Are you watching?
Can you see it?
We’re mostly all in a trance.
A thumb-twitching, doom-scrolling, dopamine-junkie species sedated by the glow.
We’ve gone from gathering around the fire to gathering around the algorithm.
It didn’t take much to convince us that binge-watching a Netflix doc about serial killers counts as “me time.”
But what are we really watching?
Each other.
Endlessly.
Influencers influencing influencers.
TikToks about TikToks.
Reaction videos reacting to reaction videos.
Livestreams of everything from grief to groceries.
We’re watching series after series of other people watching telly (meta much?) and we love it.
We’re watching everyone except ourselves.
How Did We Get Here?
It started out so simple.
A TV in the corner.
A couple of channels.
Gay Byrne giving politicians a gentle grilling by your own fire side.
Then came cable.
Then the internet.
Then the smartphone. A Pandora’s box with push notifications.
Now?
We’re always on.
Always consuming. Always comparing.
Always being watched, watching, and wondering why we feel so hollow.
Attention is the new oil.
And baby, we are fracked.
Our minds? Mined.
Our feelings? Monetised.
Our quiet inner lives? Drowned by autoplay.
We weren’t just taught to watch.
We were trained to forget who the watcher really is.
The Dopamine Trap: We’re Wired to Watch
Let’s get honest:
It’s not just bad habits. It’s biochemistry.
We are quite literally wired to watch.
Every like, swipe, and scroll gives our brains a tiny hit of dopamine.
A drip-feed of “maybe this next thing will make me feel better.”
We’re not chasing meaning.
We’re chasing novelty.
And we’ve become addicts of the almost satisfying.
We’re overfed and undernourished. Mentally. Emotionally. Spiritually.
Back in 2009, researchers found that the average American consumed 34 gigabytes of information a day. About 174 newspapers’ worth.
That number has now more than doubled.
We’re talking 74 gigabytes a day.
That’s 16 movies.
A digital avalanche.
If we were doing it deliberately – for learning, growth, spiritual depth – maybe it’d be worth it.
But we’re not.
We’re just shovelling content into our heads to silence the signal that something’s wrong.
Why It’s Breaking Us
Because watching without witnessing is a trick of the ego.
And the ego? That bastard loves distraction.
It loves the scroll, because it’s scared of the stillness.
Scared of what might rise in the silence.
Scared that if you stopped long enough to look in the mirror – really look – you’d see how far off course you’ve drifted.
TV doesn’t just rot your brain.
It rents your soul.
It convinces you that the main character is always someone else.
That your job is to comment, consume, and comply.
But the plot twist?
You were never meant to be in the audience.
You were meant to wake the fuck up.
The Real Show Starts Inside
So what’s the answer?
Start watching the watcher.
In every spiritual tradition worth its salt – from Advaita Vedanta to Eckhart Tolle – the path to awakening isn’t more information.
It’s observation.
Not of them.
Of you.
- Watch how you grab your phone the moment you’re bored or sad.
- Watch how quick you are to numb instead of feel.
- Watch how much energy goes into avoiding your own truth.
And then, gently, lovingly:
Turn.
It.
Off.
Go outside.
Lie on the grass.
Stare at the sky instead of the scroll.
Listen. Not to Kyle the Crypto Bro on YouTube, but to your own breath.
The part of you that’s always been here, quietly waiting for your attention.
It’s Not Self-Care. It’s Rebellion.
In a world that profits off your inattention, presence is power.
In a world that sells your soul for ad revenue, stillness is subversion.
Reclaim your mind.
Reclaim your time.
Reclaim the right to be bored, unproductive, unpolished. And beautifully alive.
Because the real show?
It’s not on Netflix.
It’s not on TikTok.
It’s not in the comments.
It’s in your breath.
Your body.
Your being.
Turn off the noise. Tune in to the truth.
You’re the one you’ve been waiting to watch.
Domesticky 
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