Learning to face the day to day in this Digital age and Information can be a great challenge. Despite the scientific and social advances and the benefits that new technologies bring us, our adaptive and problem-solving capacities are put to the test every day; we are continually making decisions and resolving conflicts, as well as managing the continuous bombardment of information received from the environment. It is a non-stop.
Unlike a couple of decades ago, we live in overstimulated and often in a state of stresspermanente. Not just for the amount and intensity of informationbut also for his complexity and ambiguity. As a result, we spend a great deal of our time and energy learning to figure it out and trying to understand it. Keeping up to date with what is happening in the world is the biggest challenge of all.given that we not only need to analyze information at the speed of light, but also to quickly discern what is real from what is false, what is important from what is not, in addition to deciding in milliseconds what information is best for us discard or save in memoryeither to recover it later or even to recycle it.
Perhaps one of the greatest challenges today is learning to conquer serenity and live in the present without the pressure of rushing; immediacy has become a priority, almost an expectation associated with duty, while taking the time to learn from the processes is overrated. Why? Probably one of the main reasons is that we live in a world where changes are not only frequent and intense, they come and go as fast as a cheetah. But speed is also a relative concept. Let’s keep in mind that the cheetah is considered the fastest land animal; a feline capable of striding up to 7 meters and reaching up to 110 km per hour in just 3 seconds. Instead, today we live in a world where for some people the speed of the cheetah falls short and is even considered extremely slow next to the fastest and most powerful supercomputers in the world. Those computers capable of making billions of calculations and that go at the speed of what is called: petaflops. Therefore, we can conclude that time and speed are relative concepts and our present so fleeting that it is difficult to find the time to stop to appreciate and savor it. What’s more, it seems that stopping for a second and do things slowly to enjoy their company is socially frowned upon. Currently, anything new becomes obsolete in the blink of an eye and the habit of using and throwing away is part of our day to day.
Surviving in today’s world is not an easy task, but it is necessary. Although it often stresses us out, keep in mind that we all have the ability to learn to cope with adversity as long as we objectively explore and define it. Looking things in the face and calling things by their name helps us to be objective, order our ideas and priorities to be able to make good decisions. It is like knowing how to read a map to be able to decide the path we want to take regardless of its difficulty, practicality or whether we like it or not. Therefore, below I will focus exclusively on exploring and defining the map of our current world according to the theoretical model of the sociologist Zigmunt Bauman, a reference in the current scientific literature that, in my opinion, can be useful and interesting for everyone to reflect on. your environment and the world around you.
According to Baumann, We live in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world.; a “liquid world” with “liquid relationships” and “liquid emotions”. Known by his acronym VICA, Bauman explains that our society is characterized not only by the speed of change and the rapid advance of new technologies, but also by the volatility of the global beliefs that persist. Without ignoring the multitude of benefits provided by new technologies, he also points out that there is an increase in superficiality in personal relationships, as well as that a lack of solid and secure links has been identified in them. Likewise, he explains that these changes have caused a drastic increase in a general state of uncertainty; we live in a state of constant doubt regarding the future in the short, medium and long term. He argues that the world is increasingly complex and while there are interacting variables that we can come to understand, there are many others that remain ambiguous. Therefore, it is natural that many people feel confused and stressed on a permanent basis.
According to Bauman, there is an important factor to take into account when analyzing our behavior, one that marks a turning point regarding how we relate to others and that we must review on a personal, family and collective level: the commitment to permanence and durability has become rare, and even exceptional. And although we must be prudent and avoid falling into generalizations and catastrophizing, it stands out that we live in a world of “throw away” in which many items of first and second necessity are programmed to decrease their durability, known as scheduled obsolescence in order to reduce the durability of products and increase consumption. In this case, living in a world in which planned obsolence is recorded not only in products, but also in the way we relate to others, with our commitments and affective ties leads me to think that perhaps this could be contributing to the Anxious state that many people suffer from dedicating much of their personal time and energy, consciously and unconsciously, in a continuous search for “the latest” in order to replace “the old” with “the new”.
In my experience, I observe how some people live hyperstimulated and hyperactivated every day, not only to avoid getting bored or being perceived as boring, but to manage the fear of missing out on something, a concept known as FOMO (fear of missing out) and staying obsolete or be excluded. they live in a constant search for intense and stimulating emotions due to novelties. As some researchers point out, some of them “go from flower to flower like hummingbirds, from novelty to novelty without actually delving into and committing to a vital or professional project, a relationship or with oneself”.
But attention! ohLet’s not fall into pessimism and lose hope! Our VICA world is also a positive face that feeds imagination, creativity and unites people. It depends on where do we focus our attention When evaluating, we choose to focus our attention and apply our learning, tools and knowledge to adapt and cope with the changes in the VICA world. Although it has become clear that in this volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world, it can sometimes be difficult to find a moment of tranquility to settle our ideas or learning, since it is often interrupted by something that catches our attention, distracting us and distracting us from our main goal. But as some experts point out, it can also be faced with Vision, Introspection, Knowledge and Adaptation.
Having vision helps us to create an action plan in the short, medium and long term; analyze and structure our path in stages and explore possibilities and even solutions to resolve a conflict.
Introspection is a process through which we pay attention, observe and analyze our own mental and emotional states. It is a process that is not easy since it requires effort on our part and exercise critical thinking. The purpose is to know and understand our beliefs and judgments from the frankness and sincerity; be honest with ourselves.
Knowledge is associated with learning and curiosity, two essential pillars to be able to grow and advance by incorporating useful and practical information to develop our intelligence.
The ability to adapt to changes is intrinsic to the human being. Regardless of who we are, we ALL have coping strategies that help us process change, be it positive or negative, expected or unexpected.
In conclusion, sometimes we can decide What attitude do we want to have in the face of so many changes?. Most of us have the ability to learn to make decisions for ourselves about how we would like to manage our priorities and needs. That is, learning to differentiate between what is a priority and what is an urgent, important need and what can wait in order to care for and maintain sanity and emotional stability. But let’s not forget that in company difficulties are better overcome. As Bryan Kramer said in his work “Shareology” (Shareology): Sharing is the central and fundamental behavior for our survival as human beings. We share stories, processes, reflections, philosophies, techniques or secrets; It’s how we connect with others and move forward as a society.”
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