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OwlFancier posted:Super chill channel, also a bit mad, he recently spent 36 hours camping inside a running culvert in a terrifying cylindrical plywood coffin (that is probably nicer than most london apartments) Haven't got around to watching that one yet. I think my favourite moment from him is when he went on holiday to Niagara Falls and started clearing the drains on the roads there too. Saw a comment that said something like "I misread the title as 'post10 drains Niagara Falls' and figured well, it was only a matter of time". E: Cat tax 
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Dec 28, 2021 14:20
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There's an app you can get where you give it a time you want to not look at your phone for and you plant a tree in your little forest. If you succeed the tree grows and you keep it, if you cave it dies. You can play it collaboratively with a friend so you can help each other to wean off the cycle of checking phones all the time . I did it for a while, really helped me stop doing that loop of oh my notification light is going, ooh well better check Twitter and getting pulled into rage bait. Not trying to say it's a cure for suicidal ideation or anything but hey whatever tools you have, right?
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Dec 28, 2021 14:25
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learnincurve posted:My lads universal credit got sorted. Glad that got sorted but christ it looks like a soul destroying process. 
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Dec 28, 2021 14:26
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The solution to too many apps is another app.
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Dec 28, 2021 14:27
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I've curated my twitter so it hides the "trending" and other parts and only shows posts from the small number of chill people I follow. I never tweet or reply or even like anything. I would highly recommend this. You can browse the UKMT and you will be updated on any big events but they will be filtered through other people who have to deal with all the bollocks. My twitter sometimes won't have any new posts for a few hours and when it does update it's generally something interesting or funny. To me that is sort of what it should be like anyway. If you don't know how to hide the "trending" box it's not that difficult (you use ublock origin - the browser plugin). Just ask. Jippa fucked around with this message at 20:41 on Dec 28, 2021 |
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Dec 28, 2021 14:31
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Dabir posted:Today I went out for a walk and was appalled by the state of the drains, so I went down the local Homebase and bought myself a hoe to clear them out with. Then I got distracted scraping a bit of the pavement that was covered by a thick layer of wet leaves clear so people can walk along it without breaking their necks. A fair few people passing by thanked me for the job I was doing, which was pretty gratifying. All in all, it's been a productive morning.  Next thing you know you'll be spray painting cock & balls on potholes like a pro.  Did my now daily walk but there is no way i'm fixing up what tractors do to it every single day, farmers are farmers.
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Dec 28, 2021 14:32
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Bobstar posted:Also even if it manages to be totally transparent to the patients (lol no), having different workers being technically employed by different private companies is great for ruining solidarity among workers. This is a really good point I hadn’t thought enough about before. Radio 4 is playing a feature on whether Liz Truss is electable. Their two interviews are her agent and her former special advisor. Lmao
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Dec 28, 2021 14:35
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Suicidal ideation seems to be one of these topics that brings out — I dunno, contradictions or flaws in how modern therapy is done. It’s all “your feelings are valid and expressing them is good” until suicidal ideation comes up, at which point it turns out those feelings are actually still Not Allowed and must either be fixed or referred to somebody else. And if those thoughts are happening because of life circumstances, lol we won’t give you any actual advice on how to fix that either, best of luck though.
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Dec 28, 2021 14:47
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On the topic of mental health and being a lurker: I don't post very much at all, but I have read UKMT for well over a decade. It's surreal being a silent lurker because you feel of being part of the community, but if you post, it's evident that you're not part of it at all (understandably!). I greatly appreciate this thread; the interpretation of news that UKMT puts forward is extremely helpful - as is the filtering of the news, Twitter etc. I stepped away from discussing politics with people online because it's impossibly tribal - few are open to discussion or considering their stance. I used to try to pay it forward by using the same critical thinking applied here to things that don't matter (such as discussing and interpreting fiction online) - and my hope was that it would help people to grow their critical thinking skills and be able to apply them independently with things that did matter (such as the news). Anyway, the paradox for me is that this thread is often a great comfort and I'm glad it exists - but at the same time, I know I am not a true part of it (because I don't participate) and in a horrid way, my mental health dives when I keep mainlining the thread, because the reality of our situation (terf island with a right wing government and a media regime that's hellbent on destroying the left) feels a little hopeless, especially in these post-Corbyn days. I've followed politics and the news since I was a kid, so it's really hard for me to switch off - and I really struggle between 'being ignorant of the world around me but feeling happier' vs 'being completely aware but feeling miserable'.
