Nena Arias | June 7, 2021
With so much technology at our fingertips and pandemic lockdowns, are people wasting their brains away? Are we living at a time when too many people are spending excessive amounts of time on nothingness by spending hours a day on their phones, entertainment, video games, computers, screens and YouTube, etc., and not enough on things with positive lasting value?
Have people changed in these recent decades due to brain atrophy and low-quality thinking? People are becoming what they are consuming. They are obsessed by trifles and since they are consuming the information from the same sources, they sound like recordings repeating over and over again verbatim the thoughts and conclusions of others rather than to voice intelligent conversations through their own processes. They know more about celebrities and their private lives than they do about the condition of the world around them. Many have opinions but are checked out politically. Much talk, no action.
Many of us might agree that since television and radio were invented and widely used, along with the dumbing down of education the mind started to become dull and lazy. If that was then, what can we say about now when modern technology has awakened insatiable appetites for more and more gadgets that don’t truly develop the personal mind with critical thinking. Also, studies have shown that with all this texting, scrolling, clicking, and watching and this pandemic it has provided a tremendous opportunity for people to take inventory of how they do all of life. People are shocked at how truly empty their lives are in spite of always being so “busy”. What’s it all for, and what lasting result worth having is it producing? Is it worth all the time invested that one will never get back? Even the suicide rate is increasing because nothingness is overwhelming them. People want to only attribute it to mental disorders, but is it?
Filling the head with small distractions — a good show, an interesting article, an enticing YouTube video, a follow on Twitter and incessant texting—have become what people use to fill their time and brains with. But how can those pass times offer any kind of solid strength and direction for the real challenges of life. Is it any wonder that drug addiction is on the rise? Too many people choose to numb themselves instead of really examining and facing the challenges head on. Trivial things are more entertaining and easily available. The addiction for superficiality grows by spending those countless hours of distraction that it is even hard to hold a person’s fixed attention in a conversation without them staring at their phones. They will rudely interrupt your conversation repeatedly by accepting calls, answering texts or checking all the ding notifications.
It may seem funny to see posts that show people running into objects, falling while they are walking or not paying attention while crossing the street because they can’t take their eyes off of their electronic gadgets long enough to stay safe while walking or driving. Texting and driving have become such a hazard and people are getting hurt or even losing their lives in car accidents because of these addictions. All for what?
The brain and spirit come up empty with these trivial nothings. They often don’t rise for anything above themselves because their entire world is only about them. Selfishness and idleness are the devil’s workshops. People are so pliable they play right into his hands. Doctors, lawyers, psychologists and psychiatrists have become the gods of these modern generations. People look to them for help in coping with life and they wonder why and get all confused when nothing those well-meaning professionals offer works down deep enough. They just help with buying a little time only to fall down deeper when the problems present themselves in an even stronger fashion.
This trivial and superficial way of confronting life has infected our society to no end. Talk about societal pandemics! We are infecting the up-and-coming generations with all this nothingness. Is it any wonder they can’t find their true identity and feel that nothing matters because they find the important things of life empty of true meaning?
To these younger generations it’s no big deal to abort an unborn human being, after all, it’s just a “blob of cells”. Yes, let’s take the wealth of the rich and spread it around, why should we break our backs working when they have so much by “exploiting” others. Etc., etc., etc.
Not only is triviality and superficiality ruining individuals but impacting all of our society. Are we on the road to total collapse like the great civilization of the past? Do we have time to turn this destructive trend around or is it too late for us and it’s just a matter of time in our near future that we will crumble too, and our regrets will be horrendous?
Living life irresponsibly will always bring regrets. Wake up, America!