Our obsession with numbers is not something new. It seems to me like the whole point of the education system is to brainwash you into thinking that the bigger the number, better the life. While simultaneously dulling you just enough to ensure you never reach it.
The amount of money you make, the number of cars you have, the number of houses you own. Bigger the number, better the life is what people assume and judge you as a person based on it. You can be the most helpful kindest sweetest human being on the planet. But people won’t give you the same amount of respect as they do to an asshole millionaire living on the same street.
The same has now crept into our digital life. Some of the most watched videos on YouTube is how to get more subscribers, more followers, more likes and comments on Instagram and Twitter. The chase for these numbers has gotten so crazy that people are willing to go to outrageous lengths to get their videos and posts to go viral. Not to mention the cleavage and ass pics.It has even given rise to a whole new market where you can buy subscribers and likes. Walking in the streets of Moscow will provide you with a glimpse of the madness, where you have vending machines which give you or any account more followers and likes. Have you ever posted something on Instagram or Twitter to get a bunch of people follow you only to see the next day that they have gone? And it happens again and again.
My question though is what’s the point. Why the obsession with numbers? Why are we chasing quantity when anything pleasurable and worthwhile actually comes from Quality? I guess we are just programmed that way. But the thing about programming is that it can be changed. We can be reprogrammed. If only we could get our damn heads out of the bloody cell phones for long enough.
Kaushal Sadashiv 