Monkeys and the toys

In the past few years, we have given up the habit of being alone. Surely we might be alone at home, or sitting by ourselves at some cafe sipping our coffees, but we are glued to some or the other distraction while we are at it. Technology has given us so many toys and gadgets to fill up our empty time, space and lives. Look around you, people are walking alone yet have buds plugged in their ears, a couple is maybe sitting in a cafe yet glued to their own phone screens. Someone is reading, someone is watching Netflix and chilling. It's so much easier to doomscroll and fidget than face our innermost thoughts. Most of us find these extraneous distractions much more meaningful and rewarding in the moment. Some reels, some shorts, some videos and we feel accomplished and knowledgeable. 

When did we last read an actual book or researched deep into a topic? Isn't it so much easier to ask AI to give an overview of opinions and facts so we can accept it as validated and true? How dumb and short sighted have we become? We don't ask questions, not to ourselves and not to the people who deserve to be questioned? We put our heads down, get glued to our respective gadgets and get herded like a sheep. 

Truly speaking the short bursts of relief and pleasure from those toys is addictive, but how did we reach here in the first place? What motivated us to feed our brain with such subpar bursts of dopamine in the first place? It's because the  prospect of facing our innermost quandries and thoughts seems so much more difficult and overwhelming.

What motivates us to keep watching one more reel despite knowing that a deadline or exam is near or maybe we are getting late? Because it's easier to ignore the pressure and responsibility and then blame it on that technology we ourselves have created.

When did you last sit in silence and let your thoughts flow uninterrupted? 

When did you last do a workout or a walk without any music, podcast or companion to distract you?

 When did you last admire the world, the nature and the mundane around you? 

When did you last not run away from your cruel mind and faced it head on?

Leave an hour, can we even sit for 5 minutes in absolute silence and stillness!!

A hundred tabs are running in our minds and our screens, yet we complain we can't seem to focus. I don't think we really want to focus. I don't think we want those tabs to close. Because the alternative option seems too scary.

So excuse me for a moment, while I go and sit for maybe 5 minutes today with my own monkey mind....