I (23M) am becoming increasingly aware that my regular exposure to political content seems to be incompatible with my own mental well-being.

I was raised by two narcissistic parents, one of whom was violent. I have very few positive or loving memories. My trauma turned my brain into a 24/7 threat detector. I'm constantly thinking about everything and everyone that could kill me or take everything I have.

The Internet has taught me that the world is less awful than the hellish place I came from. But I've hit a wall where I can't get better because I am constantly being reminded by well-meaning people that everything in the U.S. is going to shit.

My trauma narrative eats this stuff up. It sees fascists on the streets, impending financial and ecological crises, the dangers of cars, widespread hyperindividualism, the decline of third spaces, and constant phone and social media use. Then it says, "Nobody can be trusted because capitalism makes everyone shallow and selfish. Going outside is dangerous because of cars and fascists. Most people don't want to socialize because they are too busy. There are no good places to meet anyone. Everyone who does socialize is just a fair-weather friend because support is outsourced to paid therapy and the eroding welfare system. I'll never be good enough for a partner because I can't build a stable life and dating apps are designed to not work. Any job I get won't last long because of the collapsing economy. Going to college is too financially risky. There is no stability. Nothing good ever lasts. My progress will be wiped out by systemic forces far beyond my control."

It seems like U.S. politics is about instability and collapse at this point, and because I have so few positive memories, it feels like life itself is about instability and collapse. Your money, your job, your social circle, your health, everything you've worked for -- all of it could just go up in smoke tomorrow. I can't take anything for granted or have any confidence in the future. I can't fully enjoy anything because I'm too busy thinking about how I'll cope with its inevitable loss.

Is this really what life is? Just watching every good thing disappear? Being born into a mostly-functioning society just to watch it fall apart? Knowing you'll have to weather every struggle alone because people only care about themselves? Being promised a stable life and career all throughout school only for the rug to be pulled at the last minute?

There has to be more to life than this.

Is staying on the Internet really worth it?

(Also yes I go to therapy, I'm working on myself but that shit is hard af sometimes)

Same with their forums, I can’t guess as to why other than NextDNS and the UBlock Origin Light for Safari? I literally boringly lurk and haven’t posted a thing. 🤔

My partner and I have tried out various terms of endearment (like "love", "dear", "baby" or "babe"), but none of them ever sounded natural when either of us used them — it just ended up being silly, and so we do occasionally pepper them into conversation, when we're being silly.

The one I tend to use most often is "my love", because it feels silly in an overly poetic and melodramatic manner. Recently I also used "my serendipitous saccharide" (saccharide meaning sugar, because he's sweet, and serendipitous because this relationship was a surprise to both of us).

Anyway, I'm running out of ideas for terms that will evoke an affectionate eye roll out of him. Any suggestions?

I’ve never really understood the appeal of paying more for a shirt just because it has a brand like Nike or Adidas or something with another brand that sells a product printed across it when a plain, unbranded one costs less.

​If you think about it, walking around wearing a giant logo is basically acting as a walking billboard for that company. Usually, if a company wants to advertise on a billboard, they have to pay for the space. But with branded clothes, people not only provide the advertising space for free, they actually pay extra for the privilege.

​It feels a bit backwards to me. For those of you who prefer branded clothing, what makes it worth the extra cost for you?

Edit: I'm not speaking of sports equipment. Just clothing you would wear to the movies, the store, etc.

Personally, if I'm here I'm in the mood to read and almost never to watch a video. What about you?

It seems to be a vial of some kind factory made with glue on the side holding a dark brow almost red liquid it doessend seem to be oil and it has surface tention im planning to turn it in by the firefighters but id like to know what it is

Howdy, my Lemming fellas!

So... How do I read Homestuck?

I've heard of MSPaint Adventures but, I don't know how to start reading it.

I also know that there's Let's Reads on it, but I'm not sure whether I should watch those or read it myself?

It also seems to have a lot of references, would I have to read about those first too?

Thanks in advance!

It seems to be a vial of some kind factory made with glue on the side holding a dark brow almost red liquid it doessend seem to be oil and it has surface tention im planning to turn it in by the firefighters but id like to know what it is

As a Canadian I have only ever eaten A&W (and Five Guys once) so I curious what other people prefer.

And was it worth it?

I’ve had an Apple Music subscription for years and use it A LOT. I tried some alternatives (Tidal, Sirius, and maybe one other?) and wasn’t super happy with the options.

