existentialist crisis

[Ando85]

In this day and age there is no shortage of movies to watch, games to play, books to read, and many other forms of entertainment. Most of the time I'm happily enjoying these, but I realize I'm living vicariously at times. We experience a wide range of emotions, drama, and action through the eyes of the characters. Appropriately called (thus the name of this site) we are escapists.

However, have you ever stopped and thought for a second? I just spent the evening starring at a box.

 

[hazabaza1]

Thinking hurts me brain. I try to avoid it.

 

[RicoGrey]

All the time, and sometimes it makes me feel sad.

But, you know, what am I gonna do with my time? Cure cancer? Get a college education? Go see a doctor about these bed sores? bwah ha ha, no, I just need a new box to stare at.

 

[Da Orky Man]

Well, when walking home from town, I do occasionally walk into things because I'm staring at the moon.

 

[FaceFaceFace]

I used to. After I determined I was an atheist I never made any more discoveries or developed any more meaningful ideas, plus when I would think of something I would realize it was already a philosophical idea. So I stopped. Writing fiction is a good alternative to thinking about reality, btw.

 

[WeAreStevo]

I have thought of that. Sometimes I think about how drastically the world has changed from the time of my youth. Technologies meant to free us have only served to enslave. I can't even fathom the amount of times I felt completely lost in this modern world by leaving my smart phone at home...

My most recent existential crisis lead to the deletion of my facebook.

I thought that as a culture, we're simultaneously becoming closer while isolating further.

With the endless stream of information readily available at our fingertips, there's no reason to have genuine human interactions anymore. I mean hell, you can always look up what your best friends have done in the last week by checking their facebook. At the rate I was going, when I would see my friends, I already knew everything new in their life, which made our time together all the more awkward.

That kind of worries me...

 

[vfaulkon]

Eh, it's not so bad. We're simply entering a new age. And I mean that - the development of the internet and the growing interconnection of media is a change that will have (and always has had) massive repercussions on society as a whole. That includes us, naturally.

Why does this matter? Because 'staring at a box', as you put it, means something totally different today than it did, say, seventy-five years ago. I 'stare at a box' by sitting at a computer screen or playing a video game, but it's not just staring at nothing. While sitting at my computer, I'm writing a novella, discussing existential crises with people from across the country, if not the world, making changes to my daily life with a helpful to-do list written in Notepad, exchanging multiple letters daily with a good friend who lives several hundred miles away from me, and listening to people discuss their social and psychological views on popular culture and the people who enjoy it. All of these just a single click of the mouse away.

When I play a video game, I'm effectively reading (or rereading) a digital interactive book, reading stories, following characters, analyzing their motives and plots, learning new techniques to use in my own writing or failings to avoid, even being inspired not only from the game itself but from the artists that could put all these elements together into an interactive story I control, giving me more perspective on my own desires as an artist.

My point is, there is so much to be gained from 'staring at a box' today, and it's no wonder people like us have been utterly captivated by it. Our parents didn't have this stuff, and while the television was probably a similarly big part of THEIR lives, there wasn't always something on to watch, so they still had to find other ways to occupy their time.

The trick is learning to moderate our escapist actions with real-world effort. There's no reason I can't do all of the above AND go out and get some fresh air, get some exercise, meet new people, etc., all in the same day. It's not just a given for us to do that anymore. There's no impetus pushing us to move away from our computer automatically, so we have to create our own.

Don't panic. This crisis can easily be averted. We just all have to try.

 

[McMullen]

I used to. After I determined I was an atheist I never made any more discoveries or developed any more meaningful ideas, plus when I would think of something I would realize it was already a philosophical idea. So I stopped. Writing fiction is a good alternative to thinking about reality, btw.

Why should you stop making discoveries once you become an atheist? I would have thought that that's when you're most free to make your own discoveries.

OT: I never really stop thinking about abstract ideas. Even while playing games I'll be considering the philosophical and moral implications of what's going on in the game, and what it says about how well my actions are conforming to my view of the character. For example, If I kill a bunch of Borgia guards and the remaining ones run away pleading that they have families, should I let them go or kill them? On the one hand, letting it be known among the Borgia that cowardice is an option and that they can still back out could be strategically valuable (I know it makes no difference gameplay-wise, but I'm kinda-sorta role-playing here), but on the other hand, the people these Borgia have been killing, imprisoning, enslaving, and torturing had families too. Why should they be spared just because it's not as fun when they're on the receiving end?

