Social Unreality

   Two months ago, we had three days of very heavy rains and thunderstorms here which led to widespread disruption of power supply. The mobile communication towers also stopped working and, being a low priority rural area, there were no diesel generators to keep them running.
   I live in Sawantwadi, a small town in the Konkan region of the western ghats. For a day and a half, there was no power here, but in my village which is some 20 km away, there was no electricity for more than three days. No electricity and no mobile data network for three full days. And after three days when the network resumed, my sim card for some unknown reason stopped working and it took a while to be replaced.  

 The result of all this was that I was without a data network for more than 12 days. I was in my farm, busy the whole day with regular monsoon activity. But before 8.30am and after 6.30pm, I was glancing now and then at the mobile screen, drawn to it by some invisible force. Soon, it became very troubling.

   Monsoon is beautiful in Sawantwadi. At the peak of monsoon, the temperature remains between 24 to 27 degree celsius all through the day and falls to between 18 and 20 degrees at night. Being amidst a forest, one can feel here the pulse of nature throbbing with life and abundance. Yet, seated in the evenings in these beautiful surroundings sipping a cup of hot tea after a fulfilling day, I caught myself glancing time and again at my mobile screen, sometimes even picking the phone up unconsciously and then putting it back, for there was no network. Why did I do that?

   There was nothing particular I was looking for. To hold the phone, to be held captive by it, to be lost inside its content, that had become a habit. A habit which had grown to a deep level, slowly, surreptitiously. Youtube and Whatsapp and the News apps had got my mind dependent, it had turned the mind compulsive in a way that, when I was aware of it, I myself was repulsed. 

