The obligatory annual “Blue Monday” post. Don’t believe the hype.

Back in 2005, a British psychologist came up with a formula designed to calculate the most depressing day of the year. His thinking was that once everyone knew when that depressing day was coming up, they could book a nice warm-weather vacation. I should also mention that this psychologist was asked to come up with this calculation by a travel agency.

Using factors like weather, debt, post-holiday letdowns, salary, lack of motivation and a few other things, Dr. Cliff Arnall came up with the third Monday in January. Since then, this claim has become accepted as fact. The problem is that the whole concept has been debunked. There’s just no medical evidence to back it up. Still, companies all over the world–including other travel agencies–use this piece of urban lore–to push stuff that’s supposed to make us feel less depressed.

In fact, the concept of the so-called “Blue Monday”–which is today, January 15, 2024–is not only meaningless but harmful. There’s no one “most depressing day” for everyone. Weather is a factor that varies from year to year and area to area. And while there is something called Seasonal Affected Disorder (SAD) caused by a lack of sunshine and grey skies, you can’t pinpoint that to one particular day. Anxiety and related mental heath issues do not pay attention to the calendar.

I bring you all this for two reasons. (1) A plea not to believe all the Blue Monday hype surrounding today, and (2) So I post this. Hey, it’s a slow music news day. I need to find something for the blog, you know?