You Need to Start Thinking about Yourself, for Once

By Kyle C.

Critical thinking and logical reasoning seem to be a thing of the past. A lot in the new generation will follow the latest trend on social media, mindlessly, regardless of how stupid they are, with some to the point of insanity. The fear of losing out and being looked down upon is so great that some will go to great lengths to blend in with their peers, even if their actions will bring dire consequences to their own lives, or those around them. We became machines made from flesh and blood, losing the ability, or better, choosing not to think about what we want in life, what is our purpose here, and how we want to live our life meaningfully during our short stay in this world.
Perhaps it is time for us to start thinking for ourselves, for once.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kyle C.
• Release date: Jul 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005879679

Kyle C.

Kyle C. is an entrepreneur, investor, and middle-class worker who has worked with various companies across different regions around the world. Equipped with his knowledge, he began his life as an amateur writer to produce some writings based on his personal experiences so that he could share his stories with a wider audience as compared to a selected few among his circle of friends.

Book preview

Author’s Words

I am writing this book as a form of expression and to give some of my thoughts about the herd mentality culture that is happening all around us. Most of us have forgotten or even stopped using our greatest asset given by our Creator, that is our brain. Though we share some traits found in the animal kingdom where the same herd mentality is deeply programmed in all of us, our ability to think and analyse are what differentiate us as uniquely humans as compared to animals. Though in certain aspects, animals can be much more sophisticated than us, we never know as we did not really study them enough. Perhaps humans have started to degenerate to a point that the animals begin to appear much more intelligent than we used to think. Critical thinking and logical reasoning seem to be a thing of the past. A lot in the new generation will follow the latest trend, mindlessly, regardless of how stupid they are, with some to the point of insanity. The fear of losing out and being looked down upon is so great that some will go to great lengths to blend in with their peers, even if their actions will bring dire consequences to their own lives, or those around them. Our schools no longer emphasise the importance of common sense, encouraging the young generation to express themselves freely about their ideas. Instead, they are being moulded by the education institutions as products to be sold to businesses as fuel or future workforce. 

A few months back, I came across a game called Little Nightmares 2 thanks to the weird Youtube algorithm. It popped up on my Youtube suggestion page. To be honest, I am not much of a gamer, but the thumbnail on the video caught my attention. Out of curiosity, I clicked on the video.  Spoilers alert here. It was showing some kids wandering through a dark, bleak, and twisted city. There was a scene where the residents of the entire city were brainwashed by what appears to be the TV signal from the signal tower. The poor residents were seen constantly wandering around like zombies, looking for a TV set so they can be glued to it 24/7, watching whatever content that was shown, even statics. Though it was just a setup in a game, ironically, that is what is taking place in our reality now. Most of us are glued to our smartphones 24/7, feeding off the contents from social media and other online media outlets, hardly ever thinking about the contents that we are consuming. We will share or speak about information as if they are the truths, blindly following the trends as if they are essential to our lives. We no longer care about discerning between truths and lies, right and wrong.

We as humans have started losing our identity as humans. Intellect became a dirty word. Being intellectual is being frowned upon. Voicing out an idea or having a different opinion will invite backlash among the netizens that are having the opposite opinion. Internet communities have evolved into a toxic culture where if you are not with us, you are against us, and you will be dealt with. The voices of the minority will forever be silenced by the majority. Because of this new culture, we are afraid to voice out our thoughts, our opinions, and our wants, fearing repercussions from the other party. We do not dare to stand for ourselves and think about what we want. If we did otherwise, we will be secluded from the rest as we will be seen as an alien among them. As time passes, we have grown accustomed to just following orders and receiving information from the internet as it is without any fact-checking. We no longer filter and process information.

In the end, we became machines made from flesh and blood, losing the ability, or better, choosing not to think about what we want in life, what is our purpose here, and how we want to live our life meaningfully during our short stay in this world. 

Perhaps it is time for us to start thinking for ourselves, for once.

Before this…

Before we go deep into discussing why we should be thinking hard about our lives in this world, have you encountered or experienced the following scenarios?

Doing something just because someone says so

Following the crowd or the latest trends blindly 

Purchase something because you are being persuaded or there is a promotion going on

and regretting the decision immediately after that because you find no benefit in doing so, or worse, getting into trouble or having more problems that you first started. If you have done so, sorry to tell you the bad news: You are part of the herd that is easy to be controlled, manipulated and pushed around by others, just like the shepherd moving the sheep around the grazing area at his whim. You mainly follow what others say or do, without giving much thought about the consequences from your actions.

You are not alone.

We all have been through the experience of following the advice of others, either due to peer pressure, by force, or through sheer ignorance. Many times the decision made would only bring benefit to the people getting us to take such action. We hardly think of what our action will bring to us, the consequences or if it brings advantages to ourselves. We just follow what our lead tells us to do without questioning the morality, ethics, or the result it will bring from the decision. We are trained from young to follow what the elders say, just because they are much more experienced and have seen much more than the young generation. In some families, we will be scolded or beaten up for questioning the decisions from the elderly. It is considered rude to even have doubtful thoughts about them.

In truth, we are born to this world to make our own decisions. We are created with our own will and cognitive abilities to discern what is right or wrong, or whether such actions will bring us any benefits. We are here to serve our own interests, and only ourselves. We are responsible for our own well beings. If the statements above are true, then there are more reasons for us to take care of ourselves properly since everyone is out for themselves. No one will really put you before them, unless they get something from doing so.

Some have argued that helping others is just being selfless. To me that is sheer bollocks as the people who are truly being selfless have their own goals as well. They know clearly what their actions will bring to them, either accumulating good karma, or publicity that will increase their stature and reputation among the public, getting compliments for a good job done, or even getting paid by others to help you out. Some will want those whom they have helped to repay them in another way. Long story short, we can only depend on ourselves if we want to maintain independence in our thoughts and actions. Getting help from someone else will bind us to their biddings later on should they ask for repayment of their debts later. Unfortunately for most of us, we are too lazy to think or take actions for ourselves. We prefer the easiest way, that is by letting others do it for us. Laziness is one of the key factors in our behaviour apart