Yeah, I need to stop sleeping too much. But I do go to bed really late, so if I ever got a job, my sleeping pattern would seriously have to change.

Anybody who thinks that the difficulties it presents are trivial has no fucking idea what they are talking about, and no business stating their opinion on the matter.

disclaimer:incoherent rant

Does anyone think that depression, or symptoms of it are more common recently because of our fixation with instant gratification?

The internet, fast food, shopping. It's all hitting our pleasure senses without our brain ever associating it with effort or work. We just get what we want instantaneously, all the time in this age, and I don't believe that has ever been the case before.

The world is also too small these days, and i say that as a relatively young person. I don't like being reminded of what the hundreds of people I know are doing at all times, including photographs. I don't like the stress that comes with waiting for a text back, or the stress I feel im giving to another person when i don't respond to them.

I believe our consumption of media is what's making many youth today depressed. Real life isn't as instantly gratifying as leveling up in WOW.

I could see that as being a factor. On a somewhat related note, I think of a Sage Francis lyric, "Technology made it easy for us to stay in touch while keeping a distance, so we just stayed distant and never touched. Now all we do is text too much." I think for me a big part of it is a lack of social contact. If I had all the friends I used to have around here still, I'm sure I'd be happier.

Nah, it's cowardly when you toy around with it to depress people and get attention. As someone openly depressed, if I ever got to the point where I wanted to kill myself, I would not want anyone to "help me". Sometimes you just see the reality all to clear, which is, as Nas puts it: "Life's a bitch and then you die". Not that there's not good times in there.

Nothing cowardly about that.

So... it's cowardly to want to get help when you're dealing with suicidal thoughts? Are you fucking kidding me?

No, I don't think that's what he meant. I think he meant that it's shameful to use disease symptoms for attention.

While I agree with that, I just got the impression that he implied seeking help would automatically qualify you as an attention seeker. Sorry if I'm wrong about that.

That's not what I meant. I personally wouldn't. I think its cowardly to seek attention and use depression as an excuse, and toy with the thought. If you think you need help, you need help. I just wouldn't personally.

Yeah, I do, and I have friends who threaten to off themselves if their girlfriend breaks up with them and crap.

And that's I'm a she.

I get you now, and I definitely agree. Suicide gets tossed around a lot for silly little things. It really muddies the waters of people actually dealing with depression.