And the Reddit's Red Glare...
Fears surrounding social media, artificial intelligence, and the future are ultimately expressions of humans rejecting many aspects of modernity. We’ve given primates the keys to technology most of us can’t begin to fathom.
Gone is the elevator pitch to describe to the lay-person how “revolutionary” tech works.
Crypto? Most people can’t agree on its function, let alone hoping everyday people adopt it. Ever wonder why flying cars visualized since the 1920’s never came to fruition? Beyond the obvious barriers of developing viable energy sources, designs, and logistics lies the simple truth — humans can barely drive safely in two dimensions, let alone three.
We can barely understand how to live with social media and its implications, let alone predict with any clarity what the world will look like when we introduce true artificial intelligence.
We aren’t adapting to these technologies well because they far outpace our brains ability to adapt to the global changes they influence. We aren’t meant for this life, at least not yet. Remember, we’re just a bunch of evolved monkeys floating through space on a giant rock; not too long ago, it was normal to watch some of our fellow humans be publicly executed.1 Sure, we might adapt in the long run. We must move forward, somehow. I wonder then, at what cost?
None of us are immune to this wide-scale destruction. I wrote this initially by hand to avoid the ever-increasing web of technology that helps keep my mind hostage and tethered to a world that does not exist.
The internet isn’t real, yet many of us are caught on the hamster wheel of a chemically induced nightmare. This unreality continues to desecrate long-held communities, in-person joy, and exploration with your fellow humans about what it means to be alive.
Truly, alive.
The world craves deeper meaning, purpose, engagement, and authenticity. Then it should say something that, as I get older, I get closer to my authentic self the farther I stray from the allure of the realm of this unreal.2
Concert ticket prices are skyrocketing. Festivals around the globe are continuing to sell out and break attendance records year-over-year, especially since the end of the pandemic. Sporting events are bringing in record profits, attendance, and ratings on television. Why is this?
It’s simple. Even though most of us are on the wheel in some way, unable or unwilling to socialize in the way we prefer how, we still, unconsciously, understand the enormous value of communal in-person experiences. Its something that cannot be replaced fully by the virtual world. Nothing truly scratches the itch unless its the real thing.
These experiences are times where we aren’t expected to engage with anything but the present, the only time we can ever experience and truly live in.
This is a call to action. To myself, to anyone reading this.
Re-calibrate the relationships you have with social media and the internet. I believe we’re not far from understanding, if we don’t already, that using various apps/websites are akin to one using various drugs; while one might be able to have a few drinks and stop, another develops alcoholism. You might be able to use heroin once and stop, while your neighbor tries it once and their brain lights up like a Christmas tree. Some of us, I bet most of us, need to consider the internet in much the same way.
My internet vice is Reddit. While others can scroll for a few minutes, I can scroll sometimes for an hour or two and not even realize where the time is going. I dumped Facebook years ago for much of the same entrancement. Instagram has no effect on me, same with Twitter. And I consider myself lucky. I actively stay away from TikTok just like I stay away from cocaine; I think it sounds like a blast and I don’t want to find myself awake in a haze at five in the morning wondering where the hell my mind went.
Technology does have its place, and in many instances, it’s very much needed and contributing positively to the world. Its taken humanity farther than we ever thought possible.
And its also robbing us of our potential.
There are those of us that might do a wonderful deed, create an important work, or take up an important cause, but instead we get caught on the wheel. We instead sap our motivation by habitually opening Instagram even after we just closed it, checking Facebook or Twitter for that neurotransmitter bump as we take a bathroom break, or endlessly scrolling TikTok for the third hour in a row instead of taking small, meaningful steps toward building an authentic life.
We need to pause and collectively take a deep breath and figure out where we go from here.
No more hoping things will change on their own from random chance. Do you, do I, have the courage to release ourselves from the shackles of our own minds from continuing along the wheel? Can you, can I, choose to do things differently? Reject, and change, parts of technology that trap us and embrace what binds us?
Dig deep, real deep, and I wish you the best in finally walking down the path of authenticity that is free from being controlled by those who do not hold your interests in their hearts.
I don’t have the chops to be a politician or leader to galvanize real change on my own. My role in life, though, is to help enable others to enact their changes. In our shared humanity, we’ll all win in the long run if we come together.
What’s your role?
You have choices to make, go make them. We have choices, and we need to make them. Let’s choose freedom, together.
With some places still carrying out the practice today, albeit rarely.
Shout out to posting this on the internet, the irony is not lost on me!