As I mentioned in my last blog, slowly (and proudly), I am turning old school. And having said that, I think I always had a bit of old school-ism in me.
Old school in terms of not wearing a smart watch and prefer the traditional kind. Not reading books or news on mobile but prefer the feel of hard paper between my fingers. And old school in the way that I prefer using Google and navigating the search results myself than to ask ChatGPT.
Also, I spend some time on X daily. And I see people posting threads on amazing topics daily. They dig down the rabbit hole and find some really amazing, cool stuff.
My first thought when I read them- fascinating. It is actually captivating to read people with such varied knowledge, experience and gifted with an art of articulating in a proper, readable way.
And then I think- Do I really need to read this deeply?
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My father retired as a banker in 2016. And looking back, he did the best he could do in the grand scheme of things in early 1990s in Tier 2 city in India.
He sacrificed his promotions to avoid frequent transfers and raised his 2 sons. He understood that English medium school is the best for us at that time, even with a slightly higher fees than he could have afforded. He stayed updated with the trends and bought video game and computers at precisely the right time in terms of age and technology.
He shifted his family from lower middle class to middle class while making sure that his sons and next generations transitions to a better lifestyle. It is a different thing that the definition of lifestyle is relative and keep changing every day. But you got the drift.
And he did while following the same routine, reading papers, watching news and taking care of his family. He kept his life slow (there weren’t many options really back then). But what he did, has worked and I believe he is mighty proud of that. And he also wore the same watch for 15 years. (I don’t know why I need to mention that).
I moved on to the metros because of job requirements but his boring consistency stayed with me. And now, it is surfacing back in my life.
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We are living in an era of information overload- both in volume and frequency. Our apps are sending the real time updates of what’s happening in Russia- Ukraine war. Or what did Trump tweet? Or who won the Super Bowl?
We need to stop it.
Most of us, whether consciously or unconsciously, are swiping the instant notifications without reading. Or maybe just a cursory glance. In any case, we are not retaining it (unless one of us is Mike Ross from Suits with a photographic memory. I am certainly not).
See, the point I am trying to make that we don’t want this much dose of information and updates. And not certainly in real time.
The threads on X I mentioned- after saving a lot of them to read them later (lol), I realised I really don’t need to read and immerse myself in it. More so when they are about something in which I have a passing interest. It is completely Ok if I don’t know all the things. And I will never know all the things.
I have made peace with one fact that in this world, I may spend my life by just scratching the surface. And guess what- it will work fine. Yes, maybe I may not be an active participant in office hours gossip or social circles on certain things but then, how much can you really talk?
So, when something comes up about which I am not very sure, in those times, I have stopped participating in conversations for the sake of it. Instead, I prefer to stay quiet and observe the people contributing to the conversations. And I am learning more about the human psychology and reactions by staying quiet.
To cut the already long rant short, chasing and knowing everything isn’t the way to about it. Being boring to the world is ok. Few people actually give a damn about how much do you know. The rest- they are, like you, floating around from here and there, pretending.
And if they really don’t know too much about you, congratulate yourself silently. Because in this era of social media and open book lives; you have managed to keep a part of yourself private.
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