“Matter and light”–a poem by me.
So, I’ve been seeing stories in the news about how rates of anxiety among young people have skyrocketed in recent years. And I’ve also been thinking about how many of my own friends are suffering from anxiety. And so, I was thinking about why this might be the case—why are we all so anxious when we live in a country and a time when our physical needs (ala Maslow’s hierarchy) are much more likely to be met than nearly any time in history?
There are a lot of answers to that question, but one that strikes me particularly is the fact that so much of our lives is on-line—and I don’t just mean “on-line” in terms of how much time we spend on social media. I mean everything seems to be on-line: shopping, banking, working, health care, friendships, education. if we aren’t doing it on line, then the records related to it are on line. And things on-line always seema little bit less real. You can’t touch them, or hold them. When you turn off your device they disappear.
So, my theory is that, because so much of our lives is on-line, much of how we define ourselves is also tied up on-line in a way that is intangible, or untouchable, and that contributes to our need to be seen, because as long as others see us, notice us, pay attention to us, that makes us feel more real.
Anyway, that’s where this poem came from. What do you think?
Loki is the Philosopher King 