Worth noting

This planet of ours (well, certainly the human beings on it) is bit nervous and Matt Haig has made some notes – well, a book really – of some of the issues!

Brilliant for its honesty and directness in talking about things that many in society (or at the very least those running its economy!) don't like people talking about. A good effort with the author also using it as a means to help approach and converse about his own issues too.

There’s a paradox about modern hi-tech consumer societies. They seem to encourage individualism while not encouraging us – actually forbidding us – to think as individuals. They discourage us from standing back from their distractions, like serious addicts have to do if they want their life back, and asking: what am I doing? And why do I keep doing it if it doesn’t make me happy? In a weird way, this is easier if you choose a socially unacceptable compulsion like heroin addiction than if you have a socially acceptable one like compulsive dieting or tweeting or shopping or working. If the madness is collective and the illness is cultural it can be hard to diagnose, let alone treat.

Matt Haig Notes on a Nervous Planet