Are the majority of Americans stuck in adolescence...?

you need to get out more
or maybe don't get out.

nm

a reply to: GoOfYFoOt

So it's possible I'm observing a controlled paradigm.

May I.. most, not all, have much of their life recorded for them.. be it facebook, instagram, youtube, etc.. everything youve done is right before my very eyes if i so choose to look you up... and the same goes for me in your perspective...

Everything we do that we care to mention is put in our virtual world with phones, computers, etc.. like we have 2 lives.. but the virtual is where you let your best side show.. your.. crowning achievements.. the you that youwant others to see..

Yet.. the virtual worl is still relatively new... so all of who we are is not "uploaded" yet.. but maybe ive only met you in the virtual world.. through a social site or something similar.. ive met the you that you want to show off, but this is reality now.. no backspaces.. no pic delete.. just you.. and i.. and whoever else in that moment..

Can you live up to the expectations you set?

The world is changing.. dont compare the now to back then because back then, there was just you.. not a virtual world/internet in your pocket with a hand sculpted "you" just for us to see..

We werent smart enough for a virtual world.. but we got it.. please have patience..

Also.. sorry for my sloppy grammar.. if youve used a kindle fire.. you might agree that the keyboard is not the best.

It is completely normal, and not limited to people in adolescence. Daniel Kahnemann, a psychologist and economist, believes that people have two systems:

System 1 - an automatic, emotional mind that behaves on spur of the moment, often utilising stereotypes and propagating less complex attitudes that are easier to spring to mind;

System 2 - a slower, more considered approach to thought, taking into account logic, probability of events.

Kahnemann argues we don't use System 2 nearly enough, and what you've mentioned are a collection of cognitive biases associated with the use of System 1, particularly fundamental attribution error, trait ascription bias, halo effect, and various heuristics that people use to form personality judgements, make probablility estimates (often erroneously) and form or propagate attitudes (again, sometimes not based on facts).

List of Cognitive Biases

Although I should mention that I think there is nothing wrong with avoiding conversation about deeper subjects sometimes as superficial conversation forms as a nice escape from a stressful life. Many people that shy away from politics or philosophy are relatively intelligent people, they just don't want to get involved in subject matter that may cause an argument.

a reply to: point998

I'm pretty old so I am trying to imagine life when it was more simple in comparison to now,

in the seventies we all partied a lot

originally posted by: onequestion
a reply to: GoOfYFoOt

So it's possible I'm observing a controlled paradigm.

Anything is possible... But, I tend to believe it's just another failing experiment by those who think that they are in control. As we humans, while easily misled with the right stimuli, have an uncanny ability to stem the tide, when we sense the universe pulling us back from a dangerous direction.

a reply to: twfau

Well that settles it.

a reply to: onequestion

Stuck in adolescence? I wish. Most adolescents I know carry far deeper conversations about meaningful things than the adults I meet around town.

The problem is people grow old and bitter, distracting themselves in any way they can because looking beyond those distractions forces to do something or think about their surroundings. Not many people want to do that. I catch myself doing it sometimes but instead of inane babbling, I sink into a video game or a books.

originally posted by: onequestion
So it's possible I'm observing a controlled paradigm.

Maybe. However, this is nothing new. People have always been controlled by TPTB, be it a government, a religious institution, a group with a different ideology from its society... it's how we got where we are.

The difference nowadays is that everything is connected. Centuries ago, the "programming" was happening, but every region was somewhat ignorant to the same thing happening to other regions. Now we're living a global manipulation. It's no different than what it used to be, but now we see it on a major scale.

Also, people are much more focused on the "NOW". You go to a cool restaurant, check-in on Facebook or Foursquare or whatever. You see something nice, take a picture, post on Instagram. You're happy/mad about something, write a sentence about it, add a hashtag and tweet it. Ask them five days later what they were thinking about, how they felt on that moment. It doesn't matter. It's a new day, time for a new FB update, a new Instagram picture and another tweet.

Is that programmed? Perhaps. But I'm sure there were different problems decades ago that had the same result: people not caring about what's REALLY happening around them.

youtu.be...

a reply to: onequestion

I can only go off what I've seen on TV.

And, yes, that's the impression I'm getting too.

Hipster dialect much.

Too much.

a reply to: LukeDAP

We are bombarded with endless streams of information, compare that to when it took months to know what was going on around the world

a reply to: onequestion

i notice a lot of what i call pub talk....conversations that revolve the same thing it is always the footy,what they saw on the tv , how drunk they were last weekend and how hot was that chick,and back to the footy....

i think there is little doubt diet plays a big part in behavior...i see it in my 4 year old...one of the reasons i do not give him sugar it sends him spare

You asked about people from other countries.... so I want to peep up with my observations of the country I am in (France).

