Unfortunately most of the medications I take for allergies either make me sleepy (Claritin) or take a few weeks to kick in (Flonase).
For day-of mitigations: a water rinse (like a Netti pot - only with distilled water, tap water can be bad depending on your region; for me this deals with runny nose problems for half a day or so); wear a mask; run an air purifier if you can.
I take the generic of Zyrtec. I take it every day and I don’t think it makes me drowsy, but I can’t remember if it has to build up in your system.
Thanks! I have already used the Neti pot and it’s still running…
I may give Zyrtec a try, thanks!
Zyrtec is immediate action. I’m also on it (generic, daily) and have been for 12 years. It’s the least drowsy option for most people according to my allergenist, but some people are more drowsy on Zyrtec and less so on claratin apparently.
I take generic loratadine tablets (Claratin) for the itchiness, and generic phenylephrine HCl for congestion.
I don’t find that the loratadine makes me drowsy, but apparently your reaction may be different (@iualia). The diphenhydramine HCl tablets make me SO sleepy I only take them before bed to bridge the gap before I can take another 24 hr tablet again in the morning.
That’s interesting and I’ve never thought about it like that. I suppose my concern skews more heavily toward the invisible machinations of search engines and the way in which information is prioritized according to top secret algorithms and preferences, and mostly the extent to which people are unaware of this.
When people “research” online or even just read up on current events they largely don’t realize how much is excluded versus promoted based purely on what Google decides internally. I didn’t even realize that most people have no idea how a search engine works until I was covering net neutrality and doing random polls and interviews. Most average users think search results now are totally unbiased and are just the “best keyword match” for what they’ve searched. A fair number of people think that’s what net neutrality is, so…yeah.
I wouldn’t be surprised if future elementary and high school curricula include courses on internet research/how things work under the hood, and how to discern things better. It’s like humans haven’t adapted as fast as technology and we’re in that weird period. I often think of the time shortly after automobiles had been invented but prior to traffic laws/common sense. It’s like that.
I’m curious to hear more about what you think the impact of “browsing” has been, there is something v passive about it and I’m fascinated by the word-brain connection.
ETA: I was thinking and I’m really curious if there’s a difference in discernment level when someone feels they are doing what they’d describe as “browsing” versus “reading”.
In mulling this over I was considering how one browses a bookstore or can browse a newspaper. (And now the word browse looks like it’s spelled wrong to me because I’ve typed it too many times.)
I have some hope for the future, there’s kids television that low-key teaches programming skills and Kiddo’s kindergarten social studies work included learning what a primary source is. Teens/young adults today seem to be much more aware that anything they put online is forever (but that’s not to say they have perfect judgement about what’s okay to be out there forever.) I’m sure there’s still tons of room for improvement though.
I definitely think things will get better! Once there are more blue collar tech jobs I think things will be pretty leveled out and I don’t think it’ll be that long before a lot of (current) white collar tech jobs are more blue collar. It’s interesting because there is just a massive gap in experience based on job type right now. My friends who work in trades or as hourly workers barely even use computers (though they use smart phones and social media apps a lot), so their overall exposure is really low. That demographic compared with my media or tech friends is worlds apart even though we’re all equally reliant on technology. Strange times!
Request for re-phrasing stuff in such a way that I won’t literally ruin a friendship by calling out a 9-month pregnant lady.
I’m appalled by the way you are raising your dog. The use of a choke chain and people in your house pulling on his tail and spraying him to discipline doesn’t sit well with me. Also I know he’s still a “puppy” in terms of age, but he’s big and his jumping onto people, running into them, and biting them is seriously dangerous and is scaring especially our friends that aren’t dog people. I’m actually worried he might kill your baby if he stays in this house.
I was thinking about the sense of community and responsibility for community and building things together that seemed easier in the internet when I first joined in than seems possible now. Obviously there are still communities in corners, but they seem mostly (gross simplification) happening around individuals who wanted to create them. I was in a community that crowd sourced a detailed annotation document for all the Terry Pratchett books (eg https://www.lspace.org/books/apf/guards-guards.html after a volunteer editor put them into something coherent).
