• Subscribe to our newsletter
The Media Online
  • Home
  • MOST Awards
  • News
    • Awards
    • Media Mecca
  • Print
    • Newspapers
    • Magazines
    • Publishing
  • Broadcasting
    • TV
    • Radio
    • Cinema
    • Video
  • Digital
    • Mobile
    • Online
  • Agencies
    • Advertising
    • Media agency
    • Public Relations
  • OOH
    • Events
  • Research & Education
    • Research
    • Media Education
      • Media Mentor
  • Press Office
    • Press Office
    • TMO.Live Blog
    • Events
    • Jobs
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • MOST Awards
  • News
    • Awards
    • Media Mecca
  • Print
    • Newspapers
    • Magazines
    • Publishing
  • Broadcasting
    • TV
    • Radio
    • Cinema
    • Video
  • Digital
    • Mobile
    • Online
  • Agencies
    • Advertising
    • Media agency
    • Public Relations
  • OOH
    • Events
  • Research & Education
    • Research
    • Media Education
      • Media Mentor
  • Press Office
    • Press Office
    • TMO.Live Blog
    • Events
    • Jobs
No Result
View All Result
The Media Online
No Result
View All Result
Home Digital

Trapped in social media webs: Bourdain, Spade suicides show how even those at the top can know the lows of depression

by Jonathan Rottenberg
June 12, 2018
in Digital
0 0
0
Trapped in social media webs: Bourdain, Spade suicides show how even those at the top can know the lows of depression

Anthony Bourdain in a July 17, 2017, photo at the screening of ‘An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power.’ Evan Agostin/Invision/AP Photos

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

We struggle to comprehend the loss of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain. Sudden deaths are shocking. It’s doubly shocking when the deaths are by suicide. Sudden suicide by people who seemingly have it all: That’s a triple whammy.

Of course, as humans, we try to make sense of it all. We say depression and suicide can strike anyone. We cite US statistics of a sharply rising toll of depression and suicide. We point out that what a person shows on the outside can mask deep pain on the inside.

These explanations are true as far as they go. They just don’t go very far. And they dodge the most nagging question: Shouldn’t having great money, fame, and power insulate a person from severe depression?

As a psychologist who spent years researching the origins of the contemporary depression epidemic and writing a book on that topic, my answer is no. While money can summon therapists, fame can bring admirers, and power can remove many mundane hardships, none of these resources turn off the fundamental psychological drivers of depression in Western societies.

Carrots and Camaros

A first driver goes by the fancy name of hedonic adaptation, which basically means that pleasures inevitably fade. This process flows from evolutionary imperatives to survive and reproduce. Bunnies are built to seek carrots. Pleasure rewards the bunny for finding the carrot. But the satisfaction cannot last. It’s only the end of pleasure and the promise of more that gets the bunny hopping off to find more carrots and ultimately to survive long enough to make more bunnies.

So, too, humans restlessly seek power, fame and money in a race to survive and reproduce. Intuitively, we think the pleasure of having a billion dollars, living in a castle, or having servants should never fade. In reality, all fade as reliably as a good carrot. The wealthy, famous and powerful may fight harder to stave off hedonic adaptation, but data show such efforts are basically futile. Whether you buy one fancy sports car, or 10 of them, any boost to mood quickly subsides.

The mirage of pleasure

Seeking rewards may be natural, but when it comes to the moods we want, millions seek a mirage. Hedonic adaptation cruelly mandates that intense pleasures will not last, at the same moment survey data show Westerners are seeking these states. Hence, there’s a yawning gap between what we want to feel and what we actually feel – a chronic dissatisfaction that breeds depression. In fact, there is evidence that the people who value happiness the most are actually the most depressed.

Are the famous, rich and powerful immune from unrealistic mood standards? No. If anything, people who have “everything” on paper should be even more tempted to ask the question “Why am I not happier?” and set out to grasp an unattainable mood.

Sharing images of blissful vacations and a nearly perfect life may be adding to feelings of failure or inadequacy, the author writes.
NadyaEugene/Shutterstock.com

The widespread use of social media outlets like Facebook and Instagram may be adding social pressure not only to experience unrealistic mood states but also to project these mood states outwardly. The new psychological race to keep up with the Joneses is relentlessly documenting the bliss from fancy vacations, newly acquired possessions, and parties with friends, with the rest of life largely edited out. Perhaps not surprisingly, constantly referencing other people’s highlight reels on social media is associated with depression.

People with money, fame or power cannot easily avoid being swept up in the process of constant upward social comparison. People who “have it all” can become trapped in their own social media webs. Living up to a carefully curated image of a perfect life may bring with it greater pressure to conceal depression, and to push away the support that comes from admitting vulnerability. Social media bubbles burst only when it is too late.

