My experience is the opposite. Adolescence was horrible, young adulthood was hard, adulthood has been better. I am taking care of myself and I am happy with my relationships.

1, preferably. 20 if I forget doing the laundry…

I don’t read enough to consider myself a nerd; I’m kind of ignorant. But… I do like nerd topics.

Thank you, although I’m just a master of none… Yes, I imagine looking for a job with a philosophy degree is limiting. On TikTok, I’ve noticed some recent graduates working on self-made projects (magazines, private classes, etc.). That’s a creative solution that I hope works out for them.

I’m sick and tired of this Reddit-ass kind of “advice” meant only for neurotypical white men. Male defaultism is one of many things we should not import here.

Too late… Or maybe it was already like this before we migrated from Reddit. Comments are very black-and-white and tend to favor men over women, STEM over other fields (just read the comments here), global north over global south, etc. It’s obvious who the majority is and how biased the opinions are.

It is funny because Lemmy is the leftiest site I know, and still these problems are invisible.

I didn’t graduate in philosophy, but the little I know about it is useful every single day.

I guess monetary success is capricious in philosophy; they all cannot be Chomsky or Žižek (because unfortunately intellectual stardom is reserved for a few by definition in any given field). Also, academic environments are depressingly unfair and are influenced by ridiculous factors more than they should. But is money all there is to life for someone that most likely loves to learn, to ponder, to explore? Answers might vary among them.

Definitely the lunar effect, but that is still under study. There’s a documentary called “The Shark Side of the Moon” which follows a scientist trying to prove a lunar effect on sharks. There’s also some inconclusive evidence of a lunar effect on people with bipolar disorder; the full moon might trigger mania, probably due to excess light during nighttime. Context: >!People with bipolar disorder (known as ‘manic depression’ years ago) are very sensitive to light, substances, and many other things that can trigger manic or depressive episodes for them. The possible mania under the full moon may be a reason behind myths like werewolves and terms like ‘lunatic’.!<

I’ll edit if I find more.

Edit: I found another one which I would easily try or suggest to others if evidence-based therapies have failed.

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a form of psychotherapy in which the person being treated is asked to recall distressing images; the therapist then directs the person in one type of bilateral sensory input, such as side-to-side eye movements or hand tapping. It is included in several guidelines for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Some clinical psychologists have argued that the eye movements do not add anything above imagery exposure and characterize its promotion and use as pseudoscience.

The moon haunts you.

Depression be scrambling my braincells like an egg 😓

Exercise (even simple stretching or a small walk), good sleep, and good diet (supplementation if needed) clear my brain fog a little. Depending on the cause of my brain fog, caffeine can help too.

*Mexican United States.

Also, it’s not about the name but how that name came to be. Mexican United States (Mexico) are called that way because they’re the region around the mexica territory (today part of Mexico City). They’re not ‘stealing’ the name from anyone.

The United States of America (U.S.A.) are called that way because they were the first independent states in America, the continent’s name: a well known fact at the moment. But today, most American countries are independent, so the people from the United States have been rewriting geography and even history saying there are two continents, that there isn’t a continent named America, etc. Sorry, but many countries and thousands of historical documents tell us that America was and is the name of the continent, and that it is not okay to take it for one country alone.

I imagine the outrage this would cause for centuries if France (just to name some country) tried to pull this off. “United Communities of Europe”, “we are the only Europeans 🇨🇵”, “Europe is a country”, “there’s West Europe and East Europe, the Europes, but that’s it”…

You reminded me of something I think no one has mentioned yet:

In philosophy and rhetoric, the principle of charity or charitable interpretation requires interpreting a speaker’s statements in the most rational way possible and, in the case of any argument, considering its best, strongest possible interpretation. In its narrowest sense, the goal of this methodological principle is to avoid attributing irrationality, logical fallacies, or falsehoods to the others’ statements, when a coherent, rational interpretation of the statements is available.

From: Principle of charity.

Applying this, I think we can interpret the *independent thinking" not as thinking without conditioning factors but as what is known as “critical thinking”.

Although some feelings are malleable through thinking, but yeah, others come from (and can only be worked by) different places (including the health of our body).

