Boost Your Self-Esteem with the Compliment Machine!
July 28, 2007 by Sara Ost
Filed under Humor, Misc., Technology
Old fashioned ways of boosting self-esteem require far too much effort: showering, turning off the television, getting a job. Thankfully, there’s a simple technological fix to suffering self-images everywhere: the compliment machine! Simply stroll past your mirror and enjoy being the recipient of a hundred different turns of praise.
Researchers explain that half of us will suffer from a mental illness, such as depression, at least once in our lives. If you go in for Freud (and seriously, who doesn’t?) you know that years of psychological delving, while possibly helpful, are also expensive and require showing up. Besides, why should we do something sensible like, I don’t know, treat what is apparently an entire stressed-out society when you can just buy something instead?
sara,
the machine looks interesting but how much is the cost? has it been tried anywhere
I’m thinking that this is for the same people who think Magic 8 Balls give good advice.
Seriously though, self-esteem/self-worth can only truly come from within, but nobody wants to bother with the journey. It is much easier to have a machine spout banal irrelevant platitudes, than actually put any effort into figuring out who you really are, and you know that even though this is currently just an art exhibit, it will be massed produced and on sale for Christmas.
Good thing I am such an optimist or I’d have written society off long ago…
I ran out of time earlier, but came back and read the HARVARD GAZETTE article. Interesting piece, I’d argue though that most of the ‘mental illness’ is just part of life and what makes us human, and psychiatrist should focus on those who really need help. Besides if we go to far down this path we will end up like the society in ‘Equilibrium’ — drugged into mindless ‘normalized’ behavior…
Brian,
Some off the wall musings in no particular order…
I agree with you about self-esteem coming from within. You really cannot “give” anyone (e.g. a child) self-esteem, though support and encouragement are vital for us all. Self-esteem – I believe – must be earned through learning, accomplishment, and even (or especially) mistakes.
You might want to read “Culture of Narcissism”. It’s fascinating and deals quite a bit with the implications of casual therapy and the psychological recovery movement.
I’m a fan of Ellis, who passed away recently – a really blunt and rational approach to mental health. I also admire the old Asian platitude: “If you’re carrying a hot coal, drop it.” That said, at times we get legitimately “stuck” through trauma, prolonged stress, plain old life hardship, and therapy can be the only way out for some – it would be nice if our health care system were better equipped to help people.
Frankly, though, I think we’re all a little f*cked up. I prefer to embrace it rather than think every person “needs help”. What we need is education because so many problems are due to sheer ignorance. Ignorance imprisons the mind, literally. Think about it: even as you learn more words, you are then capable of having thoughts you never held before. I don’t know that knowledge is “power” but it is certainly freedom and promotes greater self-awareness, problem-solving ability and general acceptance of life issues that might be overwhelming otherwise.
From an evolutionary standpoint, our society has changed so rapidly in such a short time, I am actually pretty impressed with how well humans have adapted and manage to cope. I think it would be weird if we WEREN’T stressed, depressed, anxious, etc. That doesn’t mean we don’t want to limit these things or treat them, but should we really be so surprised?
But then, I like the gray.
Wow…damn you’re good, and I’ll definitely look into “Culture of Narcissism” and Ellis…
I’d agree that there are people who truly need help, and we should truly help those people. My problem is that we are running to that as the first solution of a ‘willful’ child or someone who is not quite the ‘norm’, and drugging them into submission. To have a norm there must be degrees of the extremes — I guess I only really have problems with the drugs. A friend of mine went through a rough divorce and she ended getting prescribed 3 separate ‘medicines’. The made her loopy one day and depressed the next. After about 3 months of this, I convinced her to seek out a support group. She finally made some real progress and got off the drugs, and has moved on with her life.
Normal to me has always been synonymous with mediocre…personally I hope I’m a little F’ed up in the head. No one is going to be happy all the time or never scared — this is human. It is how we deal with adversity and change, that makes us who we are.
“That which does not kill us makes us stronger. ”
Friedrich Nietzsche
Maybe extreme, but one of my mottos…and yes gray is good color.
In what is a massive generalization, I think a lot of our “problems” can be attributed to the fact that many people feel that someone is watching – that there is a “should”. There isn’t. Life just is. It’s not good, it’s not bad, it just is.
“There is no right or wrong, but thinking makes it so.” – Einstein
We’re brilliant at beating ourselves up and not accepting our feelings. I think you’d like Marcus Aurelius, too.
Thanks for the comments, B!
Fortunately, I think the “compliment machine” is an art installation at this point, but I’m sure it won’t be long before Sharper Image has it’s own model. (With different subject and intensity settings, from mildly agreeable to slavishly obsequious).
Only problem I have with Ellis is my memories of seeing him in psych class training films. He came off as kind of an asshole–very dogmatic and argumentative. I like the later Cognitive folks, Beck, etc, a bit better. A lot of their stuff is just common sense, but it seems to help people look at their lives and how to improve them with a bit more rationality and objectivity.
Lots of cool stuff here, and I love the wide range of subjects. (And no, that’s not my new compliment machine talking, it’s genuine appreciation!)