Thoughts

This is a page for thoughts as they occur to me.

6/25/25
I have a feeling that we are in 'the eleventh hour' concerning the way we consume social media currently. These platforms have changed a lot since their inception in the late 2000s/early 2010s. They began as a new, exciting way to connect with those you care about in life--this was their reason for existing. But, over the last 15 years, they have morped into monstrosities that exploit the human nervous system and generate endless revenue for advertisers and themselves. Even more menacingly, these companies have learned the power they wield in influencing human perception, which in turn influences the very shape of society. Nothing I am saying here is controversial--this is simple fact. Given this, it has always been strange to me that the population continues to latch onto these platforms. I think, in our digital world, we have convinced ourselves that social media giants are an inevitability and essentially there is nothing we can do about them. This is sad to me, and I do not believe social media represents an objective inevitability. I do not believe that this status-quo will persist for much longer. It makes me very curious to know what the landscape will look like ten years from now. Will people still cling to these platforms? Will people still destroy their internal reward systems by frying themselves on these platforms which have been designed to make interacting with them as emotionally-charged and addicting as possible? When will we refuse to be treated like hamsters? As it stands now, we welcome the treatment... but why?

6/23/25
The idea of achievement/progress is very interesting. It seems that many people in modern society strive to have the feeling of achievement and progress, and they wonder what the formula is for attaining this. Sometimes people will cite drive, motivation, purpose, things like this. And while these things will fuel or contribute to these ends, I don't think they act as the causal element. What is interesting is, it seems as though the mechanism that actually propels one toward these ends is consistency. And plainly, that seems to be it. If something is done consistently, you will improve at it. It would simply appear to be the case that things like drive, motivation, purpose act as agents which encourage persistence and consistency--but it is important to note that they themselves are not persistence and consistency.

6/21/25
There is so much human life on our planet—there is so much unique, interesting human life on our planet. The same platter of celebrities and figures that is fed to us online is such a dilution of this idea.

6/18/25
We all need to have something to live for. Even if one avoids the realm of the spiritual or looks down upon it with skepticism, one must still find a reason for living. Without it, seems as though it's hard to get up in the morning. Man's most painstakingly deliberated question is: 'why?' The one word both eats us alive and grants us life.

6/16/25
It is very interesting that we would consider staying in an amusement park for weeks on end to be silly, yet we indulge in the same sort of emotionally thrilling pleasures on our phones via social media all day, every day. Why is it still radical for someone to be skeptical of social media? Our world has experienced a boom in connectivity, and it is safe to say we will not revert to our previous circumstances (before social media). However, the habit of being chronically-online will not define humankind for the rest of its existence--this, too, will phase out. I wonder what will come next?

6/1/25
Going on walks in the spring or summer acts as an amazing reset button. It is so amazing to feel the slight breeze, hear & watch the trees sway, look up into the sky. Wow! Even one hour doing this has such amazing effects!

5/31/25
When one has spent a good portion of the day slacking off, watching shows or doing something else generally considered 'lazy,' it's easy to think that the day is wasted and you may as well wait until the next day to do anything. However, it is very interesting how much different a day can look and feel within a matter of hours. Even if it's 5:00pm, and you have done nothing all day, you can still turn around and do soemthing interesting or productive for another four hours and only have it be 9:00pm. It's refreshing to know that a day can always be salvaged.

5/29/25
I started college a bit late, at twenty-two years old. I remember when I was thinking about quitting my (then) current job to attend university full-time, I was nervous because I knew it would take four years to complete, and that seemed like a long time when I was alreadt twenty-two.
I remember a particular conversation I had with my grandpa. It was a nice July day-- the sun was out, there was a nice breeze, and we were just talking under a tree. I expressed these worries to him. After a pause, he looked at me and said, 'Four years is going to pass no matter what. It doesn't matter if you decide to go to college or not, the four years are going to pass no matter what. Would you prefer to have a degree four years from now, or have one?'
It was a remarkably simple but amazing point. It made me realize that is really does not matter 'how long something takes.' If you are curious about doing something, or wonder if something is possible, just go and try it. Just seriously go and do it.
I really believe that only by doing can we learn ourselves, those close to us, and the world around us.

5/16/25
The most fascinating and beautiful thing about baseball to me is the fact that your chances of success every time you are at-bat are much lower than your chances of failure. Baseball is a game where you constantly fail, and the ability of the players to overcome their high likelihood of failure and to still dig out moments of success is very elegant and beautiful.

5/14/25
As someone in their late twenties, interacting with or simply observing people in their later years is an almost surreal experience. They introduce the indifferent fact that one day, if I am lucky, I will be their age. I will be old. Now I am young and ambitious, full of drive and equipped with an inexhaustible tolerance for rejection and failure. How will I change in the following decades?

5/07/25
There is nothing wrong with being yourself. If you don’t do things the way other people do them, if you don’t think about things the way other people do, if you don’t have the same reactions and interests as others—that’s okay. Don’t view yourself as the locus of the problem and think you must change. As a matter of fact, don’t view the situation as a problem at all. It is completely fine to be the way you are, and it is completely fine for others to be how they are as well.

4/22/25
I work for my old chemistry lab supervisor on campus. A couple of weeks ago, we were talking, and she expressed being exhausted with the lack of effort she was seeing from many students. This is not uncommon for her, but at the end she said something really interesting that caught my attention. She said, "Students these days need to understand that not everything can be done in five minutes." This really struck a chord within me. I think a lot of us, given the world we are immersed in, expect quick results in all facets of our life. But the truth is, all things that are worth attaining cannot "be done in five minutes." It's inspiring, and reasssures me that steady, hard work toward meaningful goals will lead to success.