A while back I watched a documentary entitled “The Social Dilemma”, wherein the creators very skilfully exposed the impact of social media and the data mining that large tech companies are utilising to turn the average consumer into a willing product of research and development.

In the ‘era of instant’ as I like to call it, where we have instant friends, instant coffee, instant meals and instant gratification… Where the next serotonin and oxytocin spike is just a click or a swipe away and social media has us returning 'ad nauseam' to fulfil our next hit of neuro-chemical addiction - where do we stand in making up our own minds?

It seems that we have become so complacent in having large corporations and social ‘influencers’ tell us who we ought to be, what we should buy, what we need to have and how our lives are somehow "incomplete" without the products, services and newest technology to fulfil what we weren’t even aware of that we were lacking in some way.

Gone are the days of free speech, of having an opinion without being crucified for it, of sticking to your own point of view without being labelled as one or the other ’phobic’ and for having the strong moral character of standing up for what you believe in…

Oh no no no, how DARE we have strong morals and solid values in a plastic world where free speech is becoming less and less valued, challenging the status quo is frowned upon and free thinking is becoming the elusive unicorn in a prairie full of donkeys… or is it pronounced asses… I forget.

The point I’m making, is that we have not only chosen the dilemma we find ourselves in, but we are the architects of the prison we have built for our minds.

Not only that, but we have also shackled our youth into the same chains of neurological slavery that we have moulded, without their knowledge of the bondage that they are born into.

As parents, guardians, teachers and mentors, we have dismally failed.

Not merely our own charge, but we have also failed the generations that are to become the adults, leaders and guardians of future generations.

Thus the biblical truth of “the sins of the father” is a prophecy that is being continuously fulfilled generation after generation, because there are so few willing to challenge the norm, stand up for moral values, and teach the next generation the value of interpersonal connection, without technological influence and socially engineered merits.

If you are not controlling your own mind, someone else is

So then, what is to be done about the dilemma we as a species are facing? How do we contravene the minefield of technological enhancements that promise to ‘improve’ our lives at the risk of losing our humanity in the process and becoming just as programmed as the software that drives the very technologies that we have become so reliant on?

The simple answer: Discipline.

The thing that very few of us have mastered, many have forgotten and even more have never had the privilege to learn and develop, simply because those who were supposed to impart the knowledge didn’t have it to begin with.

Change starts from within.

Break the generational ‘curse’ and develop the discipline within yourself first. Then teaching it to the next generation becomes easier, because they learn through observation and modelling the behaviours they observe.

Become the embodiment of discipline and set the pace for the change you want to create.

Some ideas to ponder and test:

• No screens at least 2 hours before bedtime.

The blue light emissions affect neuro-frequential patterns and interferes with your sleeping patterns

• Dinner to be eaten together at the dinner table.

Eating together strengthens the bond in a family, because your brain then links family connection alongside a necessary need to survive.

• No phones at the dinner table

Technology at the dinner table will defeat the purpose and bring technology in as part of the family. The very thing you are aiming to eliminate.

• Substitute social media for true, factual information

Make a pact that for every hour spent on social media or news platforms, an hour needs to be spent filling your mind with true, factual informative programming.

A good place to start would be waterbear.com

Go have a look, you’ll thank me later.

To make a change, you have to BE the change

Not just for yourself and your children, but for every generation that will come after.

That is your charge, that is your duty, that is your responsibility.