3 Reasons Why the Internet Makes You Depressed
And How to Deal with It
1. The World is Big. You Are Small
I remember that feeling when I for the first time realised how small I am, back then I was, indeed, a small kid, but this is not what hit me. It hit me how big the Universe is. The galaxies. The stars. The planets. And here I was sitting in my bedroom, floating in the Universe.
That was the scariest thought. That was before I ever thought about the nothingness and the way the world was prior to my birth and the way it will continue to be when I’m gone. Nothing will be there for me and yet everything will be in its place.
You cannot proceed constantly having this though on the back of your mind. If you think about your smallness nothing makes sense. Your achievements are negligible. Your life is as long as a second in the Universe’s perspective.
Naturally, after a while, I left the thought and went on to live my life.
The Internet is a constant reminder of our littleness.
Places to visit. Skills to learn. Languages to speak. Information to read. Movies to watch. There are so many of these things that we can safely say that there are infinitely many of them.
Sometimes it’s frustrating.
You do more, but it feels that you should do way more.
When you type a question and realise that you had it before, moreover you recall that you found the answer, but totally forgot it, this doesn’t feel great. That is a constant reminder of your limited abilities.
Unconsciously, you blame yourself for not knowing something. Sometimes you even do it consciously or out-loud.
In fact, you are not forgetful you try to process more because you have an opportunity.
The internet gives you an idea of how much you don’t know. It’s good because you always have directions to grow.
Next time when you’ll have to look up something you forgot don’t blame your memory. Instead, try to be grateful that you have an access to the knowledge in the world in your pocket. It’s the future.
2. Endless contradictions
It’s no secret that the Internet is full of contradictions. It’s not solely about news, opinions and health advice. It can be as simple as a recipe.
The other day I wanted to dry some pumpkin seeds. In the old days, my family used to spread it on a piece of newspaper and wait until it drys. This time I decided to use a pan.
Needless to say, I searched the procedure on the Internet. One source recommended to dry them 15–30 minutes and no more because they’d start to blow up. To be sure I checked another source and it claimed that I have to dry the seeds more than 30 minutes. Otherwise, they won’t be ready. Note, the amount of heat they recommended was the same.
It’s hard enough to deal with all the contradicting statements coming from the news. One government blames the other in all misfortunes in the world, while the other is shifting all responsibility back to the first. How am I supposed to know, I haven’t been to the place of events.
While it’s not easy to deal with contradictions, the first step is to acknowledge that they exist. Then distance yourself from them. Don’t bind yourself to a tree there are so many of them it’s better to walk around and observe.
The world is constantly changing and instead of associating yourself with a statement be open and consider the possibilities.
3. Being at multiple places at once
Preparing a meal, making a mental note to buy tomatoes, listening to an audiobook, answering to messages in a couple of chats — all at once. That’s what my dinner ritual usually looks like.
It gets worse when you open your browser. How many tabs do you have right now? How many bookmarks, articles and videos you saved for later?
It’s great that you can chat with several people simultaneously, but can you? Wouldn’t it be nice to gather together and spend a quality hour talking and sharing your thoughts instead of trying to maintain multiple dialogues at the same time?
You spread your attention while you could’ve been focusing on one conversation.
This causes a short attention span and low productivity.
To get your productivity back on track pause. Pause. Turn off all notifications for two hours and read a book, read a hundred pages at once. Better yet leave your gadgets at home and go out, have a long walk, have a long conversation about what matters.
Do something you enjoy. And do it for an extended period of time. Uninterrupted.
