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For the last few years i feel like i've become less and less present, or i've strived (unconsciously) to be this way. Smoking pot and listening to music/podcasts anytime i'm not working/studying. I do these because i value audio entertainment more than visual and it doesn't rot my brain as much but lately i feel it's less listening and more trying to "dissapear" or become less present. Sort of like opioids or, more commonly, media consuming (anime, social media, yt or videogames). From lurking here, conversations with friends and by my own reasoning, i believe there's a clear link between this urge to be "less present" and the wired. Not that in old times people didn't have the urge but they didn't have as many options (alcoholism and, more recently, tv being the pre-wired poison imo). Do you agree in that it seems to be an almost universal experience nowadays? What would you recommend to start being more present and enjoying these activities (listening to music instead of having it as background noise to cancel out thought)? Do you think there's a connection between the wired and this phenomenon? Pic unrelated, enjoy my cat Ulysses

I feel that the root of it is escapism. I think people in our generation tend to be masters of it, because we have and understand the [greatest|worst] technology for engaging in it. It's something you should try to pull away from. Block access to certain sites/apps, even if just a few days until you "detox" from the habit of looking for them. Meditation helps a lot, as practicing focusing on nothing for an extended period of time will help you focus on anything just as well. It's very easy and comfortable to lay back into this soykaf, continue stifling a lot of deeper thinking, preventing any kind of boredom. It also stunts personal growth and exploration. I end up in cycles; blocking access to youtube, meditating daily, staying focused on achieving more than one thing a day - but usually hit a depressive spot at some point and fall back into the escapism. It's incrementally improving, though. I'd encourage anyone to do the same.

>>73827 I don't know how i couldn't put a word for it: escapism. I agree with what you said but i don't think i want to stop listening to music, just want to change my mindset. I want to actually listen. Or if i don't want to, go do something else. But not being able to enjoy that time because of this suffering inherent in escapism makes me want to keep doing it to make it work. Nonetheless, i am trying to be more present. I believe internal dialogue (thought) has sort of fusioned with the wired and become more distant with the body. Braing fog and the net are alike in many senses, an almost limitless web of information but with the certainty that most is lost because of the sheer size of it (inaccesibility). I believe people feel some frustration with the extreme growth of the internet. With it's growth, it's emptiness.

Lately I've been doing the same thing. I need a way to stop interacting with the world the same way, I'm present without being there, for example I walk around 20 - 30 minutes to arrive to a certain place almost everyday, I do it but I try to forget about myself, everything related to who I am; I just focus in the current task, which is arriving to my destination. I think it always has been an universal experience for your average person. Not everyone can support their own problems for long enough, and even if you do, you will surely reach your breaking point. It's way more common now thanks to social media, all the content you can access from your device is way too much, and if you keep using apps such as Instagram, you will slowly start comparing yourself with people who are faking happiness or success. Social media for the average person is a game with no winners. I usually uninstall those kinds of apps from my phone once in a while. And if you want to be present you have to start doing the same thing in a different way, go for a walk while you're listening to music, go to the park; change the way you do the same thing. >>73831 I also have a similar sensation for the current state of the Internet, it radiates emptiness, there's too much therefore there's nothing. I used to think that the Internet was my own way of escapism, I still do, but at least the common websites that everyone uses make me doubt about if I really think about the Internet as another shape of freedom.

>>73825 Yes, I feel like I'm becoming a mirage. It's very difficult to fight off. Intrusive thoughts, hard to think, emotional sinks and spirals, complete and utter despair. Difficult to force myself out of it, and the moment I stop thinking about it or sleep, it creeps back in. Fairly sure it's all the satellites and nanotech in us.

>>73851 That also sounds like the depression, though I feel your sentiment. >>73831 Yeah, I've never blocked any music playing/streaming. I think music is probably the best choice if you do consciously want something in the background - I'm pretty sure there's studies showing that it can even aid focus in the right context. Either way, music's important.

>>73852 Fact is I "should" be depressed. But that's never stopped me before.

>>73832 I feel the same. I've noticed the wired becoming duller with the increasing precision of algorithms (as in YT, IG, etc.). Current wired is geared towards repetition, an echo chamber in which you will only find what you have shown interest in (in the algorithms eyes). Just like in real life, joy isn't ussually found through repetition, but through discovery. I don't know if the wired is imitating life or vice versa, but i believe this to be a symptom of a sickening society.

The wired simply acts as a sort of parallel universe. Bring present in it means not being present in “reality”, and vice versa. The thing is, consuming content in the wired is viewed differently from consuming current in meat space. A book could be viewed as watching a video, and playing vidya could be viewed as a non-video game. In both meatspace and the wired it all depends on where you do stuff. If I had no online presence, but spent all day at the mall, and reading microbiographies, then I’d be as non-present as using instagram all day. I think I may have made my point hard to get, but I hope it makes sense.

>>74367 Reality and wired being alternate realities is accurate but i find it to be like two sides of the same coin, activities on the wired affect your physical reality and vice versa, if not directly, by changing your self (i.e: knowledge acquired on the wired may affect your real life) I get your other point but i disagree. I believe time wasted on meatspace to be better wasted than on the wired. After all we're biological creatures and interacting with the world, even in mundane things, is good for you imo. Reading a crappy book under the sun is better than watching a crappy video in your room, isolated. Also meatspace, although deformed by society, is less "programed" than the wired. By this i mean there are more corps trying to control your information consumption on the wired than irl.