Too much noise in the world

Today I woke up with a particular feeling. It's not the first time I've felt like this and it won't be the last. I'm not suprised that I woke up like this. I knew it was coming.

There's too much noise in the world. Too many things trying to grab my attention. Too many ads trying to sell me products I don't need. Too many articles and newsletters and tweets and toots and whatever else telling me how to feel about the world.

I cannot bear it any longer. And so I retreat. I uninstall Youtube and Reddit from my phone. I unsubscribe from mailing lists, I block Hacker News in my router settings, I cancel my Netflix subscription.

It's my fault alone that the noise has become overwhelming. I let myself indulge in it, which I know isn't good for me. But I cannot help it. The technology is too good. Precisely tuned to show me content that tickles my brain.

So I rip it out. No more ads, no more political propaganda, no more Livestream drama. No more noise.

It will be blissfull silence for the first few days. But it won't last. The silence will turn into excruciating boredom. Boredom that I'll fight by being hyper-productive. The next few weeks of productivity will raise my confidence. "Finally I've escaped the social media hell". But I know that's a lie.

Eventually I will give in and reward myself with a Youtube Video. Something educational that I feel good about having spent my time watching it. I won't realize it until much later, but that's the moment I will have doomed myself to repeat the cycle.

Until one day I wake up with a particular feeling...