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People Are Sharing “Modern-Day Poisons” That Are Normalized Now But Will Probably Be Seen As Dangerous In The Future (30 Answers)
After seeing Snow White tricked into eating a beautiful poison apple, you would think that we would have learned our lesson about avoiding enticing toxins. But unfortunately, many of us are guilty of indulging in things that look or feel great at first that just can’t be healthy in the long run.
One curious Reddit user recently posed the question, “What’s a modern day poison people willingly ingest?” And readers had plenty to say. From nicotine to social media, we’ve gathered some of the most spot-on responses below, so be sure to upvote the toxic things you’d like to have less of in your life. And regardless of what others try to tell you, remember that there’s never any obligation to partake in these poisons. Take care of yourselves, pandas!
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Christian Nationalism
Misinformation/disinformation/propoganda/agitprop...
Misinformation has always been so rife that probably about 90% of what you think you know about the middle ages is entirely backwards, for instance. (People lived way longer in 1300 than in 1920, for instance; and women ruled empires under their own authority.)
Microplastics
I don’t think people are « willingly ingesting » those, they’re just hard to avoid nowadays
that high fructose corn syrup
Beyond the health and environmental concerns, it just tastes bad. Really. Where I live it is not commonly used, and today I threw out 2/3 of a drink that contained HFCS because it was undrinkably sweet (it was an import I didn't realise contained it until I tasted). You don't realise how bad it is until you have a chance to taste how good sweet things are without it.
Existential dread from running on a capitalistic hamster wheel 40+ hours a week
Botox..Botulinum toxin, one of the most poisonous biological substances known
Work 5-6 days a week and having no life
many work 6-7 days a week and have no home. our system as it currently operates is simply not sustainable.
Facebook
Edit: Facebook, Instagram, etc. Any social media where you're comparing your life against other people's lives
People who film concerts and don't just watch it are the same people who compere their lives to others
I’m gonna say Vaping. I knocked it on the head as my New Year’s resolution. First time I’ve been completely nicotine free, and still going strong, but I genuinely felt like I was about to cough my lungs up about 90% of the time vaping. If I have to be honest, I don’t miss either, but I started vaping to stop smoking. I hate seeing young kids and teens do it- ones who wouldn’t have even considered smoking.
EDIT: I’m talking disposable vapes, should’ve clarified that beforehand.
Energy drinks
I have heard of athletes who fill the bottles with water to keep the sponsors happy... Tells you everything you need to know about drinking them for sports.
Outrage. It’s straight up poison to your mental health, but we thrive on it, yearn for it. Places like Tik-tok, twitter, and r/PublicFreakout pass it out like dealers for little more than some attention—poisoning people to feel popular. Worse, it’s useful to those in control, so there’s no escaping it. Political parties and activists need you outraged, one-tracked, immune to real empathy, and motivated to solidify their power, so here we are.
An excess of almost anything (overly) processed. Most people consume too much meat, too much sugar, too much salt, too much saturated fat, too much caffeine, too many nitrates/nitrites, etc etc. I try to eat relatively healthy but even I definitely consume too much sugar and too much caffeine. It's so hard to stop once you're used to it, modern processed foods are pretty addictive and it's scary.
Edit: I'm aware that not all types of processing are inherently bad. This is not a scientific forum, it's an AskReddit thread and I'm sure most people know exactly which kind of processing I mean by that.
Don’t forget the (proven) cancer causing nitrates in so many processed meats. Bacon, ham, hot dogs, etc.
Those shorts videos that now are almost in every platform, if you have problems with focus and getting s**t done then you know that if you keep watching them you might end up in the next day without even realizing you haven't done anything yet
Fox, Newsmax, OANN.
Not sure why people commenting CNN, MSNBC, ect are getting down voted. ALL mainstream news media are paid off by corporations to help or hide different stories, all push an agenda based on their political leanings, and care more about money than news. At this point it isn't conspiracy because it's completely out in the open. Down vote me too if you want, but I think it's worth examining all news outlets to better understand the ways they work to control and manipulate us.
Personally I’m horrendously addicted to nicotine and it’s probably killing me.
