One of the greatest evolutions of mankind is the human mind.
Where once we were mere cavemen capable of basic thought. Now we are walking mega computers who can send fellow humans to the moon and create phenomenal technology.
The development of the human mind is THE greatest story of humankind’s history on planet Earth.
It’s taken us from beings that could only hunt for basic survival, to ones that can imagine and create every futuristic device and machine.
We appear to be in constant growth and expansion.
Until recently. Until this Century began and led us to now.
Because the new development of the human mind threatens to take us back many years if it’s not halted.
A development ordinary, everyday, average people now increasingly fall into.
First we survived.
The human mind began as our security system.
Imagine you are living in the dinosaur age. Little old you and a few other members of your tribe. In those days humans numbered a few thousand dotted around the globe. Hardly a fighting force. More a small band of hunters.
Knowledge of the world and the various creatures roaming the planet was scant and localised.
You just didn’t know what was around the next rock formation.
So, early mindsets were focused on one thing….survival.
Finding enough food and resources to remain alive while staying alert for any beast on the ground or the air that could gobble you up in an instant.
Basic human mental activiity.
No important marketing sales reports due in the morning, bailiffs knocking at your door, or superbug breakouts to consider. It was you v dinosaur type terrors that occupied your head. There was simply little else to consume your thinking space.
But then we humans evolved.
Culture comes along.
The term that defines the development of the mind to today is culture.
Over the centuries we advanced as a race of people. How did we do this? We became civilised. We gathered in communities, grew our own vegetables and reared animals for food rather than chase after them. Trade between other tribes and nations spawned as we explored the world.
Added to this we formed laws and rules to live by with standards and values and ruling leaders to oversee our ongoing progress and to protect us.
As the requirement of overall threat faded (other than periodical intruders after our lands), our minds turned to understanding, learning, inventing, and improving our circumstances. With that we also sought entertainment and pleasure to fill the time we were previously on watch for huge wild predators.
The mentality switched to advancement in all areas of life.
Industry came out of this and mass manufacture creating employment that supplied income. We had funds to spend. New products and services sprung up as a result and our minds developed again in new ways.
Now we focused on purchasing the best, the finest, and the special. Our minds turned inwards and onto our self image and who we were and how we looked in society.
And so it remained fairly under control.
Until technology introduced something phenomenal as this Century opened.
Becoming unsocial.
We used to be social with each other.
Real social. Social in person at actual events and places. That’s why it was called a social life.
But, just as the last century ended, a new social arrived. An internet one. Social media. And the mental developments we once progressed from took a new, less appealing twist.
Social media started off all funky and exciting. Linking to other ordinary people around the world to see and hear about their daily lives. Kuala Lumpur could learn about Kansas, Brisbane about Brussels, and so on. We could experience their world from the confines of our armchair.
Wow, this is going to be incredible.
Or so everyone thought. Or first thought. As the years wore on people deviated into groups of others who liked and believed what they did. They spent all their time there rather than on the open platform.
They became influenced then convinced that the beliefs or views that took them there were the correct ones.
Empowered by the group mind think their mindset got entrenched. Anyone who didn’t agree with their way of seeing things was wrong. Plain wrong and they needed to be told that in the most uncertain terms. Terms that became more aggressive, personal, and even threatening.
Worse was still to come. This new mind development also forged a sense of arrogance and power inside their head. Again buoyed on by the group chatter they felt superior to others and told them so when reading/hearing/viewing something they didn’t like. So superior that they took that with them into their normal lives and acted the same as online.
They were right, great, perfect, better than others, and looked down on people in inflated behaviours.
The new human mind development had become far from social.
Welcome to the mad mind.
And so here we are today!
The once used mind for survival and creation is now used for off the scale abuse and criticism.
Minds today are social media driven. Until it appeared the average person kept their opinions to themselves except when they were with best mates at the pub or with friends over dinner. General opinion chiefly on current affairs, their sports team’s performance, and ‘her’ next door.
Our minds simply didn’t think they were correct about every thing in the world, major or minor.
Now even a few words by someone on a social media post gets us mad. We’ve have gone from ancient warriors to keyboard warriors. And yet somehow we consider we are more civilised today.
The new mind development is this toxic mindset that drives awful behaviour.
And because social media seems here to stay without any real enforcement, this mentality is doomed to remain with it.
The irony is that many people now sound like the bellowing dinosaurs we once had to run away from. But if you are enjoying a few innocent moments on social media, you won’t see them coming any more, and you can’t run away unless you log out and never come back.
Social media was promised as a revolution of connection.
Today it’s turned out to be an abomination of the human mind.
Photo attributions – free to use under Pixabay Content License by Mindworld and Frank_Rietsch and OmarMedinaFilms and Tylilura and Ashish_Choudhary.
