These days, we are bombarded by social media, apps, and other technologies that keep us distracted, and one thing that I am beginning to notice, it is really concerning me, is the overall decrease in thinking. No one is thinking critically anymore; sometimes it seems like people are not thinking at all. So I decided to do a series on thinking. I have so many thoughts (on this and other things, hence the blog), so I have no idea how many parts it will be. The overall goal, though, is to get you thinking and hopefully doing more.
This post isn’t to bash generative AI, social media, or technology. I actually think these tools are so useful to have and use them myself. It just seems like we took it too far and don’t know when to stop. We scroll the apps for hours at a time, not realizing just how much of a luxury time is. We have gotten so used to the generative AI doing everything for us that we can’t even be bothered to write an email by ourselves.
You might be thinking, What’s the problem? We are just entertaining ourselves and using the tools that make our lives easier. There’s nothing wrong with entertainment or efficiency; it’s just important to realize that one of the unintended (possibly intended? I’ve seen a few conspiracies that I won’t get into today) consequences is the overall decline in thinking for yourself. We watch videos about major world events that directly affect our lives and our future, but before we can process them, we’ve already scrolled to the next clip, something funnier, lighter, and completely unrelated. The moment passes, and the event is forgotten, with no time to think critically about the world around us. That loss is enormous, and most of us don’t even realize it’s happening.
Another concerning issue that I’ve noticed with social media is that we’re being told how to think. There is this expectation that you have to believe what everyone else believes on the platform, if not, you’ll be cancelled. This does not apply to harmful ideologies (hateful isms are not welcome here), but outside of that, nuance just generally feels unwelcome. Influencers are telling us what lifestyle we should aspire to, what brands to buy, and how to look. We repeat the same words, we chase the same aesthetics, and slowly begin to look, talk, and act the same. It’s so uncanny; it honestly reminds me of the show Pluribus.
Again, I am not trying to sound like a hater. I think there’s beauty in connecting over shared interests, but a lot of times that’s not what’s happening. Instead, we’re witnessing a quiet loss of identity tied directly to the loss of independent thought.
Thinking is a remarkable ability; it’s one of the key characteristics of being human. In the words of the famous philosopher, René Descartes, “I think, therefore I am,” when you really “think” about that saying, you start to realize just how profound it really is.
Descartes actually coined this saying after a few days of overthinking. He questioned everything around him, everything he had ever learned, his perception of reality. His goal was to push doubt to its absolute limit. He doubted everything to the point of doubting literally everything, including his own existence. This spiral deeply upset him until he realized that, just by being able to doubt, he could think, which therefore meant he existed.
Since we all have the capacity to think, we all exist; this raises a crucial question: what do we do with this existence?
The answer sounds easy: whatever you want. But the truth is, many of us don’t actually know what we want anymore. We spend so much of our lives doing what we think we’re supposed to do that, when we finally have freedom, it feels strangely empty.
This is something I experienced firsthand. I worked a job I hated, telling myself that once I quit, I’d finally have the freedom to do what I wanted. And when I did quit, that freedom mostly turned into months of scrolling. When I got tired of that, I realized something unsettling: I didn’t know how to spend my time because I didn’t know what I actually wanted to do.
It made me genuinely sad to wake up with nothing to do except reach for my phone. I had time, something so precious, but no direction. That’s what led me to create this blog. I had to relearn how to think for myself, how to let ideas come from me instead of from an algorithm, a trend, or someone else’s expectations.
And once we start trying something different, something that actually comes from us, we’re immediately flooded with fear. What if it’s too late? What if I don’t know where to start? What if I do it wrong? We overthink ourselves into inaction.
But here’s what you need to understand: it’s never too late, and you don’t need everything figured out right now. As long as you’re doing what feels true to you, and you’re not harming anyone, including yourself, you’re doing the right thing. The rest unfolds as it’s meant to.
No matter what you think, no matter how right or wrong you believe you are, you exist.
So just do.
True North 