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Dec 28, 2021 14:49
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I think it can't be conceived of as one or the other, but instead a flexible dynamic where you step away when you are feeling miserable (and therefore less able to cope, and, often, less able to contribute) and stepping back in when you've had time to gather your strength and get your poo poo together. Trying to split it into two completely mutually incompatible choices doesn't really help - you have to pay close attention to how you're doing, what you're feeling, and what is required in any given situation. Inwardness and outwardness, the individual and the collective, the emotional and the rational, the theoretical and the practical - syntheses must be found for them all It can be extraordinarily hard to step away if you're the kind of person who wants to (or feels that they have to) pay attention at all times, though, and while I certainly don't believe that technology is the primary driver of misery in this country (it's deteriorating material circumstances), it pretty undoubtedly makes it harder to find time to yourself. Barry Foster fucked around with this message at 15:02 on Dec 28, 2021 |
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Dec 28, 2021 14:57
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Testro posted:
This is one of the things that came up when I was talking with my friend on Xmas day who was having a hard time: she rarely engages with any political discussion and doesn't keep up with news because it makes her feel completely powerless. But then, when I got together with her and her ex-partner (pre-covid) she said she felt really out of it because her partner and I had quite a lot of political / news discussion (we didn't mean for her to be excluded it's just that it is something we are both very interested in and get 'excited' - or, rather, 'agitated' if you will - about). Barry Foster posted:I think it can't be conceived of as one or the other, but instead a flexible dynamic where you step away when you are feeling miserable (and therefore less able to cope, and, often, less able to contribute) and stepping back in when you've had time to gather your strength and get your poo poo together. Trying to split it into two completely mutually incompatible choices doesn't really help. Agree. Dip in and out as you need.
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Dec 28, 2021 14:58
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TACD posted:Suicidal ideation seems to be one of these topics that brings out — I dunno, contradictions or flaws in how modern therapy is done. It’s all “your feelings are valid and expressing them is good” until suicidal ideation comes up, at which point it turns out those feelings are actually still Not Allowed and must either be fixed or referred to somebody else. And if those thoughts are happening because of life circumstances, lol we won’t give you any actual advice on how to fix that either, best of luck though. I feel like my general mental stability, if not necessarily my overall mood, has improved since I stopped seeing it as illegitimate. The isolation that viewpoint brings can be irritating sometimes but it's still much better than the feeling that you're just inherently wrong to not like living.
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Dec 28, 2021 15:01
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I get poo poo loads of intrusive thoughts all the time and it really put the wind up me as a teenager, but apparantly some level of transitory desires to jump off tall things is perfectly normal. Which makes it slightly less disconcerting, but only slightly. (I also get a similar level of transitory thoughts of cutting things in half with a lightsaber, which is why I'm not worried I'm secretly suicidal)
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Dec 28, 2021 15:06
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Testro posted:On the topic of mental health and being a lurker: I think most SA users are lurkers in some form or another. This thread is an excellent resource for politics.
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Dec 28, 2021 15:09
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Barry Foster posted:It can be extraordinarily hard to step away if you're the kind of person who wants to (or feels that they have to) pay attention at all times I think the other thing is that you're a good bunch. I like reading your opinions and your thoughts; I like that so many of us are working class and have that background and understanding (which you don't often find reflected in the media) - so there's a sense of loss when not reading, because it's not just blanking out the politics, but the sense of community. (I realise the irony here, talking about community, given that I don't post.)
