We live in the era of information: We are given a wealth of information, and with that comes the dwindling of our attention spans.
Do you remember the negative stigma attached to ADD and everyone who acquired it? Each of those individuals was prescribed medication, given special treatment and perceived as somewhat disabled.
First off, there’s nothing more ignorant than the term disabled, because guess what? Society at large is disabled in many different ways. We all have our faults, but that shouldn’t confine us to medication and labels.
There’s certainly an issue with how society views people with mental, physical and learning disabilities, but there’s an unspoken epidemic in our society: We can’t pay attention.
We have so much going on at all times. We feel the need to stay connected through social media, the need to answer a text message and most importantly, the need to take a selfie. Is this seriously where humanity is headed? We all have f*cking ADD at this point, yet no one is taking medication for it and no one is seeing therapists for it.
It’s the norm, right? Everyone is consumed by this false reality of connectivity and the information overload that we’re forgetting how to be compassionate people living in the present. The digital identity you have doesn’t come into play when you are out in the real world, and some people prefer their digital identities to their true selves.
What happened to enjoying friends and family and actually living life? We are so distracted by an overwhelming amount of bullsh*t. Our self-perception is all f*cked up because we want to be ourselves, but we also want a sense of belonging.
We tweet what we're doing, instead of enjoying it in the present moment. We post that impeccable photo with the perfect filter on Instagram that we just spent 20 minutes editing. The affirmation we receive from social media is what keeps us going back to it; it practically replaces our sense of belonging in the real world.
The addiction our generation has to social media is almost as bad as an addiction to heroin. The outcomes of both include depression and loneliness. So, what’s the difference? The problem is no one sees it, and if they do, they don’t talk about it.
Talk about it! Share your thoughts. Being yourself has become so difficult over the years because we’re spending more time maintaining an image than we are living life.
We’re real people who can’t focus anymore because we have to keep up with our digital lives. We’re always connected and have lost ourselves in realms of social media because of it. We don’t really know ourselves anymore because we can’t bear to be in the comfort of solitude. We need news, gossip and perfect pictures to keep us progressing as a society.
We all need medication. The prescription is simple: We all need to enjoy the relationships we have in our lives, the moments that are captured in our heads rather than through the lens of a mobile device, the words that are said that can’t be deleted and the human element that will never be replaced.
We need our attention back.
Photo via Tumblr
