the idiosyncratic era
and the sameness it brings us
Junkie: noun, informal:
a person with a compulsive habit or obsessive dependency on something.
Looking back a year ago, or maybe even a few months, I could have been classified a junkie. Not your usual drug addict, but your friendly neighbourhood dopamine junkie. Far worse, far more dangerous.
What is this ‘idiosyncratic era’ that I am talking about? This idiosyncratic era is formed off our self-indulgence, lack of self-awareness and the sameness that comes with it. This era developed from the idiosyncratic generation that the internet brought us.
the idiosyncrasy
The peculiarity lies within itself. Our perception of time has changed, along with our attention span and our sense of clarity. This is because of this age’s natural social and technical advancements which is leading us to a hedonistic world like in Huxley’s Brave New World, where it is a dystopia disguised in a form of a utopia; lacking of thought, individuality, making us paralysed from the mind and soul.1 In contrast, the world in Orwell’s 1984 seems less terrifying.
Perception and Rituals
According to Byung-Chul Han, in his book The Scent of Time, the modern individual is in a state of a temporal crisis. We’re in a constant rush of things and are unable to catch up to ourselves. There’s no “wiggle room” for us, as we’ve filled all our time with events just to keep us busy.2
"The reason they are so disposed, however, is that they are preoccupied with living, not with living well.”
-Aristotle in Politics
We now associate living well with being busy. But we’re busy without any conclusion. A mindless rush, which gives no sense of completion, and we end up dissatisfied.
We have to pause. We have to adapt to rituals that take enough time for us to stop drifting across: synchronise ourselves with the asynchronous routines that stop the rush and have certain thresholds for which we work to reach. And these thresholds give us the idea of what we need to do. These have vanished in this modern world, where we have the freedom of choice to do anything.
“It is not the absence of ties, but ties themselves that set us free.”
-Byung-Chul Han in The Scent of Time
When you feel that time is flying by fast, and you end up disappointed, get away from the exploitative nature of automation.
Where does all our time go?
The modern individual, especially teenagers, spends his time mindlessly scrolling social media and the Internet. But why that is so?
Eva Illouz says, in her book Why Love Hurts: A Sociological Explanation,
“[The Internet] is positioning the modern individual as a desiring subject, longing for experiences, daydreaming about objects or forms of life, and living experiences in an imaginary and virtual mode.”
This age of high-information faces as a hindrance to our curiosity, creativity and imagination. I mean, if we can get everything, by doing nothing, who wouldn’t choose to live that way? And in the modern age, the social media feeds and streaming recommendations let you achieve just that.
Consumer culture, in this way, proves as a medium to kill our imagination3 as we keep getting more and more recommendations and ads and what not. All without lifting a finger.
Capitalism, and the rise of use of AI and technology is leading to illiteracy, and a lack of clarity (remember Brave New World? Does it seem familiar?). The cognitive ease that modern systems evoke, makes it much easier to get trapped. Because our brain is a lazy, spoilt brat. Once it tastes bliss, it doesn’t want to let go.
We are living in the inevitable phase of the internet4. One can only hope that people get bored from all this, and eventually change their course of life. Zeitgeist is always changing.
“But there is a good side of the internet too!”
If there wasn’t, I wouldn’t have been writing here. Millions of writers, content creators and researchers need the Internet. But this is the creator culture, not the consumer culture (which has its own cons). It’s the modern consumer who should be more careful (maybe we can argue about this point?).
It’s a curse and a boon, no doubt. Maybe many of us still use it for good and well-defined purposes. I probably never would have been a reader, or a writer, if it wasn’t for the Internet. Nevertheless, the distractions seep into our day-to-day lives. Without permission. How do we solve this?
going to the other side
How much are you willing to sacrifice for your future?
The time you spend mindlessly scrolling this and that and those, could have been used for your better future (although the example doesn’t only apply to scrolling). Perhaps you could learn a new skill, work on a project, spend time with family.
The solution is to delay the gratification process, and producing obstacles to increase the friction between you and the things that are distracting you.
“An idle mind is a dangerous mind”
Because of this idleness, we like to see ourselves distracted. But with what we are distracted is not always very productive. Instead, add more to your plate, though make sure that it is something that you like and which serves a purpose.5
The most coherent solution, however, is to live a digitally minimal life. Cal Newport, Professor of Computer Science at Georgetown University, captures this area insightfully in his book. Reducing our dependency on technology inevitably leads to the end of the overstimulation.
Memento Mori
The Stoic philosophers lived by the code of “do your best, because clock’s ticking”. And they lived pretty well for most of their lives.
“The value of attentiveness varies in proportion to its object. You’re better off not giving the small things more time than they deserve.”
-Marcus Aurelius in Meditations, 4.32
Analyse what you've been wasting your time on and get a hold of yourself. Stop slipping by.
In reality, it's hard and tiresome. But you'd be doing your future self a favour. And you can expect changes within months. Maybe it's just the thing that can save us. Pausing, thinking, and taking enough time to live well.
A quick word from the author: I would like to thank all of my subscribers for being with me in this journey, especially since this a very new territory. But once in a while, we ought to move outside the bubble. It has been a while since I have posted, so here it is, a longer-than-usual post.
Byung-Chul Han, The Agony of Eros, p37
The End of the Extremely Online Era - Thomas J. Bevan
i can personally attest that digital minimalism is a great way to break the pattern of this consumption trap. i spent 3 years without a phone and off social media before re-entering that world. i still struggle with effectively using the technology in a way that is good for me.
i wrote something in a similar vein recently, which i guess would be the follow-up to digital minimalism, an argument for more creativity and less consumption
Very insightful, I quite liked the information given.