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13 Feb 2012 15:26

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Culture: Having too many Facebook friends can make you depressed

  • 354Facebook friends ought to be your limit source
  • » There’s nothing wrong with denying that friend request: A recent study presented at the annual Society for Personality and Social Psychology meeting asked a group of participants to check their friend’s status updates. After doing so, they rated their lives as “much less satisfying” than a group that didn’t check their news feed. They looked at how many friends the users had, and found that 354 friends was roughly the point at which reading status updates started making them sad. The theory is that status updates often paint a disproportionately positive picture of peoples’ lives. Readers of said updates compare their own lives to those represented in status updates, and figure that they’re having a lot less fun than everybody else. The solution, then, is to either clean up your friends list, or befriend a bunch of depressed misanthropes.

27 Oct 2011 23:04

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Culture: Popular webcomic “Hyperbole and a Half” returns — with a lesson

  • Allie Brosh is back, guys! After a six-month hiatus, beloved webcomic “Hyperbole and a Half” (a popular MS Paint specialty with a huge fanbase) returned with a fresh update. In it, Brosh talks about why it’s been so long since the last post: A case of depression. Give it a read, folks, and send some love her way. Welcome back, Allie! source

08 Jun 2011 14:31

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Biz: Double-dip fuels fear of another Great Depression

  • 48% of people think another depression is coming source
  • » That’s the highest level ever. While the poll question (from a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll) had a slight majority — 51 percent — saying we probably won’t have one, a possible double-dip recession has many folks a little concerned. Obama promises that’s not going to happen. He better hope he’s right — 51 percent of people also said that the economy is extremely important in determining who they’ll vote for.

20 Apr 2011 16:10

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World: Doctor urges TEPCO to relieve stressed Fukushima workers

  • Examining doctor Takeshi Tanigawa says the workers could risk death. The doctor, who checked the beleaguered workers recently, has said the personal responsibility they feel to halt the crisis, along with terrible sanitation, little food, little sleep, and pressure from their families not to continue is causing extreme levels of stress, and could lead to depression or death from overwork. That’s all without mentioning the high level of radiation, which is extremely deleterious to health on its own. Tanigawa says TEPCO should mobilize all their employees and give these most dedicated workers a break: “Employees engaged in the dangerous work have human rights and wives and children just like others. We should not treat their lives without due respect.” source

23 Jan 2011 11:07

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U.S.: The NYT makes Rockford, Illinois look as depressed as possible

  • “Dear residents of Rockford, Illinois: This is The New York Times. We’re doing a photo feature on why your town is so depressed and lacking in jobs. (16 percent unemployment?! We need to do this story, stat!) We need to take photos of your citizens. None of you are allowed to smile. If you smile, we’re going to find someone else who looks plainer than you. OK? Thanks. We’ll send a photog from Manhattan to the Rust Belt on a private jet sometime next week. Remember. Plain. No smiles. Optimism is dead. Thanks.” source

24 Jul 2010 11:49

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U.S.: Is the former Tropical Storm Bonnie a threat to the oil spill site?

  • NO it weakened before it got there, thank God source

12 Apr 2010 08:53

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U.S.: Doctors seem more willing to let you turn on, tune in, drop out

  • All of a sudden, everything familiar started evaporating. Imagine you fall off a boat out in the open ocean, and you turn around, and the boat is gone. And then the water’s gone. And then you’re gone.
  • Retired psychologist Dr. Clark Martin • Regarding the psychedelic experience he had which he says cured his long-lasting depression. Now that doctors have had a good 40 years of distance from the hippies (but not the bizarro hippies), it appears that doctors are willing to give the drugs another try in a controlled setting. The studies have been on a small scale so far, but the results appear promising. source
 

17 Feb 2010 10:58

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29 Aug 2009 10:58

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U.S.: Danny acts like Bill, doesn’t have his swagger. Depression sets in.

Danny was a tropical storm, but now he’s just depressed. The depression will hit Long Island today. Based on storm path, he’s like Bill’s wannabe brother. source

17 Jul 2009 11:05

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Biz, U.S.: Michigan hits a level of unemployment few states have hit

  • 15.2% the highest level in any state since 1984 source