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Depressed People Surf the Web Differently
An anonymous reader sends this excerpt from Medical Daily:
"Researchers led by Sriram Chellappan from the Missouri University of Science and Technology, collected internet usage data from 216 college students enrolled at the university. The usage data was collected anonymously without interfering with the student’s normal internet usage for a month. The students were tested to see if they had symptoms of depression and analyzed internet usage based on the results. Depressed students tended to use the internet in much different ways than their non-depressed classmates. Depressed students used file-sharing programs, like torrents or online sharing sites, more than non-depressed students (PDF). Depressed students also chatted more and sent more emails out. Online video viewing and game playing were also more popular for depressed students."
File-sharing, chatting, email, video games, watching videos--all those are the domain of the depressed, apparently. So wtf do the non-depressed do online, just read the newspaper and post ads on Craigslist?
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
no point in waiting from some non-depressed (and non-maniacal) person to stop by here and let us know.
rewriting history since 2109
"Depressed people skate on the other side of the ice."
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
I read the title as "dressed" people. I thought, "well of course dressed people surf the Internet differently than naked people".
Yay! Another correlation != causality study. Everyone jump to conclusions in 5...4...3...2...1
Duh! Slashdot makes everyone happy!
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
"Depressed students used file-sharing programs, like torrents or online sharing sites" Note the absence of Usenet in this list. Sounds like the bandwidth cap is the leading cause of these depressions.
Or, not insignificantly, being lonely, bored, or SLEEP DEPRIVED. Depression can be symptomatic of all those things.
There are so many variables here that it isn't funny. I frequently cringe when I see social science "foo linked to bar says study" headlines. There are so many ways to cut the data, so many internal biases that influence what is published, and almost always not enough evidence to definitively prove a correlation-causation linkage (small samples sizes, poorly defined data, poorly handled statistics etc.).
Gary Gutting (Philosopher, Notre Dame) had a blog piece in the NYT last week that tackles this head on:
How Reliable Are the Social Sciences?
So basically, people that are depressed look for things that might make them feel better such as entertainment from videos, movies and games. They send more emails to reach out to other people trying to connect in an attempt to feel better. If you think about it, should anyone really be surprised?
Makes sense to me that depressed people would do more file sharing. File sharing is a means to an end, not an activity in and of itself. It follows that a depressed person might say, "Fuck it, I'm just going to stay home and watch every episode of Game of Thrones and eat Cheetos until I fall asleep."
Breakfast served all day!
The internet is MAKING the people depressed!
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
I hope that your point is that not all depressed people can be lumped into one category.
People who have experienced episodes of major depression might resent your assertion that they got that way because they were "lonely" or "bored" -- or even "sad."
Breakfast served all day!
"File-sharing, chatting, email,..."
They have it backwards.
If you watched lots of shared Hollywood crap, you'd be depressed too.
coping mechanism. When your brain is telling you you're all alone, you do everything you can to feel some sort of human connection.
Sig withheld to protect the innocent.
There seems to be a pretty high correlation between studies showing correlations and people saying that correlation doesn't imply causation. I wonder if there's a causal relationship?
Except you're wrong. Depression is also caused by things like hormone imbalance (postpartum depression), prolonged grief, or serotonin deficiency, to name a few. In fact, loneliness and boredom are symptoms of depression, not the other way around (as you suggest). When depressed, people lose motivation, which to boredom, and have an overwhelming sense of worthlessness, which leads to loneliness.
When someone is deficient in serotonin, they find that it takes an incredible amount of stimuli to bring their serotonin levels up to normal. You know that feeling of satisfaction you get when you complete a project or task? Those who are serotonin deficient don't get that feeling, and instead feel overwhelmed by the very thought of starting the task. Because it takes so much stimuli to bring their serotonin levels up to normal, they seek out quick fixes, like eating sweets, watching TV, and playing video games simultaneously; or masturbating 5-10 times a day. That's just to feel normal.
So in short, STFU, because you have no idea what you're talking about.
If you'd RTFA, you'd see that depressed people do these things more than normal people, and they chat in a seemingly random pattern because they exhibit an inability to focus, which is a sign of depression.
I read the article and I'd say the GP's point is valid. All it does is claim that depressed people do more of the very generic internet activities mentioned and switch between these activities more often, while making no mention of what things non-depressed people do instead. Therefore, at most I see a claim that depressed people may surf the web *more*, but no compelling evidence of how they do so *differently*.
Momentarily, the need for the construction of new light will no longer exist.
So wtf do the non-depressed do online, just read the newspaper and post ads on Craigslist?
They log off more often and do some of the many things that are vital to all facets of human health and have no online equivalent.
Non-depressed people socialize on Facebook and share interesting things with their friends. Depressed people go to Google+, limit their circles heavily and follow geek celebrities instead of their friends (if they have any).
