A friend proudly posted on an online forum that he was able to fit in multiple activities in his life (including running a startup!), thanks to no cable TV, no YouTube, no tea breaks, no FB and no What’s App groups. His argument was that we all have a finite amount of time, and hence, need to ‘make time’ for what matters by giving up something else.

I agree with that last part, and have lived with that belief for as long as I can remember. Defining your priorities, and making time for them, is the only way this works. I’d also recommend improving efficiencies to get more return on investment for the time you do spend on your chosen pursuits. But I also fear that my friend, like many others, is missing out on a vital part of life.

There is a case to be made for widening your horizons and interacting with perspectives that are not like your own.

Most of today’s online technologies are designed to give you more of what you’ve already liked, or interacted with. But, it helps to push yourself out of your comfort zone and understand Life from the eyes of those who don’t think like you. And, that’s where ‘mass media’ can help.

The way things like newspapers and TV work is that someone else decides what constitutes “good content” for the large majority of us. That may not coincide with what we would like, or agree with, but that can be a good thing… at times.

Today, more than ever, we need to embrace diversity of thought in all spheres, from politics to society to technology. We need to seek out views that are significantly different from our own, whether through a thought-provoking Netflix documentary (on a subject we may know little of), or a feature in the local daily that proposes a view contrary to our own (closely-held) beliefs.

That’s how new connections will form. That’s how we will someday go past our predispositions. That’s how we will eventually stop judging or fearing those that do not resemble us, and truly begin to understand each other.

There are 7 billion of us, and every one has a unique world view, shaped by diverse, multi-cultural experiences. Let’s not allow easy access to the Internet to dumb it all down.