The Fences Of The Light Are Down

What do you do to further yourself? I believe a moment spent in pursuit of inconsequential ends or of inconsequence itself is a moment wasted. It is a shame that in our lifetime so many moments are squandered and discarded like they have no value, or worse, that they could not have value. The differentiation between the two is merely a critique on the laziness of people today. Not only do we waste our time, but then we rationalize the fact by saying, “Oh, I probably wouldn’t have gotten anywhere anyway.” It seems like a fairly obvious observation that there is no problem with the work in need of completion or the time itself. Then it necessarily follows that there must be a problem with the mindset. How did we get to the point where we could put off work and then explain it away without giving second thought? Even worse, how can we abandon reasonable pursuits for those of no value? The most important question, of course, is posed more in search for a solution to the issues at hand rather than for the sources of said issues, but without knowledge of the source, an analysis of the eventuality would be incomplete and uninformed. With that in mind, I am very curious as to what set of circumstances would allow the potential of great individuals to go unrealized, lost in a cesspool of ultimately useless social networking and ROUS sites. Now I know what you're thinking. "Dude! A bunch of sites dedicated entirely to rodents of unusual size??? Sign me up!" Alas, the reality is far less glamorous. I have characterized sites like 9gag and Pinterest as repositories of useless shit, or *ahem* ROUS. #dreadpirate4life

I know that in my own life, this issue has been the result of control issues, and therefore comes down to pride. No matter how much I enjoyed whatever I needed to be doing, the fact that I "had" to do it took away the enjoyment and made it unattractive. I would abandon physics homework and instead read articles online about new findings in physics and think to myself, "Man I wish I knew how Gauss' law worked so I could understand this," instead of learning about Gauss' law in class. Yea, doesn't make much sense to me now either. Given the popularity of Facebook and 9gag, the issue is still very present. Honestly, people make comics about this issue and how the sites are ruining their lives and then post them on the site. Another possible cause is an inherent sense of rebellion that this generation has gleaned throughout childhood. What I find interesting about rebellion against one's parents is the fact that, in general, we gain most of our worldview and thoughts from our parents at earlier ages. This would lead me to believe that either rebellion is just an ignorant form of attempting to secure one's identity as independent from his or her parents', or it has been taught by parents' actions. I am inclined to lean in neither direction as usual and therefore would maintain that it is likely some combination of the two in the majority of cases. My third postulation regarding the origin of our laziness is one that I have eluded to previously. I think we have a misplaced sense of duty and a sense of entitlement. Again, I am also inclined to throw the blame at parents in this case given the psychological implications of classical and operant conditioning. Unfortunately for the "victim," as that viewpoint may characterize the involved member of our generation, anyone with the faculties permitting observation and logical thought can be rid of this disillusionment. Without strict environment control, the conditioning of humans revolves more around appeals to their selfish desires because the purest forms of conditioning present as logically fallible associations. To that end, after you have the ability to think and the will to claim independence, you must assume responsibility for yourself. It is from that perspective that I will address possible solutions.

"All but the briskest riders thrown"

Unfortunately, many of the ideas that I can think of are all subject to the biases of the mindset in question when they are realized. For example, a major portion of the mindset revolves around rationalization. Therefore, many adhering to the mindset will jump to defend every action of theirs as a pursuit of some higher form of learning. It does not come down to a calculus to ascertain the best possible use of time as it should, but revolves around a blind swing in defense to the first criticism of one's identity. Could a paltry comic depicting a revenge scheme on a cheating ex lead you into an examination of the morals of adultery which would ultimately effect a positive change in your perspective? Without a doubt. Is that the case for even a small majority of the instances in question? Hardly. If you are the person out of seven billion who philosophically analyzes everything he or she observes, I love you. If not, you should probably just admit to yourself that you waste your time (I still love you, just not as much as aforementioned philosoraptor). The bad news, as I have found many times, is that for most positive changes to occur and stick within one's personality, a lifestyle change is normally required. And to be frank, it's a bitch. We come to enjoy those little time wasters that do nothing for us. Whoever invents these things to appeal to people has done their homework obnoxiously well. These things are like crack, seriously. I'm not trying to destroy them though. There are always positive impacts that come from social interactions, but the principle of moderation has long since been abandoned.

I have come to realize that we no longer treat technology as a tool. We have created a sickening relationship with it as if it were a human being. We browse the internet like the internet will feel bad if we ignore it. We refresh message screens and feel bad as if it is ignoring us. The sense of purpose for technology has been lost in the advent of its assimilation into ourselves. 

Oh by the way, I did just realize as I was writing this that it has kind of turned into a rage against technology. I'm not saying that there are not other ways that we waste our time when we could be making ourselves better, but as demonstrated by my reflexive fixation on it, technology is by far the biggest alternative we turn to (and yes you can mock me for posting this on a blog later, but "speak to your audience"). I will leave the application of what I am observing to you and your personal vice.

Honestly what I feel has made my life so much better over the past few months is the application of moderation (with exceptions of course)  and the realization that the internet really is just a tool for us to accomplish the tasks. If I am going to sit down and look at facebook, I read something first before I open the window. It has helped separate me from distractions at whatever level I associated those things with my identity on. Our lives here on earth are either too precious to waste because they are all we have, or given to us with the responsibility to grow ourselves. I don't know if it is the same for everyone, but I feel like the pursuit and acquisition of new knowledge is much more rewarding than momentary amusement. Then again, I may need to delve into the haste of today's society as well. Who wants to read for another hour though, am I right? Maybe next time. Anyway, I hope that you didn't just read this to waste time.

End.

"…and worlds hang on the trees"