This was such a fascinating read. Thank you so much for sharing something so raw and personal. I've always been on the other side: Cover my eyes during news reports showing images, strongly dislike when people cheer during gorey scenes in movies, and generally avoid anyone remotely into this stuff. I built a lot of bias against people who are into it and found it very disturbing how seemingly normal people can become so obsessed with it. The dopamine theory is interesting but also upsetting since I have ADHD friends and now wonder about this aspect. I wonder how common that trend you depict really is (both the self-harm and video addiction).
I did have this one time as a kid where my neighbor would always come over and take over my computer to play Counter-Strike all day. So one day I left a giant bag of cheetohs (not sure why) and the PC on rotten (I left before I saw anything) and went downstairs where I heard him maniacally laugh for an hour like a cartoon villain having a psychotic break. He later joined the military where he probably blew someone's head off so he's fine. I think he was more bothered when I forced him to listen to Mates of State while playing tbh.
In any case, I really appreciate how you shed light on this taboo subject and provided a path to empathy for those that engage with it.
thanks for reading and for sharing your experience! honestly, i doubt the “trend” is really *that* widespread that it’s worth getting in a panic over, but i do think it’s common enough that there are people who are addicted to it. i remember going down the rabbit hole of a single person’s post history on Reddit and i am not sure if he was simply trolling or if he actually felt this way about the videos he was watching, but either way, he needed serious help judging from the things he was posting. there’s this guy on YouTube named Plagued Moth who reacts to and comments on this sort of stuff and let’s just say that he doesn’t seem like he’s doing great! lol.
This was such a fascinating read. Thank you so much for sharing something so raw and personal. I've always been on the other side: Cover my eyes during news reports showing images, strongly dislike when people cheer during gorey scenes in movies, and generally avoid anyone remotely into this stuff. I built a lot of bias against people who are into it and found it very disturbing how seemingly normal people can become so obsessed with it. The dopamine theory is interesting but also upsetting since I have ADHD friends and now wonder about this aspect. I wonder how common that trend you depict really is (both the self-harm and video addiction).
I did have this one time as a kid where my neighbor would always come over and take over my computer to play Counter-Strike all day. So one day I left a giant bag of cheetohs (not sure why) and the PC on rotten (I left before I saw anything) and went downstairs where I heard him maniacally laugh for an hour like a cartoon villain having a psychotic break. He later joined the military where he probably blew someone's head off so he's fine. I think he was more bothered when I forced him to listen to Mates of State while playing tbh.
In any case, I really appreciate how you shed light on this taboo subject and provided a path to empathy for those that engage with it.
thanks for reading and for sharing your experience! honestly, i doubt the “trend” is really *that* widespread that it’s worth getting in a panic over, but i do think it’s common enough that there are people who are addicted to it. i remember going down the rabbit hole of a single person’s post history on Reddit and i am not sure if he was simply trolling or if he actually felt this way about the videos he was watching, but either way, he needed serious help judging from the things he was posting. there’s this guy on YouTube named Plagued Moth who reacts to and comments on this sort of stuff and let’s just say that he doesn’t seem like he’s doing great! lol.
Really great read, thank you for this!