Better off having sex or masturbating.
While we talk about lots of things, I wasn't expecting those words to come out of the mouth of my client today, but it cracked me up. We were talking about how a lot of the things we focus our time and attention on aren't that important, where the media is filled with nonsense, so people look to avoid what is "going on in the world" by burying themselves in entertainment of some sort. And that is why my student said that it is probably better for our health to have sex or masturbate instead.
I agree.
But, we will get to that in a moment.
As I see it, the media and the news is entertainment, as it doesn't actually tell what is going on in the world. It does mention events of course, as well as people, but at least at the "popular" media level, it doesn't dive into the causes or potential solutions. Instead, it is designed to be consumed passively and to make us feel a part of the conversation, even though we aren't adding anything and more importantly, doing anything to improve the situation.
This ties into the current incentives of the economy, which are to maximize wealth, make more money, even though it doesn't necessarily add value to our lives or wellbeing. A wealthy country doesn't equal a healthy society. And, because of these mechanisms in play, there are incentives to maximize profits at all levels of the supply chain, and with data and information being one of the most valuable resources, these incentives to maximize the profits they generate are also there.
The news isn't created to inform us so that we can make better decisions, it is created to maximize advertising revenues through the generation of arguments and shares. This comes through polarization of topics to create strong emotional response, rather than tempered and practical discussions that move us forward as a society. The narratives are designed to drive division, not collaboration. And it generates views for advertisements.
And it is tiring.
But, those advertising dollars come from those looking to sell something, which is, to make money from the consumers in some way or another. And, because we are tired of the state of the world, we look to avoid seeing the false reality portrayed, by diving into various forms of entertainment that gives us the feedback that things are okay, even if just for a moment. We can spend hours sitting on Playstation, feeling like we can drive a race car, or play football like a star, but once the machine turns off, what has actually changed in our lives?
So, for the most part, whichever way we turn, we are being influenced to consume, but not actually do anything much of consequence. And then, like my client said, we would be better off having sex or masturbating. It is good for the health and it at least (the sex part) requires building some form of relationship - it is a team sport, and it creates some level of intimacy, even though the depth of that intimacy might vary a lot.
Much of what we do doesn't add life value to our lives, because it is centered around the profit algorithm, which looks to maximize money, which means minimizing activity. We want to "produce" more for less, which means reducing the materials too. This sounds like it might be great for the environment, but it is likely not, because we end up consuming more as individuals, than when we are producing wellbeing as a group. Spending time having sex instead of on an X-Box, requires no mining for material resources, no production factory, no transport costs, no advertising.
A digital goal, or under the sheets - How would you rather score?
This isn't about sex though, it is about how we are living our lives, performing "busy work" that keeps us part of the monetization and maximization of profit model, even though we aren't getting anything out of it that improves our lives. We might feel we are though, because we have been convinced by the same influencing forces, that we don't need other people, we don't need to produce anything ourselves, we don't need to do anything - all we need is to feel that we are doing something.
I use the example of the people who change their profile pictures to support a country during some crisis, or use a hashtag, or share some images from a warzone, as if what they are doing makes a difference. But, it is just more entertainment, more avoidance, because what actually makes a difference, happens at the local level first, the "be the change" landscape.
But, we don't act locally, because we spend our lives consuming globally,. We see the horrors that are happening in this world and it takes our attention and energy away from the thousands of small things we could be doing to improve life where we stand, where we actually live.
Charity starts at home.
If we wanted to improve our world, we would probably do better if we first improved our relationships in our homes, or made stronger relationships within our local community. This doesn't mean we have to ignore the rest of the world, just that we would be able to take the lessons we learn from the rest of the world, and apply them at a local level, making practical actions and creating real change.
Little luxury.
Currently, most of us in this world have very little luxury, even though we may be surrounded by the trappings of financial success. Our lifestyles are degrading due to the way the economy currently operates and as a result, we are ending up with less opportunity, less security, and more stress in general. This has a knock-on effect on all things, including the things that actually affect as locally.
It doesn't matter if we read all the news on what is happening in Gaza, or post about the war in Ukraine It doesn't matter if we write articles about the clusterfuck that is the economy, or worse than that, politics. It means nothing to change a profile picture, or virtue signal social superiority. If we aren't improving ourselves and our lives at the local level in meaningful ways, it is all meaningless and we are part of the problem.
