Afternoon folks, it’s been a while. I’ll be keeping today’s blog post relatively short as I adjust to swimming in the tumultuous sea of all that’s associated with final year. After a summer of somewhat nihilistic activities, I’ve come to a few realisations. Not to sound like your I’m preaching too much, but there is something I read recently that struck a chord. 

Technological advancement and its rapid acceleration has brought upon us unprecedented levels of comfort in the developed world. Never before has it been so easy to share funny stories in WhatsApp group chats, send someone a ‘you up text’ at 8:30pm (…), or to read swathes upon swathes of news articles online. We live in an age of hyper-convenience, predicated by the transmission of data and the continual development of complex algorithms. As a result of this general trend, our internet usage in Europe has risen 35% since 2011. Is this a good thing?

Figures of those afflicted by mental health issues are also on the rise. South Korea, for example, is one of the prime examples globally of a country that experienced an economic boom that lifted it out of the egregious hands of poverty. Between 1985 and 2020 its economy boomed, and yet so did its figures for those suffering from mental health issues. With more money, better jobs and a better education for its citizens, came a 400% rise in suicide rates. Technology improves in tandem with increases in standards of living. 

In countries in their infancy in terms of development, such as Haiti, Peru and Ghana, the average rate of suicide for every 100,000 is approximately 5. In developed countries like Switzerland, New Zealand and Ireland, our number is more than double this. Take what you will from those numbers, but it seems that higher levels of material comfort induces a higher level of mental strife. At our core as humans, we are neanderthals who have been fortunate to experience the benefits of evolution over the last 130,000 years. Neither the prefrontal cortex nor the amygdala in our brains were cut out for the constant stream of information that technology gifts us every time we unlock our phones. We weren’t made for this age of hyperconnectivity. It seems we, as a species, could definitely take a step back. 

In my experience, it truly is the small things in life that make it a life worth living. In the past, I was guilty of mindlessly and even numbly scrolling through swathes of utter shite on social media. Travelling places, I’d listen to music rather than my thoughts. Watching a movie, I’d incessantly refresh Snapchat, rather than appreciate how good (or terrible) the movienwas. I’ve since found a lot of solace in doing things being fully conscious. It’s allowed me to make better decisions and form a general clearer world view. 

So in short; technology is incredibly useful and important. It allows us to converse at ease, to make ourselves smarter, and to entertain ourselves. The major pitfall is that with extremely high usage levels, our vision of life is at best blurred; and at worst it is darkened. Instead of texting your friend, go out and meet them. Instead of drooling over pictures of an influencer, ask someone you find attractive out on a coffee date. Life is there to be lived in real time, not through the lens of an iPhone.

Evening,

Since the conclusion of my exams, I’ve had a lot of free time. This free time has conferred on me an opportunity to engage in myriad activities. On the one hand, I have ample time to drink bottles of beer and talk until the early hours with my friends on video call. I could wake in early afternoon, and lay bound with fetters of pleasurable impotence, my inaction rendering no real consequence.

I believe that lasting happiness is the byproduct of a balance of the above two lifestyles. Not everyone can get up at 4:30am, ready to run 30km a day like a Navy SEAL. Just as other people’s mental health would fast deteriorate with an extremely cavalier lifestyle comprising of late nights, social media and cheap alcohol.

That said, one of the unfortunate consequences of today’s era is that people can become extremely accustomed to comfort. Not excess, but comfort. One of the reasons for this is beguiling expectations. Let us put it this way. If you were a medieval woman, chances were high that you were a peasant. The peasant lifestyle entailed infrequent bathing (approximately once a month), reproducing and living to a good age of forty. You could not rationally expect anything more than shovelling horse manure seven days a week. As such, if you wanted a new bull cart, and if you got one, you were content. Think of a similar scenario in today’s age. You’re a middle class youth, and you want (and aim), to buy a Mercedes in five years time. If in five years time you can only afford a Fiat, chances are you’ll feel a sense of discontent.

I would imagine this discontent stems from a mixture of things.

