Who would have thought a few years ago that we humans had the capacity to consume copious amounts of useless information everyday? Information which doesn't add any value is shovelled daily into our heads. The surprising part is that we ourselves acquire the means (or the devices) to access information and then slowly we lose the right over what, where and when of it. I guess it all happened gradually & we got ensnared in it all. First it was Facebook, Twitter, then Instagram, Whatsapp and now there are things that I do not even understand.
I happened to quit Facebook more than a year back when I lost a bet. Strangely, I didn't miss it. I still don't. I was reassured by Facebook that all my data would be intact so I can come back anytime. Yet I didn't feel like going back, not even once. Probably all I was doing 'Facebooking' was hurting my eyes and increasing my screen time or rather decreasing my productive time. Yes I cannot deny that it was very addictive but I could get over it so easily was something I had never imagined. It is a relief now that I lost that bet. I use Whatsapp only nowadays and that too on a private number with only my first family so that at least I think that I am in control. I get calls from my friends to know my whereabouts, whether I am on the same planet or somewhere else. They think I am lost ever since I uninstalled Whatsapp on my regular number. So if you are not reachable on any media other than a 'telephone', people call to inquire if you are lost or something? Earlier we would not find time to talk to each other for days or months together but now the new normal is to hear what all our friends have to say first thing in the morning. So if someone is not on Whatsapp, then it feels like you heard from them ages ago even if you spoke to them last month only. But since friends know us better than we know ourselves, they leave me alone.
But that's my story. I could afford to avoid it at my age. But when you are younger, peer pressure matters a lot. To be a part of the peer group, you have to do certain things. Or rather you end up copying your peers without knowing what is it that 'you' really want. Now it is not so important because youth is when you explore and make mistakes the most. The sad part is when it starts shaping your personality for worse. I am not hinting at the obvious mistakes that young people make like drugs etc but those subtle ones that on surface are harmless but slowly become detrimental to not just them but to the whole planet.
Social media changes the way we identify ourselves. We are exposed to hundreds of undesirable concepts floating on it. A major concept which has some rub off on us all in various degrees is that it gives us un-achievable consumerist goals. People are scanning each other's activities 24x7 on social media and setting high standards of life for themselves based on what their peers do. A few million years ago, man could live in dens, eat raw food and wander without clothes. Yet he was not this dissatisfied as we are today. We have so much more than the cavemen but it is not enough. This does not just apply to the younger generation but all of us. Nothing is enough ever. We want more and more, here and now. There are more luxuries available so why not experience them. To worsen the situation, everything gets reported on social media so that no one is spared. Unless you have a head of your own, it is easy to get absorbed by it all. And it becomes the objective of our life - how to maximize pleasure.
When I was working in London, I had a colleague who told me she is saving her meager salary to buy Chanel No.5 someday. I could not digest it back then. Here is a whole generation of kids who are making their parents save for bigger smart phones. No picture is taken without pouts and it is absolutely a sin to repeat your dresses. On the face of it, all this sounds quite normal and as I said harmless. It doesn't matter so much if you shop a lot! But behind it all is a machinery working incessantly to provide the comforts people seek. That machinery is nothing but various lifestyle brands making luxury accessible and affordable as well. Everyone wants a big phone, a better pair of jeans or heels, regardless of their social status. So this machinery is busy churning out products that suit different pockets. They are not doing us a favor, they are only interested in profits.
If the GDP of a country is not growing year on year basis, its ratings fall. I am sure a lot of it is to do with how consumerist are its people and how businesses are leveraging those opportunities. But have we ever thought how our own actions, however small they may be, have an effect on the planet. We want a nice pair of jeans, but something that fits our budget. There is a businessman somewhere who can sense this opportunity and will find ways to capture you as his customer. He will find cheaper raw material, cheap land and cheap labor. Who thinks about how the waste produced by such factories gets disposed of. It all gets dumped in drains, rivers and land sites. And who bothers about workers rights or safety. It is the profit that matters. Who has seen the future? We all want it all, here and now.
I am in no way saying you stop buying phones, clothes or cars. But everything is good in moderation. I will sight a few examples of how we get fooled by corporates. And how the influx of updates about our friend's vacation on social media make us insecure.
Have you ever observed that Dettol runs ads for its liquid soap saying, it is better than soap bars. It gives the logic that soap bars pose threat of germs traveling from one pair of hands to the other. If it is true, has Dettol stopped making soap bars? No it hasn't. Those who use soaps are dying of diseases? No! It is only fooling those it can fool. How does it matter? It matters, because just to create another profitable category, they are selling liquid soaps which come in plastic bottles which add to the household waste. We end up using more soap when using liquid soap so that more water is used to wash it off and more waste water is entering our rivers. What for? Only profits. Ask experts they would deny that liquid soap does anything better than what soap bars do. Even if there are some benefits, they definitely do not justify the pollution it causes. It is nothing but convenience that they sell and we buy because we think we are very important and so is our time. Only a little effort of rubbing soap on hands will save the Earth from getting polluted further. See how a small change on our end makes a big difference?
