Widespread mental health crisis
In a grim future shadowed by technological advancement and socioeconomic strain, the Philippines grapples with a widespread mental health crisis:
Financial barriers restrict access to therapy and medication, leaving many to confront their mental demons alone. Disorders like depression, anxiety, and suicidal tendencies proliferate, fueled by the pervasive fear of job displacement in an era of rapid automation and innovation.
Technological progress, once heralded as a beacon of hope, becomes a double-edged sword, exacerbating the nation's psychological woes. As Filipinos seek solace in digital realms, they fall prey to the allure of escapism. Platforms like TikTok foster a culture of endless scrolling, while virtual worlds offer tantalizing refuge from harsh realities.
Trapped in a cycle of mindless consumption, individuals lose touch with reality, retreating into idealized avatars and fabricated narratives. The pursuit of perfection, fueled by curated feeds and unattainable beauty standards, fuels a surge in body dysmorphia and self-loathing.
In this dystopian landscape, addiction to technology breeds impatience, stunts productivity, and erodes critical thinking skills, leaving a generation adrift in a sea of digital noise, their mental well-being hanging by a thread.
Filipinos spend almost half of their day scrolling social media platforms; they find themselves unable to close these apps willingly because of the way they're designed.
Every time Annika scrolls through her Instagram feed, she's bombarded by images of flawless faces and perfectly sculpted bodies, courtesy of the influencers she follows. As she compares herself to these digital illusions, her confidence wanes, and self-doubt creeps in like an unwelcome guest. Day by day, she finds herself questioning her own worth, trapped in a cycle of inadequacy perpetuated by the curated perfection of social media.
Selected Quotes
[C]an you imagine [if] people always know what you are doing and where you are? Like there's just too much information of you out there, and it's scary because people can just make up in their minds what kind of person you are. The possibility of miscommunication would become much greater because of we are sharing too much information out there.
And also, since we know a lot about people, we're more likely to have borders with the people that we meet; [since] we know [people's] interests, it is more likely [now] that we'll have outcasts in society because of these apps. Or...the fact that now, for example, if you don't have Facebook or Instagram, you can be an outcast again, because you don't have [your own] information out there. So people will judge you for not having information or not being part of the technology, or advancements like Facebook. And they will also judge you based on what you are putting online. Aside from that, dating wise...the same thing. Our manner of choosing people we should date is no longer natural, because it's really superficial; the way we find people that we should date is so superficial now. We have unrealistic standards set by K-Pop idols or celebrities, and then you're applying it to Bumble...like jeez, that's why you're getting single. Our bars are so high, I'd say.
...And because of [the lack of real-life socialization], we turn to our unmoderated internet that has zero content filters and everything. You know, yung mga algorithms na toxic that are like enabled. For example, Twitter, I won't call it X. Basically a lack of social interaction in real life, and then super babad on like an internet that encourages or incentivizes toxic behavior in the sense of...if you're not bitter or mean, like yung mga clap backs that are actually so mean, but like it gets a lot of clout because a lot of people engage, and then the algorithm pushes it. I feel like you've seen think pieces about that...how TikTok and Twitter basically incentivizes, pushes, and promotes things that are mean and unpleasant, and how that has an effect on us.
Yung di mo matiis din yung patience na ninunurture ng technology, yung instant: insant messaging apps, yung culture ng likes and validation na mabilis, mabilis na internet...May effect siya sa patience natin eh, so yung culture din natin, lalong pinapalala. Napakaimportante yung mga habits natin na di natin inaamin or di man natin napapansin. So feeling ko na importante rin yun sa pagadopt ng sustainable living, which is very slow. I mean slow production, ethical production ng manufacturing kahit ng damit...Yung slow living in general, sobrang against yung technologies natin kasi gusto niya addicted ka sa kanya. Nagbabangga yung dalawang yun, yung future na gusto mong sustainable which is inherently slow sa technologies that we have that we actually need. We need this technology...[pero] magagaling yung mga gumagawa at nagdedesign niyan, ginagawa tayong hindi patient.
