the internet is driving you crazy
October 15, 2023
log OFF
Instagram stories are the new activism. Where else can one post something, demonstrating their shining virtue to the world so that all others know that they are on the right side of an issue. Truly, paragons of virtue. With social media, you can broadcast all your affiliations to the world. Did you know that today is homicide awareness day? That’s right! Ten-thousand people die daily of homicide, and you are the only one brave enough to speak out and let people know that murder is not OK. Scrolling through your newsfeed, let the poison be Facebook, Instagram, or G-d forbid, TikTok, you are obligated to form opinions on things that you would never have known about if you were an eighteenth-century potato farmer. Thank G-d that the Internet (or 24-hour news, etc.) lets you know that bad things are happening. Only with your mental facilities set to ruminate on this topic can it be solved.
The Internet is driving us insane. Each tweet viewed carries with it a set of assumptions which latch onto the brain, a mental parasite if you will, information that you need not consume, that which will, if not handled with gloves, affect a worldview in unforeseen ways. No one is built differently; if one thinks that this information will not affect them, that is simply not how the brain works. One is the output of all their inputs. The worst part of this is that caring about the topic of the week does nothing to change it. The mental landscape only becomes the physical when a great deal of people work for it to be so and most things will never achieve this.
Oh, have you heard about Trump’s new court case? What about Brexit? Oh, you must know about the newest in a war happening far from home! Knowledge of these things will only hurt you. You, unless you are uniquely placed in circumstance cannot and will not affect the actual execution of facts to boots on the ground. No Instagram graphics will win a war. Public opinion may temporarily change, but mostly it reverts to the mean. There are certain momentous occasions in which the tide turns as public opinion turns to righteousness and real change is made. The sad part is that will not happen for 95% of the causes you post about on Instagram.
There has been so much written about social media causing anxiety, depression, etc., and most articles discussing this are wrong. The real issue with social media is not bullying, etc. (you can just turn your phone off), but rather the information you receive. We are not meant to know so much. Given the data of a world around us so much bigger than our individual actions, with so many terrible events happening in the world, how can we find ourselves? One is adrift in a world extending so far from them. When I have the blessed opportunity to look up at the stars on a dark night, I feel a sense of wonder at the world, and I feel so small. Social media does this, but only in tragedy. Given so much happening around them, many can barely place their own needs above those of everyone else going along. Some degree of selfishness is necessary to be normal. Care more for those around you and not those which you cannot help. Else, you risk being controlled by facts which mean nothing to you.
We are not doomed to nihilism. Real change can be made; real things do not happen on the Internet. Dealing in the realm of words only does so much. Donate. Log off. Protest. Put your feet on the pavement. Walk toward justice. Your opponents know this lesson already; they are depending on you to continue in your status quo. When I say care about things, you must care for yourself as well.