John's 2024 depression and his month away from the internet (2024)
story · status: followed over 9 videos (2024) · last event: update (2024-09-17)
In June 2024 John said he was in a serious depression and took a month away from the internet, his longest break in 11 years. He came back on Esther Day in August 2024 feeling better, and in September said he was emerging from the depression, partly by engaging less with algorithms.
About: depression, despair
| date | event | what | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-06-25 | told | John can't tell where circumstances end and depression begins: he is in an objectively hard time he won't make public, but has had harder times without this much despair. → refers to Not Doing That Great | taking a break 00:00:29 |
| 2024-07-09 | update | John says people, including many AFC Wimbledon fans, have been kind and generous since his video about having a hard time, reminding him he is part of many great communities. → refers to taking a break | Is the Inside of Your Mouth a Soup? (a vidcon reunion video) 00:00:25 |
| 2024-07-19 | update | Hank congratulates John on picking an amazing month to take off from the internet. (playful) | The Assassination Attempt and the Comfort of Certainty 00:00:00 |
| 2024-07-26 | update | Hank tells John he is impressed by the particular period John chose to take off from making videos, because it has been a lot. (playful) | Hank Green's Top 7 Best Coconut Tree Facts!! 00:00:00 |
| 2024-08-03 | update | John returns to YouTube on Esther Day after his longest break in 11 years, says he is feeling much better and thanks viewers for their kind messages. | I Love Hank. (Also I'm back.) 00:00:00 |
| 2024-08-06 | update | John says he had a low-to-mid-level nervous breakdown and took a break from the internet; now back-ish and feeling better-ish, he describes what helped through this serious depression. | What Helped Through Depression 00:00:00 |
| 2024-08-07 | update | John says he never stopped working full time during his mid-level nervous breakdown but worked less; this week (week of 5 August 2024) he feels fully back in the rhythm, a relief, though tiring. | Dear Hank and John Livestream! 00:00:54 |
| 2024-08-20 | update | Playing on 'enjoy', John says even when Wimbledon loses he is in joy, and it is a relief to be able to feel in joy again. | Thoughts from Places: BROMLEY! 00:03:24 |
| 2024-09-17 | update | John says he has been emerging from a depression, partly by engaging less with algorithms. | My Consciousness. Their Capital. 00:00:29 |
What is said about it
9 statements, by date (the events above are the turns of the thread; these are the details).
- 2024-06-25 · taking a break — John says he is currently a bit demented by despair, but knows he is not alone in that. — 00:02:26
- 2024-06-25 · taking a break — John: Depressed for quite a while, John finds it hard to judge what is real: everything great feels illusory and everything terrible utterly true. — 00:00:58
- 2024-06-25 · taking a break — John must finish his book so it can come out next year (2025), and that alone feels like too much work for his depressed brain. — 00:00:58
- 2024-06-25 · taking a break — John: For a little over nine months John has really struggled with making stuff. — 00:00:58
- 2024-08-03 · I Love Hank. (Also I'm back.) — announcement: John says he will say more about his break on Tuesday. — 00:00:13
- 2024-08-03 · I Love Hank. (Also I'm back.) — John deadpans to Hank, asking whether anything weird happened while he was gone. (playful) — 00:00:16
- 2024-08-03 · I Love Hank. (Also I'm back.) — John recounts that in 2010 the community created a holiday on the birthday of nerdfighter Esther Earl, who was dying of cancer and was asked what holiday she wanted. — 00:00:20
- 2024-08-06 · What Helped Through Depression — John makes small closed forms he calls secret keepers: you whisper secrets or traumas into them so they hold them for you; asked whether it works, he says not really. (playful) — 00:00:29
- 2024-08-06 · What Helped Through Depression — John promised the secret keepers as Project for Awesome perks about 18 months ago and never finished them; now he has, which is a relief. — 00:00:29