Whether you’re a successful entrepreneur, a scholar, a scientist, or just a common man working a job to keep your livelihood sustained, it has been scientifically proven that you will be inundated with at least 60,000 thoughts every day without any control over them. The only thing you can control is your response and which specific thought on your cognitive wavelength you choose to respond to. In the digital era, where information, mostly entertainment, has become so widely accessible that whether or not you try to turn to the other side to steer clear of the cacophony, the other side is also yelling so hard that it becomes difficult to quell it. What might seem like harmless information floating around is affecting the lives of individuals on multiple levels, which could lead to psychological and physical states of haywire.
Earlier, and not very long ago, in the 20th century, when our parents and grandparents were growing up, they didn’t possess a lot of information and resources, and would follow the trajectory that was in front of them without falling for the fallacy of trying for multiple fields at the same time. They could question the information that was put in front of them to analyze what was right and what was wrong. The generation born in the 2000s, unfortunately, don’t have that kind of mindset simply because of the way they were brought up with too much access to resources and information as well as not being taught by schools and universities on how to question scenarios and information in front of them that could lead to them making better decisions towards a better and sustainable life both physically and mentally.
The signs of these traits are much more visible in the post pandemic era where everything went online due to the necessity to continue education but it also came at a severe cost and that is kids are being contained in their rooms and viewed information but have no insight as to how to question, raise doubts and process the information being put in front of them as well as the practical exposure in the natural landscape to analyze how to apply the information being given to them. This was also crucial when the pandemic was at surge and millions of lives were being lost every day and mental health experts became the need of the hour to not only aid those who were suffering from mental illnesses but they also advised us to steer clear from news channels so that we don’t panic by day to day news and stay in touch with our friends and families for better mental well being.
But the negative news and false information post covid healing has carried on and while it isn’t a new phenomena and has been there for centuries, but it has left indelible exacerbating marks on our lives ranging from career to finance to personal lives to fitness to elections to social behaviour etc. and the life lessons that covid taught us has all been forgotten due to the overload of mostly false information in our minds and memories.
A common misconception that people born in the 2000s possess is that they have to be successful in multiple areas over a long period instead of having very successful lives. This phenomenon is known as “ shiny object syndrome”, and this is common with people diagnosed with ADHD, the ones who get attracted to multiple lines of work easily, and those who get influenced under peer pressure very easily. This phenomenon could simply be described as an individual, while working on his or her current project, leaves it midway to grab another project simply because they thought, just by looking at the next project, that the next option is much more viable, feasible, and attractive than the one they were working on.
This could also be described using a simple story, wherein a student who chose science in class 11th and 12th leaves it after passing out from school and then chooses to pursue BBA instead. After completing his BBA, he chose to go for CA. During his journey towards becoming a CA, he once again leaves and chooses to pursue mass communication and journalism because he was attracted to that field and found it to be much more lucrative than management studies, CA, or science.
This could also be compared to another phenomenon, and while referring to it, one might label it as two sides of the same coin, and that is "recency bias”. Recency bias states that individuals tend to prioritize events that have happened recently and process information from that events based on an emotional basis. This is also visible in events about conflict or war within two nations where recent events fuel us and by viewing the news we demand an all out war and instead of relying on input and casualty as well as various aspects of war such as economic, legal, demographics and political we tend to overemphasize our emotions rather than letting the chiefs of the defence forces deal with the situation. This could also be very well analysed in a very popular scenario, such as the UPSC. On a day-to-day basis, we are inundated with information either from our loved ones or peers or billboards of students from coaching classes or online reels and shorts pumped in with motivational music that describe how students have cleared UPSC and are on a path towards a trailblazing career and life. This happens when we look at the recent events about the phenomena, however we don’t stop, head back home, sir alone, relax our mind, process the information, raise our doubts and ask relevant questions about the examination process as well as whether the life after qualifying the exam is worth it or not towards a successful well being and betterment of society.
We don’t look observe the various markers such as societal, financial and educational that aid an individual into clearing the examination as well as the countless cases of corruption and transfers of honest officers who raised their voice against the cacophony of corrupt individuals that individuals don’t look at it into a ratio, i.e, whether the pros such as a luxurious car, respect, aura and living conditions are outweighed by the cons such as corruption, numerous political favours, threats and transfers which not only strain an individual’s ambitions in the civil services but could also deteriorate an individuals mental well being.