Incessant noise pollution.
June 30, 2015
Although there are obvious immense benefits to our current forms of instant communication, the constant flow of information and expectations for instant responses are not conducive to reflection, introspection, or the proper development of thought-out conclusions.Everything is now. The email was sent 15 minutes ago, all it takes is a few clicks to find the information and respond, so the response is expected right away. The phone is blinking with the ever flowing emails from work, text messages both work related and personal. Even if you take a lunch break, office calls are forwarded to your cell phone, notifications from 20 different social media apps, calendar notifications, the constant noise about whatever news crisis is being sensationalized out of proportion by the media in order to create popular panic. Don't forget to pay your bills, update your registrations, renew your insurance, submit whatever forms are due by a certain deadline.
Noise, noise, noise. It just keeps getting louder and louder, until the outside noise is so loud, that one can no longer hear their own thoughts. This is the mainstream direction which tech generation lives are being pushed towards.
That "silent space" that's needed in between thoughts in order for the mind to gain proper perspective is now constantly being taken up by noise. Everything is about processing information as quickly as possible and producing output from it instantly.
Is it any wonder then that the majority of new art produced within most fields (music, movies, writings, paintings, sculptures, etc.) is mostly void of deep significance and instead all clutters up to diluted mass produced garbage?
The artists neither have the perspective, nor inner space needed to be able to evoke a deep form of expression that can be transformed into meaningful, transcendent manifestation. It's all just superficial output. Even for well established artists, the trend is that if you don't publish a new book within a certain period of time, release a new song or album, create a new painting, write a new poem, then that artist is forgotten and left behind, drowned out by the constant stream of ever increasingly louder noise.
This isn't exclusive to the output of artistic expression, this is an issue affecting every aspect of the human potential for thought reflection, and the ability to gain meaningful perspective.
Finding 20 minutes in a day to "meditate" isn't a proper solution. This isn't enough. There's a certain amount of empty time that's needed throughout the day, in between processing information, in order to really be able to absorb the information fully, and allow the mind to analyze the information from several different perspectives, rather than simply outputting the most immediate response that becomes available.
The current push forces individuals to, on the surface, seem more knowledgeable, well informed, and intelligent, but actually this accelerated push to process information at ever increasing speeds decreases the different routes that individuals' actual thinking processes can take.
The incessant noise pollution is overwhelming.