[iNews24 Kim Hyo-jin] Notable American author and influencer Mark Manson has grabbed attention by posting a video titled “I Traveled to the Most Depressed Country in the World” after he visited South Korea.
Manson is a best-selling author known for his popular self-help book, *The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck*, and also a YouTuber with about 1.4 million subscribers.
In his approximately 24-minute video, Manson mentioned that while South Korea is receiving global attention economically and culturally, the anxiety, depression, and suicide rates among Koreans are increasingly on the rise.
Manson expressed regret stating, “It’s a result of South Korea maximizing the negative aspects of Confucian culture and the drawbacks of capitalism.”
Manson first met with Nicholas Plott, an American who has lived in Korea for 15 years and is a commentator for the game StarCraft and analyzed the StarCraft craze that hit in the 1990s.
Plott said, “One of the things that surprised me when I first came here was their work ethics. They almost overworked themselves without any complaints,” and added, “15-16 gamers trained in an environment similar to a PC room while using bunk beds in an apartment in the suburbs of Seoul.”
He also explained that the success formula of StarCraft was applied in various fields, including large companies, sports, and K-pop. Manson criticized this by saying, “They create an environment where people can focus solely on their work, and apply intense social pressure and competition to get as much as possible from them. This formula has proven effective, but it also generates psychological discouragement.”
Manson analyzed that the background of Korea’s emphasis on competition lies in its history, including the Korean War. He said, “After the war, Korea’s economic growth was not a matter of choice but a matter of survival. The government created a brutal education system to build the country economically, which ultimately turned into a huge burden for Korean youths.”
After meeting with Korean psychologist and author Lee Seo-hyun, Manson introduced the psychological concept of ‘cognitive distortion’. Lee Seo-hyun, who majored in psychology at Korea University, said, “Not only in education, but competition is fierce in all areas of Korean society. In Korea, if you don’t get 100 points, you’re considered a failure, so there are many perfectionists. This always makes you feel like a failure. This is closely related to depression.”
In response, Manson expressed concern saying, “The most common cognitive distortion is ‘all or nothing.’ Korean youths seem to be evaluated as ‘all or nothing.’ From a mental health perspective, this is not good.”
He thought this was related to Confucianism, which has influenced Korean society as a whole. Manson pointed out, “In Confucian culture, there is no individual. Everything is centered around the family so the more you sacrifice for the family, the better person you become.”
He added, “In Confucian culture, mental health issues such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are not empathized with but rather judged as failures of character.”
Furthermore, he diagnosed “In the workplace, they have to match their leaving time to their boss’s, and they have to attend company dinners unconditionally. There are many cases where there is a lack of autonomy and control in choosing their life. If they constantly receive harsh evaluations based on Confucian values in society, they feel inferior.”
However, Manson praised that despite these circumstances Korea has a resilience that is rare in the world. He encouraged, “Just as Koreans survived the Japanese colonial period and the war, they always find a way out of a crisis. Koreans now face a new challenge of looking deep within themselves. I believe they will find a way.”
By. Hyo Jin Kim
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