Will there be an eventual backlash? Are you or those close to you affected by these changes?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

I found the book repetitive and he was fixated with reminding us of his passion for red wine, chocolate and cricket. As for his hypothesis, it just didn't work for me, I'm afraid.

SafeSurfer

JupiterKid wrote: »

Hmmmm...maybe I made the first post of this thread a bit long and pedantic?

But anyhow, the trend towards profit maximisation, treating both employees and customers like cattle or worse, the drive for efficiency at any cost, insecure employment, zero hour contracts, very long commutes in order to secure an affordable home to live in, less ad less time spend connecting with others, such as family and friends, feeling more isolated generally, more stressed out, more pressured and more insecure...

Along with the environmental crisis unfolding, it’s a very important issue I believe.

...these things must surely be very detrimental to our mental health and well-being? Will something have to give? Will there be an eventual backlash? Are you or those close to you affected by these changes?

Less and less time to spend connecting with others? Tell that to an 18th century coal miner working 12 hour days 6 days a week.

Maybe the increase in mental health issues an a general rise in anxiety is related to a general increase in living conditions and increased focus on the higher points of Maslows hierarchy of needs.

nkl12xtw5goz70

JupiterKid wrote: »

Gilbert also suggests that in the past 30 or so years, Western society has moved away from a collaborative and consensus-based approach...

One thing Western society has generally not been historically is compassionate, empathetic, collaborative, and consensus-based. Western European nations have conquered and colonized almost every other country on the face of the earth, have started wars that killed hundreds of millions, and carried out systematic genocide. So I question this version of history. If anything, we've copped on a bit over the past 30 years or so.

I'm also a bit suspicious of "profit maximization" as an explanation. I'm half waiting for Paul Murphy and Richard Boyd Barrett to pop out from behind the curtain.

That said, I do agree that we have become less personally connected, isolated, and stressed out. But I blame the Internet and smartphones for that. Nowadays, texting someone substitutes for dropping around for tea. Friending someone on Facebook takes the place of building a real relationship. And digital devices have created a culture of "always-on" that leads to people fielding work demands at all hours.

There is no easy answer, though. We can't put that genie back in the bottle, and nostalgia for the good old days (which may not have actually been so good) won't help. What we need are coping mechanisms for dealing with the world we've created, and there are many good and sane people thinking about these problems. For instance, I recently read Cal Newport's Digital Minimalism and it's a great book about dealing with digital overload.

Wibbs

Well there's more of the influence of the American Dream(tm) going on in some quarters alright. Which incidentally is an idea that has shifted in focus quite a bit. Early on it was all about moral and societal freedom for the individual and the society at large, free from the class, religious and sociopolitical constraints of the "old country". Hell it was almost *gasp* socialist in some ways. It then transformed into the "get all the stuff and get rich" it came to be more about. This really first took off in the post war booming 50's, a time which American culture tends to see as a golden age(t'was anything but, unless you tended to be urban, educated and White), but has really gained hold in the last 40 years.

Modern consumerist society and economics has fed this competitive, more individualistic ideal too. More stuff, more work, more selling of time, more instant gratification all to get and stay ahead for that dopamine buzz among your peers.

It has advantages, certainly economic ones, both for the "workers" and the "owners", but is it healthy for the human spirit, something as a concept we tend to be avoidant, even embarrassed to speak of? For some yes, for most? I'm not so sure.

JupiterKid

I think it is the increasing pace of life, the breaking down of family ties for many people, the impacts of the internet and social media that is leading to increased uncertainty, insecurity, anxiety and isolation for people.

The interconectedness of social groups is far less face to face - increasingly people are connected to eack other online but you usually can't read a person's mood or nuances from a text or an email. The much more competitive culture in the workplace - which many commentatirs believe is a race to the bottom - is draining abd stressing out more and more people. People have more material goods maybe, but much less quality of life and "time out."

In the long-term the consequences could be bad - very bad.

buried

Listening to and especially watching the news is doing the most damage to the collective mindset. It's like a black magic spell. It's all terrible tame noise everywhere, all the time, and at the same time everyone is twistedly waiting for the next huge noise terror spectacular to come along on the live feed.

