Social media brims with dubious solutions to health problems we didn’t even know we had. In her latest piece for The Guardian, writer and journalist Katherine Rowland asks why health and wellness have become a quasi-religion for so many and what possible underlying systemic issues this points to.

“The industry’s offerings run the gamut from the tried and true (walking) to the benignly absurd (crystal dildos) to the predatory and dangerous (castor oil for cancerous tumors). [Author of The Gospel of Wellness Rina Raphael] writes that being healthy once meant dutiful visits to the doctor, but now entails a never-ending quest to overcome sickness, sadness, stress and even death.”

Women, in particular, who, in addition to feeling the general pressures of modern life, are constantly reminded “to enhance the body, radiate poise, master impulses (hunger, rage) and perfect the contortions required of the double standard”, seek respite in the illusion of control and empowerment offered by the wellness cult.

But Rowland argues that health outcomes often have less to do with the remedies we use than with the structural circumstances in which we find ourselves:

“The social determinants of health – factors like air quality, domestic safety, community support and education access – account for as much as 80% of health outcomes. But these realities are neatly erased from most wellness marketing. … Joining a union would arguably deliver greater benefit than downloading another meditation app, but the wellness market presents the latter as a logical solution to work-related stress and deteriorating mental health.

“‘We’re sedating women with consumerist self-care’, Raphael says. ‘You’re not stressed because you’re not doing enough yoga or taking enough bubble baths. There are other, bigger reasons why you feel stressed out. Maybe it’s because you don’t have maternity benefits. Maybe it’s because your boss is emailing you after 6pm. Maybe it’s because your partner doesn’t help you with the workload at home. These are the things that get shoved under the rug and instead you’re told that you yourself, alone, have to take care of the issues.’”

The fact that our perception of health and wellness is so easily shaped by scammers, snake oil peddlers and influencers points to underlying needs that are real and urgent. Let’s acknowledge that we live in a time of polycrisis that haunts many of us with an omnipresent sense of precariousness – hardly ideal conditions in which to ‘flourish’, to borrow some health influencer lingo.

Once we move beyond the consumerist mindset to wellness, we may realise that wellbeing does not require an extensive menu of goods and services. “It means social support, medical care that is accessible and empathetic, decent working conditions and ready sources of affordable and nutritious foods.”

“Perhaps wellness, if we are to embrace its full potential, should dispense with the fantasy that we should always be fit and chipper, or strive to be. Perhaps it is far healthier to agitate against the circumstances making us sick and miserable than it is to latch our hopes to another glossy promise.”

Source: Dense Discovery

From The Guardian article:

• The wellness industry has grown enormously, promising cures and remedies for various health issues. However, it often overpromises and fails to address root causes of problems.
• Wellness has become a new form of faith or religion for many as organized religion declines. It provides community, identity and the promise of salvation from disease.
• The wellness industry disproportionately targets women, capitalizing on pressures they face to look perfect and balance many responsibilities.
• Despite increased healthcare spending, Americans have lower life expectancy and more preventable illnesses than other rich nations. Wellness focuses on individual solutions rather than systemic issues.
• Systemic factors like income inequality, pollution and work conditions have a much bigger impact on health than individual wellness practices.
• Wellness presents social problems as individual issues that can be solved through consumerism rather than collective action.
• The pursuit of wellness has become a never-ending quest, with the goalposts always moving further away. Real rest and acceptance of limitations is lacking.
• Questioning deeper assumptions about what constitutes a good life, rather than always seeking happiness and fulfilment, could promote wellness.
• Connecting with the community and questioning the systems that cause suffering, rather than relying on products, may better promote health and well-being.
• For the author, reducing wellness industry consumption and connecting with an empathetic medical team helped address health issues better than promises of the wellness industry alone.

The Pudding once again has a good publication to detail Dark Patterns used among some big brands. Too few people know what they are and that they serve a purpose.

When you sign up for digital service, sometimes they make it difficult to unsubscribe. You see these tricks every time you order a product online, use a search engine, sign up for a streaming service, or join a social media community. They’re so common in subscription and shopping websites that they have a name: Dark Patterns.

By Caroline Sinders, The Pudding

As consumers, it's time we demand better.

Maybe it's time we properly document the main abusers (or do we need to call the EU to enact protection laws again because they can't be trusted)?

Especially those at the pinnacle that've lost touch with their customers.

I've blogged about it before.

Here is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die.

Source: Pluralistic

I've just learned that Amazon Kindle killed the book loaning feature... Something they initially used as a selling point when I got my first Kindle in 2017 (or whenever it was).

I've spent about an hour on the phone with 4 (!) Amazon support reps to find a solution (tl;dr: there are none, but they recommend one of the following three options: 1/ share your Amazon account/password with whoever you want to loan your book to, 2/ add the person to your household (never mind you can only have 2 adults in your household), 3/ buy the books again).

As I told them none of these options realistically worked (and are not a solution to the problem) I asked for a gift voucher (to re-purchase the books I wanted to loan to a friend) which they initially said were unable to do, and eventually admitted were able to do, but refused to do because they felt they offered workable solutions: "you can just purchase them again". Sigh.

It is a disheartening reality that companies often take a turn towards evil once they hit a certain size. Lose touch with reality.

The initial promises of exceptional service and genuine customer care gradually fade away. Instead, the focus shifts to maximizing profits, leaving customer satisfaction behind. Shareholders exert pressure, prioritizing returns on investment over the long-term relationship with customers.

Don't trust corporates.

We've turned the world into a place where we don't actually own anything. SaaS offers ease of access (streaming, cloud, etc), but if consumers are at the whims of corporates to turn features on and off, give or take away access, something is wrong.

Here is how platforms die: First, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die.

[...]

This is enshittification: Surpluses are first directed to users; then, once they’re locked in, surpluses go to suppliers; then once they’re locked in, the surplus is handed to shareholders and the platform becomes a useless pile of shit. From mobile app stores to Steam, from Facebook to Twitter, this is the enshittification lifecycle.

Source: Kottke, via Pluralistic