An Essay: Why The Modern Ease Of Western Culture Is Uninspiring

Why The Modern Ease of Western Culture Is Uninspiring.

The modern ease of Western culture is uninspiring to those of us who subscribe to and live under its systems. Many aspects of human life that previously gave our forefathers purpose and inspired them to great achievements have now been taken from our generation and replaced with easy, unrepairable, and generally wasteful pursuits.

In Western Culture, we no longer need to be creative. All our needs are met by companies who create for us. Therefore, we leave behind the fundamentally inspiring human experience of using creativity to meet our own needs. Our first instinct in searching for ideas, information, or a solution to a problem is no longer ourselves. We first look to others through the internet for a prepared solution to our problems instead of looking within ourselves. Most ads and articles are pushing a product or idea with the purpose of fixing one of our problems. And we are all familiar with the overabundance of helpful YouTube tutorials on a wide range of topics. With one internet search, we have access to hundreds of solutions to any specific problem we may have. There is a need within humans that is filled when we learn to solve our own problems with our own solutions. As our cultural ethos increasingly resides on the internet, this need is no longer naturally met and we can quickly become demoralized. 

Long past is the era of stewarding the upkeep of our belongings.. Humans will always take care of their belongings to varying degrees, but now most ‘belongings’ are made to be thrown away and thus encourage people to take less care of them. Many companies are building products that are created to be used and then thrown away, instead of repaired. IPhones begin to decline around two years after they are purchased (Both). Appliances were once designed to be fixed when they broke; this design shows in the longevity of many old appliances, especially older fridges. Currently, the average lifespan for a fridge is only around 14 years ("23rd Annual Portrait of The U.S. Appliance Industry"). Now that items are made to be broken and replaced, stewardship has lost its importance and is largely unneeded. The human capacity for and drive to take creative dominion over our belongings is no longer needed to maintain our items because they are largely designed to be thrown away as soon as they cease to function to our liking.  Erased is yet another opportunity to exercise our agency in meaningful capacities. 

Another facet of life that has been devalued is our interaction with other humans. These interactions can take place in many forms and can have a variety of values placed on them. We used to hold communication with others in high value: i.e. letters were thought through deeply before being written, phone conversations cost us money and had to be treated carefully, and in-person interaction was treated as the most connective and important form of communication. Now, we increasingly use social media and other internet tools to communicate. We may intend to grow closer to those who we communicate with but in reality, we are allowing ourselves to be more physically separate from one another. By using the internet, we no longer need to be physically close to communicate. We only need to have access to a phone or laptop in order to see any one of our loved ones’ faces.  This separation is evident in the use of an older technology: Long-distance communication. Long-distance communication is now practically free in the Western world whereas in 1950 a phone call across the Atlantic could cost $12 (Chaddock). Adjusted for inflation using the US Inflation Calculator, that $12 would now be worth $153.20.  In 2023, the American telephone company, Tello, provides unlimited calls and texts that cost only 10 dollars per month (Tello). The extensive reach of these mediums tends to separate humans and provides an easy way out of the old style of careful, deliberate, and more human communication.  Even the youngest of our population are turning to electronics for their communication. According to the Common Sense Census of 2021, thirteen to eighteen-year-olds spent an average of one hour and seventeen minutes on social media per day (The Common Sense Census: Media Use by Tweens and Teens, 2021 16). People are still longing to communicate in person but are increasingly communicating online and physically away from each other. This move toward social media is demoralizing, isolating, and generally uninspiring to the human who longs for deep, personal connections with his fellow kind.

Those who choose to submit to this Western culture will find themselves thoroughly uninspired. By design, this culture produces products and people that are impotent, wasteful, and devaluing of human interaction. Maybe some will be inspired to positive change if they awake to see the problems at hand. 

Both, Amy. “How Long Do iPhones Last? When to Upgrade Your iPhone (iPhone 15)” iPhoneLife, 9 Nov. 2023, p.2.