My employer disagrees:
http://thehackernews.com/ has been blocked. Reason: The category of Hacking has been blocked by your System Administrator
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
"Fuck it, I'm just going to stay home and watch every episode of Game of Thrones and eat Cheetos until I fall asleep."
That plan sounds pretty rad, actually.
---
ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
When I'm depressed, I do everything I can to avoid human connection altogether.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
You should think about changing your userid to "ReallyReallyReallySadBob".
Linux is cool though . . .
Once someone isn't depressed they go out more. . .
Really? I don't know one way or the other, but I wonder. For example, I would expect people who go out all the time, but only to get wasted and hook up with strangers, to demonstrate a higher incidence of depression. Just my gut feeling though.
My take on this study is that it may suggest that various internet "social" activities are just the latest coping mechanisms for depression that fall under the category of superficial and ineffectual attempts to reach out to others.
The bulk of TFA seems to be making the point that the more depressed respondents used the internet more, though in the same ways, as their less depressed cohorts.
That's neither surprising nor a bad thing since the main thing that people do with the internet is communicate with others. The primary problem for depressed people is feeling that they are alone and isolated in their suffering.
In that respect, particularly for college students who may be away from their homes for the first time in their lives, the internet is probably a good (and ready) palliative.
I use BT, chat, email, FG and even play WoW and flash games. So I guess I'm in trouble:
Come see the symptoms inherent in the system, Help Help, I'm being depressed!
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo! http://goo.gl/J9bkO
Isn't there a #depressed channel on IRC?
now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
It's called escapism. I watched vidoes and played games so I wouldn't have to think of my miserable life. Of course doing those things didn't help fix my problems, so I always ended up feeling worse sometime afterwards. But I didn't have any motivation to get any real work done. I don't do online chats and don't have many (if any) friends to send emails to (not that I would have anything to say), but I prefer online communications compared with face to face. It's a lot easier to write a response than it is to stand next to someone and try to completely hide your depression. People don't like being around other depressed people; it's depressing.
Maintaining face is extermely difficult when you're really depressed. Happy people make you want to cry because you're never that happy and can't ever get there. You also haven't acoomplished anything (you sat around for 3-4 hours being too depressed to do anything), so when people ask you "what's up" you have no answer. There's only so many ways to sound busy.
For a second there, I thought the title was "Depressed People Surf the Web Diffidently," whereupon I thought, "Of course."
Then I read it again....
By the taping of my glasses, something geeky this way passes
http://www.alternet.org/health/68043
it's an advertiser's job to make you unhappy. if you are content with what you have, and only wish to buy things you need, a lot of worthless junk would never get sold. think about how your (imaginary?) girlfriend/wife goes shopping to make herself feel better. materialism is condemned by just about every religion that preaches happiness through the "denial of the crystalline" -- to quote a Meshuggah song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IiP-Vdx_F8). advertisers want to create depression in you because it's proven to drive sales. you spend to fill the void, and the void is created by attachment to status and the expensive crap required to get it. all of this was true for tv, and now it's our interactive tv, the internet.
http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/news/releases/consumerism-and-its-antisocial-effects-can-be-turned-onor-off.html
insensitive clod overlords obligatory xkcd car analogy russian reversals whoosh pedant fanbois ftfy in 3...2...1..PROFIT
When I'm depressed, I do everything I can to avoid human connection altogether.
This seems more like my experience. Cannot fathom "connecting" when feeling depressed; rather to stay in the house, put phone in airplane mode, avoid checking email, hunker down & wait for the storm to pass.
Oops, just broke my own guideline, gotta go.
I wonder if depression is correlated with an entitlement mentality and ego-centrism.
No and no. Likely the opposite of those is true.
It is definitely correlated with a lack of exercise.
Agreed.
I've had major depression for a long time, and I can tell you chronic insomnia is a symptom of depression. My dad sleeps no more than 5 hours a night, but man, is he ready to go during the day.
Especially with seasonal effects, my sleep cycle gets better in the summer such that I don't have to take sleeping pills to fall asleep.
A common cause of insomnia in depressed people is directly related to the medication(s) they take. Often times, those mess up your whole sleep cycle.
Also, you tend to want to rest more during daytime, so there's a vicious cycle where you don't sleep because you took a nap in the afternoon. Staying active is very important to mental health, just as it is to not being CowboyNeal.
Indeed.
I've been depressed lately, mainly due to unsatisfactory job, sleep deprivation (family = family + 1) and financial drowning (expenses rose, debt rose, income didn't, and that for years). And at work, when "new" projects come in, everyone feels excited, and I see no reason why they shouldn't. I immediately jump to analyzing the usefulness of whatever comes our way and well, frankly, most times I can't find any. I am doing my job, and I am doing it well, I just don't feel happy about it. As a matter of fact, I haven't felt happy in a long, long time.
