Spoiled for Choice - too many distractions too little time

I think we can all agree that if you want to be distracted in today’s society, it can be easily achieved with a device always within arm’s reach — our phones. You know, the mini super computers most of us spend our every spare minute on. I loveee the convenience of my phone, I love having so much interesting information right at my fingertips.

The issue I have been wrapping my head around recently - is that along with this beautiful wonderful omnipresent source of all my curiosities, is the equally dark underside of the effects it has on our sense of selves as human beings. Furthermore, in a way we have never really had to deal with before since we have never been with this much technology or distraction in history, it’s an all time high. It’s getting even higher too with the inventions of devices like google glass and semi-VR realities, soon people will become incapable of being unplugged at all.

Recently, I feel like this attachment to social media for the better part of 14 years(signified by when I got my first smartphone lol) has affected my ability to tell the forest from the trees. The forest being my generation’s sort of shared digital consciousness and beliefs, versus the trees of my own mindset, and what shape I take when I separate myself from that. This leads me to 2 threads of thought.

Theres the consequences of never being bored that lead to a lack of personal imagination development, as in dreams and aspirations or just purely personal creative ideas not inspired by anything outside of us but simply by us ourselves. Whenever we are lacking max mental stimulation, we just immediately spin the wheel and pick a distraction and plug-in for awhile, and I don’t know about you all, but then I may even maladaptive daydream about it for awhile longer. This habit ends up leading my train of thought all the time unless I actively stop it. It also only increases my detachment from my own thoughts and feelings, occupying all my brain power and my energy lol.

Secondly, the lack of personal identities with the constant external stimuli of other’s thoughts/emotions/experiences and the feeling we are always being watched or monitored on every little thing by our peers through social media. Every like, every follow, every repost categorized for the world to see whenever and wherever. It can feel overwhelming and I am sure for many others too, suffocating. I think it has the consequence of snuffing people’s more unique parts of their personality and to emphasize the parts of themselves they think are safer to show. No room for controversy and no room for rejection. It’s understandable, but nonetheless it makes me sad in a world where both outside and in, people are feeling larger pressures to conform like never before(i refuse to go on a rant about veneers, fillers, and baby botox for all of our sakes, but just know theres a reason so many of our celebrities look alike these days).

I don’t have any grand delusions of being able to change this behavior on a wide-scale, I also think there is danger in romanticizing the past considering for the most part throughout the years we have had positive social change(excluding current political officials), but I do think some of our evolutions are feeling more harmful than supportive at this point. Like this constant exponential curve level growth towards evolving out of needing to use much of our brain power or “outside-the-box” thinking at all(hello AI and more specifically chatGPT).

Considering I don’t know how the world could even shift away from this ideology and I don’t even think there is an event large enough to shake us awake to help us realize the downfalls of this behavior longterm. I try to just focus on my own reactions, what I can do to keep my critical thinking skills sharp. And leave the rest to be what it will be. It can be a frustrating answer I feel like I give every journal entry I do, yet it always rings true.

The only thing we have control over in this life, is the way we choose to ACT! So I hope you all are loving the parts of life you can control, you!

xoxo -J