Nowadays, being a good human is second priority; first is to prove that you can be a good customer.
All you need is loyal customers and boom.
(Taken by me)
Let’s say, a business guy owns a well. He knows that whoever drinks will be thirsty again. But if he learns how to artificially trigger thirst, then people will line up there for life, and this way, his business will keep on running. The whole tobacco company runs on this module. There is clear indication that “smoking is injurious to health”, yet the consumers are consuming it. Same is the case with carbonated bottles. The list goes on and on…
If one look at the contemporary world, one can easily observe that the concept of “I think, therefore I am” has turned into “I consume, therefore I am”. And this journey from “therefore I am” to “consumption” is today’s men define. It may sound harsh, but (un)willingly it has become the reality.
This is what we call FOBO: Fear of Better Options.
The modern (old by now) capitalist system thrives on it. We already have closets full of clothes, multiple cars, watches and shoes, yet we keep visiting the markets. Why? Because after every purchase, a new anxiety is planted. Mind says there was something better than what you bought.
Recently, I visited Rawalpindi (city in Punjab, Pakistan) and saw so many shoe shops that I realized I could not wear in a lifetime the number of shoes I saw in a single market. There are tons of markets for everything. Still this abundance does not satisfy, rather it makes us more thirsty.
The fun part is that the modern man has been made distrustful of his own decisions; free in choice, yet internally trapped. We are surrounded by infinite options, that we keep second-guessing ourselves. We have two wrists, yet millions of watch designs. One body, yet thousands of clothing styles. The social media has done more justice to this craving, by adding more fuel via advertisements. Because, according to a finding, an average person sees around 4,000-5,000 ads a day. Moreover, this graveyard of satisfaction is called FOBO, the feeling that something better always exists.
Stolen Gratitude
Even gratitude is stolen from us. You buy a car for 10 million, but if you find out your neighbor got it for 9.8 million, dissatisfaction replaces gratitude. Or in local language, we say ‘Mehngi leli h Ustad (Got it at expensive rate, bro)'. You buy something and someone tells you a better version just came out; instantly, your joy disappears. You wishing, only if you had waited a bit longer.
We have become like children in shops grabbing toys endlessly and never satisfied. Instead of rising, we have become smaller under the weight of things. We are told to wear everything, to own everything, but never feel content.
This FOBO thing is full of envious behavior. It literally means that even if you are saved from drowning and given a boat, instead of being grateful, you look at someone else’s boat and think theirs is better.
This is the infinite curse.
This is the disease of endless comparison and infinite desire. We have been turned into constant evaluators, measuring every decision, wondering if another option would have been better. In truth, not things but decisions themselves are becoming antique like.
No way, you are still using this?
Markets plan this “obsolete dissatisfaction”. Products are, on purpose, made to feel outdated so that you return again and again. You go to buy one item and find seventy variations and life starts to feel like a buffet, but you only have one stomach. Still, the appetite is endless. We do not even ask ourselves, how much can we really consume? How many desires can we carry?
Earlier, objects aged now decisions age. Modern man is lost in a desert of choices, doubting his own decisions.
What if there is someone better?
Even love, the most essential element, has been affected. We now search for partners like products: scrolling, comparing, evaluating, as if we are choosing some vegetables. But true love was never meant to be compared; once the heart chose, no alternative mattered (at least, the novels still say so). Now even love is filtered through “what if there is someone better? ” This newly crafted mindset is destroying depth.
So, where should we seek better?
Of course, not in endless material consumption, rather in knowledge, poetry, science and service to others. A check and balance in material things is necessary. If one must seek infinity, seek it in learning, in creativity, in helping people and not in things.
At some point, we are needed to stop. Because life is not a buffet. It is a journey where sometimes, you have to pause and be conscious with what is already in your hands.
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Peace 🕊