Baharay Gul

/The Boiling Frog: The Fall of a Focused Society/

Ever noticed how rare of a sight it is becoming to see a sibling or a friend engrossed in his/her favourite book?

It is becoming kinda rare how people used to obsess over their long-term hobbies and be more laser focused in life in general. People would read newspapers for hours, paint for hours, or continuously study even if it was a subject they despised. Someone would struggle for hours to write something creative, and would go underground to work hard for their academic goals.

People would passionately read novels days in and out and exchange books. Binge watch their favorite seasons all day long without feeling restless. Some would spend hours playing their favourite game until it became part of their identity, while others pushed themselves for days just to learn something new.

All of this has now succumbed to our poor attention spans.

Our brains need a certain state to achieve such focus, and this fast-moving world full of momentary pleasures is disrupting that rhythm. The awake ones would have already noticed the shift happening in society. People are now drowned in instant gratification, leading to shallow thinking and lives that often lack meaning.

Your workplace may be a source of sustenance, but it does not always provide meaning to your life.

Just like the analogy of the boiling frog, when you are drowning in this fake dopamine, you don’t realize that it is slowly eating you alive. The real dopamine you feel while reading books, the passion you feel while pursuing your goals, the rush of emotions you feel while following a long season, the natural endorphins and serotonin your body releases while playing games; are slowly fading away.

The overall calmth in society is dampening, and so is our ability to think between the lines. No wonder we now have generations of people living on autopilot, slowly killing their precious emotions in exchange for instant gratification.

And the scariest part is that we don’t even realize what we are losing until the silence feels uncomfortable, the focus feels impossible, and the things that once gave us meaning star