James Tritto's Blogs

As Americans today, we live in a world full of rising tensions, disagreement, and conflict. Conflict can be described as an incompatible clash between opposing ideals or individuals. We are surrounded by this today, from arguments in bagel stores every morning over a warm coffee, to Israel and Palestine killing innocent people, everywhere we look there is some sort of conflict.

It some circumstances, it will always be unavoidable to get along with everyone, especially in a setting like college, where thousands of students learning their place in the world are in one environment together. As college students we are just starting to learn what we believe is right and our opinions on other issues are still forming, this leads to a clash of ideas because students are all raised differently and form different places affecting their ideals.

There are many ways as students we can avoid conflict, a major one being to recognize that everyone has an opinion different form yours and that is totally okay, you can have a healthy debate on issues but realize that you may not change their mind and there is nothing wrong with that.

Part of the college experience is meeting new people and with that comes the issue of conflict, a major thing everyone needs to learn in college is to take nothing to heart, you can have a heated debate with friends leading to a stalemate but learn to not hold anything against them just move on with the day and hour life.

Now, how can moving “off the grid” help you avoid conflict in your life? An obvious benefit is the lack of people surrounding you, that is not saying that people always lead to conflict, but the less people you surround yourself with the less times you will come head-to-head with conflict. Another factor is that when you move into these areas you are usually only surrounding yourself with peoples whose company you enjoy thus leading to an escape from conflict.

Moving “off the grid” allows you as an individual to disassociate with the conflicts going on across the world. It seems like every day a new country is being bombed and more people are suffering over a stupid disagreement it can be extremely depressing at times. Studies show that people who have less access and pay less attention to news are overall much happier thus leading to them avoiding further conflicts in life.

As a whole, conflict is something prevalent in all walks of life, in some instances it is unavoidable but there are steps to take to minimize disagreements which include taking nothing to heart and recognizing the importance of conflicting ideals.

Four seasons, no not the restaurant or hotel but Summer, Spring, Fall, and Winter. The four seasons we experience here on Earth are a miracle and all thanks to the little tilt on our axis, everyone has a favorite season, mine personally is Summer/Fall which I am sure most people would agree with. Now, how could these miracles we experience ever be linked to depression or an intense mental state of low mood leading to a plethora of detrimental effects.

First, let us analyze what depression means for a person. Feelings of serious low mood can be detrimentally serious or deadly, depression can directly lead to intense un-motivation, loss of appetite, feelings of isolation, and in extreme cases suicide.

How could seasons mess with someone’s psyche enough to cause them to feel depressed? Well, a major factor could include the sun, we as a society are all jazzed up to go outside when its 80 degrees, but once it hits 30 degrees we cower inside. This is due to the false notion that a little bit of cold will get you sick when in reality cold exposure on the human body can learn to increased energy levels, lower stress, and an increase mental state. To get back on topic, people will usually experience seasonal depression in the Winter, this is due to the fact that society has taught us to stay in when it’s cold in the Winter months which limits of sun exposure. The sun provides the body with nutrients needed for a plethora of tasks but mainly provides us with Vitamin D and managed our level of melatonin, the chemical produced to tell us when it’s time to sleep. The over production of melatonin due to lack of sunlight causes the body to sleep more in the winter leading to decrease in productivity linking to depression.

Now, how could living “off the grid” possibly help seasonal depression, wouldn’t it just make it worse since you probably be colder and in harsher conditions? Quite the contrary, it is reported that people living “off the grid” “couldn’t be happier” during those Winter months due to the fact that they not only are outside more often but also due to the fact that they view the beauty and purpose in each season. Each season here on Earth has a deep purpose, Spring is when the flowers bloom, Fall is when the trees shed, Summer is when the animals fatten up and give birth, but what is the point of Winter? Well, Winters deep purpose is to provide plants and animals a chance to recharge and begin storing their energy for their bloom in the Spring, many animals rely on snow for protection and camouflage. When a human can finally recognize the beauty in all seasons and their purpose is when they can finally defeat season depression, trust me, I am from a Summer tourist trap, it can be boring in the Winter, but I see its purpose (snowboarding).

