WHERE HAS ALL THE JOY IN LIFE GONE?
There have been many things on my mind in these first four months of this year. Really, there has been a lot on my mind for the past many years. All of which I am sure hinders one’s sleep patterns. Among the many things on my mind recently is the question of joy, and wondering where it is? Life has become an odd bundle of curiosity (not the good kind) and wondering, will the silliness end?
Commentary has this kind of single-mindedness that seems to, at least on its surface, work against joy and illicit one reaction, fear.
Factors for this include the who inspires fear (which “side” they are on) or the “what” (the fear is different dependent on the who). It varies depending on these. But the result is the same. It’s these things that, in part, are erasing joy from everyday life.
There is rarely anything we seem to find joy in the way we once did. This is a choice but is also because we are bombarded with social media outbursts about how x, y or z is “evil” or person a or person b is some kind of devil. This also seems to make everyone a judge as, no matter how insignificant the “offense,” calls gleefully ring out to “cancel” anyone or anything that doesn’t align with what someone deems culturally acceptable. Or if it doesn’t fit with the supposed look of what a Christian should be or what you shouldn’t or shouldn’t like based on faith or politics. The list of things that you have to cut out is growing longer and longer, and it is, for lack of a better term, taking the joy out of everything.
There is overblown cultural commentary that has become “norm” in a world where once, yes, everyone disagreed about what made something good, but it didn’t unfold on a platform for everyone to see.
Honestly, I find it all exhausting.
The chatter, the battering up, the “team a” or “team b” happenings, the opinions and the judging.
DISCUSSION | THEY SAY READING IS POLITICAL: WHAT’S REALLY AN HONEST ANSWER?
WHERE HAS ALL THE JOY IN LIFE GONE? Talking about the increasing promotion of “fear” in culture, and its effect on joy. #Joy #Life #Opinions #Discussion #Culture Share on XWe’ve all been there. I’ve been there. I’m upset that the people who demand our time with these opinions use us to spread them. At the end of the day, it ends up being us who look silly.
I’ve seen countless people, from professionals to normies, say that social media is needed for sharing these opinions. This is fine. However, a core opinion for me is that this isn’t true. I think it’s just as unwise to believe this as it is to say if you don’t share your every whim on social media, you’re somehow ignorant. It’s just as important to pick the “where” you share as it is the “who.” This is for more reasons than one, but the primary of which is social media isn’t the “healthy” place to air concerns, opinions or fears.
There is an odd performative polish people have on social media. I’m not talking about silly memes or pop culture headlines, but rather when we share something extremely emotional or we call out something that we don’t really understand. Social media normalizes headlining certain things specifically for these types of emotional reactions.
No matter where you fall, this is all taking joy out of life. The anger, constant kvetching, and my-opinion-is-right serves very little. There are times and places for sharing frustration, but the in-your-face complaints and threads upon threads, well, those are exhausting. They don’t “help” in a big picture way and instead of “informing,” which is often the protection, it accomplishes the opposite. Conversations deserve more than to be reduced to a public social media post. They are more than “black and white” viewpoints and we all deserve to understand this. We all need joy and laughter. Something that commentary is erasing.
What are your thoughts on this topic? Do you think life is losing joy? Do you think there is any one cause for this? How do you feel about the “complain about everything” state of mind? Comment all of your thoughts below. Let’s talk.
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