Chaddock, Gail Russell. “As The World Shrinks, So Do Prices On International Calls” The Christian Science Monitor, 22 Nov. 2023.

"23rd Annual Portrait of The U.S. Appliance Industry Saturation, share-of-market, and life expectancy figures are given along with a comprehensive listing of Who's Who in the Appliance Industry." APPLIANCE, vol. 57, DANA CHASE PUBLICATIONS INC, 2000, pp. 83-110.

The Common Sense Census: Media Use by Tweens and Teens

Tello, https://tello.com/.

Reviews

[Stu. T.H.]

An intriguing read, author Aidan Singletary. Though I am but a nobody nor do my opinions have any value of significance, I must ask, what is your personal thought and sentiment on this problem?
Though, you haven't asked mine, but as a multicultural person of being, I find the situation to be quite disheartening for the Modernist Western culture in which I admired in my childhood days to spawn such troubling matters. Though, I am little-knowing, I still believe there are chances to take in the modern Western society to change for the better, if only we can inspire the youths to take a peer beyond their national telescope, they would see a sea of stars even on the other side of the globe. On these matters, we need to educate young entrepreneurs, the promising young leaders of the Western countries to take lead by motivating themselves and others to look beyond their social circle and commonality. Encourage travels, educate the youths on social matters and teach them how societies (yes, plural) operate. I'd argue that there are still efforts being made in such regard, as I've seen programs that educate youths to build their future and others', social media uses that also encourage them to indulge in beyond just their commonalities (though fewer in comparision to those who encourage them to indulge in their own social filter bubble), and teachers co-travellers who are ready to pass their knowledge down to the minds of the unexperienced youths to teach them about the world.
... Or perhaps, we need more books. A cliché, yes. But what if schools had allowed an incentive for students to explore certain books in their own free time as make-up grades? I find the idea... very appealing. If I am able to read books such as Anne of Green Gables, Magic for Marigold, other novels by Lucy Maud Montgomery or other literary works that explore the cultural values in societies or education made by overseas authors... Oh, that'd be a bliss, isn't it?

Though, that was but a silly rant from a silly being. Your essay have successfully addressed one of the most pressing issues in modern times Western cultures and have captured my attention well, author Aidan Singletary. Thank you for sharing your work, and I wish you a good day/night.

[Aidan Singletary]

Leon, yesterday, I was pleased to see I had received a review from a fellow writer. I was further pleased when I read your profile and some of your poetry. I am grateful we are now acquainted! Thank you for reading and so thoughtfully commenting. I do have one question for you before I address yours. Why do you think your opinions have no value or significance?

Now, to address your question. I am not too sure that expanding the cultural worldview of our young people will do much to address the problem I laid out. I think that people generally are not well enough acquainted with their own culture(Here in America specifically) to go out and explore other cultures. I think this is because our own culture is destroying itself from the inside out. I don't think there is much "Western Culture" left to learn more about. So should we send our demoralized people out to potentially infect and destroy other cultures with our own logical inadequacies? I think we should rebuild as best we can on the foundation of tradition and stewardship. And from that foundation and what we build upon it, we should send out strong, moral people to learn from and build up other cultures.

Leon, I believe we need more good books; More books written by people who treat language as the powerful weapon of the mind that it is. But regardless, more books are always better than less. What a wonderful world exists beyond our own, ready for the young and supple mind to run wild within! What peace and respite true imagination brings to any mind! And what sadness it brings me to see so many parents using television as 'entertainment' instead of shepherding their children into these awesome worlds just beyond what we can see.

I thoroughly enjoyed your "Silly Rant From a Silly Being" and I thank you again for sharing. I would love to connect more and continue the conversation. I am interested to hear the answer to my question and if my answer was anywhere close to addressing your question. I hope to have time soon to review some of your writing.

[Stu. T.H.]

I thank you for your patience and utmost pleasant treatment with me, a author Aidan Singletary. And I do look forward to indulge in coversations with you in our mutual leisure. Please take care.