If computer screens had a physical dimension, they would be infinitely deep. Around you there is a room. You’ve probably already exhausted all the concievable ideas for things to do in that room, because there is a finite and quite small number of objects inside it. That is why the internet has such a draw to it. If you are trapped in the room (not necessarily physically), the internet gives you an alternate means by which to wonder wherever you like. You can go anywhere. You can go exploring. All from the same prison cell of a room.

I came to this thought by questioning why it was that I’ve been spending so much of my time online, in front of a screen. It also made me understand what people would have done in the days before screens (say the 1920s). So long as you aren’t trapped in a cell, your physical surroundsings are an almost equivalent alternative to the internet. You can go exploring or wonder aimlessly (like through TikTok). If it was 1920 and I was stuck at home with nothing to do, instead of watching a screen I would have gone down to the square/street, grabbed a beer, sat down, and just waited for something to happen. Anything. Eventually there would. Incidentally I tried this the other week and it worked. The city is a source of dopamine. You can go to the same websites and there’ll be something new to watch every day — so long as you watch the little details and wait for long enough.

I realize this might seem stupidly obvious to some. But I’m a Gen Zedder who grew up very sheltered and with a computer, so it only just hit me that this is how life is supposed to work. Like, I do have a social life and everything, but this explains why it has all seemed so predictable (ie. unless I arranged something, nothing would happen.) There are two infinitely deep spaces to exist in, and I was blind to one of them.