Something that's been on my mind more and more. Something that certainly applies to myself and probably applies to many others. It seems like everything's about keeping the mind occupied; always on the hunt for something interesting or amusing. With technology at the caliber it is now, media are pretty much everywhere; almost inescapable. The access to entertainment be it in the form of music, movies, tv shows, visual, sports, gossip, video games, etc. is simply unparalleled in human history. So what else is different?

It's how much of people's spare time goes to occupying the mind. Though I'm not really in a position to be making any comparisons between now and the past because I haven't any concrete facts. I will say that what I see is this addiction--both within myself and others--to entertainment and social media. Something I find a little troubling. Why? Because I think that this overindulgence might be robbing me of something.

I'll start from the beginning. It usually starts with boredom. Something that drives me to go look for anything interesting or amusing. There's something I remember from one of the lectures of developmental psychologist Gordon Neufeld; to bore in the English language means to make a hole in something. To say that you're bored is kinda saying that a hole's been made in you; an empty space. Does it really feel like there's a hole inside you're being; as though there's an emptiness inside you? When boredom hits me and if then faced with that question, I would answer "yes".

As I find interesting or amusing things to keep my mind occupied, I forget about that boredom; that emptiness inside. Suppose that hole inside me is still there but at that moment, I'm too distracted to feel it, let alone to care about it. From others I've heard that keeping oneself entertained is about escaping the stresses of the real world. In both cases, it's about finding an escape.

Escapism isn't something I believe to be inherently bad though. It can be a good thing if kept in moderation. It might be a fitting thing to do if you feel overwhelmed at one moment where it can help you to calm down just enough to think with better clarity. It can be a bad thing if it goes out of control; meaning at the expense one's better judgment. Like if it gets you to procrastinate on your homework or worse yet, if the constant inaction starts to make you self-conscious about your own lack of productivity. Though there might be something else as well.

Something that I don't see much sign of is reflection. Because of this tendency to just want to go look for something to amuse myself with, I'm not setting time for myself to think about things or finding adequate rest. Ultimately, keeping engaged isn't a way to bring myself to a state of rest. Rest and reflection go hand in hand in my experience. Like how your mind suddenly gets really creative just before falling asleep. Rest and reflection is where the digestion and integration of ideas and information happens; making sense of things basically. It's where my imagination really runs loose.

In summary, by keeping my mind occupied, I rob myself of adequate rest, reflection and creativity which are important for my development as a human being. Even if I'm out of the woods, I still won't blame others for being stuck in this cycle; that feeling of emptiness is kinda painful and it's something that comes from the circumstances of a person's life; past and/or present. One way I try to help others with this problem is to be like a caregiver to such people (you could say I momlestia them :B which does take a lot of energy...)

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