Mastodawn

My super-scientific poll has escaped containment I think (almost 1500 votes in one day??? Nothing I do on the internet ever gets this much attention!) I'm getting all kinds of people replying with their stories too. I'm trying to read them all, but honestly my notifications are a little out of control so I'm missing some. If I didn't like or reply to you I'm sorry! There's just so many!

Interestingly, it has also escaped containment on Tumblr (though not to this level) and the results are much MUCH more heavily skewed to "queer and tired" over there. Everyone is tired on both platforms, but there seem to be more straights on Mastodon than on Tumblr. Which makes sense. I literally wrote an article about how queer Tumblr is. But it's interesting to see it like this.

Sophie 🏳️‍⚧️ 💜 🎹 🪗Oct 4, 2023

@KestrelSWard Another reminder to try out Tumbler 😂😂

@Sophie Ohmygosh tumblr is so fun. It's honestly a bit like Mastodon, but everyone is on the same server and there's more variety in the type of posts you're capable of making. There's definitely bad parts of it (there's some really virulent TERFS over there, and the porn bot situation is always out of control) but you have the ability to curate your experience so you only see what you want to see, and large swathes of it are just indescribably silly and queer.

SarahV Oct 3, 2023

@KestrelSWard I'm tired because I spend so much energy trying to survive in an anti-queer late-stage capitalist hellscape.

@admin That's absolutely a thought I had when I made this poll. I was like "are queer people actually tireder than other people? It would make total sense if they were because look at all the energy it takes just to survive in a world that hates us!" Of course, there's no room for intersectionality in a Mastodon poll, but other marginalized groups have been documented to have health affects from discrimination including fatigue.

Yaoi Box Balloon Oct 3, 2023

@KestrelSWard ND + how illogical the world is run.

I'm on meds and getting some therapy so my life is at least sorted. So I'd say I'm less tired than I used to be. In fact, I'm learning to function astoundingly well despite being tired.

@monsoonrains @KestrelSWard Meds can be sooooo helpful with the exhaustion yes. Mine definitely have me functioning where I used to just Not so! Hurray for being less tired!

Crocodile Slattern Oct 3, 2023

@KestrelSWard I've always been tired. Tired when I had a big commute and a physical job and now tired because of parenting/lack of sleep. I am ND and it's odd to me some people out there coping with kids and doing so much more than I can manage.

@tobyleaf I feel that. Also ND and chronically ill and it always amazes me that people can be just...not chronically tired. Like. They just can wake up in the morning and get out of bed without first bargaining with themselves or threatening themselves. Like every morning. Boggling.

Crocodile Slattern Oct 4, 2023

@KestrelSWard I can't imagine just getting enough sleep. It's happened once or twice for me and it's been years and it's such a nice feeling

🪷Oct 3, 2023

@KestrelSWard queer, mentally tired, physically energetic

Tonya Marie 🏳️‍⚧️Oct 3, 2023

@KestrelSWard I have periodic insomnia. I also, as I pushed into middle age, have developed a "wake up at a random time between 5am and 7am regardless of plans to sleep in" syndrome. To make it more fun, after 35+ years of marriage, I can't fall asleep alone easily, and my wife is in a "late to bed, late to rise" schedule, especially on the weekends. 🤷‍♀️

@TonyaMarie I feel that. I have very very good drugs to help me fall asleep and stay asleep, but without them falling or staying asleep is practically impossible. And even with them I'm still tired somehow!!

Garlic Pickles Oct 3, 2023

@KestrelSWard I'm queer and have plenty of energy as long as I get good sleep. I'm a night owl working a 9-6, so it's a mixed bag.

It's very concerning that over 90% of respondents, queer or not, say they're very tired. This isn't exactly a random sample of the population, but still...

@garlickles I knoooow, I did this same exact poll on Tumblr too and over 85% of my current sample size there is queer AND tired. We're all just very tired in my neck of the internet apparently!

Perpetually Ayxhausted [neos + it]Oct 3, 2023

@KestrelSWard I'm queer and I'm mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually always very tired

@retronautickz I feel that! Wishing you some rest and recovery soon!

