Benzos. Pretty convinced I had a minor seizure discontinuing that shook me awake with what I experienced as like a flashbang inside my brain.

Psychologically it was quite easy to make the decision to stop and taper down etc. as the drug had accomplished what I wanted from it and I no longer had a solid justification for it, but physically it was an endurance marathon, didn’t unclench my jaw for what felt like weeks.

Sleep was rare and awful. My leg was so restless I’d work up a sweat just shaking it trying to not freak the fuck out. It was like a panic attack that just didn’t go away for weeks.

Other than that I don’t think I’ve ever had any serious addictions, nor any psychological addictions at all which is what I think people usually mean by “addiction” as opposed to physical dependence, but yeah.

Yeah this would be useful!

I’m assuming everyone here listens to music somewhat regularly, but I’m curious about how much you care about it. And i specifically want to know about your enjoyment regardless if it’s considered a timeless masterpiece or just a meme song.

I care about it a great deal. I have no genre or time/era preferences and will listen to basically anything that is interesting in some way or simply connects with me on an emotional level, though I do love a good interpretation of genre convention too.

Do you care about having decent enough devices to enjoy it or do you just buy the cheapest pair of earbuds to silence the world around you?

I’m no audiophile but I invested in some DT1990s years back paired with a nice EQ and a Bravo V2/FiiO E10K that serve me well to this day.

Do you have favorite albums or do you just hit play on a random playlist and zone out?

Neither. Weird dichotomy.

I have favourite albums and artists, but most artists I like these days aren’t really “album artists” and most music I regularly enjoy are artists from 2010s onwards or from pre-1990s era of singles dominating. Even with the album era of 90s-2010s when CDs really sealed the deal on albums as the default, I don’t regularly listen to albums as a whole.

I make my own playlists and I mostly use them as a collection of songs I like where I pick out the individual ones and listen to those on repeat, until I pick out the next song. No shuffle, no algorithm/autoplay ever. Most playlists are either genre themed or hyper personal life arcs. I must have spent hundreds of hours making them, curating and sorting them.

Do you ever listen to music just to enjoy it and nothing else?

Yes

Do you talk with passion about your favorite songs/albums/artists?

And yeah I talk about my favourite music all the time, maybe even too much, it seems that music as a whole is less and less appreciated with time, which is a shame, but it is what it is.

Do you spend time searching for music?

Yes. But these days Spotify’s suggestions at the bottom of my personal playlists do do a lot of the work for me. However I also find lots of artists through word of mouth from the people around me, music featured in other media and through artist collabs.

TL;DR is music art or content to you?

Art, no question about it.

Literally just a dating app without the hidden algo that keeps people onboard and no payment. It could be federated.

Life is active thought. I don’t space out to music at all, I don’t “space out” period, I stay engaged actively with the world.

I agree with basically everything you said, but let’s be real - I’m not the one doing the tearing down ITT.

The stoics are morons mostly. Yes I have ADHD, and I’m fully medicated for it, thanks.

Why do you assume I haven’t? Of course I have. I enjoy listening to the sounds of an environment, once, twice, thrice, just not 500 times over and over and over.

I don’t need to connect to the real world, I’m more connected to it than I’d like. I prefer the entertainment industry because it stimulates intelligent thought, and judging by the level of intelligence ITT, y’all need it more than I do.

Really? What emotion have I been feeling since the age of like, 5, up to the age of 30?

Lol he’s not avoiding living in the present, neither are we, take your armchair psychologist crap outta here. It’s you who’s so simple you’re okay with bored contentment. It’s no wonder you people get hijacked by algos so easily, shit is hardly exciting to me because I cherish and nourish my life.

I don’t “struggle”, it’s just a bit annoying.

I literally said in the OP that it’s obviously not a big deal.

Already have, I found it’s well managed when it’s directed at assorted internet morons setting new records in retarded shit they say.

It’s not so much anger though, more like disappointment. Do better.

How have I proven your point? Did you even read what I wrote? Or is that too much to ask from your buzzword spouting ass?