This behavior continues in real life as well. Part of my mind is nearly always off somewhere else. It's when the rest of me can join it, such as when I'm just standing around waiting for something, that the real stuff happens. I converted from deism to atheism while waiting for a bus.

 

[OrokuSaki]

Yes, I think about it, quite often. But then I consider the alternative.

Yes I spent the day staring at a box, but I could have been working 9-5 at a job I hate, interacting with people that I feel nothing for and wishing that I had spent my day staring at a box.

Overall it seems to work out better if you ask yourself this question: "Do you enjoy what you're doing?" If the answer is no then do something else, otherwise you're just wasting your time.

 

[manic_depressive13]

To me, life isn't something that needs to be justified, but rather something that needs to be endured. If staring at a box all day can distract me from my unremitting desire to kill myself it's time well spent.

 

[BabyRaptor]

I think when I need to. And when I'm trying to fall asleep...Can't fall asleep unless I'm actively thinking about something.

Thinking has it's moments. And not thinking has it's moments. Don't cross them...You'll break your brain.

 

[kingcom]

However, have you ever stopped and thought for a second? I just spent the evening starring at a box.

No i didn't just stare at a box. I stared at the most important technological advancement of my era. I stared at the seemingly simple display which is actually reflecting an extremely complicated series of equations which are ultimately managing the flow and strength of electrical impulsives across a circuit board to produce the visual stimuli in front of me. As a result I have the information of the world at my fingertips, I have the sights and sounds thought unimaginable brought to my senses. I simultaneously a God descending from the heavens with an infinite array of knowledge, skills and expertise and a sentient being sitting at a desk. From this little 'box' I have absolute freedom and absolute power, I know all and see all, I am the alpha and the omega and I am blessed to live in an age where this unprecedented power is widely available. I did not just stare at a box. I learn't more, experienced more the those in generations past dared imagined and interacted with people across the world in the blink of an eye.

 

[Crazy Zaul]

A box? How old is your TV, they have flat screens how.

 

[2xDouble]

Fascination and captivation come from many possible sources. I, for one, have spent an entire day, with my ADD-riddled brain, utterly fascinated by a light socket.

This particular box just happens to have the blinkiest lights, and carries with it the illusion that you're interacting socially with other people (which is a human necessity, regardless of what people may think). It's a false life, but the illusion is much better than anything possible in reality. It is the more appealing life, so we want it to become our life, and then it does... before we realize the illusion we chase here is just a mirage, and end up with nothing.

There's an article somewhere about MMO compulsion that explains it better than I did...

 

[WarDialler]

I'll be worried when they release a force-feedback online sex simulator. Yes I'll get it but rest assured I'll cry every time I use it

That tech has existed since about 1994. It's never caught on becuase...well..eww.

ON TOPIC, I have no qualms about staring at a box for a few hours, it's about letting go of reality for a while and being soemwhere and somebody else, do it with books and boardgames too, suspension of disbelief. Just moderate it becuase you could end up going off the deep end and running around with a cardboard sword wrapped in tin foil screaming "FOR KHAZ-MODAN!".

 

[ReincarnatedFTP]

I think to myself constantly non-stop all the time.
I spend alot of time alone in my room or just walking around my campus, or just waiting on this or that thinking.
It's funny, because I remember going over schizophrenia in my psych class and one of the basic ideas was how they showed emotion inconsistent with their current interactions because they had so many strains of thought and they were reacting to something else entirely.
But I usually don't even feel I have multiple strains of thought, my process feels pretty linear and focused as though it were one voice in a monologue unless I've got a really busy day or I'm a wee bit altered.

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

I love technology in general. I feel at home and comforted when I am surrounded by it. So I don't feel bad about it or regret it. I still go to work, I still strive to make my RL better, and I am doing rather well for myself right now.

If shit starts going wrong I will take it into consideration, but right now, why tweak something thats working so smoothly.