SmittyHalibut Oct 3, 2023

@KestrelSWard not queer, just fat and out of shape, burnt out, no fucks left to give about most things. I have to conserve my fucks, guard them jealously, only giving my fucks to truly worthy causes. And then I nap. As much and as often as I can. It helps the fucks grow back.

SmittyHalibut Oct 3, 2023

@KestrelSWard

a slightly more useful, less sarcastic, answer: definitely out of shape, which doesn’t help. But also recently diagnosed adhd, depression, and anxiety. Where “recently” is defined as “when the COVID lockdown stripped away the coping mechanisms I spent the previous 45 years building and honing.”

Lambda Oct 4, 2023

@KestrelSWard my hypothesis is that is a youth thing, all of us are just... tired

@Lamb Someone else mentioned that too, that it seems like young people in general are just...tired. And like. I get it. It's a rough time to be a millenial or gen zer.

Lambda Oct 4, 2023

@KestrelSWard yeah... but also I wouldn't be surprised that being from a marginalized group gives a handful of more reasons to be tired

Kitt / Basil 🌻Oct 4, 2023

@KestrelSWard I have a bad cold right now and that has me totally exhausted. This is my 3rd illness in as many months. And that's on top of dealing with fibromyalgia/chronic pain so yeah I've been mostly useless, just scraping by doing the bare minimum here for quite a while. I miss having energy to do fun projects.

Celticdenefew Oct 4, 2023

@KestrelSWard This feels very difficult to answer. I'm queer and neurodivergent. If I'm talking about or doing my hyperfocus I have all the energy in the world! But there's a lot of other stuff that just exhausts me

RoAnna Sylver

@Celticdenefew @KestrelSWard gigantic mood. Enormous

Brendan Oct 4, 2023

@KestrelSWard
The result of this poll: we are tired.
@Axiom

JamieGC 🏴 🏳️‍🌈 🖖Oct 4, 2023

@KestrelSWard sleep apnea, fibromyalgia, depression. Mentally exhausted from life stress and transphobia.

Sparky Oct 4, 2023

@KestrelSWard I feel like everyone at least partially aware of the state of this capitalist hellscape is tired.

Simon Oct 4, 2023

@KestrelSWard The people who say that they are feeling great only accidentally signed up to Mastodon I think 🙃 Or isn't this the official hangout for mostly queer but certainly very tired people?

But seriously, it seems to me that there is something that connects many people here, namely being at odds what is referred to as the mainstream. If you are a neurotypical cishet right-wing person without disabilities who enjoys life to the fullest, what are you even doing here?

Deej (they/them)

@KestrelSWard Pretty sure it's because I'm both a parent and an Ops manager.

RoAnna Sylver

@KestrelSWard queer and exhausted mostly due to chronic illnesses and general burnout. I suspect this is nearly universal. 😭

girl on the edge Oct 4, 2023

@KestrelSWard in german there is a phrase “minderheitsstress Modell” translated into minority stress model. stress that is a constant experience by minorities and a constant tax on energy. its a systemic look at the cumulative effect of microagressions

chanele (war on xmas zone)Oct 4, 2023

@yisha @KestrelSWard I'm German and I'd have thought the minority stress model came from somewhere anglophone?

chanele (war on xmas zone)Oct 4, 2023

@yisha @KestrelSWard But good point. (Though... enough queer people are autistic, and there's both the stress that can come with being autistic in a world mismatched to our sensory needs, and in turn autism has high correlation with some chronic things that can make tired too. Like EDS and MCAS for yours truly...)

@chanele @yisha Yes I was thinking of the Minority Stress Model when I made this, wondering if queer people were tireder than others because of it. So far, science seems to say EVERYONE is very sleepy though. XD (Of course, then we get into selection bias and who is answering random polls on Mastodon etc).

girl on the edge Oct 5, 2023

@chanele @KestrelSWard actually, I would have thought that the numbers of chronic your people among those living under the poverty line is a very important corollary. As for everyone saying that they’re tired. Reminds me of rich people saying they’re poor I’ve even had somebody who owns outright their home. Explain to me how they have no money. So I think you would have to find a way to poll for that. How much I hate it when rich people claim poverty. In my view, there is a huge difference between tired and tired. Farver correctly and Angela Davis wrote some interesting stuff about who gets to rest.

girl on the edge Oct 5, 2023

@chanele @KestrelSWard thats how i learned it. so have no idea of orgins only of current use

ein kleines z Oct 4, 2023

@KestrelSWard I'd say I'm often somewhat more tired than others but I wouldn't call it "very" tired. But I'm definitely not all full of energy.

