Apathy

CyberGene

While tidying up the forum lately I realized the activity here has decreased and this somehow funnily coincides with a certain apathy I've been feeling lately, not just about music and piano but also more broadly about things in life. I'm wondering if this has something to do with the times we live in, political crisis, health crisis, wars, polarization among people... It's just exhausting for me and I withdrew from almost anything. Even stuff that I love I replaced with surrogate activities such as being more drawn to synths lately than to piano, or tweaking this forum for the sake of tinkering rather than posting anything or participating in the discussions.

Do you feel the same or is it just me?

(This is not depression and I don't think I've ever felt depressed.)

Del Vento

CyberGene Do you feel the same or is it just me?

I sometimes do, but certainly not now. Just busy.

dore_m @Del Vento with new job

I am hoping to update https://pianoclack.com/forum/d/542-update-on-piano-conversion/47 by today, if not certainly next weekend.

dore_m I was just hoping that Europeans were on vacation

Certainly all my friends in Italy and most of the ones in rest of continental western Europe have disappeared from the 'net 😃

HZPiano

Hello,

Well, regarding the world situation, and personal circumstances (at least partly interrelated) I do currently have feelings of apathy, sometimes growing towards despair.

As for the 'Clack, during these past months I've peeked at it almost daily but not posted as much as before. This is somewhat similar to what David B said: due to not being able to play (technical hiccups/malfunctions in my case) I got disheartened, demotivated, and even found myself considering whether 'it was all worth it anyway'. That certainly reflected in my forum activity, again as David said: there is pain in reading on a forum while not being able to be At the Piano myself. Let alone posting.

Apathy can develop into despair, negativity, depression. Not meaning to say inevitably. I think currently we'd all need to be keen to monitor ourselves and prevent such from unfolding. I for one certainly do.

Seeking inspiration, little points of light, creating (and continuously/repeatedly acknowledging to ourselves!!) little successes (small ones can be hugely rewarding too!) are key. And do consciously nurture moments of relaxation, allowing yourself to reset and re-energize naturally.

All in all, I find it of a courageous honesty that you started this thread, CyberGene ! Let's keep inspiring and helping eachother, one little enjoyable point of light at a time.

Cheers and happy contemplation and activities,

Ralphiano

MacMacMac I used to pay close heed to my apathy. But now I just don't care anymore. 🙂

😅

CyberGene a certain apathy I've been feeling lately, not just about music and piano but also more broadly about things in life. I'm wondering if this has something to do with the times we live in, political crisis, health crisis, wars, polarization among people...

I am reminded of those studies from long ago in which caged rats received repeated electrical shocks, and absolutely nothing the rats could do would stop the shocks. After some time, the rats would cease their attempts at avoidance and give up, taking the shocks as inevitable.

I do think we are somewhat like those rats. Every day we lose more and more of out liberty and ability to provide for ourselves, to secure and protect our liberties, to choose our own paths, and ignore the avenues and options the earth's owners coax/coerce us into. To varying extents, we are the rats, and we acquiesce for lack of energy or other reasons, despite cognitively knowing that we are being squeezed into conformity. Revolution is for the young, and despite my reservations about the sufficiency of their character, I will applaud them when they start to stir the pot. Maybe they already are and I am just not noticing.

So, I think the crumbling of society has a huge impact on malaise, despair, and lethargy. Every day is a new battle to attempt to right the world, and, some days the effort is better than others. Unfortunately, progress moves like a glacier, and is therefore difficult to see.

MHirsch

CyberGene Do you feel the same or is it just me?

Simply on vacation, found a piano here, but it’s dramatically out of tune.

MacMacMac

I, too, have noticed a reduction in activity here. I see fewer posts.
And my own posting has decreased ... but it's not apathy. It's just that I have other things to do ...

Now that covid (or 'rona, as my daughter put it) is mostly behind us, we're off to Niagara Falls for few days later this month. Then to New York for a few days in October.

And we've booked a two-week river cruise in Europe next June, so we're giving thought to the excursions we'll be taken at that time.

Meanwhile I'm trying to schedule physical therapy sessions for my neck (nothing new, just twenty-year-old disc degeneration that's overdue for a nice neck stretch) ... in between my wife's upcoming cataract surgeries.

And we had visits this summer from two of our daughters.

