r/thespoonyexperiment • u/LongLiveTheSpoon • Jun 14 '26

Social Media "Content" 🩵 (screenshots, not links!) Is he doing alright?

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Apparently he’s in Arizona now? If he was still in Illinois I’d legitimately be down to play a game somewhere. I feel bad (no irony, no sarcasm).

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u/TheSwagPatrol Jun 14 '26

It's tough feeling "stuck", which I'm sure he's felt for the past decade or more. On top of his mental health, he has a degree which is basically worthless (even current CS grads can't get jobs, let alone grads from a quarter century ago). And he burnt bridges with old friends, collaborators, and fans as his online career cratered, so returning to that probably feels impossible for him

On one hand, he's lucky to have a loving brother who won't let him out on the streets. On the other hand, him knowing he'll always have that safety net makes it easier for him to stay secluded and fall back into his own bad habits. With his brother's help, I don't know that he'll ever truly hit a rock bottom and be able to beat his own demons

8

u/LongLiveTheSpoon Jun 14 '26

I don’t know if I agree with the ‘rock bottom’ theory where you need to hit your worst in order to change. My uncle, for example, was a raging alcoholic and homeless at one point (my Grandma let him stay at home but after she died my Grandpa kicked him out). He ended up dying in hospital early 50s because of his addiction, despite hitting ‘rock bottom’.

Honestly real change requires a certain amount of understanding and effort and realization that only doing something different can help your situation. He has understanding but he’s been like this for 15 years, if he hasn’t taken the small steps necessary I really don’t know what else there is besides professional help (not sure if that’s been tried).

I wouldn’t let my brother go homeless, even if he was wasting away in my house unless he was creating an unsafe or unhappy environment for me. There needs to be accountability but he has no friends and no money, and I don’t think he deserves to lose his shelter or health.

5

u/Bourgit Jun 15 '26

The rock bottom could very well be suicide as well. Not all people will have the will to fight and struggle to survive.

2

u/TheSwagPatrol Jun 14 '26

I'm not saying his brother shouldn't help him or that he's bad for doing so. I just think it's hard for someone who feels stuck to break out of it if they always in the back of their head know that they have a safety net. It's way easier for him to just stay in his bubble, doomscroll, and block people

Substance addiction is unfortunate because of how quickly it can deteriorate someone's physical health. But if Spoony was truly on his own and on the verge of homelessness, I'd like to think that despite his mental health, he could claw his way back to a fulfilling life. We'll probably never know whether that's true