Content, content, content:
Content, content, content.
Everywhere you look, content.
Here, content.
There, content.
You get content. You get content. Everyone gets content. (Oprah voice)
We’re always plugged in.
Plugged into our algorithm.
Plugged into content we enjoy.
Always watching.
Always paying attention.
Always keeping up to date with the world.
But are we?
Are we really?
Are we really smarter than we were thousands of years ago?
I’m reading a book right now about Ancient Romans.
Where, you know, time went backward rather than forward.
You know this right?
Where 100 went to 99 to 98 to 97 instead of the other way around?
Crazy to think we follow time based on a Christian calendar of when people believe Jesus was born.
Anyway, I’m reading this book called ‘Storm before the Storm’ about the collapse of the Roman empire and how there are similarities to where we are now.
As I’m reading this, I can’t stop thinking about how smart these guys were.
How much they accomplished.
Raising armies of hundreds of thousands of people out of nowhere.
Surviving battles where they watch thousands of people die before them.
But they had time.
They had time to process.
They had lots of time on their own.
Lots of time to process what’s in front of them, instead of worrying about content.
Instead of worrying about being connected.
We need to get out of the content vortex.
We need to get out of this constant need to be plugged in.
I remember going to India in 2011 where we had no phones.
3 weeks unplugged.
No internet, no service, no cellphones.
We disappeared from the digital world.
It was beautiful.
We were focused on what was in front of us.
None of us were distracted.
All of us were forced to be present and be there with the people with you.
We need to experience that more often.
Remember for almost all of history people have never had access to these devices.
These things we hold in our hand that have access to all of the world’s information at the touch of a finger.
Where we go from here is anyone’s guess, but from where we came from - the world is so different.
Now it’s been a fantastic thing.
So many more people have access to the world’s information than ever before.
But, all of us have become zombies to our devices.
The last 15 years since the creation of social media, mental health problems have gone through the roof.
Is this a case of causation or correlation given more people are also reporting depression and anxiety than ever before?
Maybe.
Still, there’s a good enough case to be made that our young people’s brains are rotting being addicted to these digital worlds.
How and why?
Content.
We can always consume endless amounts of content.
Social media companies have designed their apps using billions of dollars to hack your brains and make sure you’re addicted.
Addicted to the algorithm.
Addicted to the content.
Content, content, content.
We need to get out of this addiction to content.
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