Thursday, November 04, 2021

Living in the Age of Overstimulation

It is almost impossible enumerate all the many ways busybody people can get stimulated these days. We have now smart homes, smart cars, smart phones, smart watches ...

Many webpages you visit on a daily basis play instantly videos and push advertisement right in your face. Many of the videos are fast paced and quickly changing scenes or imagery! Life flashes by.

The urge to become the next Internet or social media sensation drives many people to constantly video tape everything and anything. They pose or act by themselves or with others in front of almost any conceivable background. As if life was a screenplay! Immerse yourself!

People also tend to walk alone by themselves in public places like shopping malls and are on the phone constantly speaking loudly as if they were talking to themselves. Or they are mostly busy typing something on their phones while moving around with their eyes fixed on the display ignoring their surroundings or other people.

Then there are the myriads of selfies taken every day at every occasion and so on ...

What a contrast to e.g. Henry David Thoreau's simple life in a small hut absorbed in self reflection. 

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