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Make things better by making better things.
Some aspects of tension I am thinking about:
The Marshmallow Effect: The Marshmallow Studies showed us that putting off the now for later has enormous psychological benefits. Of course, if you live where marshmallows are not readily available, taking what is in front of you may make a lot of sense. The analogy is still useful. Being faced with tension and learning to dance with it is a much better approach than someone who constantly wants to have it resolved. However, we must understand that there is context in every decision people make. If you lived as that person lived, learned what they learned, and were immersed in the culture they lived, you would make the same choice, too.
Discomfort: No one ever says we will go through this life without dealing with tension. Often, the adult temper tantrums we face are precisely because of this tension. “I didn’t get what I wanted” isn’t as healthy an outlook as “I didn’t get what I wanted today.”
Weaponized: This tension is now being used against us. Whether we want the tension of doom scrolling to go away by continuing to scroll or to pornography and online gambling, that tension is always present in our culture. And with our dopamine-hit culture, which we have prioritized and added to our world of convenience (one-click shopping), we have a massive problem dealing with tension as it arises. Having a smaller capacity to deal with tension and shortcut the reward dopamine system is causing severe harm to all of us.
Magic Tricks: A 6-year-old sees a magic trick in wonder. A 12-year-old will bug us to show them how it is done. We know magic isn’t real. And neither is theater. But if we are unwilling to suspend disbelief, we will never leave room for surprise.
What do I do next? Our culture prides itself on doing what we did yesterday to spec, doing what we did faster and cheaper. Following the simple set of instructions is a great way to build Model Ts but not create a life of significance. We can’t make art this way. Art isn’t based on following the industrial model. Art is following your hunches and seeing where they take you.
Shortcuts: Shortcuts are great. I love shortcuts. When there is a faster way to fill out a TPS report, let’s do it. However, I had heard that the average time someone spends on the Utah Avalanche Center’s website to read a daily report is 8 seconds. We have developed the attention span of goldfish. Wanting the answers instantly. Don’t show me how to fish, just give it to me. How can we become experts in anything if we can’t hold our attention span long enough to read a book?