How stupid are you?

Philosopher Slavoj Zizek found himself in a windowless room recently. The room had digital screens for walls. Standing confused in the middle of the room, he saw images bombarding the screens all around him. Those who put him in it wanted (it was by some European media) his reactions to the experience. He said: “You are bombarding me with these images. Yes, we live this every day. Modern man lives in images, and has no reality.”

We stupid humans live in images. We began it with motion pictures, then TV and now we have images all around us: they are on mobile phones, tablets, and computers. We spend more time with images than with real life. I mean mentally. Our greatest skill today is swiping of mobile phone screens. Our greatest intellectual output today is comments on Facebook. We are but a failed species. We have reached where the market wants us to be. Our identity today is that of consumers. You are not a painter, or a singer or a dancer or a writer, but a manufacturer of these “products” and there are consumers waiting for you on Youtube, social networks and other apps. Yes, all these fine arts are wrapped up in as consumer products.

There is a conspiracy to turn whole humanity into consumers. And, our greatest places of worship today are shopping malls. We get mesmerized by the magic of industries there. With great piety we walk the shopping mall pushing trolleys, and honour the products arranged on the shelves. It is like aborigines in forest collect fruits in their baskets. Also we may be disappointed at not being able to buy up them all. May be the great desire of a man in the shopping mall is to load everything on a truck and go home. They are alluring, they serve our imaginary needs, and they keep us hooked to the idea of pleasure. Market now says 'consumer is the king'. The moment you step in there, sales people swarm about you. They ceremonially welcome you like you were a king visiting a peasant’s home. They are only interested in your money purse, and they know you have needs but your needs alone can’t help them continue, so they make imaginary needs for you. This is what philosopher Herbert Marcuse, the author of the 1964 book “One Dimensional man” said: the capitalism has castrated us.

Everybody today is a kid or is made one. With huge bodies and elongated desires, but with stunted mental, emotional development, spiritual growth, we go for toys. We talk and think about toys like mobile phones, tablets, laptops and computers, while more abstract toys like apps trap us more into fantasy worlds. Before one fad is over, they upgrade it with new apps, add more features, and continue to hook us to it. They are able to give people a ‘sense of importance’ with it; buying costly phones show how important you are. This is what we could call ‘gadget culture’.

According to a study by Ipso Open Thinking Exchange we spend some 3 hours on social networks each day and an equal time on mobile various apps too.

This is a new phenomenon in the history of humanity. Think, you spend about three hours of your wakeful hours on gadgets! That is just average, but in reality, the hours could be like five. All leisure time, may be on the bus or train or whatever, people obsessively turn to mobile phones or tablets. They turn on social nets and start finding joy there. When there is nothing to swipe anymore there they turn on audios and cram their ears with headsets. Because, they are simply bored. Boredom hit them when they are not mentally occupying anything. While attending a funeral or public ceremony, they can’t focus their mind in the events about. They can’t help resist the obsession for going online or watching some videos. There is a feeling that something more interesting is always happening out there, and people don’t want to miss them.

The slogan today is 24-hours fun with no moment of boredom. So reading has become a boring activity and some writers have overcome this by writing special novels for social netizens. Today’s most “pop novelists” only want to keep readers not bored. But in truth, humanity’s intellectual development is basically linked to boredom. Major arts forms, great novels and poetry were born because somebody was terribly bored with life and wanted others to engage in intellectual and emotional debate. Just ten or 15 years from now, nit-wits, idiots and dumb humans will increase in number. They will have sharp brains for maths and science but no imagination, and no wisdom. That will be the end of creativity. You can’t any more expect towering artists or singers or writers in the coming generations.

With this will go the longevity of relationships too. Imagine you can’t be interested in same mobile phones for a long time. You can’t get along with same person for long; you have the desire to change people like you change phones and gadgets. Your sense of satisfaction will disappear. Earlier when we decided to buy a product we would do so limiting our desires, considering our resources, and we wouldn’t keep the idea like: “ I will buy a better one when have more money” . Now while buying a car, your thoughts are: “ I will buy a better one later”. It means while buying the car itself you are not satisfied with it, and you drive around in a car that never fully satisfies you. This idea works in every aspect of our lives today. You are not satisfied with the products you select, you are just adjusting your available resource with matching products and you have the idea to buy more sophisticated one later. This could happen in relations as well; so divorces increase, and in the western societies, since industrialization onwards, people have been facing this problem, and are still struggling with it. One of the most noted songs of 70s was Rolling Stone’s “I can get no satisfaction”.

We now get in touch with people because of clear reasons including utility and entertainment. If a person is useful we make relation with him or her and if a person is interesting, you are a friend to him or her. It means a human is now a product with features. There is no ideological point like; all humans are unique and great. Poet WB Yeats sang about it in the 20th century: “The best lack all convictions but the worst are full of passionate intensity”. Hell, the times have changed; let’s swipe for new message on Whatsapp.

(The views expressed are personal. Some of the other articles of the columnist are: Women, be careful while in New York, Explaining mysteries to kids, Why didn't Indian media see him?, and Yes, women go crazy over Saritha!)