Uncertainty

Anand Jayaram
Jul 25, 2017 · 4 min read

Uncertainty… it’s a term we use when we are unsure of what’s next. For example, what’s the next phase of life’s grand master plan for us? It’s a thought process that often goes unrecognised.

We’re uncertain when we’re sitting in front of a screen typing away till the next big break. There’s uncertainty when a scandal rocks the country. There’s uncertainty when a terrorist attack happens or when people die of calamities, natural or unnatural causes. If you think about it, they say that we live in the era of the biggest technological upgrade seen by humanity.

Uncertainty is having too much or too little food on the table. It is being unable to sleep or sleeping too much. Uncertainty is the lack of thoughts or having too many thoughts; thoughts which drown everyone’s voice out, ones who drown your voice. We face an utter sense of desolation when it comes to a cognitive thought process. This, in turn, makes us work/act like clockwork. We are rushed, always, since we’re in a cannibalistic corporate rat race.

Eat, sleep, money. We’re fucked if we don’t have one of these; we go crazy. With the millennial generation, add social media to the mix and watch as a beautiful chaos ensues. The need to feel connected, the adrenaline rush for reactions, comments, shares; hidden behind a persona, we often reveal ourselves, our true naked selves online — Free for the world to see, believe and jack off to.

Google, Facebook and every other app you install in your high-end smartphones track your every move, from your search history to your location to your routes. It feels like you’re exposing your G-Spot to the world and willing asking every company in existence, genuine or not to ‘FUCK YOU.’ We are aroused, and I admit, I am too. Nothing stimulates our minds more than a purchase. And for some, perhaps the most erotic thing one can do is spend another’s money.

Our consumerist nature is in our DNA; we buy, fight, seduce and even kill to satiate our greatest desires; be it technology, property, stocks, etc. And, it’s never enough; it’s an endless cycle. Every asset we acquire becomes an imminent/intimate part of our daily lives.

Losing your phone or laptop is like losing your personal secretary.”

Face to face interactions only exists in old movies and books. Did I say books? I meant an e-book, of course, the one we use to read on-the-go. The e-books that exist of our vast multitude of technological gadgets; from Kindle to Samsung S8 to MacBook Air to the Windows Surface and much more.

Uncertainty is facing a bleak future, where job opportunities for skilled workers are on the rise, but you’re left wondering if you’re competent enough to do it. With robots replacing labour it won’t be long before they replace the creative fields as well.

Uncertainty is trying to figure out whether a job in the Media Industry is the way to go; a place where you wonder whether you should allow knives to plunge metaphorically and literally into you. It’s a choice between whether seeking an education abroad to increase your skill set or acquiring a government job to lock-in a secure future or breaking away from the cycle entirely is the way to go.

After all, we’re brought up with the notion that we’re either special or a mistake. We strive to achieve multiple goals, to either prove our worth to those who wronged us or to meet soul crushing expectations. Anything less than success in our ventures results leads to one of the following: a) be berated for your intelligence b) have all our little privileges be revoked. Both these methods are an attempt to evoke a reaction out of us; it may or may not achieve the desired result, however. The rich, however, have a hand in their favourite cookie jar, as no self-righteous institution will deny size-able donations to their offices for the admission of their wards.

Success = Expressive forms of joy

From a pat on your back to congratulatory messages (irrespective of its ingenuity) to new star-spangled friends who befriend (since you’re now part of the ‘elite’ group that is friend-worthy), many benefits await you, or so it seems.

And ‘we’ as a generation, lured by the glamour, incentives, money and sex, give in.

Our lifeline, whether we like it or not, is integrated with our digital lives in every way.

Uncertainty is the little thoughts that creep into your head when it’s filled with silence. It’s the constant doubt that grips our bodies before taking any plunge that disconnects everything we’ve known so far. It is the questioning of whether we as the millennial generation, have, will or could contribute to the new world. It is this sense of wonder, thought, about whether we’ve indeed evolved from the old guard or whether we’ve stayed true to our traditions.

As uncertainty looms, we continually ask ourselves the same question.

Should I stay or Should I go?”

Anand Jayaram

Written by

Anand Jayaram is a freelance journalist based out of Chennai, India. He writes articles on the topics of video games, Anime and Music.

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