A half-assed, low-energy path of least resistance culture has produced a stagnating, lethargic, and apathetic society. Effort used to be something celebrated, and an eagerness to excel was applauded and lauded. Someone willing to go to extreme, sometimes unorthodox lengths to constantly create, tweak, and perfect was seen as an innovator worthy of respect and admiration.

Now, the people who are labeled as “excessive,” “obsessive,” or “unrelenting” are often ridiculed and mocked for their unwavering focus. A nagging irony exists that those who spend their lives consumed with problem-solving are precisely the people who deliver the technology, tools, and medical advances that exponentially benefit society. We desperately want the ends but can’t seem to respect or appreciate the means.

We are drowning in mediocrity, and it’s become impossible to walk down the street without running into a never-ending procession of Joe Schmoes, necks permanently drooping toward the bug-zapper blue light of the planet’s most addictive time suck. We seem to be perfectly delighted wasting our lives consuming nonsensical content, permanently affixed to the back seat of our own journey, happily and readily relinquishing all agency or even the notion of reaching for the wheel.

We far too often choose easy, simple, and fast over compelling, challenging, or complicated. Instant gratification and a zombie-like adherence to endlessly refreshing feeds have made us lazy, boring, and sad. Passion, for anything, is in dangerously short supply. Someday soon it may cease to exist altogether. 

You can’t force someone to be interesting or interested.

So what’s the solution? More of the same is obviously only leading to further mind-numbing isolation and an even greater reluctance to engage. That’s how problems are created, not solved. Left unchecked, this planet will continue to burn and decay, and we’ll be too enthralled with our devices to take notice or take action.

But we can start by appreciating and lifting up those who still have the will and courage to dedicate their time and attention to something bigger, heavier, and more consequential than app updates or comment notifications.

Adolescence Interrupted