Digital Escapism – The Exponential Crisis

The cycle of digital escapism forms a self-perpetuating loop that feeds into the very stress it claims to alleviate. Here’s a brief diagram, before I elaborate below:

Foreword:

Below this I have extended on the diagram above, and have used the well known corporation Meta, a techno-conglomerate contributing to industrialisation, as an example in this situation. There are far more company’s than Meta who are doing the same thing. Many you will know, such as Apple, or Amazon. Many you will not know. This article talks about the ‘voluntary-distraction’ side of technology, and only briefly talks about the ‘engineered-addiction’ side of it, as well as other factors not mentioned in this article. Bear this in mind.

Each point number is linked to the numbers in the diagram.

What the Diagram Means:

1. Individuals feel more stress in their lives but they can’t exactly place their finger on why. They may have some ideas, and some may be right, but more or less it is modern technology that is specifically the issue. Their screen time is high, leaving them with less time to do things that are meaningful, in turn leaving them to feel more defeated, often subconsciously.
2. Why handle the stress when there’s an easy solution available to everyone? Technology. If technology had a motto, it would be “Instead of being anxious, you can be distracted“. The individual will most likely either turn to social media, the internet, video games, or some other technological form of escape. If they chose something different such as reading, for example, they will often eventually turn to technology eventually as reading, in this example, will not provide them with enough of a distraction.
3. As more people are turning to tech as a longer lasting form of escape that is easily accessible – in contrary to other forms or escapes, such as drugs – more company’s will try and profit of this ‘hype’ by designing more tech products. The well known global company Meta is an example of this: they own Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Quest VR headsets, and more. This one company is responsible for providing most major communication services, the largest virtual reality company, and now it’s added AI to its list, because there is demand (aka people wanting to be distracted from reality).
4. Meta have teams of people working for them who get paid simply to find ways to keep you addicted and wanting to be distracted by their apps, and to purchase more of their equipment. If this doesn’t scare you, it should, because it’s you as an individual versus a team of many people designed to lead you into using their services, of which are funded by billionaires. As can be very obviously seen in the real world, they are winning.

And then it all happens again. And again. Worsened with each loop.

It’s a loop that traps the individual, as well as fuelling the tech industry’s growth while leaving the person feeling more detached from themselves and their surroundings.

Breaking out of this loop will involve returning to meaningful, non-technological forms of engagement – yet, even those are becoming harder to access in this techno-industrial world.

It’s as Aldous Huxley said over 60 years ago, “People will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.”