QotD: Perpetual Amusement

I’m an early riser. It did not start out that way but that’s the way it is now. I get the sideways looks I most certainly gave others when I say I wake up between 0430-0530 daily without an alarm. So in that vein, I also know that there are things I can do or accomplish early as well. Home Depot opens at 0600 on Saturday and no one is there, it’s magical.

So in the wee hours of a Saturday morning, I alone pulled into the 24-hour gas station on Ft. Belvoir, tapped my card on the fuel pump, put in my zip, and then the screen told me I was good to go. I was going to quietly ride out my fill-up, but then it happened. The small screen atop the pump began with some incredibly loud, zippy infomercial shattering my relaxing dawn. I could not get away from it.

And then the voice of Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions echoed in my head...“Are you not entertained?!”

Is this what we're becoming? A 24/7, dopamine-addicted, FOMO band of digital zombies? Are we not able to have some silence even while pumping gas? Should we not allow our senses to work a little better without looking at a screen? Can't we just take in the smells of fresh Virginia air (or fresh gasoline…), of the sounds of morning, the sights of spring and the bouquet of colors that come with it, or just the feel of the cool morning air on one's skin? Can we not go into our own heads and sit with our thoughts even if only for a moment?

The digital cards are stacked against us. I just listened to “Scarcity Brain” by Michael Easter. His premise is that we are naturally built to identify and then rectify scarcity in our lives. The problem being that most of us aren’t in any type of scarcity. The modern-day scarcity “loop” is created via the digital universe. There are whole companies focused solely on keeping us submerged in the digital mire. It started with keeping people in the casinos in Vegas and now that technology is leveraged by multiple social media corporations and sales conglomerates vying for your attention and money. And it’s working. We’ve become a society that has to get likes, uses filters, and projects a personal facade across the internet. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, X, LinkedIn, YouTube, streaming services (binge-watching anyone?), and websites complete with algorithmic ads professionally, or should I say nefariously, designed to make us believe we are going to miss out.

I am concerned about myself, my kids, and especially my grandkids. What will the world look like for them? It feels like a 1984-esque technological sedative, a virtual world to quell the masses. As for me, I am fighting for me and mine to get away. I will continue to think of my technology as a tool vice an environment that I have to be in and to be clear it’s a struggle. I have built a play structure complete with climbing walls in my backyard for the grandkids and I play outside with them a fair amount. We do crafts and board games. I don’t listen to music as much when I exercise and when I do it’s wordless. I found I like sweating it out to symphonic classical music. I have even dialed back the podcasts. I read real books but the Kindle’s convenience is a huge magnet and “notes” pulls you back into the digital world. I’ve taken to carrying a notebook to write thoughts and notes in. I occasionally draw, get creative, try to play the ukulele and enjoy writing. The caveat is writing puts me back onto the computer. And then there is the ever-present Ricochetti. I like reading and engaging but now all I can hear is...

“Are you not entertained? Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here?” From the film Gladiator, 2002