For sure, being rich, powerful and famous has its perks, including preferred access to mental health care. Generally, people in such favored positions don’t wish to swap places with the poor, weak and obscure. That said, the core psychological processes that are breeding depression and suicide in the US are penetrating every ZIP code. At present, no one gets to opt out.

Having an explanation is not the same as solace. In this case, I believe understanding the bigger picture is more unnerving than it is soothing. Because if those at the top of the social pyramid are subject to universal processes at work in an escalating epidemic of depression and suicide, our society can expect that more Spades and Bourdains are yet to come. I hope we will take their deaths as a urgent call, and marshal a more robust public health response to these twin epidemics. And I hope we never become inured to the shock if we do not.


Jonathan Rottenberg, Professor of Psychology, University of South Florida

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.


 

Tags: Anthony BourdaindepressionKate Spadesocial mediasocial media bubbles

Jonathan Rottenberg

Jonathan Rottenberg is a Professor of Psychology at the University of South Florida, where he directs the Mood and Emotion Laboratory. He is author of The Depths: The Evolutionary Origins of the Depression Epidemic and founder of Depression Army, a social media campaign that raises awareness about depression.

Follow Us

  • twitter
  • threads
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Kelders van Geheime: The characters are here

Kelders van Geheime: The characters are here

March 22, 2024
Dissecting the LSM 7-10 market

Dissecting the LSM 7-10 market

May 17, 2023
Keri Miller sets the record straight after being axed from ECR

Keri Miller sets the record straight after being axed from ECR

April 23, 2023
Getting to know the ES SEMs 8-10 (Part 1)

Getting to know the ES SEMs 8-10 (Part 1)

February 22, 2018
Sowetan proves that sex still sells

Sowetan proves that sex still sells

105
It’s black. It’s beautiful. It’s ours.

Exclusive: Haffajee draws a line in the sand over racism

98
The Property Magazine and Media Nova go supernova

The Property Magazine and Media Nova go supernova

44
Warrant of arrest authorised for Media Nova’s Vaughan

Warrant of arrest authorised for Media Nova’s Vaughan

41
African Gen Z on the rise in the global influence economy

African Gen Z on the rise in the global influence economy

June 6, 2025
Think WhatsApp is just for memes and group chats?

Think WhatsApp is just for memes and group chats?

June 6, 2025
Celebrate Presley Chweneyagae with Tsotsi and the Cobrizi Finale

Celebrate Presley Chweneyagae with Tsotsi and the Cobrizi Finale

June 6, 2025
SEO: How to survive (and thrive) in an age of AI

SEO: How to survive (and thrive) in an age of AI

June 5, 2025

Recent News

African Gen Z on the rise in the global influence economy

African Gen Z on the rise in the global influence economy

June 6, 2025
Think WhatsApp is just for memes and group chats?

Think WhatsApp is just for memes and group chats?

June 6, 2025
Celebrate Presley Chweneyagae with Tsotsi and the Cobrizi Finale

Celebrate Presley Chweneyagae with Tsotsi and the Cobrizi Finale

June 6, 2025
SEO: How to survive (and thrive) in an age of AI

SEO: How to survive (and thrive) in an age of AI

June 5, 2025

ABOUT US

The Media Online is the definitive online point of reference for South Africa’s media industry offering relevant, focused and topical news on the media sector. We deliver up-to-date industry insights, guest columns, case studies, content from local and global contributors, news, views and interviews on a daily basis as well as providing an online home for The Media magazine’s content, which is posted on a monthly basis.

Follow Us

  • twitter
  • threads

ARENA HOLDING

Editor: Glenda Nevill
glenda.nevill@cybersmart.co.za
Sales and Advertising:
Tarin-Lee Watts
wattst@arena.africa
Download our rate card

OUR NETWORK

TimesLIVE
Sunday Times
SowetanLIVE
BusinessLIVE
Business Day
Financial Mail
HeraldLIVE
DispatchLIVE
Wanted Online
SA Home Owner
Business Media MAGS
Arena Events

NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIPTION

 
Subscribe
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

Copyright © 2015 - 2023 The Media Online. All rights reserved. Part of Arena Holdings (Pty) Ltd

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • MOST Awards
  • News
    • Awards
    • Media Mecca
  • Print
    • Newspapers
    • Magazines
    • Publishing
  • Broadcasting
    • TV
    • Radio
    • Cinema
    • Video
  • Digital
    • Mobile
    • Online
  • Agencies
    • Advertising
    • Media agency
    • Public Relations
  • OOH
    • Events
  • Research & Education
    • Research
    • Media Education
      • Media Mentor
  • Press Office
    • Press Office
    • TMO.Live Blog
    • Events
    • Jobs

Copyright © 2015 - 2023 The Media Online. All rights reserved. Part of Arena Holdings (Pty) Ltd

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?