With all the distractions that we have within our reach all the time, it is becoming more difficult to observe the present moment and become honest with yourself. I myself have been busy thinking about college and beyond my whole gap year, as it was more of a year to plan the future more than a gap year to build myself.

For a good period of my life, and this is just one example, I have been ignorant of climate change. It is not that I did not care, it is that I have been distracted and trying to fill the void of my days with work, school, activities and hobbies, that I actually like and enjoy, but me trying to fill that void caused another void. I sometimes think that I wanted to be at peace and not be involved, but at one point turned into stress. I believe that environmentalists on social media are also trying to fill a void because many of them are shouting at everyone and not actually inspiring anyone to be more environmental. The one thing that made me changed my habits and values toward the environment is not reading or listening to social media, but rather sitting in the valleys of Yosemite with summer breeze, seeing the animals wander around the mountains, swimming and drinking from crystal clear rivers, and chatting with a friend who spent 2 weeks of zero-waste without even telling their story on social media. Aside from how beneficial their words were, their actions made me realize how solving external problems, here making everyone environmentalists, is never the answer, but rather solving internal problems, internal conflicts, not only do I mean here as internal to the person, but also as being the core cause of our problems.

Going back to climate change example, shouting is not the answer, technology is, through green energy, recyclable materials, etc. We cannot blame the people who are always distracted, and to be specific those who when you read through their feed you find nothing but political noise. I think that the human brain is just not design to absorb all the news that we see today from all over the world breaking news with quick headlines. It will eventually drive them insane. There are literally scientists there studying to get us addicted to all those distractions around us, if you get addicted, your brain will get destroyed.

Our generation is unfortunately the one that is still learning all of this, we are making a lot of mistakes using social media, the one after us will handle it better to leave a happier peaceful life.