Hande hoche!

buried wrote: »

Listening to and especially watching the news is doing the most damage to the collective mindset. It's like a black magic spell. It's all terrible tame noise everywhere, all the time, and at the same time everyone is twistedly waiting for the next huge noise terror spectacular to come along on the live feed.

Brexit and Trump have made the news producers jobs a lot easier.

KWAG2019

The version of capitalism that has become established in the last 20-30 years particularly is utterly poisonous. It is simply about CEO/ shareholder value. The assaults on workers rights and the race to the bottom is real. There never has been a concerted worker response in a global way to this.

JupiterKid

buried wrote: »

Listening to and especially watching the news is doing the most damage to the collective mindset. It's like a black magic spell. It's all terrible tame noise everywhere, all the time, and at the same time everyone is twistedly waiting for the next huge noise terror spectacular to come along on the live feed.

The constant diet of negativity, catastrophe and sensationalism is why I limit my intake of news, particularly TV and online news. Most of it doesn't have any in-depth analysis anyhow.

Mad_maxx

Individualism eh!

Mad_maxx

KWAG2019 wrote: »

The version of capitalism that has become established in the last 20-30 years particularly is utterly poisonous. It is simply about CEO/ shareholder value. The assaults on workers rights and the race to the bottom is real. There never has been a concerted worker response in a global way to this.

Probably because the left are fixated on menstruating men

Reviews and Books Galore

Wibbs wrote: »

Well there's more of the influence of the American Dream(tm) going on in some quarters alright. Which incidentally is an idea that has shifted in focus quite a bit. Early on it was all about moral and societal freedom for the individual and the society at large, free from the class, religious and sociopolitical constraints of the "old country". Hell it was almost *gasp* socialist in some ways. It then transformed into the "get all the stuff and get rich" it came to be more about. This really first took off in the post war booming 50's, a time which American culture tends to see as a golden age(t'was anything but, unless you tended to be urban, educated and White), but has really gained hold in the last 40 years.

Modern consumerist society and economics has fed this competitive, more individualistic ideal too. More stuff, more work, more selling of time, more instant gratification all to get and stay ahead for that dopamine buzz among your peers.

It has advantages, certainly economic ones, both for the "workers" and the "owners", but is it healthy for the human spirit, something as a concept we tend to be avoidant, even embarrassed to speak of? For some yes, for most? I'm not so sure.

That dopamine rush is real. I have a but of savings and I treated myself to Italian meats, cheeses, bio wine and speciality chocolate. I felt good and , as sad as this sounds. 'Poerful'.

I then realized how silly it all was, especially when considering that bio food was actually 'poor' food a couple of decades ago.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

uch wrote: »

I Like Cake, and nobody's going to read all that

Ninthlife wrote: »

That wall of text is damaging my mental health at this hour

Six paragraphs, two of which consisted of just one or two sentences and it's a wall of text no one is going to read?!

Dear oh dear...

Anyway, in answer: yes. You can tell this by the way everyone suddenly rallied around and started looking out for each other when the last recession hit. The less people have, the more likely they are to share their resources and look out for each other. The more they have, they more they'd stab you in the back.

Smithers: "You must be the richest man I know!"
Burns:" "Ah yes, but I'd give it all up for just a little more."

jimgoose

terrydel

JupiterKid wrote: »

I am currently reading the book The Compassionate Mind by Paul Gilbert and it is a very informative read that has given me plenty of food for thought.

In his book, Gilbert asserts that as humans, we have an innate need to belong and to feel empathy and compassion towards us by both others and ourselves. Very often the greatest difficulty for us as people is to feel compassion towards ourselves and the self-critic is very powerful. I certainly can see it working in myself as I have perfectionistic tendencies.

Gilbert also suggests that in the past 30 or so years, Western society has moved away from a collaborative and consensus-based approach to working in favour of a much more competitive model which seeks efficiencies and profits at an ever more ruthless pace. And it is damaging our mental health, with anxiety, insecurity and depression increasing at a concerning rate.

I pretty much agree with this theory. The drive towards a targets-based and fast paced working environment, aided by developments in IT and telecommunications, is eroding the ability of people to cope with challenges and stresses and making more and more of us uneasy, anxious and unhappy.

