But sadly, noticing it may take too much effort.

A while ago, someone made a great point about one of those obvious things that are never repeated often enough. Back in 2019, the author of “What happened to individual empowerment in the internet age?" wrote that, more than by abusive online profiling, he is more concerned with “the voluntary things we do that undermine all the individual empowerment that was supposed to come our way."

Why? Because experience, of course

The single most important power humans have, he says, is their limited ability to pay attention.

These days, however, those who grew up in the age of the computer, cellphone and internet view smartphones, personal computer and the Internet as THE “portals to experience”, meaning that “the most important things that are happening in their lives, social, cultural, and economic, are happening online and via cellphone”.

For these people, experiences mediated through electronic means have become primary and more important than direct immediate experience.

Problem is, “keeping always on the goggles of a smartphone, you limit your reality rather than expanding it”. The world remains OUT there.

Recommended reading right after this post: “There are no REAL places anymore where to escape”.