One, comparing yourself to others: this is one of the more unfortunate human instincts. The medieval woman with the bull cart couldn’t see Instagram posts of a medieval Molly-Mae Hague in the royal castle, with a super-bull cart 9000. She couldn’t see the silicon

Two, expectations of yourself: this is one of the prime drivers of ambition. It is innate to the human condition to strive for more, and to constantly seek self improvement. This is to be applauded. However, engaging in a never-ending search for self betterment will ultimately lead you down a rabbit hole. This rabbit hole, although endowed with extrinsic things like expensive cars and diamond rings, also entails feelings of inadequacy and un-fulfiment. Far better to take a step back every once in a while, and have a few beers on a video call with your friends.

That said, I do believe that fulfilment and discomfort are closely correlated. It is such an easy period in history to be alive in a physical sense. Never before now has the human life expectancy been so high, nor have the chances of physical war been so low. Never before have swathes of information been readily available to you at the touch of a mobile phone. With Zoom, Netflix and Amazon Delivery, unquestionably it has never been easier to self isolate due to Covid-19. However, during this period in history, it has probably never been easier to have an extremely cavalier attitude to life. It has never been easier to drink at home and drop into members of the opposite sexes DMs.

It is therefore up to us to seek more than what the realms of comfort and cheap alcohol offer. Look within yourself, find a difficult challenge, and strive to accomplish it. As one of the most influential philosophers of the modern era, Frederick Nietzsche put it, “the tree that would grow to heaven must send its roots to hell.” Embrace things that are not incredibly comforting, like frequent exercise, reading a fiction or non-fiction book or telling a parent how much you appreciate them. Only then will you genuinely and deeply enjoy the comfort we have become so accustomed to.

Afternoon folks, hope everyone is keeping well. During these times, a lot of us have had a lot time to reflect on not just our personal lives, but also on the lives of others. What I am referring to, specifically, is the innate human tendency to compare themselves to others. This tendency can have both positive and negative consequences for our well being. A prime example of this ying and yang, you’ve probably guessed it, is social media.

What I believe is hugely detrimental to mental well being is the overuse of media platforms such as Instagram. It is well-documented the addiction in users that Instagram relies on in order to keep the wheel of capitalism turning. Every time you perform the ‘swipe up to refresh’ mechanism, you are feeding the reward department of your brain, providing yourself with a sharp hit of dopamine (the chemical that is associated with positive emotions. One experiences a sharp dopamine hit when they smoke a cigarette, exercise or have an orgasm). Occasionally, one may experience the ‘happy chemical’, which is serotonin. Serotonin hits occur when one watches a funny video, receives a nice text message from a loved one, or reminisces on times gone by by looking at old Instagram stories. There is a host of other things. Overall a mix of the aforementioned chemicals is what makes us human. They are two of the myriad chemicals that our brain mixes together to form the self.

What Instagram, in particular, does is provides the brain with an unsolicited and almost relentless supply of dopamine. I cannot stress enough the negative consequences of this long term. When you are looking at Rob Lipsett’s page, you may feel compelled to view his litany of travel, fitness and food posts, and feel a twinge of envy within. This is because of our innate tendency to compare ourselves to others, exacerbated by our collective addiction to the dopamine we get from looking our phones. When it’s miserable out, and we see Rob Lipsett on holidays for the fourteenth time this year (bearing in mind it’s only bleedin’ April), it’s difficult to not feel even a pang of unhappiness. Such is life for the average person these days. During these times, it is easy to over-consume social media. Handheld media consumption has risen 46% since 2010, and logic suggests this figure will increase considerably as technology improves (i.e. Instagram’s algorithm gets smarter) and we in turn become more addicted (i.e. we will keep seeking the mental rewards in the form dopamine hits). All of this is worsened by the travel ban that may continue for a good while longer.

On the contrary, I believe there are positive consequences to comparing yourselves to others. However, this is not in the ‘jaysus Rob Lipsett has massive arms, I’m gonna hit the gym 7 days a week’ type of comparison. This is a comparison that has empathetic connotations. Instead of comparing ourselves to young Rob (who, like most people, only posts pictures of himself that reflect well on his image), we can compare ourselves to those closer to us. Instead of looking at our phones and wishing we were on a beach in the Maldives, think about how different life would be like if we didn’t live where we do live. How about, instead of comparing our abs to those of fitness models, we are thankful for a body and mind that are pretty much fully operative? How about, instead of bitter towards the travel ban, we are thankful we have a house to live in, Wifi to use, and books to read? Gratitude can emanate from reminding ourselves the simple fact: that life could be worse.

Thank you for reading.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.