Education and WHY Anxiety is so High
ANXIETY
Over half the people I see in my practice are there to get help for anxiety.
When I was growing up, no one felt anxiety or at least not in the way we feel it today. When people my age were going to school and felt pressure or anxious, we could go home after school and forget about it- and just live our lives interacting with friends, going outdoors, being creative... so many things for us to do just getting away from the "stress".
Now everything comes down to the internet and the constant access to information 24/7 whether we want it or not...there it is! There are more people on this planet than ever before and we are all connected through the web.
As children become adults in this day and age, it just intensifies. We have so much interaction online, all the time, people just are not used to actually going out there and meeting people, talking in person, seeing the real person instead of the internet persona.
Neurological studies has suggested that the shape of the human brain is changing...simply because different parts of it are growing differently.
Before any type of media and not just online, not just the web and Google, but before TV and even radio, ALL of our interactions were face to face and our brains actually were growing in a different way.
Since everything is now virtual, it isn't going to get better. EVERYTHING is happening in cyberspace - this includes our relationships with people and our interactions. When was the last time you actually SPOKE to someone to make a reservation for a hotel or to buy concert and movie tickets? It's all done online - not communication necessary.
This is partly why people say "I'm deleting FB because it wastes my time - scrolling and not learning anything but absorbing the toxic and the unreal".
We have to learn how to manage ourselves better, because this world is not going to change...but you can change YOUR world. Nowadays, mindfulness is actually something in schools, in the prison system, at job sites and big offices.
There is a great need and desire to bring in educated people who can help teach our kids emotional intelligence and wellness. The same is true for corporations.
Schools teach all sorts of things in terms of "book learning" and all those things that will "hopefully" be useful when they get out into the business world and start making life decisions. BUT SO FAR there is NO education on how to manage emotions.
The biggest innovation and revolution in education is going to be when we can begin to teach people (of all ages) how to protect themselves from the negative input of information, and give them the tools to manage their emotional wellness for life.
