The problem with our generation, I think, stems considerably from the fact that we all are constantly seeking so much attention. All of us, busy complaining all the time. About how that relationship didn’t work. Or how that friend wronged us. Or how the job sucks, there is not enough pay to match our potential. Or how the iPhone keeps hanging and the Wifi keeps failing. In line with Andy Warhol’s prediction, everyone keeps demanding their “15 minutes of fame”, and every day, at that. Absolutely no one is content in being the ‘Mister Cellophane’ – the invisible, inconsequential personage. The very fact that I am sharing this update on a social networking site right now delivers pretty much the same message. The problem, however, doesn’t stem only from this exponential increase in the demand for attention. It stems more from the fact that, while we keep asking for the limelight to be thrust upon us, most of us are so attention-deficit. Most of us have so little time for others. To listen to the stories of others’ struggles, to celebrate their victories in ways other than ‘Like’-ing their status updates, to tell them we are there, should they need us. In short, most of us do not have the resources to supply to others what we demand for ourselves- attention. In a market, where everyone is a consumer, and no one a producer, it is only economically rational that there shall be a breakdown of market machinery, because demand is exponentially higher than supply, and thus, the worth of the commodity destroys every price-barrier. And thus, this constant clash of interests. The constant bickering and nitpicking and lower levels of Gross Economical Happiness. The tragedy? For once, there seems to be no economical solution.
