I went into the city to have a coffee and a chat with a friend this evening, and like normal these days, I took the tram. However, I went in early and had time to write about brushing my teeth, which was hopefully more interesting to read than what it sounds. However, what the article is mainly about if you aren't willing to read it, is paying attention.
While with my friend and due to one of the conversations we were having about the state of society, this topic became relevant again, and he brought up hearing that exercising with earbuds in and listening to music, doesn't get as good a workout as powering through "unassisted" and paying attention. He might have read it elsewhere too, but it is actually something I mentioned to him many years ago when I was telling about my ability to run. With earbuds in it is easier, it still sucks, but it is easier. Without, it is impossible.
I don't run.
However, since I catch the tram a lot these days, I have often noticed how when people get off, some will make it across the track before the tram gets going again. They do this because they are impatient, because while they might want to get to a connecting bus, the buses wait when a tram has arrived to give people time to get off and board the bus. Getting across the track isn't necessary.
A couple times a week I see people crossing the track in front of the tram they just got off oblivious to it starting to move, despite the dinging sound it makes on departure. They don't look, they just cross, as if they are entitled to hold up the tram. All of them have had earbuds in, or are looking at a phone - or both. Today's group of fools not only crossed in front of the tram that they had just disembarked, but they stepped out into the path of an oncoming tram also.
These people aren't deaf. They aren't blind.
But they are dumb.
When I was with my daughter, Smallsteps, the other day, we witnessed a person do this and she as someone who catches the tram twice daily if not more all week, noted she sees it often. But while it is a terrible example for her (I remind her to "make good decisions" when she is out), it is a clear indicator of how poorly we pay attention to our environment when we are preoccupied. If people are stepping out in front of a tram they have just got off and endangering their lives, what else are they missing out on?
And this was the conversation I was having with my friend about the tooth brush, where while we are listening to music or scrolling through a platform feed, or in front of the TV, a whole world of events are happening around us that we are completely ignorant of. As I have oft said, our soul mate might be seated next to us on the bus, but we never even looked up from our phone.
Love at first sight? Dead.
Life is passing us by, while we consume content that largely doesn't matter. It might be a bit different if we were spending our digital time doing things that helped us improve, but most of the time, it is just entertainment. No, it is worse than entertainment, it is just filler used to avoid dealing with whatever issues we have. We pay attention to the irrelevant, so we miss the opportunity to do what would matter to us. But we feel okay about it, because we aren't paying attention anyway.
Life is full of experience, but we are prioritising the "digital experience" over physical, because we have been conditioned to believe it is important. Yesterday I was writing about the addictive design of social media platforms, but one of the things that is never brought up is that we are not only conditioned to keep going back for the dopamine hit, but to believe it is important to do so.
The design is to replace valuable experience, not to provide it.
We end up lost in a world of irrelevance, whilst the things that matter to us at the core of our evolution, go neglected. The reverse-engineering of the economics of our behaviour hasn't been used to change our behaviours to improve our lives and relationships, quite the opposite. Our behaviours have been monetised, and the more we behave counter to our wellbeing, the more profit gets made. The economic incentives are incredibly misaligned for the improvement of our lives as individuals, communities, societies, or species.
Pay attention.
Or pay with your life.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
Be part of the Hive discussion.
And you may be rewarded.
