An abundance of easily available pleasure is what depresses teenagers, not its absence

Evidence

In terms of depressive hedonia, depression is usually described as a case of anhedonia, where the sufferer of depression is unable to derive pleasure from anything. It seemed to me that there’s almost an opposite syndrome in place with teenagers, where pleasure is so easily available that, well, that it’s this very availability of pleasure that’s depressing in many cases. I guess there’s a kind of consumer model of pleasure which is involved, which doesn’t build up people’s sense of self-esteem, sense of well-being, or perhaps more importantly a sense of involvement in things. Instead of that you’ve got this kind of rapid-fire small bursts of pleasure. And one of the things that’s removed by this is a kind of productive boredom. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 2125

Categorization

• XREF: Reverses the standard anhedonia framing of depression and connects to Fisher’s later concept of ‘productive boredom’ being destroyed. — connects to: Some depression is compulsive pleasure-seeking, not loss of pleasure — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is There No…, 47; Youth apathy is actually reflexive impotence, a depressive self-reinforcing loop — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 2137
• DEEPTHINKING: The inversion of anhedonia + the loss of ‘productive boredom’ as a human capacity is dense and paradigm-shifting material.

Broader Connections

• Some depression is compulsive pleasure-seeking, not loss of pleasure #corroborates (0.82) — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism, 47
• Youth apathy is actually reflexive impotence, a depressive self-reinforcing loop #complicates (0.75) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 2137