[steam_cannon]

7 Reasons The 21st Century Is Making Us Miserable
http://www.pointlesswasteoftime.com/misery.html

I'm not normally a fan of list articles, but I felt this article was good enough to print out and save. Enjoy!

CLIP
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')img]http://i29.tinypic.com/sg1t1c.jpg[/img]
It just occurred to me that, according to this picture, this man
statistically has more friends than most of us do. Especially if you count
the person holding the camera.

7. We feel worthless because we actually are worth less.

But here's the thing. You are hard-wired by evolution to need to do things for people. Everybody for the last five thousand years seemed to realize this and then we suddenly forgot it in the last few decades. We get suicidal teens and scramble to teach them self-esteem. Well, unfortunately, self-esteem and the ability to like yourself only come after you've done something that makes you likable. You can't bullshit yourself. If I think Todd over here is worthless for sitting in his room all day, drinking and playing video games, doesn't it follow that I'm worthless for doing the same thing?

It doesn't matter what you tell yourself, or what slogans you memorize about how everyone is special. You'll think of yourself as special when you do something special. If you think of yourself as special prior to actually doing something special, you're not healthy and well-balanced. You're a narcissist, disconnected from reality...

[uNkNowN ElEmEnt]

Some of this is just not being smart though...

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '1'). Not enough annoying strangers in our lives.

That's not sarcasm. Annoyance is something you build up a tolerance to, like alcohol or a bad smell. The more we're able to edit the annoyance out of our lives, the less we're able to handle it.

The problem is we've built an awesome, sprawling web of technology meant purely to let us avoid annoying people. Do all your Christmas shopping online and avoid the fat lady ramming her cart into you at Target. Spend five thousand bucks on a home theater system so you can see movies on a big screen without a toddler kicking the back of your seat. Hell, even rent the DVD's online so you don't even have to mess with the confused kid working the register at Blockbuster.

Get stuck in the waiting room at the doctor? No way I'm striking up a conversation with the smelly old man sitting next to me. Plug the iPod into my ears and have a text conversation with a friend, or play my DS. Filter that annoyance right out of my world.

[MrBill]

Okay, but there is a time and a place to round on and confront strangers that are annoying you on purpose or out of their own ignorance. Been there, done that! My wife still thinks I am a psycho! ; - ) But if you go around turning on those that annoy you on a habitual basis - i.e. anymore than once or twice a year - then it may simply be a lack of communication skills on your part. Sure, as I get older, I have less and less patience for loud, spoiled children, but I remind myself it is their parent's fault. Not necessarily theirs. I think we become miserable because our own expectations are too high! ; - )

[uNkNowN ElEmEnt]

I have loooked back on that incidence and wondered if there wasn't also a cultural thing at work there too. I know as a westerner that I am less comfortable with crowds and would go nuts, like totally mental in a crowd in new york city or a crowded street in Beijing.

But I will admit that ever since that episode I know that I should just avoid that chain of stores becuase something about the colour scheme and the crowds set me off.

Unlike the article though I am lucky in taht I have friends who will tell me that it sucks to be me or pull my chain. I even have one friend who knows of my jewish background and is a wanna-be nazi. so I think there is something to be said for accepting differences in others and not just "tolerating" them.

[MrBill]

oh yah, like standing in line with a bunch of British or standing in a similiar line with a bunch of Russians is a totally different experience. their attitudes towards queing are completely at opposite ends of the pole. also in OBHR they call it direct or indirect communicators in terms of those that say exactly what they mean and those that avoid public confrontation to save face. and it is cultural. as a westerner I do prefer my own sense of personal space! ; - )

[dinopello]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('uNkNowN ElEmEnt', 'H')aving a confident looking white woman with a deadly intent gleam in her eye...

[uNkNowN ElEmEnt]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dinopello', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('uNkNowN ElEmEnt', 'H')aving a confident looking white woman with a deadly intent gleam in her eye...

[lawnchair]

Missed lots (though pre-21st century problems):

Speeding around in little cages that if anyone makes the slightest errant move, they're going to die or kill somebody. Also, the devotion to the car makes it nearly impossible get somewhere by human power ("without Saudi oil, I can't buy TP to wipe my butt. Who's in control here").

The first rule of marketing is to create inadequacy! Once you've shot holes in someone's sense of completeness, you can sell them something to fill that hole.

[Chuckmak]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('uNkNowN ElEmEnt', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dinopello', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('uNkNowN ElEmEnt', 'H')aving a confident looking white woman with a deadly intent gleam in her eye...

[steam_cannon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lawnchair', '(')"without Saudi oil, I can't buy TP to wipe my butt. Who's in control here").

The first rule of marketing is to create inadequacy! Once you've shot holes in someone's sense of completeness, you can sell them something to fill that hole.

[steam_cannon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MrBill', 'o')h yeah, like standing in line with a bunch of British or standing in a similar line with a bunch of Russians is a totally different experience. their attitudes towards queing are completely at opposite ends of the pole.

[TheDude]

Nice read, Steam.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he last generation didn't need to be drugged up, so what's going on? They're marketing inadequacy!

[steam_cannon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TheDude', 'N')ice read, Steam.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he last generation didn't need to be drugged up, so what's going on? They're marketing inadequacy!

[steam_cannon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TheDude', 'I')'m intrigued by the notion that people are simply a lot more wound up now, whether from the obvious sources (media overload), not-so-obvious (high speed motion, overpopulation), or tinfoil hat (power line or cellular transmissions).

[TheDude]

From http://www.scie ncedaily.com/re leases/2006/01/ 060125082853.ht m:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')hen the rats were given Haloperidol, an anti-psychotic, and Valporic acid, a mood stabiliser, the behavioural symptoms of T.gondii were reduced. They found the drugs were able to limit the 'suicidal feline' attraction by which the rats became less aware of the dangers of cats.

[Ludi]

I think I would have to actively pick fights with strangers to find annoying people or be annoyed by them. In the grocery store, one of the few public places I frequent, when someone nearly runs into me or blocks me with their cart, I just laugh, as it certainly isn't worth being annoyed about.


But I admit my experience with people is probably unusual, in that I have never had significant bad experiences with people throughout my life. Even having lived in one of the largest cities in the country (Los Angeles) for about a dozen years, I did not have bad experiences with folks.


*shrug*

[steam_cannon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TheDude', 'V')ery interesting - my Mom is on both of those medications, being a disabled and very antsy stroke victim. Used to smoke like a fiend, too. Maybe a patch would calm her down a bit more...? Or more of the Haloperidol. Too much and you go into a vegetative state, though.

[steam_cannon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', 'I') think I would have to actively pick fights with strangers to find annoying people or be annoyed by them.

[Narz]

Thought it was a good article steam.

I reposted it on this gaming forum that began my virtual-communication addiction.

Don't expect many comments but thought it was worth sharing.

[steam_cannon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Narz', 'T')hought it was a good article steam.

I reposted it on this gaming forum that began my virtual-communication addiction.

Don't expect many comments but thought it was worth sharing.