“If you who have created this struggle and suffering do not change fundamentally, will systems, conferences, blueprints bring about order and goodwill? Is it not imperative that you transform yourself, for what you are the world is?”
— J. Krishnamurti
Social media should be regulated to protect our mental health and curb fake news. Schools should be held responsible for our children to get good grades, and learn moral and religious values. There should be rules for children using smartphone.
Yes, regulations should exist for the welfare of society. But where does the line get drawn?
To a large extent, we’ve begun to demand regulations and laws because we don’t want to take responsibility for our actions. We don’t want to research the authenticity of stuff posted on social media. We don’t want to teach our children the right values through example or keep them engaged enough to not want to use smartphones at home.
And in calling for the regulation of others, we undermine the most potent trait of a human being: the ability to direct our attention.
In her bestselling book Rapt, behavioral science writer Winifred Gallagher wrote:
“It’s a fashion to blame the internet and computers, cellphones and cable TV for this diffused, fragmented state of mind, but our seductive machines are not at fault. The real problem is that we don’t appreciate our own ability to use attention to select and create truly satisfying experiences. Instead. . . we too often take the lazy way out, settle for less, and squander our mental money and precious time on whatever captures our awareness willy-nilly, no matter how disappointing the consequences.”
In other words, we expect external entities do to what’s good for us when we can’t do it by ourselves. We demand regulations for others when we can’t regulate our own thoughts and actions.
Forget being possible, is this even reasonable?
“Does modification of the outer circumstances ever bring about fundamental inner transformation? Is not inner transformation first necessary to bring about an outward result?”, Krishnamurti asks.
When we take responsibility for our lives and conduct is when we can find joy, peace, and wisdom. And when each of us finds this joy and wisdom, society will automatically become better.