Journal entry – In a world that caters to volatility

One thing my generation (and the ones after that) has really struggled with is the idea of having to give things time. We were brought up into a technologically advancing, and considerably advanced world that adapts to the most volatile human qualities in no time. It cuts down efforts, shortens time needed to complete a task and presents to us the most advanced options as to where not to exert extra effort. While I’m completely on board with the privileges this world offers to us, there is one very significant impact that reflects on levels that technology cannot yet address and that is personal, mental balance.

We shoot to fame and earn quick bucks in the social media world, with the most minimum of efforts and skills. We garner appreciation for what has only partially been our product; rest of it is all templates and previously edited music and about ten filters. When so much happens with such ease, why doesn’t getting out a mental situation happen with the same simplicity?

Giving something time is simply not a convincing idea for my generation. Even personally, the hardest thing to do is wake up a few mornings with an underlying sense of gloom and hating that it simply won’t go away. We seek comfort in escapades that the digital world offers by generously engaging our brains in trivial matters and momentarily forget or pretend to have overcome whatever the mind was going through. But suppressed pain always resurfaces in the most unwelcome places and that’s where everything goes wrong.

The influence of the fast digital world and its flexibility to evolve to cater to the most vulnerable minds in exactly the way they want it, scares me. It caters to whatever level we’re in. It does not push us to do better. It does not ask us to stretch our boundaries and raise our standards. It does not motivate us to look within. But it provides the best possible distractions from what is real.

We consume the distractions and end up believing that our minds are healed, only to at some point realize that we resort back any moment we’re on our own. It’s a constant struggle to give things time and voluntary effort when so many distractions are right at our disposal. But here’s to being aware of it, and trying.

(Featured image not owned by me)