As a college student how can we combat seasonal depression, as previously stated it is important to recognize the beauty and purpose within each season. On top of this, a good practice is to maximize sun exposure whenever possible, any sunny day even when it’s cold try to get outside and take in the rays. Another important habit to form is to maximize your productivities on gloomy days, get tasks done so that on the sunny days you are able to enjoy the light. I like to call my family and get ahead on work on rainy gloomy days. As a hole I understand the importance and difficulty of combating seasonal depression as a whole but good habits can lead to a better future.

Sources:

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) – Symptoms & causes – Mayo Clinic

Winter Depression

What are the health benefits of sunlight? (medicalnewstoday.com)

Melatonin: Benefits, Uses, Side Effects and Dosage (healthline.com)

A burden one in four people in our country face on a day-to-day basis anxiety which is described as a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome. There are multiple types of anxiety, some people fall more towards a social aspect where they have issues or nervous feelings whilst communicating with others, while other people suffer from intense feelings due to disorganization or even post-traumatic stress induced feelings. One commonplace throughout the field is a root cause, almost all anxiety can be traced back to technology in some way or another.

Harvard scholar (nothing else), Theodore Kaczynski believes that the issues with technology started with the industrial revolution, “The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race.” I agree in the fact that since the industrial revolution anxiety has grown in the country significantly which could be viewed as a disaster, with advancements in technology came the average nine to five workday and other stressors that leads to an overwhelming society.

After the industrial revolution, came a technological period of break through leading to things we all possess known as smart phones and devices. We as a society have grown so accustomed to these devices even relying on them fully for services that we used to complete no problem without them, with this dependent comes attachment which can enhance systems of depression and anxiety, in some extreme cases individuals even experience withdrawal systems when away from their devices. Studies show that phones also increase the workday, the average saying is that people work nine to five but with devices people can take calls after work or on days off, leading to the work week being increased up to ten hours a week of unpaid phone conversations. These conversations can create less free time falling into family arguments thus increasing feelings of worry due to not having enough time to complete daily tasks.

A main factor of anxious internal feeling also comes with phones but is an entity in itself, social media, which is a form of mass media communications on the Internet (such as on websites for social networking and microblogging) through which users share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (such as videos). Online media is a main draw of social anxiety, in recent years, the greater population has been deprived of human interaction which leads to many not truly knowing how to talk to another person due to years of instant messages from behind a screen. These years of texting and depriving themselves of human interaction leads to the growing fears of interviews, public speaking, and networking all desperately important in modern society. On top of this, social media creates a toxic culture of everyone only doing things so that they can post it and prove to their “friends” that they are better, this leads to people constantly worrying about their public image which is extremely unhealthy in that they are only completing tasks for others and are not feeling self-fulfilled. As a whole, social media creates unrealistic standards in society that leads to people feeling depressed about their achievements, bodies, and life, as well as increasing anxiety to “fit in.”

Now, how does escaping society decrease feelings of anxiety? It is simple, people living “off the grid” do not have any nine to five or boss to worry about, they do everything for themselves and for their families that they provide for, leading to that sense of fulfillment states in the previous post. On top of this, people who have escaped society have little need for the technology that causes so many others to put on a fake persona leading to the anxious feeling of trying to fit in. As a whole, Harvard scholar (nothing else), Theodore Kaczynski, moved off the grid to escape the technological rat race he was intertwined too and though he had some radical views, he stated that living off the grid greatly increased his happiness in life and lowered his stress and anxiety.

As a college student anxiety is at an all-time high though it is manageable. From personal experience the more I limit my presence on social media, the greater my happiness is and the less stressed and anxious I feel. It is inherently impossible to escape the anxiety that comes with due dates and exams, but preparation and time management can be a big step forward in limiting anxiety.