And it’s hard to do community in the youtube comments, or in instagram or even in facebook. The model of a constant stream and the content dropping away makes it hard to do threaded conversations for others to drop in on, build on over time, create a sense of it being worth it to invest in a relationship even when we disagree. And how do you even build things together?
I guess I’m saying a browser/surfing model doesn’t set us up for repeated interactions with people, and game theory says we do better at cooperation and building if we have repeated interactions and social capital can come into play.
This is obviously a very rough hypothesis I’m building and testing here.
This is a really hard situation! Is she someone who would defer to “the research”? I was just emailing with a friend who is looking for a dog trainer, and I leaned hard on the evidence that connects aversive methods like what you’re describing to aggression + bites.
I don’t know for sure, but I doubt it. I have another friend who is very into positive reinforce training methods, rescued a pitt bull who was neglected and dumped multiple times and is just the sweetest boy… Basically promoted this method and the research during every online get together since she got the dog and she’s pretty much ignored him.
I’m having a lot of emotions around this too because I’m angry and bitter and worried so I’m trying to check my “am I just being an asshole because my friend seems to have all these things I want and she’s approaching them in a way I totally don’t get.”
That really sucks, then! She has the info already. I totally get it: it’s hard to see someone make choices like that.
What do you want her response to be? If it’s to train her dog the way you would… that’s probably not possible. If it’s to tell her you’re scared the dog will hurt her baby, then you can say just that. If you don’t want the dog at social events you could focus on the “scares our friends who aren’t dog people” part.
My therapist has me working on telling people what the benefit to them is of changing their behaviour (and risk of not) especially where there are big differences in beliefs.
“If you sort the recycling properly the garbage people will take the whole thing and you won’t have to take it back in”
“If you find a way to get woofter to stop jumping, I think that you will be able to have friends with kids over”
Yeah I know what you mean! Early internet did have a lot more natural collaboration. I did cookbook testing for a relatively well known author only because it was all done on a forum and we pitched in to help. I can’t imagine a known cookbook author doing that now on like, reddit. I never thought bout the stream format and how that makes it harder to have threaded conversations, etc. That’s a really good point too…and now I want to learn more about game theory. I wonder if the siloed nature of the internet (now vs. back in the day) is part of it also. Like, there were sort of groups in chat rooms or even on deviant art, lj, xanga, etc. but it was a lot more general, like “art”. Now it seems like things are soooo niche that there aren’t as many diverse spaces. It seems like tags have some part in this, #art isn’t enough anymore it has to be like art for people over forty who like to wear purple and live in a mild climate, or something.
I like this, thanks!
That’s better than what I’ve always said to people which is that they are purposefully abusing a pet and turning it into a deadly weapon and I will not visit them anymore.
Ooh, I have lots of thoughts. Like browsing used to start at one site and then follow links, as a curated experience, or start with a search and narrow a search. Now browsing happens a lot by being on one platform and following an algorithm vs either personal recommendations or random chance.
I do think that comment sections used to build more community and funnel into chats, but I think the audience is too broad on something like a front page reddit or high ranking YouTube video. The alternative I’ve seen but not usually jumped to, is a discord server, patreon secret community, private paid fb group or paid or unpaid group chats. I think that some of those latter groups point towards stronger and more personal interaction. I see a higher barrier to entry.
I also recently listened to a podcast which quoted a study saying that high use of social media as an active participant had good mental health benefits, vs passive participation being poor for mental health.
I find that podcasts are a section of the internet where I don’t browse, and where longer form content (essay not book) is still king. Or at least I don’t listen to any under fifteen minutes. And the fifteen minutes to deliver good content also makes me wonder how much of our internet access and browsing habits were stimulated by YouTube having video length limits.
As you can tell, I have no central thesis. Just thoughts.
I like these scripts.
I would also focus on biting and jumping as the behaviors that need to change rather than criticizing your friend’s treatment of her dog… basically you want her in problem solving mode rather than defensive mode. Biting especially - regardless of it’s “just puppy nips” or whatever, in a lot of places that’s grounds to get animal control involved.