The Silent Effects of Information Overload and Individualism
Where are our cultural practices taking us?
Where are our cultural practices taking us?
Our generation today has an unlimited, $0 a month subscription to all the information in the world. All that Google allows. Any time and in any place, we can search for anything and get a result in seconds.
From a consumer lens, what an amazing deal that this is free!
From a business lens, HOW are we able to use this service for free?
We’ve gone from casual consumers to easily distracted, monetizable products. Co’s like Facebook and Google (+ other ad-driven businesses) are modeled financially around our own distraction, leveraging our blind tendency for consumption.
This blind tendency is working hand in hand with our growing individualistic society.
Not only do we have access to this unlimited information, we also now care about it more than ever before.
Never have we been more about leveling up — that next promotion, more money, that new job, etc. It’s always about more; whether we realize it or not. Just by looking at the ads on our phones, the majority cater towards productizing the next life hack to make us faster, stronger, smarter, and just simply better.
And it gets worse because not only do we want to level up, but we want to be seen as we level up. We want recognition from the people around us FOR these things. Because what’s the point of being rich and successful if I’m not able to show for it and be known for it?
Every time we open our phones, we drive a wedge that increasingly splits knowing who we actually are and who we want to be. All simply because that gap is more visible than ever before.
We’re victims of a society that’s chasing each other’s false self around in circles. Zooming out, it looks like a picture of an over-caffeinated hamster wheel running endlessly, and eventually burning out. Within this circle-chasing is where we’re finding our value and worth. And it’s driving us to the ground.
Some numbers1:
7/10 Millenials would say they are experiencing some level of burnout
54% of Millenials say they are chronically lonely and say that we always or sometimes feel that no one knows us well
30% of millennials and get z currently say they experience disruptive anxiety or depression
The costs of this free, unlimited plan?
Have we ever taken a step back to ask the (obvious?) question - With all this authority and knowledge and enhancement, why aren’t we immensely better for it?
This is all happening to us silently.
We’re a part of the first people to experience a lifetime of this. We’re not supposed to be experts. But how can we as a community begin redeeming these spaces for good? For authenticity? How can we create rhythms, structure, and boundaries around this overload to combat the mindless trajectory?
Rather than an attack, consider it a sounding of the alarm and a sharing of what’s on our heart.
We have a heart for this problem and it’s where we continue to dig for solutions to build.
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For more check out “How Millenials became the burnout generation” by Anne Petersen
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Read This is why we’re building Zealm
https://www.gallup.com/workplace/237377/millennials-burning.aspx