Zero-Day Post

Overloading Your Attention

The internet and the increased connectedness of people has led to a lot of amazing things for mankind. Gone are the days of having shelves stocked with encyclopedias or searching for your old friends via phone books; you don't even need to talk to an actual person in order to put food on the table anymore. However, as is the case with anything that becomes popular, there will come people and corporations that seek to take advantage of that for profit.

Nowadays, the majority of people have a device in their pocket for a good portion of the day, probably with (at least) a few dozen apps that constantly bombard them with notifications, fighting for our attention. From hundreds of useless email subscriptions to more pointless outraged comments on social media, these action-driving pop-ups rarely provide any added value and serve only to distract us from the things that actually matter. Not only do they divert your attention from your immediate surroundings (friends, family, a busy intersection, etc.), but they also distract (and prevent) you from self-reflection and gaining meaningful insights into your day, your life, and ultimately, into your self.

Past & Future Lives

The older millennials can remember a time before cell phones became so entrenched in our lives - a time when you would go out with friends and actually be present. A time when your friends knew you for who you were in person and you were known and defined by your very real and visible personality traits, rather than on your most recent political rant or pictures you posted on Facebook. During this “simpler” time, you could (and likely would) grab your bike, go out with friends, trek through a forest, race down the street or build a tree fort in the woods. Your parents would encourage you to get out of the house and this wasn’t ever really a problem because at that time, you wanted to be out of the house. This was a time where you would actually walk over to a friend’s house to play video games instead of playing online by yourself at home; you would go out and play sports with a group, get dirty, possibly get injured, but hey - this is what built real character. Somewhere along the way though, we lost our authentic selves and became more closely aligned with a carefully curated online identity, taking us further away from the real-world connectedness we all, ironically, seem to so deeply crave.

I'm not saying that there aren’t kids out there who don't still do all of the above, but it's clearly becoming increasingly less common as there are now so many more technological distractions; iPADS and cellphones have become part of the lives of children at a much earlier age and in some cases, even stand in as a babysitter (or parent...) in a pinch. In saying this, I strongly believe that the effects and subsequent addictions of social media leads to reduced introspection. As a result, this lack of self-reflection has been shown to be a major contributor of depression among teens and adolescents which is becoming much more prevalent in our society. We now live in a time where we are so distracted by what we consume that we don’t take the time to actually stop and think about our lives (the non-curated versions) and in some ways, we’ve actually become averse to doing so. This new online world has provided us an opportunity to live two lives: the ones we show to others and the ones we know to be true. The fact that social media permits us to create whatever version of ourselves and our lives that we wish to show makes it easier (and often more attractive) to focus on what we want our lives to look like without being honest with ourselves about what they really are.

Mindless Consumption

The combination of having an abundance of apps on your phone, and the bad habit of unlocking it at the slightest hint of boredom is a dangerous one. Many people fall into the trap of using their phone to make time pass quicker around the more dismal moments of their day. I've caught myself in this cycle from time to time. I've been addicted to sitting and staring at my phone, consumed by activities such as:

• mindlessly scrolling through other people's lives on Instagram
• browsing ideas on Pinterest without taking action
• aimlessly reading comments on Reddit and Youtube
• binge watching mediocre TV shows
• shopping for crap that I don't really need on Amazon
• playing video games that give you "achievements" but don't actually translate into real-life skills or accomplishments

What many people don't stop to realize is that, by relentlessly consuming information, your mind does not get the opportunity to flow freely in order to come up with new and creative ideas. This is why the subreddit /r/Showerthoughts exists now, since this is the only place people aren't distracted with their devices.

Most people tend to consume instead of creating because it's easier.

It's easier to consume because there's more immediate reward in doing things that are fun and mindless - we’ve settled for and chosen quick-fix dopamine hits over more sustainable sources of happiness and fulfillment such as effort, development and change. But, while consumption and passively participating in our lives may be overtly easier, it also comes with one main drawback: feeling like shit afterwards. When our days are spent staring at a screen, engrossed in lives that are not our own and content that requires limited critical thinking skills, we are often left laying in bed at the end of the day, wondering why we wasted all that time when we could have been more productive. Then, despite those thoughts (and the ones where you swear tomorrow will be different…), you go to sleep, you wake up, then you do the same shit over again; you end up in a vicious cycle of addiction. You are one person versus thousands of experts and psychologists that exploit weaknesses in our brains. And they can manipulate our thoughts and actions, especially in people that lack discipline and willpower.

Mindful Creativity

So how do we fight back? How do we regain control over our lives and establish meaning, purpose and a true sense of connectedness with ourselves and with others? To start, we can choose to do things that are challenging - we can choose to strive for the things that challenge us to become better versions of ourselves versus settling for what is easiest and when we do this, we move from passively tolerating our lives for what they are to actively choosing what we want them to be. This - this is how we regain control and feel better.We need to move away from immediate gratification and what feels good in the moment and move towards taking action that will benefit your life over the years to come. But… What makes this so challenging is that - put simply - it’s not easy, so, we must also learn to be persistent and to create a habit, one at a time, that adds a bit of value to our lives. Throw yourself all-in; be a little obsessive compulsive if that's what helps you. Even if you fail at the task, you still win as a person and we all need to start somewhere.

To build upon that, instead of mindlessly consuming, it is better to engage in creative actions as alternatives to the distraction-based examples above, such as:

• meeting new people and forging meaningful connections
• picking up some tools and building that DIY project in the garage
• shooting your own TV shows and learning some video editing skills (or anything else useful on Udemy)
• learning to sell on Amazon or opening your own online store
• learning to build your own video game
• learning to play an instrument or creating your own beats
• brainstorming business ideas and mapping out a plan
• joining a leisure sport with new people
• learning to fix something yourself

Balancing Your Intentions

The intent of this site is to give myself a space to meditate and get my thoughts out; a small nook that temporarily reverts the internet to a place of free-speech and a space before it was filled with advertisements and outrage culture. This space allows me to get away from the distractions of life and reflect on things that are important to me - without judgement and without the fear of cancellation. This is a place where I can reflect on a regular basis and in doing so, I can attempt to better myself. This is also a place to build more meaningful thought patterns so that I can take action on my deeper, more valuable passions and as a result, be able to derive authentic happiness from those actions.

Everyone deserves a space to gather their thoughts, but not everyone takes the time. A time for quiet moments when you allow yourself to think thoughts that are yours in order to reveal your honest yearnings. If you're reading this, I hope that you will.