Some Thoughts About Distraction (part III)

 [If you're reading this part without reading the last post, stop. Go back and read the last post. Please :) ]

So what is the deal with idle distraction? Why so much of it? What purpose is it serving? What need is it meeting? I believe that the answer(s) to these questions are quite varied, complex, and subtle. And I certainly do not believe that I know the answers to these questions in any comprehensive way. But I think that part of the answer may have something to do with the following: idle distractions allow the estranged self to be anesthetized in the losing of attention/focus/intention in being entertained. Now, there are a couple parts in that sentence that warrant further attention and explanation, starting with this talk about the “estranged self.”
The “self” is a rather nebulous concept, metaphysically speaking. Something that has been the subject of a lot of research and philosophizing and theorizing. So rather than attempt to describe/summarize (then get bogged down, fail, and cry) such things as consciousness, ego, and personality, I will merely encourage you to visit the Wikipedia page of each of these respective subjects. Boom! That was easy.
As I am sure many of you are aware, it can be quite a challenge to grow up and develop into a healthy, grounded, well-rounded, secure adult in the U.S. Obviously, the U.S. is not some third world country where basic human necessities like clean water, dependable food sources, and a competent health care system—to name a few—are nowhere to be found. And I do not mean to conflate the two. The U.S. definitely has its own issues with poverty, health care, education, and the like; but it would not be a stretch to say that the U.S. is and has been #blessed in a materialistic sense. Largest GDP in the world by a sizable difference, local economies (i.e. New York City) that rival those of entire countries, one of the top 5 countries in the world in average monthly wages as well as disposable income per capita (source). I could go on. Still, the material riches of the U.S. hardly guarantees the ability of an individual to develop a secure, authentic self. In fact, I think it could be a detriment. More on that later.
The influences of capitalism and consumerism that pervade nearly every aspect of our society are about as conducive to healthy self-development as binge watching Keeping Up with the Kardashians. The convergence of the material abundance of the U.S. with the cultural forces of consumerism and capitalism combine to produce a destructive brew. From birth, we are constantly bombarded with messages and advertisements that tell us we need to buy more, be more, have more. Having “enough” is such a hazy concept that we don’t even bother to consider what it is or when or how we attain it or why we should in the first place. This relationship to never having enough material things gives way to relating to ourselves in the same way. Nothing we ever say or do or are will ever be enough. The consumeristic and capitalistic elements in U.S. culture first manufacture an environment in which nothing is ever enough--you always need more, you are insatiable--yet we strive for that one great thing that will leave us feeling satiated and complete; then we are told endlessly how the next car, or mascara, or shoes, or clothes is that very thing that will complete us. Said another way, the materialism/consumerism/capitalism of our culture first infects us with the disease of never having or being enough, and then dangles all these bright and shiny objects in front of us as the cure. But this is merely an illusion. Almost immediately after we’ve attained the thing that promised to make us feel complete does it start to lose its allure. Within a week we’ve forgotten how hopeful we were about the thing and we’re back to where we started--staring at ads with our vapid selves.
The abundance of material capital in the U.S. fosters the impression that perhaps we “should” feel happier, more secure in ourselves, and more in tune with our authentic selves. But by and large we don’t. We feel unhappy, insecure, and estranged from ourselves. And the gaping juxtaposition of where we believe we “should” be and where we actually are only amplifies our sense ineffectiveness and uselessness. So what do we do with these feelings of misery, despair, angst, and ineptitude? Well, just spin the Wheel of Escapes to find out! Some of the possible answers are: 

>We medicate it: In the past 30 days, more than 70 million Americans have used a prescription antidepressant, pain medication, anxiety medication, sleep medication, or some combination thereof  (source). Although only accounting for 5% of the global population, Americans consume 80% of the world’s pain pills (source) and more than half of all prescription drugs (source).

>We eat it: Two out of every three Americans are overweight. More specifically, a staggering 33% of Americans are obese (source). Compare that to the global percentage of people who are either overweight or obese, which is 37% (source), and it’s obvious that America is definitely dominating the worldwide pie eating contest. Finally, the average American consumes approximately 3,770 calories everyday, the most out of any country in the world (source), and is close to double the daily recommended amount. 

>We drink it: About 1 out of every 12 Americans is an alcoholic, and more than half of all adult Americans have a family history of alcoholism or problem drinking (source). About 1 out of every 6 Americans are binge drinkers (source). In 2014, Americans spent close to $175 billion on alcohol (source), which is about the same as the gross domestic products of Ecuador and Sri Lanka combined. 

>We drug it: Approximately 1 out of every 10 Americans over the age of 12 has used illicit drugs in the past 30 days (source). In the span of a decade (2000 to 2010), Americans spent a trillion dollars on illicit substances (source). Perhaps not surprisingly, the United States is the worldwide leader in illegal drug use (source).

>We buy it: Us Americans like to spend money and buy stuff. It is quite literally one of the things we do best. Overall, in 2013 Americans spent about 11.5 trillion dollars buying stuff. This is roughly three times more than the second country on this list, China, which has a population more than four times as large as ours (source). The average  household in the United States spent about $54,000 on stuff in 2014 (source); which, in true American fashion, is $3,000 more than the average household income in 2014 (source). We are good at debt.


>We screw it: Porn is very popular in the US, where Americans account for more than 50% of global online porn revenue (source). In just this exact second, there are about 30,000 people in the US viewing porn (source), and over 40 million Americans visit porn sites regularly (source). Overall, Americans spend about 13 billion dollars on porn every year (source), which is roughly the same amount of money that we spend on ice cream every year (source). Coincidence? Probably.
>We game it: (see section on gaming)


>We watch it: (see section on TV)


Good luck with your spin!


I don’t mean to oversimplify things and vilify American consumerism and capitalism as the sole instigating factors that lead to the production of vapid, ineffectual selves. Surely the influences and factors are myriad and complex. But I don’t think that it is a stretch to say that they factor into the discussion considerably. It is a struggle to exist while feeling ineffectual and useless. As I said earlier, operating within a prosperous and free society connotes seemingly endless possibilities. But this only heightens the feelings of ineptness when our attempts have been rebuffed. Or perhaps we have given up the attempting entirely. To paraphrase Eric Hoffer in True Believer: Of what use is freedom if the self is ineffectual? The continual struggle of the ineffectual self within the illusory realm of “possibilities” and “prosperities,” combined with the consumeristic/capitalistic culture of nothing ever being good enough, would doubtlessly lead to numerous failures—whether real, imagined, or anticipated—and to the compounding of a self that feels inept and vapid. Doesn’t it follow that the incessant exposure to this environment would lead us to not only be estranged from ourselves, but to actually pursue estrangement as well? So, rather than be repeatedly confronted with our sense of futility, we seek out further estrangement from ourselves in order to forget.
Which finally brings me to this point: idle distractions—such as TV and video gaming—function as an anesthetic from our ineffectual selves. The ceaseless staring at screens provides a pathway for self-forgetting. Our near constant distraction by way of entertainment shifts our attention/focus/intention from ourselves and therefore amplifies our self-amnesia. This further exacerbates our self-estrangement, thereby creating a mutually self-perpetuating cycle.

If you have actually managed to successfully read these posts up until this point, thank you! Next post I'll start talking about the other side of the distraction binary: the transposing of the self. This is where it gets real interesting (shameless teaser).