GreenSkyOverMe (Monika)Oct 4, 2023

@KestrelSWard So far it looks like everybody is tired

HawkWolf (H. A. Kirsch)Oct 4, 2023

@KestrelSWard this makes me think of something, and I can't articulate this without sounding like a giant asshole somehow, that there's a lot of queer people who are also like

"queer artist! autistic! adhd! CPTSD! DID! gendery stuff! autoimmune diseases!"

like there's this entire contingent of people who have a whole laundry list of problems at once, and maybe they just really strongly network together so if you connect with one of those people, you suddenly connect with a whole bunch of them and then you're like "wow how is it possible that so many people have like 14 serious disabling problems?"

eg: I think I have like both hands' worth of people I follow that are 'systems' and my understanding is that DID is RARE, so why suddenly do I 'know' that many people with it? well probably one of them has a bunch of people they retoot and stuff, and then I go "that's an interesting person, I'll follow them" and suddenly I'm following ALL the people with that particular issue.

Alice

‮Oct 4, 2023

@KestrelSWard I'm queer and I flip flop between being tired and energetic (but also mentally tired all the time)

"feel great" currently at least :D

ask me again in a month or two

Lunya

@KestrelSWard I'm tired all the time except in the evening when I should sleep but just can't fall asleep

Jamie Mason Oct 4, 2023

@KestrelSWard

Tired...

Jamie

Softwarewolf Oct 4, 2023

@KestrelSWard Not queer, but most of the time I feel mentally exhausted from the capitalism grind.

Robots can be gay deal with it Oct 4, 2023

@KestrelSWard data seems to suggest that the straights are also eepy...

rijn Oct 4, 2023

@KestrelSWard something 2023 September was just _hell_ month.
We need a name for this, like sober October, but the hell version.

sarah tonin

@KestrelSWard i think everyone is in general tired these days tbh

Inoru Oct 4, 2023

@KestrelSWard a one-two of chronic illness and neurodivergent as fuck. (Queer af.)

Lyssa Chiavari Oct 4, 2023

@KestrelSWard Considering the fact that I'm assuming most of the boosts are queer people, looking at the results and seeing how high the non-queer chronically tired is, and how low the results for both queer and non-queer with energy are... I think we've got a societal problem not limited to queerness 😬

Knitbelove Oct 4, 2023

@KestrelSWard very queer, neuroweird, and tired to the point that it's really becoming a problem and my doctor has referred me for a sleep study.

Nico Oct 4, 2023

@KestrelSWard
Queer and insomnia, depression, anxiety, work and life stress, and on n on. Lol

lirazel Oct 4, 2023

@KestrelSWard I think everyone is just very tired. It seems to be the default state of human beings in late-stage capitalism. Or maybe I'm projecting.

lirazel Oct 4, 2023

@KestrelSWard I bet if you found someone who isn't tired, they'd turn out to be rich.

Vamp Oct 4, 2023

@KestrelSWard It's a combination of my adhd screwing with my sleep schedule, having issues with mouth breathing, and diabetes.

Patrick "Trick" Morris

@KestrelSWard I am tired as hell, but honestly, I'm pretty sure it's a "being old" thing more than anything else.

youknowthatonepersonwithaface Oct 4, 2023

@KestrelSWard Is "being burned out by the amount of energy you have" a thing? I'm not even properly burned out, I'm just constantly worried about burning out. I've retyped this at least 20 times, because it always sounds so boastful and it makes me feel like I'm minimizing other folks issue by being like, "I'm physically healthy somehow despite how I shouldn't be, I'm overperforming constantly even though my health doesn't reflect that, and the only thing truly constantly worrying me is that I shouldn't be."

Hilariously indicative that me trying to talk about my personal issues has me worried about how I might be diminishing others issues in the process.

Edit: Christ on roller skates it took me almost an hour of edits to write that. And I still feel like that string of nonsense is nowhere near what I meant to say.