Processed sugars
Can anyone give any advice on curbing/beating sugar addiction? I don’t drink sweet drinks but I’m seriously addicted to sweets and chocolate. TIA
Soda. I used to drink it a lot. I had terrible health issues and sleep issues. I cut it all out. Been maybe 2 years without it. I feel better, I'm sick less, I sleep better, and I function better overall. Just replace it with water. If you live in the western world you most likely have clean drinking water being pumped to your house.
I don't believe on banning something because I don't like it, but I do think that s**t is poison. It's also super addictive. The first couple weeks I cut soda out was rough. Then we give this to kids and it screws up their systems.
Edit: I've never had a comment get this kind of attention. Quickly going through the replies I want to say congratulations to everyone who kicked the habit or other ones like smoking. Second there are absolutely people not affected by it. If you drink it in moderation it's not too bad. I admit I was really bad with it.
My main concern with it is that there's nothing good about coke or Pepsi. It's just sugar, caffeine, and addictive ingredients. That's why I use the term poison. It only has negative effects with it. Now that being said if you enjoy soda than go for it. It's your life. If you can do it in moderation even better. The thing is we market it so hard to kids and many parents just let them overindulge. Again not all but a good chunk. My parents let me have way too much.
Also all my stuff is anecdotal. I'm not a doctor but every doctor I had when I was younger would tell me I need to stop drinking it. I would tell them I would and then not because I was young. It caught up to me though. If you're young now and pounding back several cans a day then it's probably going to hurt you too. I'm not a spring chicken anymore and every one of my friends who was like me was in the same boat with the health issues. If you can keep it in moderation then great, but watch how much you drink.
That one is true. The combination of liquid sugar (often high fructose), caffeine and phosphorus acid is detrimental to your health. Empty calories that cause blood sugar spikes, insulin desensitization, fatty liver, obesity, tooth decay, attention deficits and a host of other problems. Source: I'm an actual MD
Negativity.
No, not being angry or sad for legit reasons, but just choosing to look at everything in a negative light.
This is coming from an optimist so take this with a grain of salt.
Those talking videos with like 3 things happening on the screen simultaneously.
Social media is already absolutely atrocious for attention span, using that many distractions on a 30s clip just exponentially enhances that problem.
I recently introduced my daughter(5) to “YouTube Kids”. There are some really good aspects to this, she has learned so much already. BUT I have noticed a real decrease in her attention span when watching any other format. The ability to just skip/scan for other content the moment there is a lull in a video is a small but significant side effect. Films have become really difficult to watch all of a sudden… I can’t imagine what short format would do to her! 😬 (I am aware I sound like an old bastard saying “back in my day!” But honestly it’s a real problem)
In the US, Red 40. Banned in several countries and restricted in many others. When kids get a "sugar rush," a lot of the time it is just the effect of red dye 40.
It has been linked to aggression and mental disorders like attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) in children. A review of 34 studies estimated that 8% of children with ADHD living in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada may have behavioral symptoms related to synthetic food colors. Studies in children with ADHD have demonstrated that restricting synthetic food dyes from the diet led to significant improvements in symptoms.
24 hour news cycle.
If you watched it 24 hours straight, that would be toxic. However, not all of us have 9-to-5 jobs, so having the opportunity to watch when convenient for you is not toxic. Also, fake news is toxic regardless of the time of day.
extremely harsh and self-hating words.
please be easier on yourselves & others. we are all being manipulated beyond belief to think the faults lie within ourselves. you are perfect as you are!
Attention
PLEASE PAY ATTENTION TO ME AND VALIDATE ME! *jumps up and down waving both arms*
Smart phones
Nah, they're useful. The problems with them relate to the social media apps on them, which others on this channel have commented on. I suggest you just uninstall the social media apps. The smartphone itself is useful. For example, I really appreciate the GPS apps because I can avoid traffic and reduce my carbon footprint by not unnecessarily sitting in stationary traffic.
So most of these are different ways of saying "social media," which we're complaining about... on social media. Humans are doomed
BP isn't exactly a social medium. It's more like a blog with lots of commentators. Kind of like what "FailBlog" used ot be once.