     Fulfillment can be described as satisfaction derived from one’s own self doing or actions, meaning that an individual completes something or successfully finishes a task that makes said individual feel better about themselves as a whole. Fulfillment has become a sought after feeling that humans strive for in their day to day lives but rarely obtain, this is due to the fact that fulfillment is one of the many primal human feelings only truly obtainable in a natural setting.

     These specific human feelings are inherently hard to detect in life now due to modern distractions and comforts, meaning humans need to return to nature to scratch that itch. Living off the grid and returning to agrarianism is a growing concept in the country where people move away from people and cities and into forests and other rural places to escape the concrete jungles and stressors of today, a major reason for these people switching their lifestyles is the itch of primal feelings and how the human soul desires them.

     The feeling highlighted today is fulfillment. Individuals who have returned to nature have an increased sense of fulfillment due to the fact that they are living like humans had for millions of years, off the land, self sustainably, providing for the ones they love and care for.

     Individuals living off the grid obtain fulfillment through tasks we have grown apart from in life today such as cultivating crops for personal benefit. Around fifteen thousand years ago the first humans decided to settle down from their nomadic lifestyles and begin farming, through this they developed and changed the ways crops looked, making them even better for human consumption. Today, only 1.3% of Americans identify themselves as farmers, even so, most of those farmers sell of their wares to massive corporations, meaning humans have run away from the personal farming lifestyle that provided them with fulfillment in the past. Humans who have returned to these growing crops for their own consumptions lifestyles have reported increases in energy, mind clarity, and overall health due to the lack of chemicals in the food and overall increase in the sense of fulfillment thus decreasing stressors. Many other dying elements of human life that are only feasible in nature also increase fulfillment drastically such as providing shelter, hunting, trapping, and building.

     Now, as a college student, seeking fulfillment may seem an improbable task after reading all the ways people seek fulfillment above, you would be right for thinking that, seeking that sense of fulfillment would be impossible with an absence of nature, but there are other avenues a college student could go. Personally, I have created a list for the semester, on this list I have every assignment, club meeting, test, and quiz with the date and time I need to complete them. Though I cannot itch my primal sense of fulfillment, I can reach a sense of modern-day fulfillment by checking a task off my list, making me feel accomplished and satisfied after successfully completing a task, just in a different way.

     Another way college student can seek fulfillment is through a reward system, when a student completes a task they can reward themselves with something they desire such as ice-cream from the creamery or watching a video online, this sense of completing something to obtain something can increase a student drive to complete the initial task raising their sense of fulfillment once they finish a plethora of tasks.

     As a whole, college students cannot reach the sense of primal fulfillment all human minds yearn for due to the absence of nature around them, but they can reach a sense of modern day fulfillment through the completion of tasks. All in all, fulfillment is a important feeling that can increase a persons mood drastically.

The definition of passion can be interpreted as something you feel so strongly about you can barely control your feelings about it. When I truly swivel deep into my thoughts, there are a finite amount of things I would say I am truly passionate about that would make good blog topics.

Living “off the grid” has always been something that has interested me. Humans have primal motives or instincts that seek out things such as fulfillment and interactions that are not obtainable in the concrete jungles of modernity. A good passion blog topic I am exploring is how does living self sustainably connect to the life of your average college student, how could a person balancing clubs, academics, and intramurals, still seek out the primal fulfillment and interactions in a different capacity.

Another passion blog topic I am exploring is the benefits of adopting a “New Jersey” lifestyle. Being from the greatest state in the union is a huge blessing in my life and it is apparent that the lifestyle of those not from New Jersey is vastly different. This blog would explore traits only people from the Garden State posses and how these traits could make the life of a

college student infinitely better. All in all, this topic could help people adapt different and new qualities that would help them better succeed in life.