Let's take another simple example of how we buy our veggies. How many of us remember to carry carry-bags with us when we go veggie shopping? None of us. That's that, what I see is that people don't let the vendor put beans, ladyfinger and peas together. They want them in separate poly-bags. All the comfort is worth it but do we remember to carry the bags from home. No, never. We want fresh carry bags every time, and throw them away mindlessly. After all what does it cost? Nothing. What does it cost the earth to absorb it back, a lot. A lot of marine life is dying because the polybags get deposited on the floor of the ocean choking the life beneath them. I get tears writing it. But there are people to whom all this does not matter. People like you and me, not the illiterate ones. Not that they are not aware of it but it takes conscious effort to make these changes. And what does it take to separate beans from ladyfingers? Only a few minutes, which we want to save so that we can find time to catch up on Whatsapp and see what our friend is wearing today or where are they vacationing. No wonder the caveman was happier and more satisfied.
As for the economy, even if these plastic bags making factories get out of business someday, there will be some other business opportunity up for grabs. Why do things which harm the Earth and later on harm us as well in the end of the day. It is up to us to make sensible decisions. What is the use of all the information if we don't make wise choices and understand the role we play in global warming.
Social media changes the way we identify ourselves. We are exposed to hundreds of undesirable concepts floating on it. A major concept which has some rub off on us all in various degrees is that it gives us un-achievable consumerist goals. People are scanning each other's activities 24x7 on social media and setting high standards of life for themselves based on what their peers do. A few million years ago, man could live in dens, eat raw food and wander without clothes. Yet he was not this dissatisfied as we are today. We have so much more than the cavemen but it is not enough. This does not just apply to the younger generation but all of us. Nothing is enough ever. We want more and more, here and now. There are more luxuries available so why not experience them. To worsen the situation, everything gets reported on social media so that no one is spared. Unless you have a head of your own, it is easy to get absorbed by it all. And it becomes the objective of our life - how to maximize pleasure.
When I was working in London, I had a colleague who told me she is saving her meager salary to buy Chanel No.5 someday. I could not digest it back then. Here is a whole generation of kids who are making their parents save for bigger smart phones. No picture is taken without pouts and it is absolutely a sin to repeat your dresses. On the face of it, all this sounds quite normal and as I said harmless. It doesn't matter so much if you shop a lot! But behind it all is a machinery working incessantly to provide the comforts people seek. That machinery is nothing but various lifestyle brands making luxury accessible and affordable as well. Everyone wants a big phone, a better pair of jeans or heels, regardless of their social status. So this machinery is busy churning out products that suit different pockets. They are not doing us a favor, they are only interested in profits.
If the GDP of a country is not growing year on year basis, its ratings fall. I am sure a lot of it is to do with how consumerist are its people and how businesses are leveraging those opportunities. But have we ever thought how our own actions, however small they may be, have an effect on the planet. We want a nice pair of jeans, but something that fits our budget. There is a businessman somewhere who can sense this opportunity and will find ways to capture you as his customer. He will find cheaper raw material, cheap land and cheap labor. Who thinks about how the waste produced by such factories gets disposed of. It all gets dumped in drains, rivers and land sites. And who bothers about workers rights or safety. It is the profit that matters. Who has seen the future? We all want it all, here and now.
I am in no way saying you stop buying phones, clothes or cars. But everything is good in moderation. I will sight a few examples of how we get fooled by corporates. And how the influx of updates about our friend's vacation on social media make us insecure.
Have you ever observed that Dettol runs ads for its liquid soap saying, it is better than soap bars. It gives the logic that soap bars pose threat of germs traveling from one pair of hands to the other. If it is true, has Dettol stopped making soap bars? No it hasn't. Those who use soaps are dying of diseases? No! It is only fooling those it can fool. How does it matter? It matters, because just to create another profitable category, they are selling liquid soaps which come in plastic bottles which add to the household waste. We end up using more soap when using liquid soap so that more water is used to wash it off and more waste water is entering our rivers. What for? Only profits. Ask experts they would deny that liquid soap does anything better than what soap bars do. Even if there are some benefits, they definitely do not justify the pollution it causes. It is nothing but convenience that they sell and we buy because we think we are very important and so is our time. Only a little effort of rubbing soap on hands will save the Earth from getting polluted further. See how a small change on our end makes a big difference?
Let's take another simple example of how we buy our veggies. How many of us remember to carry carry-bags with us when we go veggie shopping? None of us. That's that, what I see is that people don't let the vendor put beans, ladyfinger and peas together. They want them in separate poly-bags. All the comfort is worth it but do we remember to carry the bags from home. No, never. We want fresh carry bags every time, and throw them away mindlessly. After all what does it cost? Nothing. What does it cost the earth to absorb it back, a lot. A lot of marine life is dying because the polybags get deposited on the floor of the ocean choking the life beneath them. I get tears writing it. But there are people to whom all this does not matter. People like you and me, not the illiterate ones. Not that they are not aware of it but it takes conscious effort to make these changes. And what does it take to separate beans from ladyfingers? Only a few minutes, which we want to save so that we can find time to catch up on Whatsapp and see what our friend is wearing today or where are they vacationing. No wonder the caveman was happier and more satisfied.
As for the economy, even if these plastic bags making factories get out of business someday, there will be some other business opportunity up for grabs. Why do things which harm the Earth and later on harm us as well in the end of the day. It is up to us to make sensible decisions. What is the use of all the information if we don't make wise choices and understand the role we play in global warming.
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