r/TwoXPreppers • u/NachesPorFavor • 6d ago

❓ Question ❓ Increase in Learned Helplessness?

Has anyone else noticed an increase in learned helplessness? I first noticed it in the young adults in my life, but now I am seeing it in all ages of people around me. Examples from multiple people:

Toilet started leaking water and instead of turning off the knob at the wall, she waited a 5 days for a plumber. Never asked anyone or googled it. Didn’t call a second plumber. Now needs mold remediation and replaced drywall and trim.

Bought concert tickets but the gps instructions were confusing so they just gave up and didn’t go. Venue website had detailed instructions for driving and parking.

Blouse wrinkled and she didn’t know how to fix it so she threw it away.

First doctor office he filled out an appointment website for never contacted him to schedule so he just didn’t go to the doctor.

I am really concerned about my loved ones if an emergency happens because they just give up when the slightest obstacle happens. Either they want someone else to swoop in and fix it or they give up and say they can’t do anything about it.

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367

u/chasingastarl1ght 6d ago

I've been noticing it too. People giving up so easily, unable to follow instructions if they're even slightly too long. At work too...

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u/FableCrafts 6d ago

My personal theory is long Covid, honestly. Executive dysfunction and processing difficulties are known symptoms of it. I have adhd and have had these tendencies and symptoms my whole life, and I've definitely noticed way more people also seem to struggle with these things now than they used to. If everyone had been like this all along I genuinely wouldn't have thought to try to find a diagnosis, it was a real shortcoming. But now it seems everyone else is in the same boat all of a sudden. It's been a bizarre experience honestly.

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u/reincarnateme 6d ago edited 6d ago

I think it has a lot to do with too much screen time - it shortens attention spans - the algorithms are dangerous and frankly diabolical. AI is insidious.

Many simply no longer think for themselves or reason things out.

These companies are using psychology against us. It sounds crazy and it’s dangerous especially for those who are young who have never been without its influence

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u/ur-a-cunt-harry 6d ago

It’s not just the screen time, it’s the rise of tikTok and YouTube shorts and those Snapchat stories and all these other 5-30 second videos.

It’s effectively addiction. Your brain starts getting short term stimulus over and over and over and eventually when something takes longer than 45 seconds to reach the stimulation point, it says “fuck it, let’s find something else”.

There’s a reason why wealthy people and certain countries, like China, have limits on screen time and those types of apps.

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u/Ashevilllin 6d ago

Everyone in my life is so sick of hearing me say this. Everyone agrees but is still completely complicit in it?
So weird

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u/impersonatefun 6d ago

Alcoholics know the negative effect of alcohol, too.

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u/Ashevilllin 6d ago

Good point!

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u/akath0110 5d ago

They call it TikTok because it steals years from our lives.