By Ron Cheong
Information Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Tues. Oct. 21, 2025: When did the world change and develop into extra smartphone targeted? In accordance with British psychiatrist Dr. Russell Razzaque, the shift started round 2010 and crystallized by 2016 – the 12 months of the Brexit referendum.
Razzaque’s analysis focuses on how human beings reply to trauma and disruption, however this framework additionally presents a putting lens on our broader political and cultural atmosphere: now we have entered an alternate actuality powered by smartphones, relentless stimulation and outrage.
This text is an try to grasp the obvious international unraveling of civility. At first, I questioned if the rising sense of discord – regardless of the consolation and connectivity introduced by technological leaps – was merely an phantasm. Maybe the digital age was merely exposing realities that had at all times existed however remained hidden. Then I encountered Razzaque’s work, which provided a clearer clarification.
He argues that the world actually has modified, and so have we. Our brains, he says, have been rewired. For the reason that convergence of smartphones, social media, and algorithmic feeds, humanity has entered a brand new psychological ecosystem the place consideration is probably the most beneficial foreign money. The human thoughts – wired for novelty and emotion – has been subtly reprogrammed because the competitors for our consideration intensifies.
Up to now, media consumption was largely passive: studying a newspaper or watching a half-hour newscast. At present, data flows in a ceaseless, interactive stream. Every swipe delivers a microburst of stimulation – humor, anger, need, concern. Over time, this rewires our expectations. Peculiar actuality, with its slower rhythms and nuanced reasoning, merely doesn’t compete. We now crave sharper edges: tales that spark emotion and outrage somewhat than invite reflection.
One consequence is that democracy itself is altering. It can’t be assumed that every one voters will to behave rationally – and even in their very own curiosity. Competence alone doesn’t assure successful elections. Spectacle, controversy, and fixed social media presence is louder than equity, equality, optimism, or coverage substance. And that is the brand new habitat of rising segments of society caught within the digital vortex. It isn’t creativeness: the world has modified, and so have individuals.
Media And The Economics Of Disruption
It isn’t solely social media that drives this transformation. A lot of mainstream media has additionally been drawn into the identical present. Confronted by shrinking consideration spans, falling advert revenues, and the necessity to compete with the velocity and immediacy of digital platforms, many retailers now favor battle, outrageous headlines, and persona scandals. Complicated coverage discussions and constructive debates not often match right into a viral clip.
The result’s a suggestions loop: the general public calls for stimulation; the media delivers outrage; outrage shapes politics; politics feeds again into media spectacle. The reasonable center – the place reasoned discourse lives – is drowned out by noise. Even nations as soon as identified for pragmatic politics are actually polarized as algorithmic feeds change shared public boards.
The Web as soon as promised the democratization of knowledge; as a substitute, it has produced the fragmentation of fact. Fringe narratives – from conspiracies to historic revisionism – discover oxygen on this fractured ecosystem. They unfold sooner than information, propelled by algorithms that reward engagement, not accuracy. What was as soon as outrageous now feels acquainted, and familiarity breeds normalization.
The Guyana Backdrop
Nearer to residence the phenomena is much less pronounced. The September , 2025 elections confirmed nearly all of voters selected competence and efficiency. Nonetheless, the Razzaque phenomena was additionally evident in Guyana: manifested as spectacle, the place scandal, U.S. sanctions, braggadocios conduct and ostentation drew consideration somewhat than raised alarm for a lot of voters.
Possibly there have been different causes for some, however actually for a lot of it will have been the numbing to outrage introduced on by immersion and fixed stimulus of social media wherein shock worth is the hook by which many are drawn in and held captive – on this alternate actuality little is appalling and glitz and performative glamour are portrayed, peddled and repeatedly consumed for his or her narcotic recharge.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Ron Cheong, born in Guyana, is a neighborhood activist and devoted volunteer with an in depth worldwide background in banking. Now residing in Toronto, Canada, he’s a fellow of the Institute of Canadian Bankers and holds a Bachelor of Science diploma from the College of Toronto.
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