some 3 years ago, on the right day, i banned my television, gave it away. is overuse of the internet better? hell yeah, at least i only watch what im interested in/ seek the information i want. i dont need much money, never had a car. been raised to shine with skills, not with posession - yet still im far from a focussed life. its a dazzling carnival out there.
people in rural areas are often happier than people in big cities. theres that thing called the pyramid of needs, which shows food, housing, clothing, friendship, love, etc all in an order needs are normally perceived by humen. top to bottom, needs to wants. but (esp. for urbanites) this natural order is often disarranged. social status, appearance and success are put on top. since these qualities are very abstract, relative and not realy quantifiable, we tend to get confused, hungry for more (overuse our credit cards). the way marketing/advertisement makes use of that knowledge is outrageous. they employ psychologists and make us feel need for products, by linking them to feelings. this is bodily harm in my eyes and should be prohibited by law. totally fucked up situation (thats were deragulated free capitalism comes into play).
its exasperating. there were times when all you needed to be revolutionary was a gun and/or some good ideas. today people around you fill out forms for a personalized experience of online advertisement, opportunism is vogue and once you make a false move in the eyes of corporations, you get denounced by the media.
especially in western countries, people wont sense theres anything wrong, as long as they have enough to eat, shit and diffuse their daily grind with. thats not a life.
funny story, last week we had a power breakdown. it was for about 4 hours. when i went out, after some time, people started feeling bored at home. they came out and talked to each other, strangers. streets full of people, calm silence. only noise was from conversation. that was kind of nice