For the past couple years, I've really found myself spiraling into a self-imposed loneliness that was primarily comprised of poor self-esteem, and each new way I find to "connect" with people only enhances the divide.
That statement is probably true for every single person that will read it, and I wrote it just now in a purely selfish manner. You see, I think we (as humanity) have allowed some of our instincts, or natures, to gain a bit too much momentum in our daily lives. In no specific order (I honestly couldn't decide which was the root cause, or worst, or primary, or whatever):
We're Impatient- They say that patience is a virtue, and I agree with that... but impatience is just our nature. I won't bore you with the cliches like "everyone wants everything now" or any of that bullshit. Our instinct to be impatient, I believe, is rooted in our intelligence. It's a tool, or a weapon. It's the driving force behind quite a bit of innovation. I'm not arguing that microwaves are bad, though. I think this impatience has also reared it's ugly head in how we find and process information.
Think of the Google search. Just 15 years ago or so (I rarely will be looking anything up as I write stuff, ain't nobody got time for that shit anymore. Just kinda writing on fumes at this point) it was sheer novelty to tell someone to "google" something. Most times you'd say it to someone who most likely wasn't gonna know what you were talking about, mainly to highlight that you knew something current that they didn't. It's ok, we all did it. "It's so simple," we thought. "Just ask anything and it's there."
All fine and well, but it's wreaked havoc on the current generation coming into its own. Millennials, if you will. You see, many years ago (again, probably 15 or so), information wasn't instantly available. I know that's not news to you, but my point is that you generally would ponder something to some extent before you actually had the opportunity to research the issue. In your reasoned thought, you might discover that you could actually figure quite a bit about things without even having to ask for help. Kind of the miracle of being human, if you will. Anyway, during those ruminations you would probably be looking at the issue (whatever it may have been) from many angles, almost as if you were holding it up to observe it (philosophy alert!!! just kidding won't go there yet).
Not only were you, in essence, teaching yourself about something, you were also cultivating an overall sense of inquisitiveness that taught your brain that there was reward in giving thought to something beforehand.
Now, just think about how frustrating it is to you when someone mentions something you haven't heard of yet. Suddenly, though you can look up things all day every day, here is something you don't know. All you gotta do is Google it. Oh, that's what it is.
But once you've Googled it, depending on the habits you've built within your mind, the journey may stop there. Curiosity sated (after all, all you did was hear about it, you didn't even have to give it thought yet), you can move on to the next intellectual pursuit. It is doubtful that a much greater understanding was truly achieved, other than the topical "______ is a thing that is ______."
Well that was easy! Not only did you not have to think about it beforehand, you didn't have to think about it at all! Because now that you've "googled" it, you've given your brain the reward of the knowledge it wanted. You heard of something instantly, looked it up instantly, and instantly figured you know what's up, and you'll never not have heard of it again.
I feel ya.
Part 2 coming soon, "we have no confidence."
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