Protect your ears!

“People who are sensitive are sensitive because they are insecure.” Growing up, this was a basic truth that everyone knew. My family would tell me to stop being so sensitive. My friends would tell each other to stop being so sensitive. And when anybody had a super emotional response to something that was said, the normal conclusion was that they were just being insecure. Being sensitive used to be something that you were supposed to fight against. Nowadays, it seems like sensitivity is encouraged or even upheld as some kind of virtue. Getting triggered and reacting in an emotionally charged way is regarded by an astounding number of people as a noble act in the name of social progress. How did we get to this point? And is this really a bad thing?

If you look online, it becomes apparent that mental health is an immensely relevant theme. Young people in particular, across the spectrum, will tell you that there’s definitely a crisis of depression and anxiety in our generation. This is true for a number of reasons. To me, the most prominent one is the way social media constantly influences us to compare ourselves to each other. Why can’t I be as pretty as her? Why can’t I be as successful as him? Why is their life so much better than mine? These are the most common questions in the head of a person with anxiety scrolling through Instagram, whether they admit it or not. Simply put, the pressure to create an idealized online image makes people MEAN to themselves. So many people are literally being their own worst enemy day in and day out. And there’s nothing like bullying yourself to make you sensitive to the outside world.

In a culture where people are super mean to themselves, they react by trying to shut down any “mean” words from other people. Anything that could make someone even slightly uncomfortable has suddenly become a full scale assault in the eyes of the people who can’t handle it— in the eyes of people who are insecure. Unfortunately, in 2019 there are trends driving millions and millions of people into insecurity. And the solution? Instead of fixing the internal issue, we’ve decided the proper course of action is to normalize sensitivity. We’ve decided that if someone says something you don’t like, you should SHUT THEM DOWN. CANCEL THEM. PROTECT YOUR EARS.

Okay, I guess I should clarify something. I’ll be the first to stand up against real bigotry. I’m always happy to see progress against real hate speech. But I’m not talking about what’s best for society as a whole. I’m talking about the well-being of each person as an individual. And if you’re looking to be secure in your own skin, it’s simply not a good strategy to try to change the world so that nobody says anything mean. Good luck with that. Instead, do all the little things for yourself. Stop comparing yourself to other people. And don’t waste your energy reacting emotionally to words you dislike. 

Maybe we really should all change the way we speak to each other. But that doesn’t make it smart for you to be sensitive.

Filip, again.