In Dumbing Us Down, John Taylor Gatto thoroughly tackles the issues with teaching children they want and need “instant.” We are in a world of instant access. We get what we want when we want it with little effort or thought. Our phone pings with messages to be responded to instantly, and we comply with the demands. We merely ponder whether we want something, and only 2 clicks and moments later it is in the mail from Mr. Amazon. Social media sources rely on instant pictures, news, and messages in bite-sized format that require little thought process to digest, but often leave us sick in afterthought or amped up and argumentative. The media teaches us to avoid the slow process of digestion and critical thinking, and instead react.
The immediate nature of everything surrounds and suffocates us. Immediate processes require immediate responses. Immediate everything means little thought process – there isn’t time for that. Our lives suddenly morph into one of reflex. The instant we want something we get it; anything less is infuriating. Our minds become totally adjusted and used to the immediate and not reaching this standard is incompatible. For millennia the ancient philosophers preached the importance of patience, contemplation, and mental serenity. Many members of an anxious and bored society with the attention span of a three-year-old now beg to differ with these ancients. The psychological problems here are obvious, but the physical impact has an easier time eluding us. The gravity of the situation lends credence to the belief that it is spilling over into our overall health and well-being (not to mention our relationships with friends, family, and our community). The gravity of the situation may lead many to assume it has a greater impact on our physical health.
So, for those of us who do unwanted and unhealthy things like eating foods we regret in frequency resulting in body sizes that we regret, where does this reflex and desire for immediacy fit into the equation? Our most instant gratification, that of food when we want it, fits nicely into this action/reaction lifestyle. Little thought is needed. Little thought is wanted. Reach for it and eat it. Don’t think, just eat, and make sure to have it immediately available to reduce the risk of contemplation.
And so, we find ourselves constantly pushing for gratification and pleasure, Epicurus be damned. The bad news is that push for gratification and pleasure from food ends up as extra weight on our thighs and a roll we would rather be without. The fix? A quick and easy diet at our fingertips. An instant fix here and an instant fix there and more instant gratification.
Only this doesn’t work. Instant here doesn’t work, and instant there fails, as it takes effort which we have been told life no longer requires. So, we fail miserably and turn to the next quick fix diet, and the vicious circle begins, slowly for some and rapidly for others. We then turn to buying things, as we are told money and consuming – especially shiny new technology – solves all of life’s problems. If you don’t exercise enough, buy a fitness tracker. That will fix it all (plus it looks really cool on my wrist). When that fails purchase an exercise app and spend lots of time stationary while logging your activities. Make sure it pings to pull you away from other activities like a Pavlovian dog to keep you engaged and logging more activities, and make sure to take in all the advertisements it flashes at the bottom of the screen. Society tells us that the best way to fix these issues is by buying more things (and if/when that fails, simply buy more healthcare.)
And that’s the rub. These purchasable saviors only lead to more compulsive behaviors, promoting other compulsive behaviors like overeating and then we return to more compulsions to help with the overeating compulsion and, well, you get the point. We are pulled into a vicious tornado of instant access, and left with a brain that requires instant satisfaction and instant results and a society that tells us we can spend money to fix it all when this failure of a strategy comes crashing down.
For far too long we have separated our day-to-day behaviors and activities from our health and well-being, while all around us life is whispering that the two are intricately linked. As long as we live an instant gratification lifestyle where we think we can solve our problems by clicking and buying, we will keep getting fatter, less healthy, and, for many of us, internally miserable. And when we turn to more clicks to fix this misery, things will get worse and worse, and so the next vicious cycle begins.
Acknowledgment is the first step in the right direction. I acknowledged these issues with myself, and now I push to avoid all those “immediate” brain triggers and replace them with contemplative activities. I ignore or minimize the news, have opted out of social media, don’t buy any foods I cannot control myself around, and make sure to read or write each morning for several hours before turning on my phone or opening up to the world. When I falter, I do not turn to the rub as a fix, knowing well that it only propagates the root of the issues. I feel as though the results have been remarkable for my mental clarity, day-to-day achievements, and overall well-being.
I challenge you to do the same. Avoid the rub.
*Main photo by Alen Hunjet at Freerange Stock
© 2021 CDR Health and Nutrition, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Pingback: The Architecture of Our Health - Building for Resilience and Permanence, Not Obsolescence - Colin Champ