Echoes in the Inbox, Silence at the Table

What would you change about modern society?

If I could change one thing about modern society, I’d ask it—very politely—to slow the heck down. Not dramatically, just enough so we could actually taste the soup before it cools, hear the laughter before it’s interrupted by a notification, and feel the breeze before we’re back to chasing the Wi-Fi signal.

We live in a world where “instant” is the default setting—instant noodles, instant fame, instant replies. A five-second loading screen? Catastrophic. A delayed text reply? Betrayal. Someone once said, “We are drowning in information, but starved for wisdom.” I bet they had a smartphone with 8% battery and no charger in sight.

We now measure worth by “likes,” filter flaws into oblivion, and swipe left on potential soulmates because their dog isn’t cute enough. Somewhere between uploading stories and forgetting to live them, we’ve lost the plot. And yet, modern society proudly updates itself like an app: “Bug fixed. But your attention span? Still buffering.”

Let’s talk about priorities. We get more worked up when WhatsApp is down than when the neighbor is. A friend cried the day Instagram crashed—but didn’t blink when her plant died.
As my grandma says, “Today’s world has Wi-Fi but no ‘Why try?’”

If I had a wand, I wouldn’t erase technology—I love memes too much. But I would program society to value conversations over convenience, curiosity over clicks, and tea breaks over timelines.

You see, we’re connected globally but disconnected locally. A child may know how to use Google Maps but not how to read their grandfather’s map of stories. We’ve made so many online friends that we forgot how to knock on someone’s door just to say hello—and not because we need sugar.
“The irony of modern life is we use smart devices to ignore smart people sitting right next to us.”

Even parenting has changed. Once upon a time, a scraped knee was a rite of passage. Now, it’s an incident report followed by a review of the park on Google. Kids don’t get grounded anymore—they get Wi-Fi passwords changed. (A far more painful punishment, by the way.)

Oh, and the language we speak? It’s evolving faster than I can keep up. “Slay,” “rizz,” “delulu”… When I heard someone say “I’m lowkey obsessed,” I thought they were into Norse mythology.

Of course, society has its perks. We’ve made incredible medical advances, global friendships, digital libraries, and more comfort than we ever imagined. But progress without pause is just perpetual motion without meaning.

So here’s what I’d change:

I’d ask modern society to breathe.

To notice the smell of old books.

To remember birthdays without Facebook reminders.

To say “I miss you” instead of just reacting with a heart emoji.

And in the end, I’d add a little message to every screen that lights up:

“Your battery is charged. Is your soul?”

Thought to Ponder:
“In a world where everything is fast—messages, meals, money—maybe the greatest rebellion is to slow down and truly live.”