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Dec 28, 2021 15:10
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 Don't overthink it
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Dec 28, 2021 15:13
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Convex posted:PICKED ONION IS THE BETTER FLAVOUR. NOT ROAST BEEF. IT WAS NEVER ROAST BEEF CAMRATH Fighting words if ever I heard them. Name the time and carpark.
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Dec 28, 2021 15:16
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Convex posted:PICKED ONION IS THE BETTER FLAVOUR. NOT ROAST BEEF. IT WAS NEVER ROAST BEEF CAMRATH Finally, someone has said what we're all thinking! Eh? Eh? *glances around nervously*
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Dec 28, 2021 15:23
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Mugsbaloney posted:I'm not trying to evangelise though, I just wanted to know what other people thought about the article? It feels like this kicked off because I used the word headbangers to describe British people who are certain that their immune system is strong enough to take covid in a fight because they do kettlebells or whatever. You specifically questioned the word headbangers, which nobody else had used on that page. I stand by that point. They're loving loons for thinking it's about strength considering the many stories of physically fit, otherwise perfectly healthy people dying while unvaccinated. But I don't think that's what's being argued here. Somehow, you linked it to my first point about "dipshits who think it was brewed in a lab," and maybe I should make it clear that in context, what I meant was "dipshits who think it was deliberately brewed in a lab as an act of war against the US/west to weaken it." If you read the rest of that paragraph it's clear that was implied, though this thread moves so fast sometimes maybe not clear enough if you were scan reading. I think this is what twisto was saying about context. The context of the post is lunatics saying China unleashed the virus on the world deliberately. You then come in and ask if it's crazy to think the virus came from a lab. You specifically linked it to the context of my post with the word headbangers. Maybe there was crossed intent of meaning here and a certain degree of 'oh poo poo we got one' on our part, but try and see how this looks keeping that context in mind. A lot of people said yes, that is crazy because they did have that context in mind. And instead of going "oh poo poo that is so not what I meant" and then accepting Owlfancier's point about it not mattering if it accidentally leaked from a lab (unless you're using it as a wedge to introduce more fash points, as twisto was saying), you got defensive, insulted everyone, and you're now noping your way out of the thread like you have any kind of moral high ground. forkboy84 posted:I did say that. And then I continued in the next sentence that "Your mental health is going to get a lot worse if we continue to allow capital to ignore the climate crisis and the housing crisis and the inequality crisis & no amount of ignoring your emails is going to change that." Societal health implied societal mental health. I'm sorry if that wasn't clear enough. I've heard a lot of counsellors and mental health experts saying how bad paying attention to politics and the news is for you, and you should just relax and melt into individualistic bliss in your own little bubnle. But good politics requires putting everyone else ahead of yourself. The needs of the many and all that. But not everyone has the strength to do that. There's really no easy answer. The advice is usually to let go of anything that you can't control. The problem is that there are so many people on the breadline who are being hammered to death by the reality of the pressures Tory politics puts on them, which are things they can't control. A person who has to work two jobs to keep their family fed and clothed can't just relax and have a nice bath, or 'let go' of the ministerial policy that refuses to pay for their severely disabled child. A person who has to deal with the UC system has to pay attention in case a new internal policy leads to them trying to put people into workfare. A bunch of people are currently trying to work out how to cut their budget back to make space for the huge fuel price increases coming in April. Sometimes you need to know about the bad poo poo because if you don't prepare for it, it can absolutely gently caress your life completely. I don't know. I feel like it's one of the many ways that counselling and mental health care in the UK gets it really wrong and has no real experience of the working class. I had a counsellor tell me I was 'just' suffering from working class guilt and I should take a year off to try and be a writer if that's what I wanted. And I just looked at her in disbelief thinking that I cannot afford to do that. Who the gently caress can afford to do that.
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Dec 28, 2021 16:12
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Jippa posted:I think most SA users are lurkers in some form or another. This thread is an excellent resource for politics. The post-less have nothing to lose but their spotless rap sheets. They have a petty internet argument to win. Lurkers of the world, unite!
