The armchair’s skin was coated in a grainy red velvet. A pot-bellied man slumped deep into it’s comfortable abyss. The ice swayed within the glass in his hand, rupturing the silence otherwise easily maintained in the gloomy room. “Like a ship at sea, without a crew or destination” he mumbled to himself as he stared into the melting ice, diluting his drink. Unsure if he was speaking about the ice or himself.

Try to recollect the last time when reading or watching something had a profound effect on you. How did it affect your mood at the time? How did it alter your state? What was different about you after experiencing said writing/film? Now, imagine what the stimuli we are bathed in everyday does to us.

The Human Brain.

A convoluted sponge, soaking up whatever information is thrown at it.

You are what you eat the inputs of all active and passive stimuli within your observable environment. Every single thing about you is dictated by what you see and what you hear – and your understanding of it. We have no choice in how a stimulus may or may not effect us. But we can simply choose not to expose ourselves to a certain stimulus. The decision to not indulge in said stimuli does not stem from any notion of said stimulus being “evil” or “immoral”. But simply because it does not facilitate a reaction in us that is productive in the realization of our goals. (But this does not mean the next time your friend shows you another “look what le funneh animal does” on their phone you scream and cower away. Covering your eyes as if he just showed you Satan’s asshole.)

So where does Instagram come under all of this?

Apart from helping in making the title of this post as clickbaity as possible (sorry), Instagram is pretty relevant in our context. Because if you haven’t noticed, literally everything popular on Instagram is perfect. I found myself following a lot of people with physiques i wanted, people living the good life, 10/10 women, all that jazz. I was living my dream through Instagram. Every time I browsed through Instagram, I felt good. As if I “made it.” There was dopamine being released in my brain. And this subtly played on my motivation. Why work on living my dream when I’m already living it right? Even though I may not have thought directly in that strain, the dopamine in my head was enough of a stimulus for my brain.

A similar thing happens with Pornography. Pornography is an awful stimulus. No, not because of any ethical or moral reasons. But because of how it fucks up your brain chemistry. (For more on that click here.) I’ve even found the music I listen to during my morning shower having an effect on the productivity (or lack thereof) of my day. It may not have decided how my day went, but did have an effect on my motivational momentum. And this matters because there are an infinite amount of stimuli at any given period in our lives. All of this adds up. As intelligent beings with the gift of meta-cognition, we technically to some extent can manipulate that which goads us. It would be an awful waste to not use this gift.

Choose. Wisely.