It’s a crazy world out there. Wildfires, civil unrest, political outrage, and on and on.
Well, I should say it’s a crazy world of social media out there. Here where I am on this planet, we’ve dealt with some weird weather and a bit of smoke and ash from the fires, but that’s about it.
And yet I look at tweets, Facebook posts, and Instagram photos, and catch myself thinking all of this digital chatter is “happening” in my life. I only have to put the phone away and look around at the world right in front of me to realize that none of it exists in my personal reality at all.
Meanwhile, people are buying into crazy conspiracy theories and threats to their personal realities that don’t exist in any version of the real world. It’s all a mediated experience that people are taking as truth.
It brought to mind the book Mediated: How the Media Shapes Your World and the Way You Live It by Thomas De Zengotita. It’s a fascinating read that makes the case that, thanks to media in all its formats, we have no idea what this thing we call “reality” really is.
It makes the Robin Williams joke in the image even funnier. Our sense of reality has indeed become a concept, which is a representation of a thing … not the thing itself.
De Zengotita says that things changed with the advent of mass media, specifically television. For example, ask someone where they were when JFK was assassinated or on 9/11, and get prepared to hear a personal story — even though relatively few people were on the scene in Dallas or New York City.
Compare that with the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Other than those who were there, people of that generation wouldn’t have a story to tell you — because they weren’t there via media broadcasts. They didn’t feel that they personally experienced it, so there was nothing to say.
Now we’re on the cusp of augmented reality, which Apple hopes will eventually convince us all to give up our iPhones for stylish AR glasses (this may be an improvement). But then, virtual reality … controlled by Facebook?
Yeah, no.
As an entrepreneur, I see a ton of opportunity with the increasing “virtualization” of business and life in general. And yet, the irony is that those who are smart enough to periodically unplug from the digital domain will have the focus and clarity necessary to benefit from an ever-increasingly mediated environment.
Regardless, taking a step outside of the mediated world can help your mental well-being immensely. Often people don’t even realize how disconnected from the “real” world they are. Like a fish who doesn’t consider the water it’s immersed in, we’re swimming in a rushing stream of media.
Why not put down the phone, step away from the screen, and take off the headphones. Look around.
It’s okay, right?
Mediated: How the Media Shapes Your World and the Way You Live in It (Amazon Associates)
Back that Age Up
We know there’s a ton of money being thrown at the effort to reverse biological aging so we can live not just longer, but better. Now a small clinical trial has shown it works — participants on average shed 2.5 years off their biological ages, and their immune systems also showed signs of rejuvenation.
First Hint that Body’s ‘Biological Age’ Can be Reversed
No Pain, No Pain
If you’re someone who has burned off pandemic stress by upping your athletic training to the next level, I’m proud of you. Now let’s make sure we keep things sane and avoid injury from overtraining.
Overtraining Syndrome: What It Is and How to Avoid It
What Me, Worry?
“Worry involves negative thought patterns — patterns that we’ve used over and over again. This can make them deeply ingrained in our brains. So stopping worrying involves confronting our beliefs, values, and emotions.”
How to Stop Worrying in Five Steps
The United State of Decline?
My plan has long been to become a “perpetual tourist” once my kids are out of high school, because … well, that makes me happy, and my work allows for it. I’m starting to wonder if my peripatetic plans are becoming more of a necessity than a perk.
New Research: Quality of Life is Slipping Backwards in the US
Paul Rudd: Dank Millennial Spokesperson
If you haven’t seen it yet, 51-year-old Gen Xer (and obvious recipient of some of that anti-aging serum) Paul Rudd has a message about masks for his “fellow” Millennials. But then he goes all Gen X at the end, and I’m here for it.
“Certified Young Person” Paul Rudd Says Wear a Mask
Scroll down to discover the upside of boredom, and a bit further to see Benatar on the battlefield of love. And don’t forget to have a great rest of the week where you are.
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The Stimulating Upside of Boredom
By Trudi Roth
In 1982, I got dumped by a guy who told me, “You bore me.” I think that insult particularly stung because our generation is known for being monotony masters.
We latchkey kids came home to an empty house and settled into an afternoon watching TV and doing homework over a bowl of Lucky Charms. Picking out the little marshmallows was excitement enough to slog through the day. (Sidebar: this is one more example where technology ruins all the fun.)
Then again, it was in the 1980s that University of Oregon researchers developed the “Boredom Proneness Scale” to diagnose and treat people who struggle with this emotion. Negative impacts include attention deficits, drug and alcohol abuse, depression, anxiety, and reckless behavior.
As the pandemic stretches on, so does a global boredom epidemic. This has interesting — and as Wired called it, perilous — consequences.
Beast of boredom
While being bored might seem like an innocuous problem, science says that it can be a significant mental health hazard. In a survey conducted early on in the pandemic, 3,500 quarantined Italians ranked boredom as a top negative aspect, second only to “lack of freedom.”
Leading boredom researchers neuroscientist James Danckert and psychologist John D. Eastwood, authors of the book Out of My Skull: The Psychology of Boredom, characterize the condition this way:
Boredom occurs when we are caught in a desire conundrum, wanting to do something but not wanting to do anything, and when our mental capacities, our skills, and talents, lay idle — when we are mentally unoccupied.
The lack of meaning flattens our ability to summon the coping mechanisms necessary to combat a challenge like a pandemic. It’s a stressor that saps attention and motivation.
This is why philosophers from Seneca to Schopenhauer have long characterized boredom as an existential threat.
Beat the Boredom Blues
Tolstoy defined boredom as “a desire for desires.” This sage observation also points to the antidote for ennui — now’s the time to look for things that restore a sense of purpose.
While that might sound overwhelming when you’re stuck in the doldrums, it can be as simple as taking time to think. Of course, this can also be tough for us stimulation-seeking humans; a 2014 study showed that people would rather shock themselves than sit quietly doing nothing.
A sweet spot is a place of mellow activity like meditating, reading, or listening to music. Because science deems boredom a pain signal, self-care can help soothe and improve your life.
And moreover, bring you gently back from being bored out of your mind.
What Does Boredom Do to Us — And For Us? (New Yorker)
further: flashback
Pat Benatar – Love Is A Battlefield
Live from Earth, 1983
Love Is A Battlefield was the lone studio track on Pat Benatar’s concert album Live from Earth. The single sold over a million copies, and the music video was the first ever to feature the use of dialogue. (YouTube)
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