Positive feedback loops and Vicious circles

The title says Positive feedback loops, so this must be when I finally become a positive person and write something positive that spreads happiness. Right ? Riight ?

For people who actually fell for it, positive/negative feedback loops are control system terminology, which tell us about the stability of a system. A system is said to have a negative feedback loop, when some output actually has a negative influence on future output. Which means if the output reduces, then it easier for the future to increase and vice versa.

Positive feedback loops is the exact opposite, higher the output, higher the ease with which future output increases, it applies for the other direction also.

A very good example of a positive feedback loop is this scene from Sivaji the boss.

Positive feedback loops are disastrous for stability of the system. Any slight aberration/spike/dip might make the problem worse and worse.

Recently I have noticed that most problems we have in our lives are because of unchecked positive feedback loops. Poverty is a positive feedback loop. Most of us must have learnt about the vicious circle of poverty in social sciences in school.

But the thing I want to rant about is problems with mental health and relationships. Feelings of useless and worthlessness, can make us "open up" to people around us about it. But the more you open up, the more likely you are to be, to get branded as a overly negative person. You are told that you are trauma dumping, and you ruining others moods. This makes the person close off emotionally. Which makes the problem worse. More of what you say now becomes negative and cynical, and now you have reduce even more. You know where it goes..There is no end to this, unless some huge spikes saves the person from a point of no recovery.

This gets worse. The feedback loop applies on multiple dimensions and everything gets worse simultaneously and all of them contribute to the worsening. Loneliness increases the frequency of attention seeking behaviours, but the more you engage in them, the more people you repel. From here, becoming an attention whore is almost a fast track. One becomes an intolerable person, but also needs an insane amount of attention. So that person starts ranting in blogs, hoping no one reads it, but also simultaneously wanting someone to see it.

These are some of the worst states to be in, but still the hedonic treadmill cant catch up fast enough to save us from this loop, if one isnt careful. Here is to hoping, all of us can find a way to avoid this or end it all.