Yeah there’s always a limit for me though, once every ounce of dopamine has been extracted from the song/environment, it’s kinda over. Eventually it becomes nostalgic and returns, briefly.

I am not. I am very obviously correct. Check sources. Validate the argument. Think. Stop being in denial. Seek help. Stay blocked.

Yeah if being runover was a concern I’d definitely also not listen to music for sure.

I do actually like those sounds as well, just not every day on my way out for chores obviously.

It’s interesting how some people by way of their responses seem to suggest “a walk” and “a run” are something special a unique, and not their main and only way of getting around, probably as a result of car-centric design of some places and zoning laws?

I take it that’s the case for you as well, because of how you phrased “a walk or a run”? I’ve personally never gone for “a run” as an adult, but I rack up thousands of steps daily just getting my groceries home so I can eat food.

Yeah that’s a tough one. Honestly in your shoes for me it would depend on the casus beli.

If Trump invaded China or was the one heavily escalating shit diplomatically, I would feel morally obliged to not support either.

If China invaded Taiwan and Trump intervened, I would feel morally obliged to support NATO even if it was led by Trump.

I don’t even have a disability or anything. I have mild ADHD at best and I’m pretty medicated for it.

Think systemically like the other guy said. Under capitalism consumption is purpose. I can’t blame people for wanting purpose. If you dislike consumerism, you need to create a system that gives people purpose in something else.

I also think that theoretically there’s not anything wrong with consumerism as long as the profits are distributed amongst the workers fairly, like with a cooperative with worker-owner-shareholders who democratically decide their own working conditions and hours and output.

With a large enough amount of stakeholders in that business (workers) who all have democratic decision-making power over the business, I doubt they would collectively decide to shit up the planet with waste or poison consumers since none of them would be shielded by extreme wealth from the effects of all that.

Sometimes people just want the shiny thing, thats okay. I think it would actually shine a bit better if it wasn’t made by slave or sweatshop labour in the global south and the profits didn’t all go evaporate in some private equity ponzi scheme.

Hope you’re asking theoretically.

In the UK, they make you pledge allegiance to serve the crown at the citizenship ceremony, which symbolically establishes that your loyalties lie with the British throne and therefore the state.

In practice, if drafted or if I for some reason volunteer, I would side with whoever I actually sided with morally and ideologically.

e.g. I’d choose the West over the current Fascist Russian regime, but theoretically back a progressive Russia against a Fascist West and so on.

This could mean anything from actively serving to dodging the draft to civilian resistance in case of occupation.

Theoretically a foreign legion isn’t anything too uncommon. There were some Russians fighting alongside Ukraine against Russia last I checked. Being in that case a Ukrainian citizen would only help.

In case of service I imagine there would be the problem of inevitable racism towards me from the natives while in service if people of my nationality/ethnicity are the current enemy, especially if it’s like the Japanese internment camps in the US level of hate, so that would be a consideration, plus more practical/logistical matters like which language I can actually speak properly enough to function in critical situations etc.

This is an interesting question though, is there historical accounts of such groups like this I wonder?

Edit: also, good jumping off point if you want to read about the Russian foreign legion and opposition more generally: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-blue-white_flag https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_Russia_Legion

Good-at-stuff != Good-person

You owe it to others to try to be a good person, or at least, not a deliberately bad one. That is the social contract we all have to sign.

You only owe it to yourself to be good-at-stuff, at least you should if not for capitalism but that’s besides the point.

Not everyone can be good-at-stuff, but everyone can try to be a good-person.

If they succeed in the latter so much it causes them to fail at the former due to a sense of superiority and over-inflated egos then they have failed more spectacularly at an easier task than you.

At least that’s my take on it.

Now with the pep talk out of the way, practically speaking - you need to start making an exit out of that environment. Once they catch on they will no doubt pick on the odd one out, and the fact you’re already insecure will make you that much more an easy target. So I’d say go before this whole thing blows up, just my 2 cents.