Is it an epidemic? Therapists have busy schedules, seeing lines forming at their receptions. Are we all infected with the anxiety virus?

The history of information is the history of the human being.

The ability to deal with reality is the curse the human race carries in this world. Human beings struggle tirelessly to leave a unique mark, as if trying to trickle death and say, in some or many ways, “I am here”. A nod to what we call eternity.

Thousands of years ago, when one of our grandparents etched the shape of his hand into a rock, using some kind of natural ink, an explosion occurred in this character’s mind, which represented something greater that was also happening in our species.

We knew of our existence, unlike all other animals, and we didn’t just accept being born, growing, and dying. This anguish led us towards creativity, the big difference between the silence of a completely unknown past and a new future that would be created and written in many and infinite ways.

The story of homo sapiens begins when they understand their thoughts need to be recorded.

Today, the Internet is proof of all this.

If we look at it from a historical perspective, its creation crowns an ancient quest to concentrate all human knowledge. Most of the big names responsible for expanding empires always defended knowledge as something powerful, which should be encouraged and protected.

It would be a matter of time to create a tool capable of gathering all human knowledge and the ability to monitor and, above all, exert some kind of power over the greatest possible number of people.

If we look back, paying attention to everything that was created, especially in the last 500 years, we realize that most creations are linked to the production of knowledge, and transport mechanisms. The thirst to know what happens on the other side of the world, and even in places we know, but don’t master or don’t have the license to enter, made us create resources to overcome these limitations.

Information had become the most precious commodity and nothing could stop this revolution.

Human anxiety to break barriers, in search of overcoming challenges and, with that, to evolve to new levels, created the world as we know it. However, we have reached a turning point. One of those corners of history, where major events mark a paradigm shift.

The 20th century and all its ebullitions allowed a giant leap in our creative capacity. Things no longer happened at the same speed. Digital technology has changed everything and reinvented the idea of ​​time and space. In short, the society that has always had to wait decades, sometimes centuries, to see major social changes, now perceives them in the span of years, sometimes months. This is scary for a brain that until recently had “time” to adapt to changes.

Now the old human mind must reinvent itself or collapse.

All this flood of information, which has occurred over the last few millennia, has gradually left us saturated with all its possibilities. Today, it is not even the volume of information that we can access, but the speed it all happens.

The Internet is programmed to make a profit.

Everything is online, absolutely everything. Try to imagine yourself disconnected for an entire hour. Try now to see yourself offline for a day. Maybe a week. Unthinkable, right? It sounds strange, but it’s like trying to force a person to stop breathing, eating, or drinking water.

We do not exist if we are not connected.

Our lives seem to depend on how much we are able to surf the internet. Our knowledge of digital tools defines how much fun we can have and find some kind of happiness.

This is a critical moment.

There has not been enough time for our bodies to adapt to the demands and consequences of such a massive and continuous use of so many digital mechanisms, which change overnight, offering endless resources that suffocate us more than they do us good. But, that’s just a simplistic opinion of someone who is looking at it from one perspective only.

However, the numbers are there. A sea of ​​people is under the pressure of a new system that has installed itself and dominates the entire world structure. Governments succumb and rise practically out of nowhere because of social media. And that goes for companies and people, no matter where they come from and how they get there.

The power of digital technology only makes clear the need to focus on our emotions.

The speed that plagues our lives impoverishes our ability to make decisions. And that can be the shaky ground where most of us will eventually succumb to not paying attention. The more we struggle, the faster we are swallowed by the sand. Many people are investing in therapies, new ways of dealing with their emotions, and understanding that digital excesses compromise our fragile biological brain.

To succeed in a digital world, perhaps it is exactly necessary to go slower, without being enchanted by a singing mermaid made of pixels.

It doesn’t matter how much our world is dominated by electronic stuff.

We need to look each other in the eye and be able to delight in the surprises that only people can offer us. Human beings are still what nature has created most interesting, even if we find their dark sides. But, that’s exactly where the possibility of some light comes in, as we hate living in darkness, and we can’t bear to live without the touch of another human being, even if we’ve created tools to avoid it.

Perhaps this is the reason why so many clinics are crowded with people looking to reconnect with their essence and their origins.

We are not machines, but we can and we need to reprogram ourselves with new emotions that only other humans can teach us. Open your heart to fly high! There are new wings waiting for you, and they certainly are not digital.

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Curiosity is my curse. I write to alleviate the desire to discover new things, but I end up wanting to know even more. What can I do?