A 15-Year-Old’s Take On Curiosity and How It’s Killing Us
Curiosity is a double-edged sword whose negative consequences are worth pondering over
There’s hardly anyone who’s unheard-of these phrases—
- Never give up
- Find your purpose
- Follow your passion
- Start now
- Be curious
Aren’t they the ones motivational speakers just can’t get enough of?
The first four are fine-ish (okay, not always), but today I want to talk about the fifth one—be curious; curiosity.
Curiosity is there also where you’d not assume it to be!
Curiosity is a double-edged sword, as most of the other things are. But most of the time, its negative consequences far outnumber the positive ones.
Okay, just to give you a perspective, let me ask you a couple of things:
If it’s not for “curiosity” then why do you unlock your phones like 80 times a day? (Average American millennials open their phone 80 times a day. Source.)
If it’s not for “curiosity” then why do you keep doom-scrolling Twitter or watch reels after reels on Instagram?
If we pay close heed we’ll observe that at the root of all of the above actions, and more, is nothing but our keenness or curiosity to know more.
Good curiosity and bad curiosity
The curiosity that leads to a result where we change ourselves for the better is good.
Like devoting time to learning nuances of a field is a form of good curiosity because it’s helping you get better in your craft.
And anything that gives you pleasure in the short-term but regrets in the long-term and is not helping you in any way is a bad curiosity.
Like doom-scrolling social media (this is a no-brainer, is it?), gossiping (you’re curious to discover someone’s or something’s bad side, no matter if it’s true or not), bitching the system (you’re curious about the problem but not enthusiastic enough to work on the solution), etc.
You got the point.
The curiosity that’s killing us—a match at the Smartphone Tournament
Curiosity is not bad until it becomes. Curiosity can easily become an addiction. One that we will regret in future.
And the one place where curiosity easily and effectively wins over us is in the arena of gadgets. Especially in The Smartphone Tournament.
Don’t you agree?
It happens to the best of us. In one form or the other.
Notifications. Stats. Messages. Flashes. That ‘ping’ sound. Alerts. Alarms.
We just need a reason and then we keep glued to our screens. We are all curious beings. We want to know everything.
I have 10 likes! Who could be they?
There are 100 messages in the group. *checks messages, replies, and moves on to YouTube*
“Gosh! That 6 am alarm!” *snoozes the alarm or if wakes up, the day starts with staring at the screen for half an hour (or two hours!)*
A personal confession
I’m embarrassed to say this but THAT’S ME. The one who just can’t get over his phone, dividing his attention among the attention-thirsty apps. And then trying to cope with the never-ending loop of regrets.
But I’m trying to change—one habit at a time—is the best I can say at the moment. But I mean it.
I was amazed when I once found screen time to be 13 hrs. Hell!
I’m trying to be more conscious of the time I spent online and if that adds any value to my life. I’ll devote my time to learning new skills. Upskilling myself will be of prime importance to me from now on.
Bad curiosity, summarised.
To summarise,
Bad curiosity is when you’ve got a sense of doing something worth it when you’re doing it—but in reality, you’re gonna regret that later—or not being in control of what you’re doing altogether.
Because as I’ve experienced, being genuinely curious takes effort, unlike pseudo-curiosity. Bad curiosity is nothing but cheap dopamine hits.
And cheap dopamine is becoming cheaper. Okay, that’s wrong. It’s FREE!
And that’s how I think it’s the same curiosity that is killing us.
This article is a part of “A 15-Year-Old’s Take On” series. I’ll be turning 16 on March 16 and I just want to document how I feel or think about certain topics (at this age). And maybe just reflect on them in the future.
Stay tuned for the next one and here’s a SERENDIPITY READ for you since you’re reading SERENDIPITY. Until next time, bye! ❤
