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Abstract

t is in this temporal paradigm that afflicts us that Thinking, as a survival mechanism, in an information-laden age, suffers and becomes crystallized. It wasn’t so long ago that life seemed to be calmer. Information flowed, yes, but at a pace that seemed more natural than what we have now, with the arrival of immediacy.Social media is just a consequence (or cause too?) of this immediatism that hurts Thinking.We’ve lost the ability to think slowly and become instantaneous thinking blocks.Thinking is no longer a well assembled and organized plate of food, but rather an unloaded porridge on a fragile plate, a scene so common in our human imagination.Because deep down that is the way we think today. The birth of terms like trending makes us feel like we are constantly running after a train that never stops so that we can catch it. As if the world is that train but people — us — are running alongside it and even inside it.Everyone is constantly in a hellish rush without really knowing where to go.And we really don’t know, because we live stuck in a continuous present that never turns into a future.How can we think about that future if the present offers us a thousand and one things to hold our concern?How can we finish the work at hand if the cell phone beeps with notifications o

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r our followers need an update, or else they will lose interest to someone who updates them first?<h2 id="a953">The old train stations: what can we learn from them</h2>We need the old railway stations. We need them because they had the most important advice for today: stop, listen, and look.We have stopped doing that because we simply run after the train, not knowing where it is headed. In fact, we don’t even want to know. We only want to catch that train because we have the illusory notion that it is full and we are on the outside.And that rush clouds our thinking, we lose track of where we are, because we just run, run, run. And so we don’t realize that the windows of that train are actually mirrors. Maybe if we stop, the train will stop too.<blockquote id="1fba">What do you think about this perception that we need to slow down? Do you feel this kind of anxiety throughout your day? Let me know in the comments, I’m enthusiastic about learning more from your experiences.</blockquote>Did you enjoy reading my story? How about becoming a member here on Medium? Your membership fee, only 5$/month, will give you the opportunity to read all the stories you want, while supporting me and other writers to continue to bring you insights every day. <a href="https://medium.com/@cesarfsalves/membership">Click here to become a member.</a></article></body>

Mental Health | Advice | Anxiety

We Need to Think Slowly

The cure for the immediacy

How many times have we found ourselves feeling some kind of anxiety about the world?

How many times do we feel that we are behind schedule, that those around us know more than we do, that we will not be able to meet our deadlines, resolutions, tasks, in short, that we are constantly in a race against time?

This race against time is not only one of the greatest evils affecting us today, but also a paradox of humanity, since time, which is a human creation, ends up swallowing us.

Time as a Human Creation

The human being is being swallowed by its own creation. For some time now we have been afraid of artificial intelligence and the way it might eventually overpower humans, while we are already swallowed by this artificial creation that is time.

And it is in this temporal paradigm that afflicts us that Thinking, as a survival mechanism, in an information-laden age, suffers and becomes crystallized. It wasn’t so long ago that life seemed to be calmer. Information flowed, yes, but at a pace that seemed more natural than what we have now, with the arrival of immediacy.

Social media is just a consequence (or cause too?) of this immediatism that hurts Thinking.

We’ve lost the ability to think slowly and become instantaneous thinking blocks.

Thinking is no longer a well assembled and organized plate of food, but rather an unloaded porridge on a fragile plate, a scene so common in our human imagination.

Because deep down that is the way we think today. The birth of terms like trending makes us feel like we are constantly running after a train that never stops so that we can catch it. As if the world is that train but people — us — are running alongside it and even inside it.

Everyone is constantly in a hellish rush without really knowing where to go.

And we really don’t know, because we live stuck in a continuous present that never turns into a future.

How can we think about that future if the present offers us a thousand and one things to hold our concern?

How can we finish the work at hand if the cell phone beeps with notifications or our followers need an update, or else they will lose interest to someone who updates them first?

The old train stations: what can we learn from them

We need the old railway stations. We need them because they had the most important advice for today: stop, listen, and look.

We have stopped doing that because we simply run after the train, not knowing where it is headed. In fact, we don’t even want to know. We only want to catch that train because we have the illusory notion that it is full and we are on the outside.

And that rush clouds our thinking, we lose track of where we are, because we just run, run, run. And so we don’t realize that the windows of that train are actually mirrors. Maybe if we stop, the train will stop too.

What do you think about this perception that we need to slow down? Do you feel this kind of anxiety throughout your day? Let me know in the comments, I’m enthusiastic about learning more from your experiences.

Did you enjoy reading my story? How about becoming a member here on Medium? Your membership fee, only 5$/month, will give you the opportunity to read all the stories you want, while supporting me and other writers to continue to bring you insights every day. Click here to become a member.