JOIN USA climate of anxiety
These are uncertain times. Climate change poses a threat. Not to the planet, but to us. Even as extreme temperatures and unforeseen weather events will affect life on Earth, the globe will remain where it is, suspended in space as the third rock from the Sun. The planet is not in danger. We are. Our lives will be upended, undoubtedly. Such uncertainty is much to bear, especially for young minds who wish to look towards their future with hope and promise. Experts are marking depression in young people triggered by the threat of climate change. It’s called climate depression, and the figures are rising.
Markers are an increase in anxiety, sadness and fear for the future. Activists from all over the world, old and young, parents and children, are calling for a stop on the indiscriminate use of fossil fuels. The world’s leaders are under pressure to urgently act out policies that will help halt rising temperatures. There is a problem, and they need to fix it. Just them, not us?
Consider this... in 2020, the BBC quoted a study by Rabih Bashroush from the University of East London, on a few examples of the hidden costs of digital interfacing. Five billion views of one hit song, Despacito, consumed as much electricity as five small west African countries together consume in an entire year. The energy footprint of processing bitcoin is equivalent to that of Jordan. The streaming cost of pornographic content equals the energy consumption of Belgium. Downloading video games is ‘higher than producing and distributing Blu-Ray discs from shops.’ Updating games is even more carbon-intensive because most servers run on fossil fuels (Why your internet habits are not as clean as you think by Sarah Griffiths.).
With 4.3 billion internet users sending emails, messages, photos, videos, documents, emojis, Gifs and what-have-you, data centres need more and more energy to run the grid and process digital content. Add to that video-conferencing, tweets and social media interfacing of higher resolution on screens and phones bigger than before across multiple platforms, and the energy consumption spikes. It turns out that our ‘virtual’ interfacing isn’t as virtual as we believe it to be.
But isn’t it better to do things on the web, virtually, than in person? It probably is, except that, because we think there’s no cost involved, we are doing far more than is necessary. We engage more, post more, talk more, watch more online videos, forward more messages, most of which serve little or no purpose. We think it’s okay to sit in our homes and buzz the world with whatever impulse we have, however flippant. The pitch of our interfacing is pushing extreme, and no good could come from that. ‘Nirvana does not lie at the extremes,’ the Buddha implies.
So how may we pull back, if at all, and how much? Just as much as will make us mindful of what we are sending out, and respectful of our time and that of others. Just as much as to make us use the fantastic technology tools we have only when needed, in considering if we are indeed adding value to our work or skill. Gathering followers, for the sake of numbers, isn’t a skill.
Lastly, depression comes from helplessness, from feeling trapped and overwhelmed. It sets in when we feel we are riding shotgun down an avalanche, swirling uncontrollably towards doom with no brakes to jam. However, the moment we take even a step towards a possible solution, we loosen the hold of despair. Those couple of steps are within reach. The first is to switch your phone off at midnight —
Cinderella time — lest the instrument may turn into a sleep-energy-life-sucking little vampire.
The next is to put the body to the use it was designed for — movement. So when you hear the word ‘play’, let it be an outdoor sport. Throw a ball, bat a bat, use a racquet, learn to do cartwheels, take a dancing class, do some stretches, go for a walk, run errands… anything that makes you get up and move. Away from the compulsive, addictive, overwhelming pull of a screen.