TYMES V1E2; ENTER THE VOID:
By Me, TheeSmokahontas
Why Everyone Is Miserable Comparing Themselves to Strangers Online
Let's start with a question.
How many times have you checked your phone today?
Seriously.
The average American checks their phone around 144 times per day, according to several digital behavior studies.
That's about once every 10 minutes.
While we're eating.
While we're working.
While we're spending time with family.
While we're supposedly relaxing.
And somehow, despite being more connected than any generation before us, people report feeling more isolated, anxious, and overwhelmed than ever.
So what happened?
We Were Never Meant To Compare Ourselves To Thousands Of People
Then, most people compared themselves to:
Their neighbors, Their family, Their coworkers A handful of people in their town.
Now? Before breakfast, you've already seen:
A millionaire influencer, A fitness model , A celebrity, Someone buying a house, Someone getting married, Someone on vacation in Bali or Someone claiming they made $20,000 overnight!! And your brain treats all of it as real competition. Even though none of those people know you exist. According to research published by the American Psychological Association, frequent social comparison is associated with increased anxiety, lower self-esteem, and reduced life satisfaction.
Translation?
The more time you spend measuring yourself against strangers, the worse you tend to feel.
Your Brain Wasn't Built For This
Here's something nobody talks about. Your brain is ancient. Your phone is not. The human brain evolved over hundreds of thousands of years. TikTok has existed for less than a decade. Instagram? A little over fifteen years.
The algorithms are evolving faster than our ability to understand their effects.
And they are very good at one thing:
Keeping your attention.
Not making you happy.
Attention and happiness are not the same thing.
Overthinking Is Expensive
Most people think overthinking costs attention. It doesn't. It costs time. And time is the one thing nobody gets back. Think about it. How many hours have you spent:
- Re-reading a text message
- Imagining worst-case scenarios
- Comparing your life to someone else's
- Waiting until everything feels "perfect"
Meanwhile:
Life keeps happening. Your child keeps growing. Your friends keep aging. Opportunities come and go.
And eventually you realize the thing holding you back wasn't a lack of ability.
It was fear wearing a disguise called preparation.
Consumerism Loves An Insecure Customer
Here's an uncomfortable truth.
A lot of modern marketing depends on convincing you that you are missing something. Not necessarily a product.
A feeling.
A status.
An identity.
The global advertising industry spends hundreds of billions of dollars every year trying to answer one question:
How do we make people feel incomplete enough to buy something?
That's why you're constantly told:
- You need a new phone.
- A new aesthetic.
- A new wardrobe.
- A new morning routine.
- A new personality.
But some of the most important things in life cannot be purchased.
Wonder. Creativity. Community. Curiosity. Love. These things don't come from a shopping cart.
Respect Your Elders (Even If They're Cringe)
I know. Nobody wants to hear it.
But some of the best advice you'll ever receive comes from people who have already survived what you're currently experiencing.
You don't have to agree with them. You don't have to copy them.
But listening costs nothing.
The internet gives us unlimited information.
What it doesn't automatically give us is wisdom. Wisdom comes from experience.
And experience usually comes from making mistakes.
Sometimes someone else's story can save you years of learning the hard way.
Use Social Media. Don't Let It Use You.
Social media isn't evil.
You're reading this because of the internet.
I built this platform because of the internet.
The problem isn't the tool.
The problem is using it without intention.
Scroll with purpose.
Learn with purpose.
Create with purpose.
Connect with purpose.
Otherwise you'll wake up one day wondering where all your time went.
Enter The Void
The Void isn't emptiness.
It's the space between who you were and who you're becoming.
The space where you stop chasing everyone else and start paying attention to yourself.
Comparison is the thief of joy.
Overthinking is the thief of time.
Consumerism profits from insecurity.
And social media rewards attention more than happiness.
Protect your attention.
Protect your curiosity.
Protect your peace.
The world already has billions of people trying to be someone else.
It only has one you.
✨ Dreams Chase You. ✨
333TheVoidLLC | TheeSmokahontas
