With the rapid advancement in the field of technology, depression among young people is at an all-time high.
Why is this?
Personally, I think the primary culprit is social-media. Third-world countries without access to social media have significantly fewer cases of depression. The correlation is rather obvious, wouldn’t you say?
Now, we’ve established a problem. What are some possible solutions?
As a country, the United States is way too over-medicated. Every time we go to the doctor’s office, we expect to be given a prescription rather than given a remedy to help solve our issues.
No.
What we need is not medication (though, in some cases, medication IS the answer), but rather, a cultural change.
Social media has young people believing that the lives of those around them are perfect. Then, they feel pressured to have perfect lives, so they post pictures of themselves that are edited to an almost-unrecognizable and certainly unattainable version of themselves. Then, others see these pictures, follow suit, and the cycle goes around and around again.
Newsflash—everybody’s going through something. Nobody’s life is perfect, even if it looks like it is perfect on social media, so be nice to everybody.
So, what cultural change do I propose we enact?
Well, look. Technology is, without a doubt, the future. There’s no eliminating technology. That being said, we need to embrace the fact that we’re in a bit of a pickle here, because we need to find a solution that includes technology, but still brings back our ancestral roots.
The revival of our ancestry allows us to concentrate on simpler times—times when nobody thought that life was perfect.
So, what do we do?
We live stream (volunteer) gladiator fights, directly to your Apple/Android device in 4K with absolutely no lag in quality. I need to make sure that I really drive the “volunteer” aspect of this home, lest anybody thinks I’m a crazy person. All participating gladiators will be completely voluntary. They will also be asked to pass a series of strenuous mental and physical tests to ensure they are prepared to fight other gladiators.
Here’s my only issue—we need to make certain that this concept doesn’t snowball into something bad. Gladiators need to ALWAYS pass the mental and physical exams—no exceptions. This clause can NEVER be removed from the sport, or things will get out of hand, FAST, and nobody wants that.
By connecting phone-users with their ancestral roots (specifically gladiator fights, but this time with voluntary gladiators), people will realize that life is not perfect, become more appreciative of the lives they do have, and ideally become happier.
Again, in many cases, medication IS the answer. This is just a suggestion that may help some people.
I’m just throwing this out there— bring back gladiators, but this time only with volunteers.
Until next time,
Michael J. Erickson, CEO & Co-Founder
