How to Stay Present in the Social Dilemma
Did you watch The Social Dilemma on Netflix? I sure did. Here I am, posting about it, on social media…. That’s some inception type stuff.
How did you feel after watching it…? I had some FEELINGS. And they were really conflicting and confusing, but I wanted to share.
Watching that documentary really scared me, I won’t lie.
It’s easy to look at the state of the world and the current hot topics and think “my god how do we figure this all out?” Pick any given headline and there’s polarizing views (also worsened thanks to social media) on some pretty big topics; climate change, equality for all and BLM, masks vs no masks, vaccines vs anti-vaccines, body autonomy, and on and on. And now social media and technology.
Hold tight… I am going somewhere with this, not just intending to induce anxiety in you.
There were so many mind-blowing takeaways from that film, but one that really made me think was right at the end. One of the main experts talked about how scary it is that due to the way social media works against us, conspiracy theories and fake news were easily presented as facts, and people were making major decisions based on that. What I thought was interesting, is that it was a “conspiracy theory” not so long ago that social media and A.I. were going to take over the world… and now here we are, very much living in that world. Something that started as a nice way for friends and family to connect via the internet has turned into something that is used to manipulate our free will on a daily basis. The conspiracy theory turned reality became a way to further support conspiracy theories as real, without us even realizing it. That’s some full circle stuff.
I’ll reframe, in case you’re struggling to wrap your brain around this like I am… The thing that now allows us to spread fake news and “conspiracies” was the subject of conspiracies in the first place.
I’m not here to debate what’s a real conspiracy and what’s not. My belief is that sometimes when there’s smoke there’s fire. Sometimes not. It’s up to us to critically think, and understand how technology and social media works to reinforce our biases. It is our social responsibility to start to learn outside of those biases and be aware of it all and then make your decisions from there. Start by watching this documentary to help understand this further.
But what did come up for me was this: if there’s no real source to find the truth, then what IS real? In an age of endless information where can we go to find truth.
Everything is layered with context, and bias and technology pushing information to us that it wants us to have. Many will say look to the experts, and I would agree…to a point. It’s not as simple as a quick google. The internet tries to push ideologies that align with our own beliefs towards us and on many topics we can find an “expert” to support any view point and the internet further supports the bias. The cycle continues.
So with all that to say… I was reminded by my spirit friends that the only real thing is what we are experiencing in any given moment, at that moment.
As I was pondering all this, my mind spinning, I could feel the anxiety rising in me – a fear of all the scary possible outcomes in the world. And yet when I really went inward there was a sense of peace. Because I knew, I cannot control what is outside of my reach. I cannot control what anyone else thinks, does, believes, says, etc. All I can control are my actions, my beliefs, everything within my reach in this exact moment. That’s it. That’s all.
And how do we support ourselves in remembering that? I believe it’s a practice of mindfulness. Mindfulness teaches us to be in the present moment and quiet the mind. Over time we start to allow the remembering of peace within our current moment as our reality. Time spent worrying about what is outside of my control is time wasted (I say with a smirk as I do it All. The. Time.).
I also say this acknowledging it takes a certain level of privilege to be able to simplify our fears down to a non-reality state, as there are people in the world who have a whole shit ton more to worry about than I do as a white middle class female living in Canada. And even within those less privileged spaces, I believe the same principles can apply.
“We think we have so much control and we don’t. All we have is our current reality. Our current being. Everything outside of that has filters and context and bias around it. ”
And it is our job as souls having a human experience to start to return home to OURSELVES in order to decipher what it all means. We know in our hearts what is true for us, what feels like and yes and a no. At home, we know that fear of the scary things in the world, of the conspiracies or the researched facts of life, are outside of us and who we are. From our place of home, we can take in the information, filter it, and know what our truth is. And from that truth is where we can make our decisions.
It’s a scary practice. But an important one. It’s one I will continue to work on probably for the rest of my life. Step one. Start coming home to yourself and be present there for a little while. That can look differently for all of us, and if you need any support in that, you know where to reach me.
Xoxo,
elyse
Hello!! And welcome! I’m so happy you’re here.
I’m Elyse – a life and wellness coach, yoga and meditation instructor and intuitive (mostly) plant based dog mom of three! I am passionate about supporting others in coming home to themselves. I can’t wait to support you on your journey home!