Neurasthenia, Victoriana

Fer true, reader fam: Victorian novels dotted my childhood like so many measles. I don't know if they appealed at all to my mother, though my father was a reader and loved classics, whatever they were. And with a sister who was seven years older, I could expect paperbacks like Vanity Fair to crowd the bookshelves. And so. I read.

What do I most remember? Countless women, lying prone. Almost everything I read (except, maybe Vanity Fair?) had a sickly, bed-ridden woman lying around. Her complaint was usually neurasthenia, that made her exhausted, all the time.

I was disgusted by this parade of women lying in their beds, cranky and groaning. Why were they exhausted? I could not understand.

Now. Living in the age of endless computers/cell phone stress and AI:

I. Know. How. They. Feel.

Case in point: I sent a check to life insurance agency. The check NEVER arrived because the head of postal services decided the Pony Express was good enough. I told the agency I would put a stop on the check and paid over the phone. 

They refunded two thirds of the money - with a stupid explanation about paying the end-of-current policy (HUH?) Then they wrote a letter saying I had sent a check that had a stop payment on it.

They charged interest for that check and then say in the letter that I am not paid up.

I will of course have to call Monday and be on hold forever and then who knows if anything will be solved.

2. Doctor Protocols

a. My family doctor says they have the new Bivalent Covid vaccine but are telling me I'm up to date and they can't give me a vaccine until everyone else gets one. How will they know? Does that mean every patient they have?

b. I was in a car accident last year and went to see a doctor. Now my auto insurer is on my list of bill payers for my insurance and I can't get it off until the doctor signs off on it, writing a letter that I don't have further issues. The doctor says he "never had a request like that before" - so he sent it to his clinical supervisor. Plus they may insist I return to be sure I have no further complaints. 

Who's supposed to pay for that?

c. Patient portals: WTF? What fresh hell is this?

3. Whether you need to shop, change your billing method, make a doctor appointment, argue about a bill, apply for a job, make a travel arrangement, share visit social media or pretty much anything else, you have to "sign up" or "log in" with a password.

Supposedly this saves us from identity theft. 

As one who experienced it, all I can say is HA!

Did we really sign up for this when we gave away every power we had to computers? Why are we worried about Chat GPT when they've already taken over our lives?

I can't help but wonder if neurasthenic Victorians were prescient and could see the future somehow. Part of me wants to go back to that time so I could stay in bed (and maybe get some writing done).

So if you're listening out there in Techville, maybe you can bring us back to the Victorian age, yeah? At least -- hey. We'd be able to sleep better.

Photo by Luke Braswell on Unsplash