Issues for the Internet Generation: On Solitude

Thanks to the proliferation of smartphones, being alone has become a skill.

In today's technological life, people have long been able to communicate without having to speak. If you think of this situation in a romantic way, the text communication on the Internet seems to be some kind of telepathy.

Adler believes that all troubles come from relationships. Thinking on this basis is that as long as you can communicate with someone in real time, whether speaking or using words, you are basically out of the realm of solitude. So even if you haven't spoken, as long as you're connected to the Internet, it's hard to get involved with being alone.

But using a community is not necessarily the same as socializing. The most common state of people using mobile phones today is to be on the Internet all the time, roaming almost unconsciously.

The core of this problem, I think, stems from human greed. When information becomes more accessible than supermarket food, we become input monsters craving information, eating too much but still feeling thirsty. When there are too many things to grasp at one time, nothing can be grasped. Seems to read a lot, but may not experience anything. This is the current state of overuse of the Internet.

But on the other hand, if you get rid of the Internet and become isolated, you may really be able to obtain the special victory like a hermit, but you will also miss many wonderful things in this world. As a mortal who still wants to absorb new knowledge, what should he do? Is there really a way to be comfortable and balanced, just seeing tools as tools, always consciously deciding when and how much to use?

The first thing to face is that, from beginning to end, what affects the quality of life and soul is still the depth of understanding of things and the depth of connection with people. The easiest way to achieve depth of absorption is to absorb as little as possible.

In May, there was a news in Japan discussing that the younger generation listened to music, and many people skipped the intro, interlude and ending, and only listened to the singing part. When I saw this news, I realized more deeply that today's fast food is not only more and more popular with short videos, but people's ability to focus on one thing has generally declined, such a simple problem.

Concentrating on doing one thing at a time, simply immersing in one thing itself, seems to have become a very weird thing in this day and age.

A friend of mine recently came to talk to me frequently because of a brokenhearted relationship. It's not a complaint, it's just a need for some companionship and advice. The other party may have read some of my articles and become curious about my inner world, and may think that I no longer have such troubles.

but it is not the truth. I just found many fulcrums in my life, so that when some of the lines are broken, I will not lose the overall balance. The so-called cunning rabbit has three caves, and I may have dug more than three caves. Guitar, running, climbing, video games, puzzles, travel, reading, writing, chasing dramas, meditation, pouring coffee, every activity has become my tree hole. When many things are not going well, there is always one or two things that I can do without distraction.

And perhaps the habit of long-term travel has established, so that the degree of dependence on the Internet can be well controlled. In the past few years when I used to rely heavily on the Internet, I always felt anxious because of too much information, and felt depressed because my brain couldn’t stop working. No matter how much you absorb, there is always a feeling that you have not made great progress. Only later did I understand that it was of course, life depends on actual combat. Applying what you have learned has long been a cliché.

No matter how the world changes, as long as you are clearly aware of your own changes, focus on the things you can control, and slowly grow your self-confidence through deeply engaged activities. We don’t have to be frightened, afraid that we will miss something, so we can really live.