You Are What You Consume
Sounds simple enough, right? Probably even heard your gym/fitness freak friends/colleagues throw around the phrase as if it just ought to be common knowledge. Well, they might be talking about the dietary requirements and related physical traits, but as it turns out, the statement applies to other forms of consumption(s) as well. You are truly what you consume.
Wait, what? But we just eat food, so what is this other form of consumption now? And there’s more than one form of consumption? Well, yeah.
We eat food, drink liquids (one part water, one part whiskey and one part soda?), breathe air (debatable, considering it’s mostly pollution now), read books (do we really? I mean who has the patience right), watch movies (Netflix and chill anyone?), listen to music (Badshah is legit okay!), and countless other forms of consumption (no pun intended).
Well, if it’s true that we are what we eat, it must, atleast to a statistically significant level, also be true that we are what we consume.
The liquids we drink affect the composition of water in our body and that directly has an impact on how groggy or happy we are. Being hydrated (ceteris paribus) tends to keep a person happier vs. being dehydrated. Yes, even if you take into account the discomfort due to the frequent loo breaks.
The books we read. Who am I kidding really. We can barely make it till the end of that ‘10 things you must do in order to date that hottie’ article on ScoopWhoop or whichever ‘cool AF’ online magazine that is vogue these days that even expecting people to read full length non-fiction books seems like a sad joke. Also, turns out book sales are at an all time high. So wait, then do we just buy books and never read them?
The movies we watch. Everybody loves watching movies right. We all love to watch them and the industry can’t seem to make enough. It’s almost as if the demand is insatiable. But do we really watch them? Can you name the last 5 movies you watched? I’m not even asking what they were about, just NAME them. Well, if you could, you’re in the 3 out the 10 people who managed this feat. All the others could only manage a maximum of 3.
So what’s the problem if we can’t remember the last 5 movies we watched, we’re not realistically speaking, super intelligent human beings right? Wrong.
Speaking purely from a cognitive processing and mental reproduction capability, almost all of us are ‘blessed’ with a lot more brainpower than to just remember the names of the last 5 movies we watched.
What then is the problem?
The rate at which we consume.
We all know about obesity. We know about it because it’s visible. Some people were given the short end of the stick and were either not born with metabolisms that were functioning adequately or with some kind of ailments or they simply gave into the material world of calories and instant gratification.
What about mental obesity. What about brain fart. Are these just pop culture references or could they probably have real world implications? Implications that are not immediately visible but affect us during, even, the most mundane of daily tasks.
Try loading a 100 different web pages on your browser, then open the webcam, increase the temperature of the room, cause fluctuation in the power supply and so on. The machine will give in, sooner than you imagined. Now add to that elements only humans are exposed to – getting a ‘high’ paying job, going on the most ‘exotic’ of vacations, driving the ‘fanciest’ cars, dating the most ‘beautiful’ person, and so on and so forth. Our systems weren’t really designed to deal with all this ‘expectation’ and hence when our systems break down, we like to proclaim that we’re stressed.
Since, there’s ‘no’ long term solution everybody ‘must’ give in to consumerism, everybody must look for immediate remedies. Painkillers, ‘medicinal drugs’, drugs, etc. Since, there’s no long term solution that’s ‘viable’, we look for instant gratifications. We look to our Facebook feed to magically make the problems disappear. We look at our Instagram for that amazing new dish that we can eat. We look at Twitter for that ‘really funny’ tweet. And, we end up consuming more. But wait, whatever happened to the brain fart? Oh shit. Pun intended.
Every morning, we ‘have’ to take time to take a dump. That is, release all those minerals and nutrients which weren’t absorbed by the body, back to the nature. It’s a different conversation that now they have zero nutritive value and 100% waste value.
Why don’t we take time to let go of all the ‘nutrients’ that our mind consumed. Why don’t we take time to internalise or externalise them. Why do we keep on repeating the same pop culture dialogues, why don’t we come up with our own references.
If we don’t take a dump, we suffer from constipation. Now imagine, an entire generation is being brought up without even the slightest realisation that the screens they are being exposed to, in the name of learning and pseudo development, are actually their biggest enemies. The constant consumption in the name of learning is, actually, most likely, not making the kids smarter per se. Competitive, yes, but I’m not so sure how it will play out when ‘Artificial Intelligence’ takes over the world.
Fun fact for all those ‘we’re so rich that our kids only watch YouTube on the latest retina display iPad parents’ – Steve Jobs, the man himself, also insanely rich btw, did not allow his kids to use the iPad. So unless you really are smarter than the creator of the most valuable company in the world or wealthier than the guy whose company holds more than USD 250 Billion in cash reserves, shouldn’t you be really thinking twice about handing down that shiny new toy to your little ones or even using it yourself obsessively.
PS – Some ‘facts’ in the article are made up. Please feel free to Google and verify the claims. None of what I’m saying is about things being good or bad, just a matter of perspective. Feel free to differ. Maybe things get better from here or maybe they get worse. Maybe we’ll live to tell the tale or maybe we won’t.
PPS - Check out my blog for more pieces!