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18 and 19 are the same thing so more like a list of 30 things not 31 but than again they have social media twice on this list so more like 29
Yeah it’s a double post, it happens sometimes. Usually one of them gets downvoted off or removed.
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I think that degrading other people automatically is also something poisonous
Treating other viewpoints as toxic. Six of these were appeals to suppress the free exchange of ideas. The emotional investment people have to crushing dissent is amazing. I used as an example of a conspiracy theory turning out to be true the likely fact that coronavirus was created in a Chinese lab (which also turned out to be funded by Anthony Fauci). The FBI had to admit this to Congress. Immediately, I was downvoted. Seriously, how completely destroyed does your brain have to be that your anger would be directed at me, and not the lies by the legacy media and the government's medical establishment? Not that the government acted untrustworthy in a way that helped spread the virus to kill 6 million people, but no, I'm the threat to society for reducing confidence in the government?
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64806903 https://www.bbc.com/news/57932699 https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/10/nih-admits-funding-risky-virus-research-in-wuhan
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Extremes. Too little of something can be as bad as too much. It’s about balance.
People making decisions for other people based on their belief that they are the only ones entitled or intelligent enough to do so.
Not sure about alcohol, but cigarettes are increasingly ostracised. It's becoming less normal to be a regular smoker, less acceptable (or, even if not overt, people look down on smokers more than admire and tolerate them). This is not universal, but given the amount of bans on acceptable places to smoke, littering enforcements on butts, it's turning the other way.
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So discouraging that so many of these boil down to "people who disagree with my beliefs" or the latest hysteria. If these people were around when I was a kid in the 1970s, they'd've answered, eggs, bacon, salt, microwave ovens, TV electron guns, marriage, disco, video games, nuclear power plants, carbonation and flouride water. And the only one that they would've been right about was ironically the flouride water.
You were doing so well. If only you stopped before saying people were right about fluoridation being poison.
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So most of these are different ways of saying "social media," which we're complaining about... on social media. Humans are doomed
BP isn't exactly a social medium. It's more like a blog with lots of commentators. Kind of like what "FailBlog" used ot be once.
Load More Replies... 18 and 19 are the same thing so more like a list of 30 things not 31 but than again they have social media twice on this list so more like 29
Yeah it’s a double post, it happens sometimes. Usually one of them gets downvoted off or removed.
Load More Replies... I think that degrading other people automatically is also something poisonous
Treating other viewpoints as toxic. Six of these were appeals to suppress the free exchange of ideas. The emotional investment people have to crushing dissent is amazing. I used as an example of a conspiracy theory turning out to be true the likely fact that coronavirus was created in a Chinese lab (which also turned out to be funded by Anthony Fauci). The FBI had to admit this to Congress. Immediately, I was downvoted. Seriously, how completely destroyed does your brain have to be that your anger would be directed at me, and not the lies by the legacy media and the government's medical establishment? Not that the government acted untrustworthy in a way that helped spread the virus to kill 6 million people, but no, I'm the threat to society for reducing confidence in the government?
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64806903 https://www.bbc.com/news/57932699 https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/10/nih-admits-funding-risky-virus-research-in-wuhan
Load More Replies... Extremes. Too little of something can be as bad as too much. It’s about balance.
People making decisions for other people based on their belief that they are the only ones entitled or intelligent enough to do so.
Not sure about alcohol, but cigarettes are increasingly ostracised. It's becoming less normal to be a regular smoker, less acceptable (or, even if not overt, people look down on smokers more than admire and tolerate them). This is not universal, but given the amount of bans on acceptable places to smoke, littering enforcements on butts, it's turning the other way.
Load More Replies... So discouraging that so many of these boil down to "people who disagree with my beliefs" or the latest hysteria. If these people were around when I was a kid in the 1970s, they'd've answered, eggs, bacon, salt, microwave ovens, TV electron guns, marriage, disco, video games, nuclear power plants, carbonation and flouride water. And the only one that they would've been right about was ironically the flouride water.
You were doing so well. If only you stopped before saying people were right about fluoridation being poison.
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