The claim: after a single study (which we reported on back in May), computer scientists now know how people with depression spend time online.
From that knowledge, the researchers suggest we could design some sort of intrusive, spying app on your computer, iPad or smartphone to let you (or Big Brother, in whatever form — college administrators, your parents, or big data mining companies working for advertisers) know when you’re surfing in a “depressive” pattern.
Are the researchers over-generalizing from their data, or do we really know how people use the Internet when they’re depressed?
Let’s find out…
Before posting, please read our blog moderation guidelines. The comments below begin with the oldest comments first. Click on the last comments page to jump to the most recent comments.
Before posting, please read our blog moderation guidelines.
Post a Comment:
Copyright © 1995-2013 Psych Central. All rights reserved.
Site last updated: 18 Jun 2013
|
They are not far off – gaging from my own depressive patterns of internet use. I do play facebook games almost endlessly – moving from one to another, I do check emails obsessively. When I’m feeling less depressed – like now then I stop playing the games, I don’t do the email thing quite so often, although I’m in business so I keep up on it – but that’s for different reasons. When I am in a major depressive funk I come to the computer to escape. It’s a mindless activity that keeps me from dealing with things.
But, that’s just my experience.
Got to love when these “academic” types come out with a new way to state the obvious and well known. The mind’s ultimate goal for any conscious painful thought is repression. Distraction is one of the minds most useful tools to aid repression. Allocating consciousness to shallow, trivial, non-threatening tasks is space and time not being allocated to an unresolvable threat to nutrition, warmth, or security. This allows for a threat to be buried in the subconscious. Antidepressants work by demising the minds ability to have deep conscious thoughts and allows them to seek only shallow temporary fulfillment. Thus the common side affects such as loss of libido (which requires trust and passion), gain of weight (a result of unchecked eating) and of course suicidal thoughts (when you don’t have to consider who else it will hurt, suicide becomes easier)are the result of SSRI/SNRI’s and the like. Look down the list of “manic behavior” and you will see a list of shallow, unsustainable, and selfish behaviors. Depressed people who are able to appease themselves for short periods of time without being hindered by that nagging issue that drives their depression are called “bipolar”.
But all this was theorized by Freud, Jung, and the like and confirmed by Skinner, Stephenson, and Pavlov. Yet these snake oils salesmen love to put their spin on it and push their latest gimmick. Remember when lobotomies were cool?
Very well done and nicely argued. But as an academic there appears to me to be one thing that is slightly wrong. In the academic world in general having your work reported in newspapers does not bring you credit. In my experience as a senior academic it primarily makes your colleagues suspicious, and as a member of a search committe for a lectureship or chair this would make me think twice about the applicant. It’s not as bad as *publishing* a newspaper article; unless you’re of the status of Steven Pinker or Richard Dawkins, that could be a definite black mark on your CV.
Sound points! Yet another reason cyber-surveillance of mood might be silly is that(mild)depression can actually be useful, even though it is unpleasant. Like many (but not all) trait evolution has given us, it may be there for a very good reason. Depression may tell us something is wrong in our lives, people using the net more might be looking for new possibilities/solutions.
As a bi-polar artist I find my very best art is done when I am moderately(not severely)depressed, I try out desperately radical possibilities when depressed. Most people imagine I must be at my most creative when manic, not so, I tend to think anything I do is just wonderful when euphoric & accordingly produce rubbish, even though it feels fantastic.
It’s true community has largely died because of media, there might have been a time when a neighbor
might have notice you where behaving oddly & cared a toss, less likely today. I personally think it would be better to think about reviving local community than trying to find totalitarian ways for media to substitute for it, I’m guessing this will probably happen anyway the way things are going, with non-renewable resources needed for high-tech running out etc.
Cheers