It’s quite late at night and the feeling isn’t right,
Loneliness it is, my friend says when sleep isn’t in my eyes
Scrolling the reels and posting on Insta,
My thoughts are looking to be heard just once, if not twice.
My days are fine, if the goals are high
Smiling faces everywhere, the success stories that multiplies
I am not tired of scrolling, until my brain tires to the night
My needs are looking to be heard just once, if not twice.
Yet another day, different faces, same smiles
Looks like everyone is happy, except me who’s swiping up/down/left/right
I don’t deserve him, he doesn’t deserve me might?
My choices are looking to be heard just once, if not twice.
I might be too ambitious, or the day wasn’t mine
No one is texting me, or calling me nice
They won’t understand, nor have I tried
My social self is looking to be heard just once, if not twice.
The nights are longer, the food isn’t nice
The friends doesn’t feel caring, as I’m spammed with
“Sleep on it dude… everything’s going to be fine”
My mental health is looking to be heard just once, if not twice.
The practice of getting up feeling fatigued after having spent the night working and staying up late for social engagements has become commonplace in today’s society. A more flexible work schedule and the option to perform some of one’s duties from home would be fantastic additions to the position. As a culture, we are heading in the direction of a way of life that consists of “too much comfort,” and as a consequence, we are inching closer to a routine that consists of mindless scrolling and binge viewing. Is it possible that we are missing out on the chance to give our brains a rest because we spend so much time being entertained?
During the time that I was employed as a social worker at Tihar Prison, one of the inmates there asked me, “Shruti, why do these nights haunt me? I miss the simpler times when a hectic day spent on my phone would leave me so exhausted that I would fall asleep as soon as I got into bed. I long for those times.”After a couple of days, when he started to feel better, he told me, “My friends must be writing about their holidays, and my relatives must be enjoying themselves with their families. Because of the circumstances, they must be keeping a happy and laughing a lot. Why does it seem like it is always going to be me who is the one who is going to be the one breaking down?”
It’s possible that we’ve evolved an individualism that’s comparable to what you see in the West. On the other side, our deeply established collectivistic society has a strong desire for the company of other people. Over the course of the past decade, our nation has seen a transformation that can be described as a digital revolution. Even though we may be living inan age of multi-engagements made possible by digitalization, the question of whether or not our brains are capable of managing all of this activity without sacrificing quality continues to be an open one. Even while change is inevitable, it may take some time and work before we are able to overcome the routines that we’ve formed over the course of our lives and come to terms with the world as it is right now.
It is always necessary to have a specific set of skills and/or background information in order to have the ability to adapt to new circumstances. It was not the result of a single semester’s worth of internship that I was accepted to Rutgers University, which is located in the United States of America; rather, it was the result of five years of dedicated research and the stress of having every application I submitted for three years be rejected. It wasn’t until after my second cycle that I realized how much better my subjective well-being would be if I sought professional help; prior to that point, I had been completely oblivious to the benefits of doing so. Many of the people who were important to me had to make the ultimate sacrifice.
However, my therapist advised me, “First and foremost, you need to love yourself.” People who were once a part of what I referred to as my “gokuldhaam society” held a great deal of importance for me in the past, but now they are of no consequence. The first stage of integrating oneself into the culture of independence has been completed! But it doesn’t stop here for every middle-class family. But why are we having these issues? Is it just about adapting from Collectivistic to Individualistic culture?
My smartphone is not the answer to the problems I’ve been having with my mental health, Mummy! It’s unfortunate, but even the most impoverished people can struggle with their mental health. When I was a volunteer with The Art of Living at the Okhla Slum project being run by the World Health Organization, I had the opportunity to see firsthand how not having access to clean water and food can have a detrimental impact on people’s mental health. These individuals were able to afford food for the day, but they were unable to afford mental health care for themselves. It is reasonable to assume that the vast majority of people who read our content are either students or recent graduates who are making meager salaries.
Problems with one’s physical health and one’s mental health are equivalent. When they arrive, they are completely unaware of the amount of money a person possesses. So, what are some of our requirements to fill the gap for higher adaption to the emerging changes in our culture? Make suggestions for programs that can help people obtain affordable mental health care without breaking their bank accounts, and do so without stigma. It is essential that we acknowledge that problems with mental health are very real and that we seek help for these problems that have the potential to increase the risk of a wide variety of outcomes that are not favorable.
(The author holds a Master’s in Applied Psychology from Jamia Millia Islamia. As a young researcher, she aspires to bridge the gap between cognitive psychology and education)