I don't know what sort of magical substance I lack and I don't really care. I do, however, know what can get me back on track, and that's financial stability. Sadly, my employer treats me like shit and I'm spiraling down because I ceased trying to look happy and shit when going to job interviews.
So yeah, I feel like I'm pretty much done for. I browse a few sites, circling around all day long, I play the same game when I get back from work and that's pretty much it. One difference, though: I'm not alone. At home I'm with family and at work I'm surrounded by work mates. But I wish I would be alone, and not temporary, but in an "I am Legend" kind of way. Me in an empty world would be fucking awesome.
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
coping mechanism. When your brain is telling you you're all alone, you do everything you can to feel some sort of human connection.
No. Goddamnit, no.
Look, you extroverted people have no understanding of us, more introverted guys. I understand most people really can't stand to be alone, and start wanting to climb the walls when forced to do that. Not everyone shares these feelings. We prefer interaction online because we want to attenuate the human connection. Being around people for too long drains me. Talking to someone online is manageable, because the person on the other side isn't taking up the entirety of my attention, and I'm free to do other things WHILE interacting. I get a message, and I get to ignore it for a minute while I'm reading an article, then getting around to respond it, then go back to reading the article.
One-on-one people interactions completely monopolize your time, and for that reason is very draining to introverts. You can't just tune out the person for a bit without being extremely rude. When I was in college, my roommate was another introvert. We sometimes, I shit you not, type to each other over instant messaging through our computers while IN THE SAME ROOM.
We sometimes, I shit you not, type to each other over instant messaging through our computers while IN THE SAME ROOM.
yeah ... here in the office, we call that "working" and we do it 10 hours a day.
Yeah but no one goes there, it's way too depressing.
Researchers believe this haphazard use of the internet is a result of students having difficulty concentrating, which is a common trait associated with depression.
Non-depressed people use those things too, but they tend to complete one task before moving on to the next rather than randomly jumping between them. They're finding a correlation between ADD and depression, which is well known.
I have a shit load of disposable income. So, that probably isn't it. I just choose not to socialize with people. It is the people 'out there' that irritate me. They are all fucking morons and I'd rather not talk to the lot of them. This is why I am single, haven't been laid in 5yrs and have no friends to speak of. I have a few coworkers I talk to on a daily basis, but ONLY while I am at work. While a home, I talk to no one. I barely ever talk to my parents. Maybe once a month and even less with my brothers. They all live in California and I live 1500mi away. Some nights are great, others I tend to cry myself to sleep. It's a bittersweet lifestyle.
"That's right...I said it."
You may want to take a look at the following ted talk by Sherry Turkle. http://www.ted.com/talks/sherry_turkle_alone_together.html
It discusses exactly your point, and left me feeling sorry for the smart phoney's among us. The jist of her argument is that we only want the good parts of relationships which weakens relationships in general.
Here is a transcript that i have copied from the web. Hopefully slashdot doesnt brutalize it too much:
------------
Just a moment ago, my daughter Rebecca texted me for good luck. Her text said, "Mom, you will rock." I love this. Getting that text was like getting a hug. And so there you have it. I embody the central paradox. I'm a woman who loves getting texts who's going to tell you that too many of them can be a problem.
Actually that reminder of my daughter brings me to the beginning of my story. 1996, when I gave my first TEDTalk, Rebecca was five years old and she was sitting right there in the front row. I had just written a book that celebrated our life on the internet and I was about to be on the cover of Wired magazine. In those heady days, we were experimenting with chat rooms and online virtual communities. We were exploring different aspects of ourselves. And then we unplugged. I was excited. And, as a psychologist, what excited me most was the idea that we would use what we learned in the virtual world about ourselves, about our identity, to live better lives in the real world.
Now fast-forward to 2012. I'm back here on the TED stage again. My daughter's 20. She's a college student. She sleeps with her cellphone, so do I. And I've just written a new book, but this time it's not one that will get me on the cover of Wired magazine. So what happened? I'm still excited by technology, but I believe, and I'm here to make the case, that we're letting it take us places that we don't want to go.
Over the past 15 years, I've studied technologies of mobile communication and I've interviewed hundreds and hundreds of people, young and old, about their plugged in lives. And what I've found is that our little devices, those little devices in our pockets, are so psychologically powerful that they don't only change what we do, they change who we are. Some of the things we do now with our devices are things that, only a few years ago, we would have found odd or disturbing, but they've quickly come to seem familiar, just how we do things.