I feel often very frustrated with the french this way- in comparison, they seem even more superficial or immature then Americans! Small mindedness abounds.But-

I have to take into account that I am from a family and entourage of intellectuals- I literally grew up on the campus of a big university, my mother and father were professors at one, they and everyone they knew were professors of Philosophy, psychoanalysts, psychologists.... it used to bug the crap out of me that everyone was so deep about everything.

An apple is never just "an apple", and you are never "just hungry"- there is always some deeper issues, or existential questions involved. I found this tiresome in some ways, and even detrimental sometimes (like being so busy thinking and debating deeper issues that you never just get out and DO things). It began to seem, to me a way of being ultimately, asocial and avoiding the real world of physicality.

So I dreamed of leaving that sort of environment, and I did. I need to make it clear that besides living in another country, I went from Los Angeles to a rural part of the country I am in. Where everyone is related in one way or another, spouses are usually cousins to some degree, many have never been out of this region in their life, and many did not continue regular school after the age of 15. I get my fill of the wonders of nature and being in touch with the physical side of life. But the sort of small mindedness you talk of goes with that too.

I am thinking that environment has much to do with it. Because my husband has a job in which he travels a lot and his immediate entourage are of a different sort- educated people, people who travel, who have more financial means (or at least don't spend it on a new tractor), and I get to frequent that world as a result, and find they are like the people I knew back in Cali. french version. Working in a local hospital, I have a foot in one world, of the locals, and a foot in the other, with the doctors and professors.

I have come to the conclusion that in any country, you will find people who are more "physical" and people who are more "mental"- and this does not refer to intelligence! I simply mean people who have a preference for spending their calories on their muscles or their brain, so end up being more developed in one than the other. And my personal opinion is that there is no superior or inferior way of being. They both have some value.

If you are feeling surrounded by too much of one kind, maybe you need to break habits, and find different circles of people to hang out with once in a while?

My current pet peeve is the tendency to try to read things underneath anything that is said, and ALWAYS making it about themself!
Example:
Me: "Wow, am I tired! I just worked really hard to do this thing, that was really difficult."
What the other hears (and reports to everyone else): 'Bluesma just criticized me, saying I don't try hard enough to do things!"
Me: WTF???

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed
what's a footy?

originally posted by: Stormdancer777
a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed
what's a footy?

rugby league or australian rules football...tpretty much the 2 biggest sports in this country

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

I think you're probably right about diet. I read a decent article which suggested the digestive system is related to mental health. It made some good points and mentioned some concerning facts about pharmaceutical companies lobbying for the criminalisation of certain B6 supplements...

Mental health starts in your gut.

Here's a taster:

What if the way we treat anxiety, depression, learning difficulties and behavioral disorders is completely misunderstood? When you combine published and unpublished studies of antidepressants, the treatments we have today are no better than they were 50 years ago. How is it that in this day in age, we continue to chase after a cure for modern disorders that have their roots in deficiency and toxicity? It is the same line of thinking in agriculture, that if you keep spraying plants with pesticides or give animals antibiotics, the disease problem is solved without a thought as to why they are sick in the first place.

The World Health Organization is projecting that, by the year 2020, depression will become the world’s second most devastating illness, after heart disease. For those who have or know someone close who has experienced anxiety, depression or other behavioral disorders, you understand how devastating it can be to endure or live with. What I hope to offer with this article is insight into understanding the biochemical nature, which will hopefully empower and give hope to finding your personal answer. Modern medicine points to the brain, not the gut as the target. But if we breakdown neurotransmitter production, all arrows point to the gut, not the brain. It points to deficiency of particular vitamins, minerals and bacteria, not primarily a chemical imbalance that can only be corrected by a drug.

a reply to: twfau

interesting..thx for posting that i will have a good read later...

you could use macdonalds as an example ..people who eat it all the time get addicted to crap in it...some behavioral issues people have could be directly attributed to being addicted to a substance in said food and being completely unaware of what the cause is...so off to the doctor for mind numbing meds and the cycle begins

Starting thought on this subject, I found myself thinking of other aspects (since this is my morning “thinking” time- I get up at five and reflect on things, but by seven I just go out and experience).

There are some valid reasons people do the sorts of stuff you are referring to (there is a positive side of that coin) which are worth being aware of.

Much of what I am calling here “small mindedness” is big part of cultural solidarity. –Which might be an element of the American trends.

Things like stereotyping, gossip, focus on the image others reflect back to us of ourselves, goes contrary to individualist mind sets. It is part of creating shared perspectives and morals, and attention to other. It stirs the social animal within to bond with the herd.

Is it possible that, our country is feeling the need to put less energy into the individualism and more into the social area?

It has always seemed to me that since the events of 9/11, there has been a growing sense of need to close ranks, and stop fragmentation within….