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Poor mental health is an issue for many of our readers. That fact is underscored by the response to a tweet sent by @NatureNews earlier this week, which highlighted that rates of depression and anxiety reported by postgraduate students are six times higher than in the general population (T. M. Evans et al. Nature Biotechnol. 36, 282–284; 2018), and asked what should be done to help. The figures are a shock, but it was the reaction that blew us away: more than 1,200 retweets and around 170 replies.
“This is not one dimensional problem. Financial burden, hostile academia, red tape, tough job market, no proper career guidance. Take your pick,” read one. “Maybe being told day in, day out that the work you spend 10+ hrs a day, 6–7 days a week on isn’t good enough,” said another.
The feedback emphasizes something that Nature has highlighted often in recent years: there is a problem among young scientists. Too many have mental-health difficulties, and too many say that the demands of the role are partly to blame. Neither issue gets the attention it deserves. “I’d love to see some of the comments under this thread published,” wrote one responder. “There needs to be real conversation about this, not just observation.”
We agree — which is why we are publishing some of the responses. (You can read the full thread here.)
(Score: 5, Informative) by takyon on Monday April 02 2018, @01:01PM (6 children)
I'll mod you up, but I don't agree that "they don't see much on TV that is worth watching or hear any good new music". There is pretty much a consensus that there is a "golden age of television" [wikipedia.org] right now1. There is more competition than ever with streaming giants like Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and soon Apple laying down billions to create new content, including niche content that would never have been made 10-20 years ago. CGI is also expanding what can be portrayed on screen, particularly for science fiction shows. As for music, the Internet not only allows people to discover more good music from all over the world, but platforms like Soundcloud and Bandcamp lower the barrier to entry for new musicians. They also provide a way for talented artists to gather a following online and then break into the mainstream. YouTube, Patreon, etc. revenue can allow artists (of various types) to bypass traditional gatekeepers and earn a living creating music, entertainment, art, whatever.
What does this mean? It means that the "circuses" part of "bread and circuses" is functioning well. As for the bread, you can live on $1-2 a day if you plan your meals right and shop at ALDI.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Monday April 02 2018, @01:33PM (2 children)
I think the problem is there's just so much more of everything. Lots more good TV and music but countless mountains more crap. In the past you might only have to wade through 50 or 100 crap pieces of music or TV shows to find the real gem. Now there are 1000s. The numbers I gave get trimmed down if you're interested in a particular genre or even just what's popular or trendy (doesn't work well for me) but I'm still left questioning whether this can really be legitimately called a golden age. The mountains of shit taint the overall impression. That wikipedia link doesn't help the case for me either. I don't consider Lost or Battlestar Galactica (reboot) quality TV, so I'm not sure what this "international acclaim" is worth. They were both fairly entertaining but the habit of making it up as they went along constantly leaving plot threads dangling and their abhorrence of science drove me a bit nuts.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Immerman on Monday April 02 2018, @02:05PM
One word: curation.
Yes, if you wander through the mountains of crap looking for a gem, you're going to see a lot more crap.
So, you don't start there. You start by following a number of review sites that display tastes similar to your own, and mine them for suggestions on new things to start watching. Or skim the "top NN things to watch lists". Don't just go randomly wading through the sewers and then complain about the scenery.
Because here's the secret - a lot of what you like is crap too. You just don't notice because its crap that managed to hit the high points that matter to you. A lot of what everybody likes is crap - the gems that see widespread accolades are very rare. Hell, I'd bet good money that even the masterpieces of Shakespeare or Dickens would widely be considered crap these days, losing out to the many crappy remakes that cater to the expectations of a modern audience.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 02 2018, @02:05PM
That's the filter problem. Some years ago, I'd spend hours at weekend listening to bandcamp. In all that time I discovered only a handful of bands I thought were interesting. This is where instant access to market and lack of initial investment impacts quality control, "good enough" isn't. Bland, derivative crap reminiscent of wading through a "me too" (AOL Version (although there's plenty of "ear rape" involved)) comments section. Movies and TV have likewise been relegated to the level of fan fiction.
(Score: 1, Troll) by VLM on Monday April 02 2018, @02:06PM
As far as cheap food goes, the analogy with McDonalds fast "food" is near perfect.
If you take away the hype and product placement, "The Sopranos" as mentioned in the wikipedia link is awful. I tried to watch it while recovering from the flu a couple months back; couldn't. Awful show.
The problem is human supply of creativity has always been mostly fixed and only a tiny, optimistically good, fraction of writing talent has ever been tapped. Turning a larger percentage of scripts into video streams means the quality HAS to implode, as it has.
Likewise the problem with automation of indie music, is for 99% of the population "music" means the music industry pop crap, and pressure from indies sucking money away means its worse. Without McDonalds competition, your average restaurant would serve slightly better food.
In growing developing industries, competition grows the pie; in commodity industries competition just provides smaller slices of pie until the technical challenges of paper thin slices means the industry collapses and you get no pie or the pie is disgusting low quality.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Freeman on Monday April 02 2018, @03:46PM (1 child)
I think we already passed the Golden Age of Television. In fact, I think the golden age of Television was dwindling when I was born. I think the 90s killed the Golden Age of Television. The 2ks are performing dark arts on desecrated remains of good television. That said, I still have a Netflix account. There's nothing quite like the TV series "Hogan's Heroes", "MASH", or "The A-Team". Even the anti-gun lobbying people had a cool thing going with "MacGyver". One thing they all had in common is that they didn't feel a need to throw in graphic violence, nudity, or "foul" language to sell their series. They relied on interesting characters and Good Stories to sell their series. I can grab a camera and take better pictures than so many "great films". That doesn't mean I can make a great movie. Whiz Bang features are fly by night.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 02 2018, @07:32PM
MacGyver was always helping at-risk youths.
The M*A*S*H guys were always mentoring somebody coming through the ward.
The A-Team were writing wrongs while helping teach people to defend themselves in creative fashions.
Etc.
Hell, Airwolf was about curbing the dangers of government action without concern for the damage it could cause within and without. A lesson that could perhaps be useful to learn today given our modern military industrial complex and ever lowering bar of conduct among individuals in privileged positions.