I would argue we live in an era with the most access to everything you listed out ever. There are more programs to help the poor than any other period in history. The internet and YouTube give you access to the world's knowledge. You can get a membership to Planet Fitness for $10/month.
Also, I realize all of this is great, but the opposite side is true too. We also live in an era with the most amount of obstacles and vices people can fall into. Yes, there are amazing lectures on YouTube, but there are also millions of addicting cute cat videos.
I state all this to say depression and improving people lives is not as easy as providing them access. They need to want to put in the work themselves.
I agree that people do need to put the effort in themselves. I just think that they put the effort in when they have breathing space and hope. If people can’t see a way out of their situation then they won’t put any effort in, they’ve become hopeless and therefore depressed. You could argue that the disease in that case may be one of perception, and that you need to enrich the person’s life by opening up to new possibilities and ways of perceiving the world. But you can also build more visible progression paths into the system so people never feel that way in the first place and can always see a route out if they choose to take it.
I’d also argue that there are some social programs but:
- we’re drowning in information overload so people don’t necessarily know how to access them. For example, a lot of the poorest households in the Uk did not claim the money they were entitled to from the government for energy payments this winter.
- We don’t really have policies that are addressing the root causes of poverty which are unaffordable housing, unaffordable and/or poor quality education and low wages.
Also, I realize all of this is great, but the opposite side is true too. We also live in an era with the most amount of obstacles and vices people can fall into. Yes, there are amazing lectures on YouTube, but there are also millions of addicting cute cat videos.
I state all this to say depression and improving people lives is not as easy as providing them access. They need to want to put in the work themselves.