Despite the supposed improvements in the “standard of living” - namely very narrow indicators such as wages, material wealth and the acquisition of things, our quality of life - for instance time spent with family and friends, on favourite hobbies and pastimes and being generally content at at peace with our lot is not in great shape and the repercussions in the medium to long-term could be very destructive to society, a society increasing atomised, individualistic and alienated from things that we find pleasure and contentment in.

Anyone else agree with this? Or is Gilbert’s theory of a lack of compassion in the modern world exaggerated and too simplistic? Does anyone think that their lives are too pressured and devoid of quality time, mutual respect, connectedness with others and empathy?

Would almost completely agree with it.

topper75

Having compassion to the fore and living in large populous cities can present a clash in simple practical terms. Urban centres are growing and the regions are losing across the western world.

I mean you can aim to be as decent as possible in your dealings with those you encounter. But it is another thing to mentally place your arms around the world. You have to maintain some kind of immediate focus and disregard many troubles that befall others. If you have falsely inflated notions about your locus of control, disappointment and maybe even feelings of impotence are imminent.

As the population of our urban centres grows, competition for resources grows alongside and compassion falls away. Expect the trajectory to intensify over the coming decades.

JupiterKid

I think that the divisions in society, so amply evident right here on Boards, are being exploited by those in power to maintain the status quo.

What tends to happen to a society, that already has problems, during such times is precisely why it's important to mend and avoid divides in the first place.

Brexit in the UK is a perfect example of this. I doubt the referendum result would have gone the way it did if there hadn't already been divides in society. After all, the Leave campaigns did their best to highlight and use divides, usually inventing (or blaming) certain 'other' groups that weren't in fact the underlying cause of the problems in the first place, to get votes. Where the Remain campaign failed was in ignoring the divides and giving the impression that everything was fine at it was. It wasn't fine and hasn't been fine for decades. Warning people in that group that things would get worse if they voted to leave the EU is hardly much of a threat. It's like warning a person already drowning that the water they're drowning in could get even deeper. They're still going to drown if they couldn't touch the bottom in the first place, so why would they care?

The issues of the global environmental crisis and the extinction rebellion movement, immigration from the third world, the housing crisis or the transgender “debate” are also good examples of the divide and conquer strategy.

What we've been missing is positive leadership. We have far too many people in positions of power who are just there for personal ambition and for furthering the interests of a small minority (their party, core voters or big donors). Some of them don't even seem to understand the concept of compromise or see it as weakness when in fact it takes far more personal strength and ability to unify people.

recedite

JupiterKid wrote: »

The issues of the global environmental crisis and the extinction rebellion movement, immigration from the third world, the housing crisis or the transgender “debate” are also good examples of the divide and conquer strategy.

Who do you reckon is behind all this dividing and conquering?

JupiterKid wrote: »

What we've been missing is positive leadership. We have far too many people in positions of power who are just there for personal ambition and for furthering the interests of a small minority (their party, core voters or big donors). Some of them don't even seem to understand the concept of compromise or see it as weakness when in fact it takes far more personal strength and ability to unify people.

Leaders for the people do appear, but they are shot down by the international banksters. Italy in the last few years is a classic example, where an EU and IMF government was installed, but then rejected by the people, and replaced by Salvini and 5 Star who were then labelled "populists". The banksters will make things very difficult for any government they have not pre-approved.


I see Mario Draghi is retiring from the ECB, but hasn't said whether he will retire from the Group of Thirty.
Barroso was another bankster.

Wherever you look, you'll find the same few names pulling all the strings. Goldman Sachs, Rockefellers and a few more.

Or how about closer to home, our own Tanaiste being prepared only a few years ago...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO5K_bxxNQc

Hande hoche!

jimgoose wrote: »

The last Predator film was fairly cack.

JupiterKid

I was at a workshop this afternoon on mental health and stress in society and it was almost unanimously agreed that the highly pressured and unstable, contract-based working environment driven in large part by the need to enrich shareholders, maximise profits - all facilitated by developments in IT and communications, has negatively impacted on the mental health and well-being of workers.

Food for thought.

KWAG2019

Mad_maxx wrote: »

Probably because the left are fixated on menstruating men

I have no idea if they are because they are one extreme at the other end from the 1%. Neither have anything to offer the future.