   What exactly do I do on the mobile, I asked myself. I could try and justify that I only see ‘useful’ videos on Youtube, that I see the links sent to me on Whatsapp by friends and family who are very dear to me, or that I am keeping myself abreast of developments through news apps. The truth of course is more than that. To give one example, I was sucked into a chess channel and was watching chess games’ analysis everyday. I even began to watch live chess matches - imagine a ‘live’ chess match where nothing moves for five minutes!
   Then there are the ‘health’ videos in this time of corona: the critiques of media hype and modern medicine, the alternative cures, the yoga and ayurveda channels and the new diets. I also followed, without quite knowing why, a Sanskrit channel about Indian scriptures and in my daze even made a donation to him. I followed magic shows and also spent hours watching a guy revealing how magic tricks are done. I followed two mathematics channels, dazzled by presentations on things I cannot even recall now, except that it included one quite meaningless proof that 1 is equal to 2!
   And then there are the ‘spiritual’ channels: There is Krishnamurti. Osho is an old magnet, and now there is Sadhguru. There are also the organic farming channels, the environment and ecology channels, the political channels, the critiques of modernity, the Bharatiya and Indic channels – so much Youtubing! – and all these were holding and pulling me towards them as if I had little control of myself.
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   One may feel there is nothing wrong on the surface with all this, but some introspection would reveal that there are indeed problems worthy of attention.
The first is that this type of exposure fragments the mind; some would say Youtube is in fact designed to do that, to keep the mind on constant shopping mode. The mind flits about here and there, sniffing at this and that (it is the complete opposite of meditation). Soon this becomes a habit, and the habit diminishes the alertness of the mind – the dull blank look in the eyes of people who look up from their mobiles is a sign of this, as is the anguished and imploring look in the eyes of those whose network has deserted them.
   A second cause of concern is that this type of browsing keeps the mind tied down in the realm of familiarity, without adding any depth of clarity to it. It’s a trick our school education system has played with us before, and the Youtube exposure only strengthens that weakness. For example, I am familiar with the words Tantra, Mantra, Yantra, Sukta, Stotra, etc. and therefore followed them on the Sanskrit channel. I ask myself now: what more do I know about them after this exposure? what are my insights? If asked, can I explain these concepts to you? The answer is no: I have remained at the level of the ‘familiar’, wading in a shallow lake of verbal familiarity, without my mind adding any depth to itself. Similarly with other things: like the words Calculus, Quantum Mechanics, Dark Energy, Black Hole, etc. in Math & Science channels. Or the words Atma, Consciousness, Samadhi, Enlightenment, Bliss, etc. in the Spiritual channels.
   A third concern is the division happening within human minds. The peculiar programming of social media links means that people are pushed and prodded into echo chambers, they only listen to their own opinions reflecting back. This is seen in the links offered to us on Youtube. This is also particularly true of Whatsapp groups. Much of Whatsapp group content (not the family groups) pushes people further in the direction of their stated opinions, shared obsessions or shared hatred. One questions if any meaningful mental development can happen in these echo chambers.
   A fourth concern is that much of the content we absorb is intellectual; it’s a play on our thought, faith, beliefs, opinions, and biases. I wish this enormous exposure to internet content had more to show in terms of how it changes our daily life, our competence, our relationships, the way we live in this world. But from what we can see, that is hardly the case. Whether it is subscribing to leftist revolutionary channels or Gandhi channels or Hindu channels or Krshnamurthi channels or Alternate Living channels, so much of it remains at the level of armchair intellectualism - a vicarious pleasure using internet time which cannot or does not translate into our lives in the real world.
   One has been on the exploratory path for a long time, with a lot of reading, research, questioning and contemplation. Every now and then I like to pause and ask myself: What transformation has occurred in me? In my living, in my relationships? In what way am I a better human being, a better social citizen? And now, with a year of Youtubing, I would like to pause again and ask those same questions. But to see, to observe and learn from that, I have to detach myself from the mobile and give myself to myself.
   A year ago, when I first forwarded a Youtube link to my son, he laughingly remarked, ‘welcome to the rabbit hole’. Now I see the full meaning of what he said. Even a rabbit hole has to end somewhere, but Youtube is a bottomless pit. And with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc, of which I have little personal experience, I am told they could have additional problems of inducing exhibitionism, validation-seeking and approval-anxiety.
   I recall the great philosopher J. Krishnamurti who, in a talk about freedom and the conditioned mind, once said something to the effect: ‘why do you read other people’s books? Look at your own life, your life is a book, read it!’. Maybe one can apply a similar observation to chasing Youtube videos: that those who are doing and presenting the stuff, whether it is analysing and offering opinions or producing entertainment videos - they are facing the reality of their world in whatever limited way, isn’t it? and their Youtube products are a result of their experience or excitement or in some cases livelihood. They are the producers. And we the consumers are the addicts, who are led down the rabbit hole; we detach ourselves from our reality and are, to compare with Krishnamurti’s comment, only viewing ‘other people’s lives’ while our own life is there to observe, and through it, to see our self, our home, our neighbours, our community, our country, and indeed our whole world.
   While musing about all this, my new sim card arrived and the data network was also restored, but the question had been raised and one has to find a resolution to this. I delayed reinstalling Whatsapp by a month, and I still hesitate to participate in my old groups. The Youtube app is there: we are still friends, but our relationship has undergone a change. I use it for information and research, but some new cells in me remain alert and warn me against getting sucked in. I have not given up on my interests or sacrificed my passions. I am not doing different things, I want to do things differently.
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   Is the addiction to mobile the same as other addictions, like smoke and drink, I ask myself. If the urge that draws us to the mobile or smoke or drink is based upon losing oneself, to get away from reality - from the boredom of reality or the anxiety of reality - then at that level it is the same. But at another level, I see they are different. Smoke and drink modify receptors in the brain, they don’t offer content. With a brain modified by (moderate) smoke or drink, one chooses one’s content – one could look out the window at the falling rain, or contemplate on things meaningful as well as meaningless; one could work, read, write, paint, listen to or play music. Many smokers and drinkers do prefer to meet and spend time with people/friends while giving in to this urge. The mobile on the other hand opens up a wormhole of virtual content while dulling your senses; it pulls you into isolation even when you are seated three feet away from your companion.
   This is not at all a recommendation to smoke and drink, I am only making a comparison. The fact is that most people do not or cannot moderate their intake of smoke and drink and therefore quickly lose the ‘benefit’ of the first stage of euphoria and move to other depressing problems.
   I suppose the worst case scenario is combining the two: smoke or drink and then try and lose oneself in the mobile’s virtual abyss – that will be like the movie Inception, getting lost in a dream within a dream within a dream, with no way out.

   Let us think about these things.

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(Update, 4Nov2020: I am using the internet, and using Google's blogsite to upload this, while at the same time critiquing the internet and social media - is there a contradiction in this? I paused and took a good look at it, and no, I see that there is no contradiction in this. Following a suggestion from my son who asked me to voice this blog ('since most people don't read nowadays, they prefer to watch') I have, with great trepidation, done so. For your friends who prefer not to read but to watch, this blog can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/_gOdo4DDUVI. But rest assured, there will be no 'subscription' or 'notification' link there.)