Regaining a sense of purpose in a world that never pauses

Photo Courtesy: pikisuperstar on Freepik

We are part of a system that requires us to consistently be connected to others, which, in exchange, makes us so accessible to them. Having so much digital access has become second nature to us, but if we all stopped to reflect for just a second, we could recognize that being connected doesn't mean being in touch with our true sense of self. Being centered in the present moment and being self-reflective has become rare. This fast-paced digital environment molds how we create, recharge, and discover our purpose, and we should work on regaining that feeling once again until we become one with the digital world.

As a student, I have constantly felt the digital world draining a piece of my identity. I used to obsessively scroll through social media, thinking that the people I saw on there were the key to my journey of growth. In reality, I was trying to shape myself into others on the internet, criticizing myself, and feeling that my self-worth was becoming dust. Doubting who I was and who I wanted to become. At times, I still catch myself comparing, but I try my best to stop and reflect. It’s easier said than done, but it’s something one has to work towards.  

For example, I still have a horrible habit that I’m still trying to break, where the first thing I do in the morning is check my phone, stay on it for ten minutes (or even thirty), and then finally start my day. I feel like I've immersed myself in a Black Mirror episode, and soon enough, I’ll become a phone too. The effortlessness of this connection is, quite honestly, terrifying. I try my best to self-reflect, but I still struggle to detach myself from the digital world. Though I still have to keep pushing towards stopping this pattern. 

Even when I walk into my classes, and the professor is speaking, some of us will be texting a friend or scrolling through social media. When this accessibility first started booming, it was something we celebrated, but in the present day, this connectivity consumes so many of us, and in those silent times in between all of those notifications that pop up on our phones, it should be acknowledged how we are slowly forgetting how to be in touch with our own selves. 

There is a contrast when it comes to being accessible and truly being in the present moment. Personally, I argue that we have misinterpreted accessibility with actual personal intimacy. What I mean by this is how a friend can go on to text me at 3:00 AM while I get notifications from my professors at 11:00 PM on a Sunday, and honestly, it’s awful to see because it feels as if we are forever ON, always active, and no intimacy comes with that, just a fatigue of the self. 

To be fully available to the digital world makes being available to yourself rare. I look around, and it seems as if some of us have sold our souls to the digital world, having traded the richness that comes from self-reflection, just for a piece of digital visibility. We go on to consistently adjust and respond to this environment while slowly losing our willingness to sit and tune into our internal selves. The sense of self has now become a profile that so many of us run after, pursuing a persona that leaves our souls behind.  

What concerns me is how fast the digital world is, so fast that it feels as if it's sprinting. Being placed in a fast-paced environment is beyond toxic because we can’t stop. We just want more and more, without realizing that we are deteriorating ourselves in the process, influencing how we recognize our purpose. When we get out of school, off of work, after a bad day, or after a good day, the way we recharge is by shoving content down our throats, scrolling at 2x speed, and watching the ways other people live, health tips, or memes, creating a routine that might feel calming, but all it’s doing is blocking our internal selves from resting. Our purpose becomes molded into this algorithm that one needs to keep up with, or else you fall behind, and you're left in the dirt rather than being part of experiences that make you internally and physically feel a sense of meaning. You become addicted to the pattern. A cycle that does the opposite of recharge; it creates fatigue that is not just bodily but spiritual. An exhaustion that is part of sprinting in a digital environment; we just have to be willing to stop in the middle of it all.  

To be truthful, this overload in connectivity is destroying our creativity and originality. Not only is artificial intelligence poisoning it, but genuine creativity needs boredom for it to blossom. Even with this specific article, I had to stare out of my window for forty-five minutes straight while wearing my lucky cape I made out of a blanket (yes, you read that right, a cape) just to write a simple pitch. Creativity requires patience to be filled within silence and be part of the dead air without a screen wrapped around your body. When you fill every space in your day with digital content, the brain becomes deprived of the most essential elements that form originality and create purpose. 

What I see is how our sense of worth has become intertwined with how useful we are in this highly digital world. We feel as if we need to keep posting, creating, and engaging on social media to remain visible. This structure creates a brutal demand to be productive at all times, or else you become nothingness. Even for professional reasons, as in posting on LinkedIn or just a simple Instagram posting, we feel as if we need to immerse ourselves in this structure to be successful and valued. We need to recognize our voices within the echoes that surround us. Though at times these echoes might consume us, we need to scream so we don’t lose ourselves.

What I believe is that as a whole, we should recover silence, a slow pace, and offline time. The best course of action that we can take is to shift that connection toward our own selves.

Strike Out,

Orlando

Written By:  Brenda Nunes

Edited by: Olivia Wagner and Sarah Franquelo 

Brenda Nunes is a staff writer for Strike Magazine, Orlando. At the moment, she is pursuing her bachelor's degree in English literature with a minor in writing and rhetoric at the University of Central Florida. Beyond writing, shes finds a sense of peace in sharing her life experiences with others and in hearing the personal experiences that others have had in her community. She hopes her stories will help readers challenge conventional perspectives and embrace their own sense of belonging.