Brain Gain 10 - "Living in the Now" is Living Mediated (Naturally...)

In an age where reality is constantly filtered through screens, lenses, and codes, our natural obsession with youthful, primal desires — embodied in slogans like "YOLO" (You Only Live Once) and "Forever Young" — is being continuously sought and fed by the virtual world. Media and entertainment technology companies have capitalized (in Financial and Strategic ways, haha...(capitalism = survival of the finances)) on our innate drive for "Living in the Now."

There is a philosophical side to this dilemma, because what does it really mean to live in the present moment in this context? Can the "now" exist outside the pixels and interfaces that shape it, or have we created an era where immediacy itself is merely another mediated construct? Something that never really existed in the first place and an invention of the modern world? Imagine thinking about thoughts, inherently dwelling in the past, and where immediacy and the present are fantasies. Nowadays that seems impossible... Our technologies pull us from the biosphere where dwelling is status quo, into the present of the noösphere. As we navigate this ITE (In This Era, (pseudo-)scientifically speaking), it's evident that our experiences are no longer purely lived—they are represented, curated, and consumed through virtual interfaces; Realms where anything is possible, but the creators and consumers are just as subjected to their nature and the inescapable fundamentals of the biosphere (all so known as the real world).

And this is where the dilemma flips into a Media x Nature vs Nurture debate. There is a far-reaching obsession with living in the moment, and it's often portrayed through the lens of social media and technology. In this digital age, our behaviors are hooked on the constant stream of updates, notifications, and content of our devices. We are drawn into patterns of continuous consumption, driven by the same instincts that once ensured our survival. We are driven by a beat, one that's emulated artificially. This obsession parallels historical survival mechanisms. Just as our ancestors’ craving for glucose — a vital resource — was advantageous in times of scarcity but now linked to modern health issues in times of C₆H₁₂O₆-abundance, our current mediated 'YOLO' and 'Living in the Moment' behavior through real-time mediation reflects another redundant, even worse, capitalized on strategic evolution. This innate drive to seek immediate gratification is now manifested and ubiquitous through our engagement with social media sites (SMSs), smartphones, and other digital devices. Our craving for the next hit of engagement and dopamine rush is a result of and being fed by the "real-time", "Live", "YOLO" of technologies and is adapted into a virtual landscape. The paradox of our time is clear: living in the now is intricately tied to living virtually, with our basic behavioral patterns leveraged by technology to keep us endlessly engaged.

Welcome to the age where our primal instincts and modern technology converge, creating a new kind of immediacy that both defines and distorts our experience of living in the present.