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Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Destructive convenience of social media

Bad thoughts enter your head. 

You grab for your phone. 
You immediately access the otherworldly platform of the internet that zaps you away from those bad thoughts. Without thinking we distract ourselves to prevent ourselves from becoming irritable or bored. We choose to escape growth and disregard our emotions. We choose not to feel these "bad" emotions. We sure take pleasure from the "good" emotions, but that is how we are designed. 

We get home from work and we are tired. Our exhaustion lead us to become hungry and lazy. We want the easiest thing to eat. We want convenience. 
We want comfort. We want to stuff our holes and try to relax. Cooking becomes inconvenient. Our ancestors cooked out of necessity and tradition. We want the immediate gratification to please our irritability and deliver us from inconvenience. 

We download all these apps and get sucked into the vortex of social media. We unconsciously scroll through the feed constantly searching for external stimulation. We get emotionally manipulated by the articles and memes that we consume with our eyes and our hearts. Social media demands our attention like an annoying gnat swarming by our ears. It keeps us distracted and allows us to become creatures of convenience.

When a piece if technology is not working, an application or a piece of Hardware becomes our existence. We get frustrated when something is not working the way it should. 
Why is that? 
When a computer or a phone is malfunctioning and we get mad, it hijacks our consciousness. The machines have won when we get angry or frustrated. The years it took for us to develop such as magnificent technology has transformed us into irritable creatures expecting immediate results. 

It's such a common characteristic in modern society to want the easy way out. We love shortcuts. Anything that will let us do something quicker and have us focus on only what we want is our main motivation. Understanding is thrown out the window when we choose to only follow the dragon tail of convenience. 

Doing something smarter and doing something out of convenience have different attributes. When you want to do something smarter that allows you to do less work, you are actively applying creative critical thinking that grows and expands the minds problem solving skills. This is good for the sake of humanity and constructing a life free of wasteful labor and time. Our busy lives however have allowed us to abandon some of the do smarter thinking models. 

We complain when the expediency of the service shows to be less as advertised. We willingly get angry in traffic and irritable in lines. What a perfect time to occupy your mind with social media. What a perfect time to distract your self from the treachery of inconvenience. 

When people feel inconvenienced, they are feeling the deep stab of expectation. They are saying no to the present moment. "This wasn't according to plan! I'm going to be late! Oh why did I have to make this decision. Stupid me!" 

Inconveniece can present itself in many ways. Inconveniece is in its true form is an opportunity. When you consciously notice the irritable worm of inconveniene writhe in your brain, you can choose how you want to interact with it. You can choose to let inconvenience become you and muddy your consciousness with irritability or you can let it become your teacher for acceptance. It can teach you to hone your creative critical thinking skills or simply just let you relax with the moment. 

" I notice that I am being inconvenienced. I notice that expectation has led me to falsely believe that everything always works the way it should. From my habits and experiences, I am who I am today and I have the ability to conciously be aware of that. The mere awareness that I am being inconvenienced is allowing me to be present in this moment and see the absurdity of the modern world. I notice that I can breathe consciously and simply let go of this tugging anxiety to better myself and the environment around me. I can truly accept what I cannot change! " 

Inconvenience is inevitable. It grows from our habits and the interactions we have with technology and society. Much like stoicism, we cannot choose all that happens to us, but we can always choose how we react to it. In that case, inconvenience is birthed out of unconsciousness and the lack of self knowledge. Inconvenience is the anxiety arising from not being present. 

Is that phone or computer pissing you off? Well, hitting it or throwing it won't expand your consciousness. If you do use aggression against technology, notice what it does to you. Does it make you feel better? Do you feel like a dupe, guilty or shameful? This is all fine. These are all great teachers, but nasty friends. 

"Inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." - Gilbert K. Chesterton


DG 

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