So it's been busy. The piano (and online discussion thereof) has been on the wane for me.

dore_m

I was just hoping that Europeans were on vacation and traffic slowed. Some normal clackers have been busy, @David B in the middle of a move, @Del Vento with new job, and others with new priorities....

I also hesitate to bog the forums down with too much techno speak.

CyberGene

Hopefully people are busy with new endeavors, jobs, holidays and the likes. I just read about @HZPiano mentioning in another discussion about how he thought whether the piano was that important in his life, and somehow I tried to connect non-existent dots about how things are going down on a global scale but rethinking it, I'm glad I'm wrong 😀 My apathy is there though, but I've been through that a few times in the past already. And I just returned from a long and exhausting trip to the wonderful Plitvice Lakes in Croatia and the region, so maybe I just need some more sleep and rest.

David B

Obviously for me it's been the move and new job. However, I did notice that last month when I didn't play the piano due to my circumstances, I wasn't motivated to check the forum as much because it reminded me that I wasn't playing. Since I've moved my P125 to our current location I've been playing and checking the forum regularly. 😀

God Bless,
David

MacMacMac

I used to pay close heed to my apathy. But now I just don't care anymore. 🙂

Theophilus Carter

My online activity comes and goes. Sometimes I'm just more involved in other things. Sometimes I just get annoyed with the Internet. 🙂

As far as apathy … sorta? I'm a bit of a philosophical pessimist / nihilist, but a generally cheerful one. 😃 I'm not sure that correlates to online activity one way or the other, though.

CyberGene

Ralphiano very well said, thank you for the insights 🍻

vagfilm

In my case, it is simply overwhelming work (my piano practice has reduced dramatically, as well as my posting). But I think that the overall forum inactivity is a combination of summer and lack of new products to bash (we need pianoteq 8 or cybrid 7).

HZPiano

vagfilm lack of new products to bash (we need pianoteq 8 or cybrid 7).

We are definitely not going to bash Cybrid 7 (or any other generation for that matter), are we?!!

As for Pianoteq bashing, well, some traditions just cannot be changed. (But not in this thread, please!).

😉

QuasiUnaFantasia

The slow-down in activity is not just here; in the recent quarterly recital over in PW's Adult beginners forum, the participation was down by 1/3 compared to the long-term average. And, as far as I can tell, the activity in the ABF forum has dropped massively since the beginning of lockdowns in 2020.

Personally, piano playing is going as strong as ever with me, but my participation in forum posting is definitely at a fairly low point right now. Partly the latter is because of summer, which drags me outdoors a lot, and when the days grows shorter, my internet activity will probably pick up again. But I very much think Ralphiano is onto something; when people are abused consistently, they become dulled down.

To all those, who pretty much agree that governments are causing apathy with all their wars, and draconian legislation, there is always the option of reading something by Dave Icke. I am (courageously) working my way through his newest book, and whatever apathy I may have had before sitting down to read, it is quickly replaced by raging anger. 😁

vagfilm

HZPiano We are definitely not going to bash Cybrid 7

Of course I will 😀. This is PianoClack not PianoCuddle... CG will add heartrate-controlled aftertouch and everyone will raise hell. Just wait and see...

QuasiUnaFantasia

Vagfilm is right about the lack of new products being a cause for the apathy, I believe. For a couple of years nothing much has happened in the digital piano industry (as far as I am concerned), so there is not much to feel happy anticipation about. Roland, as an example, was supposed to have introduced their new top-of-the-range line this year, but they are as silent as a rock at the bottom of the ocean.

I wonder whether delivery times have come down to normal levels by now.

QuasiUnaFantasia

vagfilm PianoCuddle

That's a fabulous name! 😃

The logo should of course be two piano's gently cuddling each other. Awww!

HZPiano

QuasiUnaFantasia

😄

Or us all cuddling our dear Pianos.

🎶

CyberGene

I’ll have to be reincarnated six more times to do a Cybrid 7 and still hope I won’t end up being a cockroach 🪳

HZPiano

CyberGene I’ll have to be reincarnated six more times to do a Cybrid 7 and still hope I won’t end up being a cockroach 🪳

However, as one of those you may be more resilient in today's world circumstances…

Ahem. So.

Cheers and happy(ier) tidings,