Copy Paste Era…From Distraction to Stillness

The future will look back at our time as the era of ‘copy-pasters’ and ‘forwarders’. There is a possibility that through research, we will be found as the generation when the average human brain size reduced –which is unprecedented in history - due to reduce in usage. It is possible that we are living at a time when the average human creativity (or can be any brain activity) level is at its lowest. There is no lack of creativity for some. But the creativity of one is copy-pasted and forwarded a million times. And artists are ‘inspired’ mostly by the works of other artists. Opinions in discussion forums are actually opinions/echoes of others in some other forums. Wild speculations are dispersed in countless social media groups and swallowed as news. The bulk of our knowledge and opinion formation comes from status updates and rants, quotes in jpeg formats, and short videos.

We live in a time of countless distractions. We do not have the earlier luxury of focused engagement. We know a little bit of many things but don’t learn a lot of anything. Funny videos and photo messages have taken that away from us. We receive and forward, we copy and paste, and the sun goes down on us, day after day, week after week. 

A remedy for distraction is to embrace stillness. How often do you make the time to be still? To be still is to make the time to do nothing. But I believe that by making the time to do nothing, we can find the key to become more productive. So, I am appealing to you to make the time to do nothing. It is not as easy as it seems because we have become accustomed to living with distractions. We have become slaves of distraction and without it, we feel hollow. I am not prescribing any method of stillness. It could be a walk in the woods with nothing in hand (no phones, to be specific). It could be an escape to the roof top at night after everyone is asleep, with nothing in hand (again without phone, to be specific). It could be lying down in the dark but being still awake. Making the time to be still could be the key to unlocking the door to a world of new possibilities.