I know I have many changes to make.
Luxury isn't my ability to buy things, it is the opportunity to improve our lives, increase our wellbeing at home and in our extended group, pushing out further and further. At times, this can be through purchases, but there are other factors too, possibly many that are more important and should be higher on my list. This doesn't exclude me from interacting with content globally, or discussing it with people globally too, in fact, it empowers it, because it creates a two-way conduit to pull in lessons learned from others, and push out lessons I learn along the way too.
Sex and masturbation.
There is a difference though, right?
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
I think there are a lot of things that we would be better off spending our time doing than worrying about many of the daily things that we do. You almost have to change how you are wired to get out of that cycle though. It's the norm and what should be the norm is now the exception. I think more of us should strive to be exceptional.
After talking to many people about it, there seems to be this idea that unless in the cycle, we are missing out on something. In my opinion, there is very little that the news will bring that is actionable immediately. If there is something important, someone will let me know.
I agree!!! I like the way you phrased this.
It seems that you are making analogies between sex and relationships in the local community, and masturbation and various forms of entertainment such as video games.
I notice that you are saying that masturbation is good for the health, except when it is too frequent (it makes you deaf ;-)
I totally agree with you that having good relationships is better than playing video games. Myself, I am not good at relationships. Thank god, I met my wife, otherwise I would be quite alone. But I am trying to improve this.
What was that, you'll have to speak up! ;D
Sometimes I wonder if we are "bad" at relationships because of who we are, or because of what we have been conditioned to want. I am quite certain there are differences, but I think that we are affected by our surroundings and it impacts on us differently from one to another. For instance, I might be heavily influenced by an advertisement for something, where the same adverts makes no impression on you. Maybe we have a predisposition to be more or less affected by conditions, in the same way alcoholism has a genetic component to it?
This reminded me of a song from a Catalan group which says: "to live is not being alive, it is our attitude of filling our lives"
We seem to be more accepting of a survival mentality as an individual, when what we should be doing is thriving as a society.
Well, a healthy society is based on the healthy families.
For sure. And I feel that strong families are out of fashion.
That’s why we see so many fake news. Their aim is actually not to inform us but to make money so some of these people do not even care if they are posting fake or authentic e news. They just want to make money and that’s all so we have to be careful of the things we believe in especially on social media
Fake news is great for polarization - as it supports people's belief systems, even if what they believe is nonsense.
For me, luxury is upvoting your post for $20. And many other posts a day. Luxury is giving others hundreds of dollars a month. Because now there are many countries where this is an annual salary.
Once upon a time, for a very short period, I came close....
Would be pretty amazing to reward people in ways where they can really benefit and, start to become owners. Treat it as an ATM, eventually it runs out of money.
Oh my God my favorite car brand of course after Rolls Royce and Bugatti..... Mercedes 🥰🥰❤️❤️
It is my picture, but not my car :)
It's beautiful though
The news is always political and whatever they share is what they want us to see. Most times it is far from the truth.
I will rather read market analysis than read the news paper
This was another part of the conversation. People spend hours on media, hours on entertainment - next to know time on improving the things that actually impact them.
We need to make sure about two things: luxury only makes senses when you got so much money, that it could be obscene for most people... Being vain is a state of mind, in my opinion. Different and necessary related things. Loved your post, friend. It makes me think about the ideal and the real.
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Everything depends on what we define luxury. Something can be luxury for us while not luxury for others, depending on how much we want something AND how much we can afford that thing.
So from my perspective, is subjective :D
All true and highlights how shallow society really is. Charity does begin at home and countries should fix themselves first before handing out truck loads to other countries and whether it benefits them or not is debatable.
Funny how someone can say the most arbitrary thing and what is so funny is you just never expect it which is good because that is genuine showing they have trust in you to say anything.
I do agree that people are focusing on other areas more than their own local areas. I think that you have a point that a lot of what they are doing to show support doesn't amount to anything other than lip service. There is very little we can do on our side to affect the bigger issues, so our efforts are better suited to address those that we can change.
There is also one more thing which is what we used as a means to earn the money. That choice makes the difference. Someone getting the dividend and the delegation reward paid out in the bank account weekly won't be complaining of money and luxury they would be dealing with boredom time to pass etc type of mental issues. Choice of how the cash comes in matters I suppose.
What do you think you should be doing more of?