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Politics and Activism

Is Faster Better?

We're programmed to focus on the accomplishments of others

Nada-Lina Eldin

Aug 09, 2016

Rutgers-Newark

Pexels/Betty White

We are made to believe that faster is better, the quicker you get out of bed, throw your shoes on and get to class the better. The faster you solve the equation and get to the answer the better. The faster you eat your burger, the faster you type your essay and the faster you finish your quiz is always better. Why is faster better? Or rather why do we perceive it as such?

We believe the more successful people are, the faster they accomplish. We're programmed to focus on the accomplishments of others and their perceived happiness through a false reality that only captures a portion of one's life, which can be fully controlled. We wonder why everyone on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and the various social media applications people are using today, seem so much happier and more successful then we are.

So we run and run around living life by the second, checking things off our to do lists as we get them done. Production and consumption becomes what we preach. We want to be happier, and more successful. We want to post more about how happy we are, but are we really happy or really that happy? Are those people really happy or rather really happy to the extent we have perceived them to be? We work harder and harder because we are told hard work pays off and you will become successful and happy.

I don't void the importance of hard work, however if you get lost in the destination and find yourself living almost robotically through the journey, you may wake up one day and find that you spent years of your life numb to your own existence, focused only on the comparison of the lives around you with your own life. So let's put our phones to the side today and focus on how great we truly are, let's enjoy the little things and learn to ultimately enjoy the journey. Let's all slow it down and focus more on being happy and successful as unique individuals. Let's redefine success to encompass those achievements of a unique individual rather then who did it better. We are the generation of the net, and though we have some really great apps and sites available to us, we should focus more widely on our own individuality

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.

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