Please Try Silence: a think piece on media overconsumption
Picture your day to day. How much of that time is spent consuming some form of media? Specifically, how often are you drowning out the silence of life with digital noise? Almost everyone is guilty of this – people just do not know how to sit in silence anymore. We watch something while eating, listen to something while walking or at work. The silence needs to be filled, but why?
When prepping for this article and while writing it, I challenged myself to not consume audio media. At first it’s uncomfortable. If you aren’t used to it, the silence can be overwhelming. I delved deep and when I started reflecting on this uncomfortability I realized it stems from a want to not be present. The idea of distracting yourself with anything is just more fun than living in the moment. It is an uphill battle due to how easy and accessible media is to us. The real question this leads me to is this: what are we really trying to distract ourselves from?
American mental health decline is very relevant to this conversation. As our political climate rips apart even further, it's no wonder why people long for distractions. Sitting with your own thoughts gets you acknowledging your existence, which becomes very scary, very fast. The idea of everyone’s personal future is always up in the air. This can cause high levels of anxiety, especially when thinking about it too much. Media overconsumption as a distraction from this anxiety pushes off the real process of healing, opting instead for quick dopamine release.
I first assumed the main factor of media overconsumption was loneliness, but I quickly realized it is not the only reason. Being in public, seeing others walk around living their lives, I notice that more than half of the people I see have headphones in or are actively on their device. The ability to socialize has changed over time, with less and less interaction with strangers. But being in public and choosing to isolate yourself can be a sign of something more serious. Are we afraid of other people? Distracting ourselves in our own worlds lets us walk right past each other. Media consumption is acting as a replacement for socialization, simply due to fear. This fear and anxiety seems to spread much further than just worrying for the future.
What if this fear of not wanting to interact with others or think about our place in the world comes from a place of self loathing? Your opinion on yourself shapes almost all of your actions. If you don’t feel good about yourself, filling your head with noise and visuals means you don’t have to think about it. Distraction is so easy, and self-growth seems so much harder. Trying to fill silence in your own head prevents you from dealing with the harsh reality of your own confidence.
To make things worse, another issue has spawned from media consumption for coping with these fears – corporate greed.Media is shoved in our faces at all times. Anyone working in a media channel is profiting from the people’s addiction to constant consumption. People are just trying to cope with their lives, albeit in an unhealthy way. But corporations are actively taking advantage of this. Not only is it something that the general public needs to break free from, but media overconsumption plays a telling role in keeping people contained and distracted as a society. While media consumption can help people develop insight and learn, dopamine addiction and overconsumption is what prevents people from utilizing any of this new knowledge. This is extremely unhealthy, and companies profiting from this cycle only makes it worse.
Silence allows space for fear – fear of the future, fear of others, fear of ourselves. But silence also makes space for reflection, introspection, and confronting those anxieties. Facing those fears is important for mental growth and resilience. I implore you to start being aware of this habit, and challenge yourself to lessen it. Silence can be hard to find nowadays, and unhealthy coping habits aren’t helping anyone. Habits are broken from intentional small daily actions. Stop consuming media for at least one part of your day, everyday. Doing this can slow down your life, and force you to be present. It will be scary at first, but in order for change to happen, we must take personal action.
More articles on this topic!
https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/current-events/how-does-the-overconsumption-of-media-impact-us/