Is Your Mood Entirely Dependent On A Toxic And Noisy Online Algorithm? You Should Try Doing Stuff!

CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT

With housing stress and the cost-of-living crisis forcing Australians into smaller and darker living quarters with less to spend, it’s never been easier to fall into a spiral of nihilistic doom and vicarious parasocialising.

The modern phenomena of ‘screen time’ feels a lot like the new normal – but there are still a fair few people out there who are able to get by without keeping up to date with every single news story of short-lived internet trend to ever take place at any given time.

These people might have less to talk about in their ever-pinging group chats – but it could be argued that this lack off noise also brings them peace.

This is a much different life than the one lived by the vast portion of the population who cannot fathom an existence that doesn’t don’t revolve around the highly politicised and extremely emotive social media algorithms that have caused an epidemic of rattled nervous systems and extremely polarising politics.

With 24-hour access to non-stop communication, media and data – it seems that screen addictions are starting to eat away at sleep too.

And for those that can eventually switch off from the highly complex drip-feed of algorithmic endorphin hits designed by billionaires in San Francisco and Shenzen, the habit of staring into a phone before bed is just as normal as staring back into it the moment they wake up.

But did you know that sources of dopamine can also be found outside of the 6.7 inch screens that contain all of the information in the world.

Historically speaking, generations of people used to ration out their conversations with friends because phone calls and handwritten letters used to cost a lot of a fair bit of money and were never instant. So, instead of constantly forwarding each other mildly entertaining pieces of online content, human beings would just make sure they caught up in person.

This tradition of leaving the house to take part in activities is still very popular for some – even if it is viewed as a lacklustre attempt to take a break from the technology that rules our lives.

Still, it’s worth a try. Particularly if you feel your mood can be spoiled by constantly ingesting photos of the most beautiful and rich people you’ve ever seen, interspersed with horrifically violent images from war zones and crime scenes.

It is often forgotten that you can literally just go outside and not do that.

But ‘Doing stuff’ – as it’s called, isn’t necessarily something that needs to be done in a group setting. You can do stuff by yourself too.

Here’s a list of 8 fairly affordable ways of doing stuff – which can be just as fun as fulfilling as watching a grainy video of a CEO ruin his life by having an affair with a colleague at an expensive music concert on the other side of the world.

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