<story><title>United States of Paranoia: A growing tribe of troubled minds</title><url>http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/11/health/gang-stalking-targeted-individuals.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>tunap</author><text>“They end up in a closed ideology echo chamber,”&lt;p&gt;I cannot deny I often find myself pigeon-holed into this category, the derision poured upon me to &amp;quot;fix&amp;quot; something has been consistent &amp;amp; unwavering. Problem is, I was always more interested in books&amp;#x2F;work over socializing before the netz, I don&amp;#x27;t hear voices in my head besides my inner-monologue(hopefully=not-schizo) and my &amp;#x27;echo chamber&amp;#x27; is anything but... I am drawn to alien, re-framed &amp;amp; unique perspectives of the world I live in. My solitude is a result of not being current on the TV shows, my choice to avoid Web2.0 style social(sic) media and a very low consumption fueled lifestyle... all these are past-times for the mass majority. Good for them, if that is what people choose. Good for me for not choosing to do the same. My outlier mentality has subsequently been reinforced by the writings&amp;#x2F;works of some very smart people. A few examples:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;The_Dragons_of_Eden&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;The_Dragons_of_Eden&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;The_Demon-Haunted_World&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;The_Demon-Haunted_World&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Manufacturing_Consent&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Manufacturing_Consent&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;The_Black_Swan_%28Taleb_book%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;The_Black_Swan_%28Taleb_book%2...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Adam_Curtis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Adam_Curtis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;edit:added conclusion, 3rd and 2nd to last sentences.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>cortesoft</author><text>Just so you know, you can live a non-solitary life and not stay up on TV, not be on social media, and live a low consumption life. None of those things preclude interacting with other people.&lt;p&gt;There is obviously a spectrum between fully social and fully anti-social, and it is important to find out where you fit on that. There is always value, however, in avoiding being on the far end of the anti-social spectrum. Having our thinking challenged by real people, with real interaction, is important to our mental health.</text></comment>
<story><title>United States of Paranoia: A growing tribe of troubled minds</title><url>http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/11/health/gang-stalking-targeted-individuals.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>tunap</author><text>“They end up in a closed ideology echo chamber,”&lt;p&gt;I cannot deny I often find myself pigeon-holed into this category, the derision poured upon me to &amp;quot;fix&amp;quot; something has been consistent &amp;amp; unwavering. Problem is, I was always more interested in books&amp;#x2F;work over socializing before the netz, I don&amp;#x27;t hear voices in my head besides my inner-monologue(hopefully=not-schizo) and my &amp;#x27;echo chamber&amp;#x27; is anything but... I am drawn to alien, re-framed &amp;amp; unique perspectives of the world I live in. My solitude is a result of not being current on the TV shows, my choice to avoid Web2.0 style social(sic) media and a very low consumption fueled lifestyle... all these are past-times for the mass majority. Good for them, if that is what people choose. Good for me for not choosing to do the same. My outlier mentality has subsequently been reinforced by the writings&amp;#x2F;works of some very smart people. A few examples:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;The_Dragons_of_Eden&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;The_Dragons_of_Eden&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;The_Demon-Haunted_World&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;The_Demon-Haunted_World&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Manufacturing_Consent&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Manufacturing_Consent&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;The_Black_Swan_%28Taleb_book%29&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;The_Black_Swan_%28Taleb_book%2...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Adam_Curtis&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Adam_Curtis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;edit:added conclusion, 3rd and 2nd to last sentences.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>MawNicker</author><text>Thank you. I&amp;#x27;m social enough that people give me strange looks when I describe myself as a loner. I&amp;#x27;ve been accused of &lt;i&gt;posing&lt;/i&gt;. As if being a loner is &amp;quot;in&amp;quot; now or something. Everything in my reality is telling me to be more social. But there&amp;#x27;s a truth that I simply know which apparently has no voice: It feels amazing to spend time alone. Like a lot. I wish more people would speak up about it. Shamelessly. Also, people make the worst faces when I tell them I don&amp;#x27;t watch TV.  I suspect they&amp;#x27;re concerned that I&amp;#x27;m judging them. In both cases people just seem clueless as to how to handle the situation. I guess, compared to the opposite, it &lt;i&gt;is&lt;/i&gt; harder to identify with loners and people who don&amp;#x27;t watch TV...</text></comment>