Go Ahead, Scroll Your Life Away

Our curse of modern age is that we have so much that we rarely focus on what is truly important to us. We stare at our screens and scroll the hours away. By the time we look up, life has moved on without us.

In our modern world, we have so much at our disposal. We have unlimited access to information, an abundance of resources, multiple avenues to meet people and a lot of power and leverage than all generations of human beings who came before. We have so much but most of us don't do anything with it.

I know the feeling all too well. You decide to go through Instagram, Twitter or even the pandemic called Tiktok. You watch the funny videos, the informative reels, the insightful Youtube shorts and so on. You meant even get caught in the famous thirst-trap. You spend hours going through information that you think is important. Simply consuming and get quick dopamine hits. You might even be think to yourself how much you know about the world. You are knowledgeable and you welcome more of that knowledge. However, when all is done and the hours have passed, you feel a deep sense of unfulfillment. You don't feel productive as your day feels so wasted. You ask what you could have done better.

The sad part about this story is that you do it over and over again. Pouring your precious hours down the drain of social media and endless consumption. Writing this even makes me feel the pain because I know I could have done better and I can still do better.

In those moment of endless consumption, I usually feel the urge to create. It comes to me like a whisper as I scroll the internet in pursuit of the pleasure to know more things that are not useful. Endless consumption is a loud and charismatic master that distracts you from your productive and creative self. I am sure I am not the only one who has felt this. You have the urge to write that next blog or continue coding your project or send that follow-up email. However, it all gets derailed by this charismatic consumption figure that wants all your attention. How many times has your creative self won that battle?

Endless consumption is how productive and creative pursuits die. You kick your creative potential down the road, in hopes that the road is long enough. What if I told you that some of your greatest ideas were fleeting and if they are not acted upon now, they will disappear forever. Does this scare you? Well, you should be scared. Every time you scroll through social media and ignore that great idea, you are one great idea short in achieving your goals. Just imagine if you put down your phone and worked on that idea. Bringing it to life in all its splendor and showing it to the world. You will be one executed idea closer to achieveing your goals, whatever they may be.

These goals don't have to be creative or productive as such. It could be calling up an old friend, playing with your little brother, going out for a walk and cooking that new recipe. Even the small things matter and they are always worth it. Your soul will thank you for doing those things just as much as any productive endeavour.

Put down the phone and see the world as something to be acted upon. That screen is not what life is about. You have the ability to shape and mold the world around you. You can make observations and draw conclusions just as well as anyone else you see on the internet. Your unique perspective is just as important as anyone else. Speak and do. Engage in the field of life. You are not observer, you are a player. Be a hero in your own story. Win, lose, engage, embrace, fight, breath, imagine, love, connect, disset, interpret. Do it all, feel it all. Life is waiting for you.