I don’t understand why the people here who like TikTok aren’t on a Reddit instead.

Reddit is not as leftist as I’d like it to be. Reddit app is garbage while Sync is awesome. I left in solidarity the day they banned third party apps.

I like the idea of decentralized social media and I trust you tech savvy lemmings about its importance, but I also have a weakness for nice communities and TikTok has/had one.

Practicing critical thinking.

Many here have already recommended reading and, particularly, reading philosophy. That’s a great way to practice critical thinking and to practice thinking outside of our comfortable or familiar ways. I’d add not to skip reading about logical fallacies and cognitive biases.

Many good things come from being a little cautious with apparent knowledge. To keep a reasonable doubt is also to keep our curiosity going, to keep asking questions, to imagine different ways, to discover new things, to avoid stagnant beliefs, etc. Critical thinking makes us not only less gullible but also flexible. This is valuable to understand everything, including one another, and perhaps in doing so, giving us better relationships and better societies.

Instagram reels.

Exactly, these users want a relatively efficient app with an algorithm that shows interesting content without the effort of looking for it.

I personally love the things TikTok puts on my feed (philosophy, science, arts, political opinions, medical advice…). I don’t think I would have been able to find a lot of those things on my own. For instance, it’s been amazing to understand some of my health conditions: a video about a random symptom (and how to address it) sometimes shows on my feed and it’s like: “Wow! I didn’t know that! Thank you”.

So… it’s not just laziness, not in my case. I hate that algorithms have been radicalizing my parents politically. I love that my algorithm helps me with advice (for me, my cat, my home…) and it connects me with similar people. It’s a bittersweet technology, I guess. Anyway, without it, Loops might not be a solid alternative.

Honestly? I don’t think it’s ready for the migration that’s going to take place in January (supposedly, January). The USA will ban TikTok and people still debate in the comments what should be the new short videos platform. I really want to spread the message about Loops, but I was unable to create an account just a few days ago. It won’t work for thousands and thousands of people that want something efficient and do not appreciate the Fediverse effort as we do.

Mastodon itself couldn’t compete against BlueSky. I think Loops has a month to be a real TikTok alternative or it faces the same destiny as Mastodon (or Lemmy).

I just tried the FUTO keyboard and it’s almost perfect, but it doesn’t detect swipe language automatically. Still, it’s a nice option.

That’s not true. NPD diagnostic criteria in the DSM-5-TR (latest version) still contains manipulation efforts and similar behavior. Quote:

A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:

1. Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements).
2. Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love.
3. Believes that he or she is “special” and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions).
4. Requires excessive admiration.
5. Has a sense of entitlement (i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations).
6. Is interpersonally exploitative (i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends).
7. Lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others.
8. Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her.
9. Shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes.

So… Donald Trump probably meets criteria for a narcissistic personality disorder diagnosis (if he ever agrees to start a “mental health journey”).

And it’s true that many disorders need to cause “clinically significant distress”, but personality disorders can be diagnosed even if they don’t cause distress to the person but causes it to others (e.g. ASPD). The DSM had to consider egosyntonic disorders, after all.

Or “…yet”.

The possibility is there, yes. But I think the best way to prevent it is to talk about NPD in a more medical way and focus on effective treatments. Honestly, I haven’t found anything like “DBT for BPD” or “lithium for BD” for this disorder. It’s very much needed.

I believe ignorance is a common reason even among professionals. They only think of the grandiose traits; they confuse the vulnerable traits with BPD or MDD; and they think it has to be close to ASPD to be diagnosable.

My loved one developed NPD by having a terrible childhood and early teenage years with undiagnosed AuDHD. Bullying, rejection, isolation, school failures, etc. The solution was to start lying, manipulating, trying to get something (anything) going their way, seeking validation… They received a depression diagnosis only at first 🫥.

Did you know people with ASD score higher in vulnerable narcissism traits? That means this story could be common. Traumatized neurodivergent children are already at higher risk of developing mental disorders.

But no, nobody talks about NPD this way. It’s always about grandiose traits being dangerous for others (which can be part of the experience, but there’s so much more). I hope it changes someday.