The Mayans said the world would end on December 21, 2012. Well they sure blew that one. But the world has changed rapidly. Everything just seems out of synch.
This is a time of great disruption.
Think about how much our lives have changed in a relatively short amount of time. My grandmother was born in 1905. When she was a little girl, she watched men string electric lines to her town. She saw men go from riding horses to walking on the moon. When she died in 2000, the internet had started disrupting everything.
I am convinced that sociologists will look back at now like they do the Industrial Revolution. Industries and institutions have been completely wiped out by the internet. Digital data and its transmission have collapsed borders and shrunk the world. How we consume news, music and movies has changed. And in terms of jobs and society, it has been both beautiful and bloody. The Mayans said the world would end in 2012. I think 2007 might be a better year.
Why 2007? That’s when the iPhone was introduced and right behind it: social media.
Like gas poured on a fire in a fireworks stand, social media has caused change to occur even faster. Then a year later, the Great Recession exploded our economy. We worked harder for less (if we were working at all) Then the very institutions that were there to provide stability failed us. By 2009, the only thing we had to cheer for was when a plane crashed in the Hudson and no one died. Finally someone in charge didn’t screw up. Nice work, Sulley.
I was talking to a friend today about this. There is so much depression, anxiety, suicide and addiction today. I started to wonder why. It might be because we live our lives connected to a screen (like right this second). Humans can’t evolve quickly enough to keep up with the rapid changes being thrust upon them. Our brains aren’t like microchips that are tied to Moore’s law (the principle that the speed and capability of computers can be expected to double every two years, as a result of increases in the number of transistors a microchip can contain.) We can’t keep up physically and mentally. My guess is that because of that, people are in a state of perpetual unease.
That unease is caused by being in constant fight or flight mode. The tiger is always trying to kill us now. The cortisol pumping through our bodies is wearing us out. And we are self-medicating. We are addicted to opioids, food, drugs, sex, shopping, alcohol, gambling — all because we’re constantly chasing a dopamine fix.
I’m not sure what the answer is. Prayer, meditation, exercise and yoga all help. Medication helps to an extent. We can’t got back to the 1950’s or become luddites. But we have to figure out how to unplug and unwind. We need to reconnect with our core values and rebuild the institutions that are crumbling around us — not cheer their demise.