“Terrible Understanding Of Nutrition”: 25 Things Slowly Killing Society

We look around society, and we wonder how it is that not many people seem to care about the downward spiral we may be on. all the signs are there, but it doesn’t seem to be taken seriously by enough people to warrant a change.

Redditors recently shone a light on these issues that are often overlooked but are actively destroying society bit by bit. From warped notions on harmful capitalist activities to wilful ignorance of stress management, below are the most common ways in which humanity is slowly ruining itself, according to respondents.

#1

A chronic lack of sleep. 99% of adults need 7-8 hours of good sleep to remain healthy. A chronic lack of sleep increases your stress levels, inhibits the functionality of your immune system, increases your risk of cancers, causes all sorts of cardiovascular issues and all sorts of serious neurological complications.

#2

Anti-Intellectualism.

#3

Lack of empathy for fellow human beings.

#4

Over consumption – of everything, food, clothes, toys. There’s just too much stuff available. I feel like Pixar’s wall-e was prophetic.

#5

Social media. Destroying our attention, ability to focus, our sense of community and empathy, and now becoming a way for lies to dominate our sense of reality.

#6

Religious Zealots and them trying to force control on people’s lives by intruding the Goverment.

#7

Subscriptions for EVERYTHING.

#8

Trump and Elon.

#9

The hoops people have to jump through now just to have a job. Ghost jobs, AI screening out resumes, remote work that isn’t really remote (especially remote jobs not telling people where they can and can’t hire), easy baiting and switching, the job platforms allowing scams, and all the aforementioned.

All this stuff is just to be able to participate in society. Yet people are always giving useless advice that is often conflicting. People’s mental health is ruined by layoffs and I wouldn’t be surprised if people took their own lives over this.

#10

Lack of care for people who suffer from mental health problems and wars.

#11

Cheering on “self-made” Billionaires, while they take government grants & tax breaks, meanwhile we wait out illnesses cuz it’s too expensive to go to the doctor.

#12

The instant gratification. With the increase in technology, we’ve become impatient and entitled. We want immediate results for everything. We go to a restaurant, immediate results. We go to a hospital, immediate results. We’ve lost our ability to wait for anything. Patience is a virtue that sadly not many have nowadays.

#13

Microplastics.

Get this. Plastic was created in 1907 which makes it roughly 118 years old. It’s been around a little more than a century and it’s everywhere. Antarctica? Microplastics! Deepest oceans? Microplastics! All your foods? Microplastics! The worst of it is Nylon, Polyester, Acrylic, Polypropylene and lots of others.

Scientists are trying to study long term affect but with no control group it’s very difficult. Everything has microplastics in them.

#14

Greed.

#15

The age of information has turned into the age of disinformation. F*****g echo chambers.

I miss the Dewey decimal system where you had to look up actual published information now it’s a s**t hole of disinformation and even educated people eat it up and we are in a free fall into fascism. Social media will be the downfall of society.

I’m a father of 4 and I just want my kids to grow up in the America I grew up in. Disagreements on both sides but meet in the middle on most things. Not the America where Russia is the victim.

#16

Capitalism.

MWH1980:

The idea that if you don’t possess wealth than you aren’t even human seems to really be filtering through.

#17

Global warming and pollution.

#18

Obesity. We tend to tamp down the seriousness of it in America for the sake of body positivity. Where I work, the VAST majority of young patients coming into nursing homes for rehab, sometimes turning into long term stays, are only there because one small issue (the flu, a knee surgery, an infection) left them unable to function anymore due to their obesity and related illnesses sapping their strength. I spend so much time trying to get people who weigh 300+ lbs to sit up and get out of a supine position just once or twice a day. I see how hard they struggle just to move. They can’t clean themselves, their legs are too heavy to even roll themselves in bed. It’s a problem.

Edit: to clarify, I’m aware that obesity can start in childhood, and can be outside of your control (trauma, genetics, financial situation)… not trying to shame anyone’s weight.

#19

Disinformation 100%

#20

Coming from someone who is chronically ill and into public health: BPAs, microplastics, pesticides, mold and mycotoxins, chronic viral infections, dyes in our food, SUGAR, alcohol, general inflammation, preservatives, heavy metals, EMFs, PFAS, bad air quality, bad water quality, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, sedentary lifestyles, lack of sleep, a*******n, and number one: STRESS… yeah, I’d say that’s the tip of the tip of the iceburg.

#21

The failure of American education systems.

#22

Lack of universal healthcare.

#23

Sedentary lifestyle.

Most people I know sit for 8 hours a day. Maybe 1/10 actually exercise.

Spinal problems, posture problems, breathing problems, blood flow problems. We weren’t born to sit down this much for these long periods of time.

#24

Mental health struggles—anxiety, depression, burnout—and how they’re often ignored or stigmatized in favor of “toughing it out” or just pushing through. The societal pressure to constantly perform and be productive can lead to mental exhaustion, but addressing it feels like an afterthought in a lot of ways.

#25

Religious idiots.

Shanilou Perera

Shanilou has always loved reading and learning about the world we live in. While she enjoys fictional books and stories just as much, since childhood she was especially fascinated by encyclopaedias and strangely enough, self-help books. As a kid, she spent most of her time consuming as much knowledge as she could get her hands on and could always be found at the library. Now, she still enjoys finding out about all the amazing things that surround us in our day-to-day lives and is blessed to be able to write about them to share with the whole world as a profession.