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Dec 28, 2021 16:38
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Bobby Deluxe posted:I don't know. I feel like it's one of the many ways that counselling and mental health care in the UK gets it really wrong and has no real experience of the working class. I had a counsellor tell me I was 'just' suffering from working class guilt and I should take a year off to try and be a writer if that's what I wanted. And I just looked at her in disbelief thinking that I cannot afford to do that. Who the gently caress can afford to do that. I am a well compensated computer cuddler and I couldnt afford that. You would need to be in 'own your own house, mortgage is paid off' territory, i.e. a Boomer.
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Dec 28, 2021 16:41
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Pistol_Pete posted:When will these people learn that grovelling like this gets you precisely nothing. They will be wining about how much they owned Corbyn for literally the next 20 years while they win zero elections
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Dec 28, 2021 16:42
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Spangly A posted:What's the dwps specific argument against backdating here? They're usually wrong about that, and the way the claim paperwork is set up pretty much guarantees the tribunals can hear it Oh there was no argument just “we have decided that people don’t get backdated for the first 3 months” end of. No explanation, letters or paperwork, just verbal this is what happens from a “work coach”
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Dec 28, 2021 16:47
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Bobby Deluxe posted:I don't know. I feel like it's one of the many ways that counselling and mental health care in the UK gets it really wrong and has no real experience of the working class. I had a counsellor tell me I was 'just' suffering from working class guilt and I should take a year off to try and be a writer if that's what I wanted. And I just looked at her in disbelief thinking that I cannot afford to do that. Who the gently caress can afford to do that. That is a bit poo poo and I'm sorry you had to face that. I hope it didn't derail things. One sad thing about therapy is that you have to find one who's a good fit for you and you can get a long way into therapy before someone comes out with something that makes it obvious they're not. And just getting access to therapy is such a loving slog, ESPECIALLY when you're dealing with MH issues and the people funding it can be sticking their oars in as well, like "we SENT you to a place, what do you mean you want someone else" when it's just not on you at all, it's just how it goes. You end up having to almost audition people up front because starting over with a new therapist... just sucks, especially if it means diving into trauma for the new one cos it turns out the last one was a transphobe or a classist idiot or whatever it is and the relationship broke down. It should all be free and much easier to access and chop and change and find the right person that can help you and it's a crime that it only ends up being like that for people with the gift of infinite money patience and time.
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Dec 28, 2021 17:02
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Bobby Deluxe posted:I personally feel like there's something sad about someone switching off from politics, though I do understand it as a coping mechanism. And I don't blame anyone who does it. Absolutely. At some point in 2016 I did a hard purge of most of the mainstream political people I followed on Twitter because I just found it was making me beyond miserable. It was horrible, just the banality of liberal evil. Probably it was around the time of the chicken coup, it was just relentless misery. I'd been in a poo poo place for a while after getting let go from a job I hated because there were no buses I could get on Sundays, which would've been nice if they thought about that before offering me a permanent contract. TBH I was even thinking about moving for that lovely job (when I say I hated it I was self-harming on a regular basis on breaks, the job was the apotheosis of utterly meaningless capitalist busybody bullshit, absolutely no job satisfaction whatsoever, no intellectual challenge, just relentless tedium for a company that are very well known for being awful cunts & whose name rhymes with Crapita) because the commute was 2 hours or more each way but as they just gave me a week's notice that my contract offer had been pulled I couldn't even do that. Great employers, would recommend you never work for them. Anyway, the thing is that after a while I brought politics back into my life but..."detached irony" is a cliché & I think I'm too passionate (both in a good way & in a gets very righteously angry at times) to really be detached but at the same time "poo poo's hosed lol" is kind of my coping mechanism. A little bit of doomerism, a little bit of ironic detachment, a little bit of righteous anger, & 100mg a day of SSRI all comes together to help me deal with the world & times we live