Is there a service that people recommend that is good, like $10/month or less, maybe gives better pay to artists? I’d like to spend on a better company if possible too. If Apple has enough money to buy gold trinkets for elected officials they probably don’t need more from me.

Im a tech guy. In the last week, I have received 4 cold calls about new positions and a couple more emails. This month ive seen more anecdotal hiring going on in my friend group. Is there something going on? I'm not looking, haven't updated my linkedin in years etc...etc...

For the past year, hiring in software development has been dismal and all of a sudden im seeing a huge spike.

Anyone else seeing this or am I just cherry picking?

The current whack-a-mole spam user that I keep having to block due to spamming awful AI imagery in many places is Owbid Catob. Is there any way that admins of communities can block this person's IP addresses so that they have a harder time posting anything? I will keep blocking the new accounts as they pop up, but I'm getting so tired of this spammer.

I plan on traveling to Spain and southern France by End of September/ Beginning of October and was just wondering how you guys are doing over there.

Edit: Of course I am concerned about the French aswell, forgot to ask about you too, since im primarily going to be in spain.

We had the rage-bait dating app nightmares, so what about your best stories from dating, both online and offline? I want all the gossip, everything from cute to hilarious, please!

This thought has been weighing on me for the past few weeks. I am not religious, and my knowledge of the bible is embarrassingly lacking, even for an atheist. So I don't know if any of what I'm gonna say is new, or if it's been done to death a thousand years ago.

So, here goes. In the story of the garden of Eden and Adam and Eve, God created the humans, and told them clear limitations for what they're allowed to do. Namely: don't eat from the tree of knowledge. But of course, it didn't take too long until that one rule was broken.

Fast forward to the 2020s. Humans created AI, and in many cases configured it as an agent with certain instructions and certain limitations, often communicated with just words, e.g. don't make any changes to the live database, don't git push, or what have you. And of course, in so many reported cases, it did eventually do exactly the forbidden action, just like Adam and Eve.

I think the parallels are obvious: we can interpret the biblical story as a parable, where God stands for us, the users, and Adam and Eve stand for the AI agents. The lesson is clear, that even if you are a "superior being", the rules you set WILL be broken if you don't make actual robust safeguards against it.

My question is: has anyone thought of this before about the bible? Not just in the context of AI, but in general taking the stories of the bible and interpreting God as the stand-in for us? I mean, surely someone has, but is there an established school of thought based on it?

Would this kind of thing be considered blasphemy? (I'm sure some religious people would certainly think so)

How can you give up the comforts, the ability to find someone who understands your tastes perfectly, even if they're very niche and you always have something to talk about what you like, the ability to find the perfect partner, the perfect content to consume, and so on?

Six months ago, I tried to get rid of social media, but something got the better of me again, I was lonely and bored, also after looking in detail at what is happening in the world, I wanted to stick my head in the sand, and I came back, I was scrolling through the Reddit feed again, liking, trying to connect with people, creating discussions about something. You can even notice from the style of the text in this post that there is something wrong with me. I'm a little degraded, and so pathetic.

And I mean actively post on it, not just browsing it for info and guides and such.

For me personally there's a handfull (namely two) small subs that are just too niche to gain any reasonable traction on Lemmy (yet).

I think it would be depressing to have someone watch me die, for me and for them. I would hope that no one needs to watch that.

I'm a guy who has been dating a woman for several months. She is self-employed and I swear about 20% of our conversations is her explaining all the things she has to do every day that may prevent her from being able to commit to seeing me. She swears she just got backed up on things and she'll become more available, but I see her inventory continuing to grow, not shrink. She is also constantly supervising people on a variety of house projects (mutual disinterest in me getting involved there).

So I decided to ask the internet (DuckDuckGo (DDG) specifically): Am I dating a workaholic? What I found surprised me. I imagined I'd find a bunch of stupid little Cosmo-style quizzes, with the understanding that the reader would find out they were dating an workaholic and leave the relationship. Instead what I found was article after article after article with titles like,

• How to Date a Workaholic: 8 Steps (with Pictures)
• Dating a Workaholic (13 Tips to Make It Work)
• 12 Tips to Cope when Dating a Workaholic

The internet is assuming I WANT to date a workaholic.

Contrast that with results to the question Am I dating someone emotionally unavailable? DDG more straightforwardly answer the question ("17 Signs Someone is Emotionally Unavailable") with a sprinkling of advice for how to cope.

I see workaholism as basically identical to emotional unavailability, but obviously it's treated differently by society (maybe because it comes with money and home repairs?). So what is going on? Would you date a workaholic?