Hello Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome back to The Silent Page!
Today’s
article may be the most serious that I’ve written thus far and is
based off of some observations and conversations I’ve had over the
last couple years. Specifically, on the topic of why our collective
social lives seem to be so dysfunctional. It’s a topic I’ve seen
a lot of people debate about in various forums but here’s my two
cents.
The
root cause is the algorithmic media you’re consuming.
That’s
the answer. Now let me explain my analysis.
Have
you ever noticed how easily categorizable most people are these days?
Have you ever had the experience of meeting someone and immediately
knowing almost everything about them because you’ve seen people
like them online before? How many aesthetic groups can you name and
how many people have you met that fit them (or are aspiring to fit
them!) to a T? This has been a very common experience for me, and it
has made an entire generation of people feel flat. There’s no depth
anymore! This is an unfortunate symptom of people spending their
formative years watching algorithmically curated content. Think about
it, when your personality was still malleable you were being
conditioned by an algorithm to be a certain way and now that you’re
older your opinions, thoughts, likes and dislikes, and personal
aesthetic were all influenced heavily by those autonomous systems.
This is why people feel so shallow now, because instead of having
unique experiences as they grew up, they were carefully spoon-fed by a
computer.
I
know that I, personally, spend a lot of time reliving what life was
like before I had access to these systems. YouTube, Instagram,
Snapchat, etc etc. How many people do you know are living
stereotypes? Do you remember how people were before about 2015/16
when these algorithms came into their own? I remember.
A
couple days ago I decided to do an exploration to see if things
really have changed all that much in the era of the algorithm (or if
it was just my imagination) so I went back to old school writing
blogs, travel YouTube channels, and even old personal sites to see
what changed. The strange thing I found? You can see the changes
happen in real time. You can see people’s writing blogs go from
barely political and very unique to highly polarized and polemical
over the course of a few short years routinely. Why are people
all-of-a-sudden so polarized? The answer is the algorithms.
I
highly recommend you try your best to remember what it was like
before technology changed the world in ways few have put to paper.
Remember what life was like before people were sorted into just a
handful of aesthetics by algorithms. See if people in your life
remember what it felt like before this. Even more importantly,
consider what must be happening to the Generation Alpha kids who
don’t remember a time before a smartphone! We may be the
last generation (the older half of Gen Z) who recall a time where
people weren’t mostly socialized through online platforms.
That’s
a lot of gloom, so let’s talk about what we can do to regain our
organic thoughts, feelings, and lifestyles. Obviously, there are a lot
of possible routes but here are some pointers that are helping me to
rehabilitate myself away from a screen.
The
first thing you need to do is figure out what kinds of things you
organically believe. This is a hard thing depending on your level of
introspection but I’m sure that if you think about the things that
you were interested in and motivated you before you ever got “plugged
in” then you’ll have a few examples. The next thing to do is
drastically cut down on the amount of time you spend scrolling. You
need to start regaining your focus and mental clarity and the noise
that infinite scrolling imparts into your brain is antithetical to
this. Cut it out. Read a physical book, go for a walk, meet up with
friends, check out an event in your city, go hiking, do something
real! For me, I’m writing this article. Just pick something!
Now
for the hard part, how do I rebuild an organic social life with
people who feel real? Unfortunately, these people – in my
experience – are hard to find. I don’t have a lot of advice for
this one because I’m actively working on this myself. Family
members are a good start; coworkers could be another place to find a
few. Try joining meetup groups in your area, see if you can find
people who aren’t always online and make friends with them!
Unfortunately, we don’t have the benefit of living in a time where
our generation is particularly social. Us who are trying to unplug
are very much so a minority. The good news? It only takes finding one
or two more of these people to have some friends! I exist and so do
you, dear reader, and that gives me hope!
It’s
never too late to step off the path. Yes, you’ll probably always
have mental scars from growing up plugged into these platforms but
it's better to have a few scars than open wounds! As C.S. Lewis once
said “We all want progress. But progress means getting nearer to
the place you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turn, then to
go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road,
progress means doing an about turn and walking back to the right
road.” and this is exactly what we need to do. We all still have
lots of life left to live! It’s never too late to reclaim it!
I
think that about summarizes my thoughts for this post. Hopefully you
found some part of it inspiring and maybe, just maybe, you’ll find
yourself on an organic path like you once were! Before we part, do
something today to start finding yourself again! Even if it's just
reading a book for thirty minutes instead of spending that time on
your phone. Every bit counts!
Silent
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