in. Is it healthy? Maybe not but it's a coping mechanism & it works for me by & large. The thing is, there is a point between "don't pay attention & hide in your individual bubble" & "put everyone else ahead of yourself & your own well being". Because you CAN'T be on all the time, you'd run dry. You'd be no use to anyone. Taking a break is good. Essential. Nobody can or should (or is) asking you to be on all the time, & if the way you go off is by deleting Twitter or throwing your phone in a safe that someone else has the password to, cool. All I was really trying to say is that while looking after yourself is good in the short-term, I think it's important that the root cause has to be dealt so both your own AND everyone elses material conditions improve, because the only other alternative is doubling the health service budget to cope with the mental health crisis. Because if it took you as long to get a cancerous tumour removed as it does to get referred to someone to help you stop wanting to end your life there'd be loving outrage on the frontpage of every newspaper. Honestly, I loving hate whoever came up with CBT. I know it works for some people but at the same time it is clearly used as an exceedingly cheap plaster to stick over the gaping wound that is the mental health crisis. One size does not fit all. "Self-administered CBT" doesn't work when your motivation levels are negative, GPs should really not need to be told that but it & prescribing something are about all they can do. feedmegin posted:I am a well compensated computer cuddler and I couldnt afford that. You would need to be in 'own your own house, mortgage is paid off' territory, i.e. a Boomer. People say "money doesn't make you happy" & superficially that is true, but money does remove an awful lot of the stresses that make you unhappy, & gives you the freedom to do things that might make you happy. Always loving hated that saying. Not having to worry about rent or if you have to forgo meals every 2nd day because the washing machine needs to be replaced, not having to commute, being able to say gently caress it & go abroad. For example, I'd like to learn Russian, but Russian lessons are pricey, textbooks are pricey, all that. So I did Duolingo & suddenly the app hosed up my progress & the problem with a gameified app is that when it loses your progress your desire to continue can also take a kick in the dick. Where as if I had disposable income & the free time that comes with being wealthy I would go to Russia for 6 months or a year & do an intensive language course & that whole "immerse yourself in the culture" thing. I don't have any real reason to learn Russian, I just regret not really seeing the value of a language when I was in high school. It'd be pleasant. What I'm saying is that if any of you should happen to win the lottery you should split your winnings with me, thanks in advance. forkboy84 fucked around with this message at 17:12 on Dec 28, 2021 |
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Dec 28, 2021 17:04
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forkboy84 posted:"Self-administered CBT" doesn't work I have seen so many photos which prove this isn't true
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Dec 28, 2021 17:11
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Julio Cruz posted:I have seen so many photos which prove this isn't true I'll admit, when I wrote that I did internally go "heh, cock & ball torture", like any time I think about CBT.
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Dec 28, 2021 17:12
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Look, it didn't work on Jame Bonds, it's not going to work on me. Although I would let Mads Mikkelsen have a crack anyway.
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Dec 28, 2021 17:34
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Niric posted:The post-less have nothing to lose but their spotless rap sheets. They have a petty internet argument to win. Lurkers of the world, unite! I used to live up to my name, but these days it's a fairly stable way to get the human to human interaction that sanity requires (no way am i going near FB or Twitter). 
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Dec 28, 2021 17:34
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Can someone give kier starmer a sock so he can be free from his servitude to Boris Johnson
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Dec 28, 2021 17:40
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The best way to use Twitter when you feel the need to ‘keep up with politics’ is to just come here instead. People will share the things worth sharing, and when there’s no new posts there’s nothing to read. It’s like the methadone to my doomscrolling heroin.
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Dec 28, 2021 17:55
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Every few months I swear I am going to get a decent newsreader app, only get my news from neutral / leftie sources, and use twitter purely for following podcasters i like. I have yet to do this. Oh, also the Xmas Q&A trasfuture episode specifically gave a shoutout to Praxiscast as well as left over, which was nice to hear.