So just to take some quick examples: People text or do email during corporate board meetings. They text and shop and go on Facebook during classes, during presentations, actually during all meetings. People talk to me about the important new skill of making eye contact while you're texting. (Laughter) People explain to me that it's hard, but that it can be done. Parents text and do email at breakfast and at dinner while their children complain about not having their parents' full attention. But then these same children deny each other their full attention. This is a recent shot of my daughter and her friends being together while not being together. And we even text at funerals. I study this. We remove ourselves from our grief or from our revery and we go into our phones.
Why does this matter? It matters to me because I think we're setting ourselves up for trouble -- trouble certainly in how we relate to each other, but also trouble in how we relate to ourselves and our capacity for self-reflection. We're getting used to a new way of being alone together. People want to be with each other, but also elsewhere -- connected to all the different places they want to be. People want to customize their lives. They want to go in and out of all the places they are because the thing that m
As a potential lottery winner, I totally support tax cuts for the wealthy
Um, I agree, but what the hell does that have to do with what the GP was saying?
Depressed people (people whose "brain is telling you you're all alone") do everything they can to feel some sort of human connection. Whether they're extroverted, and go to lots of parties, or they're introverted, and connect to people in a manageable online environment, or they're extroverted, and use online communications because the barrier of entry is lower, is irrelevant according to the GP's argument.
Sounds like you're jumping on your introverted/extroverted hobbyhorse without even checking to see if it makes sense in the context of the argument you're addressing.
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
People that are extremely bored and that in all likelihood would like to no have to endure 1, 2 or 3 more years of boring lectures that aren't -in many cases- in touch with reality (spin intended) use their computers to:
- Have distracting hobbies such as collecting stuff (Used file-sharing programs)
- Chat with people that have nothing to do with their field of study
- Communicate with friends and relatives unrelated to studies.
- Role play and live more exciting live (Online video viewing and game playing)
- Entertain themselves with video
I can relate to them. I felt that way during part of my time at university (5 full years non-stop, about 180 lectures per month and 700 books later, I really really felt like escaping some "nights").
My advise is, if you are in that situation, know it's temporary. I can say that the "stay hungry, stay poor, my friends" from Steve Jobs isn't bullshit. It really means do what you like...once you enter the "security road to nowhere" it's very difficult to change. I had the luck of going for adventure to some other country, and that was one of the most rewarding decisions I ever made. Bake a backup plan, and then go for Plan A...trust your luck more than you trust your security (but always have boring Plan B ready).
unfinished: (adj.)
Please see a psychiatrist.
They really, really do help. You will not be looked down upon, you will be given specific to you help rather than just the generic "How to feel better" crap you find in books and online. Also it will not be the "Here take this pill and go away" treatment that you get from general practitioners. It might be a little pricy (Especially if you don't have insurance), but worth every single penny! This is your direct quality of life and means to make a living we are talking about here.
At the very least they will advise you on how to get out of this self-feeding loop. Without proffessional help (Your family and friends are doing all they know to help you, but they just don't know how to do that) you will not be able to break out of this and things will just get steadily worse. Take it from someone that have been in this situation for several years before finally biting the bullet and seeking help.
Finally if it gets so bad that you seriously start planning out your suicide, you owe it to everyone that care or ever cared about you to seek proffessional help immediately! Taking your own life will send the people you know right into deep depression themselves: Do you really want them to go through what you are in now?
As someone with a schizoid personality, I concur with these statements. Interacting with people IRL is both mentally and physically draining for many introverted people. We need time alone in our head to recharge. It is very tedious to focus on a single person while they are talking. We'd be the first to sign up for voluntary solitary confinement. (ok, that may just be me) And, yes, I have texted a person in the same room as well. Hell, skype is my main communication with coworkers even when they are sitting 3 feet from me.
Wow. Enzyte withdrawal hit Smilin' Bob worse than anyone could have imagined.
Seriously ... throw in porn and I might as well slash my wrists now!
Non-depressed people socialize on Facebook and share interesting things with their friends. Depressed people go to Google+, limit their circles heavily and follow geek celebrities instead of their friends (if they have any).
This is a grossly overstated, bordering on deeply insulting, generalization. I would never go on Google+.
"All these years believing you're the signified monkey, only to find out you're just a big hunk of nobody cares."
But then the receptionist started filling the stream with hardcore feminist rhetoric
i.e. she complained once about always being asked to make teas and coffees for everybody
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
I am keenly interested in a future where everything is different.
What people like you forget is that changes in technology are fundamentally trivial compared with changes in politics or economics.
A technological future that abolished poverty and disease, dismantled all political and economic power structures, redistributed wealth equally and removed the need to waste time working for a living would be great, but what we actually get are expensive toys, but made cheaper.
Meanwhile, children communicate in a sort of pidgin English through text messages, and do their homework by copying and pasting from Google.
In a way, we are going to need the singularity to re-introduce intelligence into the world, and I for one welcome in advance our new AI overlords - in fifty years they'll be the only ones who can read Shakespeare..
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it