Can You Feel It? That Something Isn't Right In The World?

Maybe I'm the only one who feels it? This thing at the pit of my stomach. The thing scratching at the back of mind. That feeling like something is quite right in the world.

We're not getting better as a people. There's like a sickness that no one wants to admit they have. Something that's decaying us slowly and we're so apathetic that we don't even care. We're just droning about day by day in hopes that, that one thing is going to "wake us up" from this mundane and bizarre existence.

This isn't what I normally write about. But after a few very restless nights, I couldn't shake the feeling that we are heading into a place we're not going to recover from.

Technology is our gift, and our curse. We depend on it. Though the argument could be had that we've done without for hundreds of years, we can also argue that now it is not a choice for us.

But this isn't about the "evils of technology." It's far deeper than that. It's about the deterioration of society through the advancement of technology.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

The more advanced we've become, the more disconnected we've become. We live in a time where:

• Vanity is celebrated. Our self-worth is determined by digital approval in the form of "likes" or emojis.
• Bad behavior is rewarded
• Human touch can be replaced with artificial satisfaction
• We don't have to go out and interact with actual human beings
• Wrongful desires can be sated and catered to via the darkest parts of the internet.

And the list goes on.

Hell, we even have a President who can't keep his asinine thoughts off of Twitter! Who, has created a culture of bigoted trolls on social media who's only goal is to spread falsehood and tear people down.

(Disclaimer: This shouldn't have to be said but I don't want my message to get twisted. I am NOT saying everyone who voted for the current President is what I just described. I'm talking specifically about the ones who are!)

And again, there is no repercussions for this behavior. Even worse, we've accepted it.

NO ONE IS WRONG!

We live in a time where everybody is right? Is that really possible? Can everybody be right? Well, thanks to the internet, everyone can find some kind of fact to back up whatever insane thoughts they have!

No one has to ever be wrong again. Which means, no one ever has to have HUMILITY again. No one has to apologize anymore. This is that disconnect that I mentioned previously. We don't have to be polite or nice anymore. We have been given free reign to be as much as an asshole as we want to be.

On the flip side of this:

There's the "hive mind"mentality! The mentality that if you think a different thought than I do, then you are either a racist, homophobic, transphobic, sexist, or just straight up a horrible person.

Don't get me wrong racism, sexism, and homophobia do exist. But it's reached the point now where these words are thrown around so carelessly that they are starting to lose their meaning.

The hive mind is a structure that is supported primarily though Social Media. Through list and groups where people can come together and post about things that suck instead of actually doing something about it.

THE TRUTH

We spend all of this energy caring about so many things that don't matter. Because of phones, our computers, etc., our attention has been sliced and diced to the point that we've become apathetic to what's right in front of us! Things like:

• Climate Change (Yes, its a thing)
• Hunger
• Homelessness
• Healthcare

When we do finally get past our selfishness to look at important issues, it's really nothing but a few hashtags on Twitter and Facebook, a posted article, maybe a protest or two, and then it's back to posting cat videos, or Starbucks or whatever microbrewery to play bar trivia with our mates!

But in all of that we are missing the much bigger picture!

MONEY

That's right! It's always been about the wealthy staying wealthy. But now the wealthy has the shiny bobble known has technology to keep our attention off of real problems.

This isn't about rich people being evil. This about the greed that comes out in some who are. You don't get to be the top 1% of the world by making sure others are taken care of.

But look at it this way:

Everything, from the political climate to the actual climate, has to do with wealthy staying wealthy. They profit off of our pain through the pharmaceutical industry. They profit from our discourse and division by selling ads, guns, and fear. They profit of our vanity, our lust, everything that we don't see right in front of our faces because of... distractions.

See, it doesn't matter what side of politics you are on. It never really did. People who are pro-Trump or anti-Trump, Democrat or Republican, Christian or Atheist, are both on the same side to the people that "matter" whether they know it our not.

SO WHATS THE SOLUTION

I don't know. You tell me. Like I said at the beginning, this is just a feeling. I could very much be wrong in my thinking. I'm not above saying I'm wrong if I am. But the question I have is,

How far can we realistically continue down this path?

This is what keeps me up at night.