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Dec 28, 2021 18:21
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https://twitter.com/Coldwar_Steve/status/1475880780173877249
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Dec 28, 2021 18:27
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He really does have a weird looking face, I don't know what it is but every time I see him I think that 1. he looks like a supervillain and 2. has that lovecraft look going on. Not as in he looks like a fishman but as in he literally looks a bit like lovecraft with the weird grim set jaw you get when you are covninced there are italians and irishmen lurking under your bed to degenerate your art or whatever. I think it's the jumper too, has a vague hint of off brand steve jobs.
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Dec 28, 2021 18:37
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To me, Raab looks like the military officer in a zombie film who would sacrifice countless civilian lives to save the VIPs. It's that intense but slightly dead-eyed stare he has, that tells you he's calculated your worth and already decided it's not enough.
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Dec 28, 2021 18:49
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learnincurve posted:Oh there was no argument just “we have decided that people don’t get backdated for the first 3 months” end of. No explanation, letters or paperwork, just verbal this is what happens from a “work coach” oh in that case just file to have the start date adjusted to the initial application and appeal when they say "no", it's just a script and they don't actually have any basis to refuse. If they told you that there's no backdating before the date the decision was made they'll try and claim that this counts as them notifying you that they consider the claim date to be whenever they feel like + that you have a right to appeal, and if they didn't they might just lie and say they did, but that's not reaaaaaaaaally compliant with their duties so it all ends up as a dice roll on what sort of judge you get in the upper tribunal
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Dec 28, 2021 18:49
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Answers Me posted:The best way to use Twitter when you feel the need to ‘keep up with politics’ is to just come here instead. People will share the things worth sharing, and when there’s no new posts there’s nothing to read. It’s like the methadone to my doomscrolling heroin. This. Thanks, threadpeople. Maybe we could schedule the favourite topics though? I've missed Iain M Banks chat three times now.
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Dec 28, 2021 19:49
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Iain M Banks chat is next due in February 2023. But if you hang around, we can do some JK Rowling chat just for you, as a treat
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Dec 28, 2021 20:29
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If you want to reduce phone usage I find just turning off almost all notifications really helps.
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Dec 28, 2021 20:30
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Bobby Deluxe posted:I personally feel like there's something sad about someone switching off from politics, though I do understand it as a coping mechanism. And I don't blame anyone who does it. Yeah my counsellor basically said the same thing, "you need to stop paying so much attention to the news" but like, somebody has to right? I think one of the answers to this is to form or become part of a local community of like-minded people, set up mutual aid etc.; However: quote:A person who has to work two jobs to keep their family fed and clothed can't just relax This kind of person probably also doesn't have much energy to do community stuff. However it also seems to be one of the routes to potentially achieving real change. I'm preaching as much to myself here as to everybody else. I haven't done any of this stuff. I will someday when I don't feel quite so crushed by everything, but there's the problem. I've been seeing some stuff on Twitter just lately about Family Abolition. I didn't know that this was a thing that Marx and Engels espoused. I haven't done much reading on it as yet, but I think it's about abolition of the idea of a "traditional family" because what a trad family does is kind of a privatisation of care, and family abolition is about extending that level of familial caring to a wider community - similar to how they do in tribal cultures. Everybody cares for each other's children, and each other in general. It's not to say that you can't still care about your parents or children or siblings or whatever but the point is you're actually quite lucky if you grow up in a loving traditional family who are able to provide you with all of the emotional and physical support that you need. Lots of people don't have that. If we abolish the notion of the nuclear family then more people have more chance of growing up and getting the support that they need for growth. There's a really good article on it here: https://www.thenation.com/article/society/family-covid-care-marriage/ Kind of long (2400 words) but makes a lot of really good point about how abolishing the notion of a nuclear family could have a huge positive impact related to feminism, racism, acceptance of LGBT people, physical and mental health, etc. etc. and also makes the right class distinctions between how working class and upper and middle classes are experiencing the pandemic.
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