Social Media is a Trap for the Mind

What is the mind? I don't know. But I know something that seems seems pretty central to it. That is the focus of attention. I've seen people debate over whether or not we really have a will that we control. I can sympathize with arguments on either side. In my experience, if we have control over anything, it's how we direct our attention. In fact, I think that works to formulate a simple definition of the mind: a focus of attention.

Then what are social media companies doing when they try so hard to capture our attention? They're trying to trap our minds. They may not realize this is what they're doing. After all, it sounds pretty sinister when you put it that way. It seems wrong to attribute sinister motives to simple carelessness or greed. Regardless, whether or not tech businesses realize it, they've developed very secure prisons for our minds.

Then what are we to do if we want to live free? We've got to pull back and reclaim control over our attention. I suppose that's why some people are interested in meditation. Meditation is the act of reclaiming control over one's attention. But "meditation" is an awfully loaded term. All we have to do to reclaim our attention is to deliberately do nothing. Or, we can just focus on something that's dead simple, such as the process of breathing -- a process that is otherwise involuntary. If you want to call that meditating, go right ahead. It's just doing nothing on purpose.

This much is clear: we don't like being imprisoned. That feeling of imprisonment must account for the general tinge of malaise that infects modern life. So free yourself by pulling back and doing nothing.