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There have always been people who find illness fashionable. Tuberculosis, in particular, was seen as a 'romantic disease', and individuals with tuberculosis were thought to have heightened sensitivity, which was seen as a good thing. see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H… Social media amplifies everything, so why not this too?
There have always been people who find illness fashionable. Tuberculosis, in particular, was seen as a 'romantic disease', and individuals with tuberculosis were thought to have heightened sensitivity, which was seen as a good thing. see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_tuberculosis Social media amplifies everything, so why not this too?
Interesting, though because social media is an amplifier, i think it's concerning even if it's the case that already-depressed people are drawn to greater usage.
Indeed. But I am not so sure that we are very good at telling the difference between people who have genuine mental illness and those whose distress is mostly caused by their own play-acting. Complaining and grumbling, when done too much, really does drive down morale in a group. At some point, for some people, what started out as play-acting becomes something they can no longer control. Parents used to warn children about associating with 'bad companions' -- do we need to update our advice to handle 'bad companions on the internet, how to recognise and avoid them'? The internet has been a boon to countless shy and lonely people who were able to connect with other people with shared interests. Most of these groups are benign. Do we know how to recognise those that are not? Do we even agree what this entails? I am not sure about this.