A Mind Prison
Unless you're already too addicted to notice, the internet has become a mind prison and everyone around looks more than happy to serve a life sentence. Our crime? Validation. An intrinsic part of being human that can destroy dreams, ideas, and eventually the person seeking to be validated.
The web is no longer exclusive to nerds and geeks seeking to escape reality and expand their knowledge; It is everywhere for anyone. Social networks changed the World and the way we behave. Developers like you and me enabled this "progress" to take place. We helped to transform a communication device into a weapon.
As a result, we are more distant from each other. We tend to favor a cold, lifeless message over physical interaction. We give away too much information without anyone asking for it. We spend so much time crafting our online identity that it finally takes over who we were.
Social networks exploit our need to feel wanted and be liked by turning it into a feature. A score that enslaves your attention, for it is considered proof that may shatter whatever self-perception we believed to have. You start comparing your life to others, envy and self-doubt kicks in. Shallow and irrelevant thoughts follow to occupy your mind. Dreams and ideas are delayed until they fade away. You join the swarm and become a number.
“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” - Eleanor Roosevelt
There is more to life than what our eyes can perceive. Your DNA is just as unique as the circumstances that led to your existence and you can't change that. The time to move forward is now. Data can be conserved but, we expire. Let's spend less time online and enjoy family and friends the way we're supposed to. Your mind will benefit from it and will be in better shape to make those dreams come true.
Written by Jonah
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11 Responses
Society always sought attention, the internet gave them all a loudspeaker, it enclosed people even more into their own thoughts and poor self evaluation.
Awesome post, it makes want to take some fresh air and shift my focus away from the monitor.
Word. Enjoy it while you can!
Just imagine how the current youth grow up. Being online, using facebook/twitter is almost expected. There is hardly a choice to make for them. Combine that with your quote; the future might only exist of people who need no longer think for themselves or take up the quest to research what choice to take in a certain situation. Mankind will turn to the wisdom and foolishness of the internet and each other.
Great post!
The great validation generation! Thank you for reading Daniel!
I'm not exactly a social network geek, but my first impulse was to share your post. Which proves exactly how right you are...
:-)
Thanks for reading Ionut! :)
What if I spend most time with family online? (I dont, but many do), what if my family all live 1000 miles away and online is the best place?
What if most of my friends don't do the whole online thing? Will I still feel that social media is overtaking me? I don't.
Interesting post, well made, but it's scare mongering about the 'dangers' of the internet when there is actually no danger. The general 'people' will continue to do largely as they have done for a very long time, just because the technologies of interaction have changed doesn't mean the intrinsic value of the interaction has changed.
The 'impersonal' or 'anonymous' message will become a relic of the past as technology continues to evolve and become more and more integrated with our concept of self anyway so it's moot and transient to worry too much about it.
Although, having said all that, I'd concur that face to face family/friends time should still be the most 'important' interaction we hold.
Thanks for sharing your opinion Matt. I wrote it from my perspective. It is what I see everyday on this side of the Planet. The post is simply about not letting technology enslave your self.
Scare mongering would be to talk about what sites like Facebook actually do with their user data and how it is being used against them by 3rd party companies and the Government.
People here in Puerto Rico and the US are like zombies glued to their "smartphones". You go to a family reunion or party, expecting to be social but only their physical presence is there. Their minds are else where. It gets worse everyday. This is what triggered me to write the post.
I would like to suggest you to post this on medium.com. No i'm not advertising the site. It's better there cause many put articles such as this. And it is a good read. I'd like to re-read this on my android. Thanks.
Thanks, I'll post this ASAP and let you know ;)
Hey Angelo, I posted the articles to Medium like you suggested. They're available at https://medium.com/@jonahoffline
Thanks! :)
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