The article “Turn off the white noise to fully experience life” by Mike Milke (2012) reviews the modern world of consumption and how reducing the abundance in life creates more opportunities to enjoy. The author emphasizes that missed opportunities for developing talents and inner abilities are due to continuous distractions that can happen because of social media, the Internet, and other possible resources. Overall, all goals and ideas were met throughout the text, as well they were provided with a substantial amount of support. The renunciation can lead to a happier life through denial and control of cheap opportunities in which people are surrounded.
The concept of self-control is a large topic that takes different mental and physical approaches to a human being. Still, there are different considerations to take into account. Firstly, there is a necessity to create a solid-center (Milke, 2012). The author of the article mentioned the solid center as a way of achieving renunciation in life, and it can be fully agreed that this concept is the right approach to take. Still, a solid center can be achieved through different means and balances since it is a complicated issue. How can one even able to deny the world of abundance with the presence of the Internet and cheap opportunities? The question can be answered from the perspective of mentality and habits. Organized habits, like healthy eating or walking every day can create routine life that enables one to enjoy precious moments of life.
The author mentions that if Glenn Gould had lived in the era of Internet, he could have missed the stage of mastering his talents due to continuous distraction. There can be different arguments to disagree with this point. First of all, the age of Internet did not make humanity lose its sense of art. Vice versa, the number of masterpieces increased dramatically with Internet, as people got more access to the art itself. As abundance was a privilege of the rich, similarly, mastering arts and skills was also largely an activity of elites. In the modern world, almost everyone can achieve meaningful results with the help of media resources. It is indeed controversial to put an analogy of Glenn Gould, since he could have created more masterpieces if he had been born in the age of Internet. Subjection to global resources of art only enhances and fosters this sense of creativity among people. Similarly as Quentin Tarantino became talented by watching thousands of low-rated movies, other individuals were able to find their talents through large resources that the modern era provides.
The author also implies the sense of meaningless social media posts on Twitter and Facebook in comparison with meaningful discourse. However, this argument is also controversial in a sense, that small and invaluable Twitter or Facebook discussions led to the creation of large forums and discourses for people of different kinds. It can be the creation of scientists’ associations on the Internet, active participation in tech forums or any other “valuable” activity that author ignores. Still, it is evident that large amount of ideas and discussions brought on social media are meaningless. The author successfully proves the point that by paying attention to these distractions, people fail to recognize beautiful moments in life, such as simple river sounds or bird voices. The idea of missed moments is correlated with the modern world of people paying attention to phone activities more than to real world interactions. This comparison tries to identify the failure of humanity in an attempt to reduce short-term dopamine providers. This can be music in earphones that can be easily replaced for the sake of experiencing surrounding sounds, like the river call mentioned previously.
Still, it stands important to focus on mastering skills and talents as it leads to fulfilling and happy life. Although there are different opportunities, it is evident that enjoyment received from hard work has a long-lasting effect rather than the impact of a watched video or show on TV. There are different analogies and comparisons that can be made in the question of distractions, but it is still important to consider the present abundance from two perspectives – advantageous and disadvantageous.
Overall, the topic of distractions and renunciation has a complex philosophical basis. The author tried to show one of the perspectives of this question in which he successfully proved his point by using analogies and comparisons. Still, another viewpoint – valuable opportunities received by abundance is a large topic that cannot be ignored. Still, renunciation leads to fulfilling life experience in which an individual is able to experience precious moments. For further considerations, it is important to review renunciation from both perspectives.
Reference
Milke M. (2012). Turn off the white noise to fully experience life. Province opinion. Web.