Home
Is it counter cultural to not hate stuff?
Something I’ve been struggling with recently is my desire to focus on things that I hate. For example, I hate “AI” hype and everything that encompasses within the media. My attention tends to gravitate towards articles or news headlines that make mention of this. The Nintendo switch 2 is something that has drawn my ire recently as well. Multiple factors including the high price point and the digital license only nature of its content has made me eager to consume content that involves “dunking” on it or criticizing these factors.
The realization that I’ve come to is that it doesn’t have to be this way. I can instead focus my energies on something else more productive. A lot of the things that I criticize don’t have to be personal to me and I can choose not to use it. I can use an internet search engine that doesn’t include any AI BS or opt out of playing video games that don’t respect ownership rights or user privacy. It’s easy to be negative towards things and harder to be positive and focus on the things that make you happy when society, with all of it’s technological upheaval, seems hellbent on making you subservient to it. The question is: do you want to keep being a servant of negativity or would you rather do something else with your limited time and energy on this earth?
I know that one day I will no longer walk this earth or see another sunset. I’d rather not have wasted so much time being mad about things I can’t change (AI destroying the internet or modern video gaming eating itself like an ouroburos). I would much rather enjoy a relaxing night with my wife or playing a DRM free game on the Wii or Ancient Thinkpad running linux. Hell, while I’m at it, I’ve given up modern gaming entirely and I want to spend less time on the internet. The less dependent you are on the latest and “greatest” technology, the more you’ll find yourself seeing the good in life. The world has a lot of ugly and evil in it, but it doesn’t have to encompass everything you see and hear in the world. There is great good and beauty to be found, maybe not on the internet anymore but in your personal, grounded, flesh and blood life. It’s just a matter of shifting perspective, life will never always be pretty and easy but it’s worth it to at least explore what’s out there.