Our little mighty round rock has completed another revolution around the sun by crossing the imaginary, year-marking spatial milestone installed by an ancestral genius. We are in 2015.
Last year was another soda-less year for me. I have many times, and for long periods, suspended the intake of sodas unless its a Coke with Old Monk, or a Sprite with Bacardi. Not that I am highly diet conscious, but I try to avoid junk intake when I can. This year I am likely to continue my soda-less streak, which includes not even offering them to guests. If they specifically ask for it, I oblige.
Gastronomical intake regulation is one thing, but the useless mental junk food that we mindlessly consume today is quite another. That also needs deliberate regulation. We all have consumed so much news in our lives and are likely to continue doing so in the future as well. The news is like an exception log emitted by a piece of software code, which predominantly reports events that were outside the acceptable bounds or norms of society. We keep reading those logs, and we keep discussing them in triage meetings – read socializing events – with family and friends, in the cozy comfort of our living rooms, in the park, at work, or online.
These discussions are a great opportunity to showcase how well versed we are with current affairs and generally no action-ables are expected of anyone. The cycle goes on an on – we keep consuming and then reproducing the same information. Most of the times the exchanges have no direct or even indirect impact on our lives, and would likely not even lead to an impact on others’ lives. The only argument in favor of these discussions is that they help shape our world view and in turn help us to shape the world when we cast our ballot, by influencing the definition of bounds against which the exceptions are reported in the first place.
Regulating what goes in
My soft resolution for this year is to self-curate the media content that I subject my mind to. I would be really appreciative if all content in the world came with a nutrition chart that can help determine its nutrition or junk value. Nevertheless, even in the absence of such grading, I will try to make 2015 a year of mental detox.