So when it comes naman [to the more] direct impact [on] health...perhaps yung effect ng technology [on] our mental health, which is tied rin kasi doon sa socialization. Kasi the more we are dependent [on] technology, connected rin to entertainment, it affects our mental health. Yeah, baka it might increase lang din yung depression versus suicide rates. Yeah, iyon yung next worst case scenario na naisip ko: we'll be [immersed] too much when it comes to technology.
...[S]o many people are getting mental health issues, for example: anorexia or body dysmorphia, because of all of these things they see online; there's this set beauty standard, and it applies too to socialization: "Jeez, I won't date or be friends with someone who has that kind of appearance".
Even like this sort of, I wouldn't accuse [this phenomenon] as Gen Z, but like...everyone, for example, is talking about how they have ADHD. And...it could be linked to this dependence on the screen and...the affective structures of like going on Tiktok [and] watching really entertaining videos every three seconds that also affects our brains sort of capacity to process what kind of information at what time. So yeah, there's a lot of things that could change.
...[T]he Philippines has a mental health crisis. I think people have forgotten that the Philippines has [this]. And that became super obvious during the pandemic, but...the whole idea probably got covered [up]. I have a feeling as AI becomes more prevalent...because we end up becoming more isolated from each other, and AI just probably isolates us even more. We might be seeing more and more and more people probably having self-doubt, issues, and anxiety, etcetera...[A] big chunk of people in my circles have probably been diagnosed [with] one level or another...like Bipolar 1, Bipolar 2, you have anxiety issues, etcetera. And that's getting...more common nowadays because people are scared...you don't have psychological safety anymore, since you could be replaced anyday...So yeah...habits of connection and mental health are gonna probably really get affected sooner or later, actually. And we really have no safety nets around that.
...[Y]ung minaimaintain ng elites yung social order, yung tao would be like, we would be able to deal somehow with mental health changes although with less money. So marami sa atin ang hindi magkakaroon ng access sa therapy. Lalong maraming hindi magkakaroon ng access sa mga gamot na need natin.
For [a pessimistic future of] health and wellness, because everything is abandoned, it would only be natural if people's health in general went down. I did not cover mental health like when I was talking optimistically, but I will mention it now. Obviously, people would not be feeling very good. There would probably be so much more people who are depressed, anxious, possibly even suicidal.
So socialization, negative impact of that would be...highlighting the difference between communicating and connecting so people may talk but do people really feel connected if there's too much socialization opportunities like, do you like, If it's so easy to talk to anyone on the Internet, regardless of basta, they have access to Internet like, can you really identify like who your real friends are like? There's a lot of like things to think about there.
And then, human productivity would plummet, and we'd have no actual humanity anymore. Like TikTok can eat so many hours of everyone's days, and then none of us can actually recall what we 5 minutes, 3 TikToks, or 1 minute earlier. That's literally poisoning our brains and they could do that if they wanted to, and I hope they do not, because they are technically doing it right now. But...I believe there's still some ethical guidelines involved. But if those ethical guidelines get disregarded in this this dystopian feature we're talking about, we can picture us being trapped like that.
Well, for entertainment...I think the next worst case here is...I assume that it's gonna...take a lot of people's attention. So [the] next worst case there is [that] there'll be more people [exposed] to it talaga. Maybe they're not gonna...think or be more critical about issues; they'll be more concerned about entertainment. Kasi yun naman kasing buhay ng mga [tao na palagi nanonood ng] Netflix...it's the attention economy, diba? So nandoon iyon. I think iyon yung worse eh...yung attention talaga...at least 24/7...It's harder for us to get our attention to more pressing things, kasi mas hooked tayo with entertainment.
[A pessimistic future would have]...too much entertainment, I think. More and more, we're like realizing, like with the advent of TikTok and whatnot, that there are, I don't know if literal but it feels like literal brain rot. What else to say? Maybe entertainment must be...controlled.
