Reverse Culture Shock

After 11 months, I returned to the States with new eyes

Sitting down on that flight to the U.S., I knew it was going to be good.

The flight attendants made me feel like they cared about me. The United safety video, knowing our attention spans are short, had us watch an oddly captivating rolling ball as on-screen flight attendants told me all the ways I could avoid death.

Then the pilot told me to “Sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight.”

He didn’t have to tell me twice. I thoroughly enjoyed being catapulted through the air in a tin can because the inside was complete with vegan meals, The White Lotus, and overly friendly, English-speaking people.

Stepping off that plane was magical. The scenery, once so boring, was now a welcome sights. Friends were once again a short conversation away. Strangers talked to me. I could talk to them. Strangers asked me for help. I could help. In this country, I knew how things worked, and learning new things felt intuitive. After a long year, I was once again a real person able to navigate and function within society.

At long last, I was once again surrounded by love: people who loved me and I them. It’s beautiful. We were in the same time zone. The same country. The same space. I could finally reach them.

Stepping off the plane was my American honeymoon phase. And then life stepped in.

The U.S. Detox

Some people go on a digital detox. No TV. No phone. No music. No anything. They come back with new eyes.

In a way, I went on an 11-month U.S. detox. I, too, came back with new eyes.

Note: The following observations are not necessarily unique to the U.S., but it is more prevalent there, especially compared to my experience in Greece.

Efficiency is King

Everything is designed to give the consumer the fastest, easiest experience possible. Any form of inefficiency is something to be fixed.

Grocery stores are filled with “ready-to-eat” or microwavable meals. Robots can clean your house and mow your lawn. Restaurants get you in and out the door in record time. You can buy anything you could possibly need in one place. One of the highest performing stores allows customers to spend hundreds of dollars without ever having to get up. What’s more efficient than that?

And don’t get me wrong. I love efficiency. It helps me spend less time doing the things I don’t want to do, so I can better spend time doing the things I want to do.

But then why is the value of efficiency being incorporated into the aspects of life I want to spend more time doing? Why is there an app (Blinkist) that tells me what a book is about so I don’t have to read the book? Why is there a robot readily available to do my creating and thinking for me? Why are my friendships now efficiently packaged for me on a screen? Why is it more efficient to watch other people living life than it is for me to live life?

And maybe the things I don’t enjoy doing are good for me. Maybe it’s good to do “boring, repetitive” things to let the mind and body calm down. Maybe boredom is necessary. Maybe being forced to move is good because how else can I stay healthy when moving needs to become a hobby? Maybe cooking should be more than a hobby, too.

This reminds me of a short story I read when I was young.

The Magic Thread
(Click the above link to read)

But if reading the short story is too inefficient for you, then I will summarize.

A boy is given a magic ball of thread: his life thread. If he pulls it, he can travel forward in time. But he cannot travel back. Enthralled, the boy uses it to skip all the boring and unpleasant periods of his life. Too late, he realizes his mistake.

“This magic ball is great. I don’t have to wait or suffer for anything. But I feel that I didn’t enjoy my life. Everything went so fast, like a dream.”

Sound familiar? It’s happening to you, too. What do you do when life gets boring, unpleasant, or even mildly uncomfortable? But you, unlike the boy, won’t be able to go back in time to relive life without a magic ball.

The world is moving faster than ever in the name of efficiency. What have we gained, and more importantly, what have we lost? Let me reframe the question: What are we now spending more time doing, and where are we spending less?

The Age of Mass Consumerism

“Just follow the money,” -an always relevant journalism adage.

Remember this: in the U.S., you are first and foremost a consumer. It is in many people’s best interests that you keep consuming. Serendipitously for them, you love to consume too. Who was it that instilled this desire in the first place?

Advertisements play in the air, on the screens, and everywhere the eyes can see. They welcome you warmly to tell you about all the things that you do not have but want and now believe you need. I wonder what that does to someone to constantly be shown all the things they do not have? Maybe it’s the answer to the question, “How can we get people to believe a want is a need?”

Can You Please Be Quiet?

They always say Americans are loud. They’re right. But it’s not their fault. We have to shout to be heard over all the noise.

Music plays everywhere you go. Restaurants and bars have TVs. Plural. All playing something different at various volumes. The people sitting two feet from each other yell to be heard over all the noise. The stores beckon you inside to music, bright lights, and an unimaginable number of items. How could one possibly sort through this urban jungle? It makes it hard to focus. It makes it hard to think.

With mental energy drained from sorting through all the noise, we become especially impressionable. Who was it again who loves impressionable people? And what is the underlying message underneath all this noise?