https://perell.com/essay/never-ending-now/

The Never-Ending Now ​

I once attended a comedy show with a group of friends. Since the venue was across town, we split an SUV. I sat in the back. You know… all the way in the rear, where the seats get so narrow that you have to do gymnastics just to get back there.

From the moment the driver hit the gas pedal, everybody was on their phones. From the back row, I watched my friends scroll their social media feeds with ferocious intensity. One thing stuck out: the people in front of me only consumed content created within the last 24 hours.

No exceptions.

I succumb to the same impulse. Chances are, so do you.

The structure of our social media feeds place us in a Never-Ending Now. Like hamsters running on a wheel, we live in an endless cycle of ephemeral content consumption — a merry-go-round that spins faster and faster but barely goes anywhere. Stuck in the fury of the present, we’re swept up in dizzying chaos like leaves in a gale-force wind. Even though on the Internet, we’re just a click away from the greatest authors of all time, from Plato to Tolstoy, we default to novelty instead of timelessness.

We’re trapped in a Never-Ending Now — blind to our place in history, engulfed in the present moment, overwhelmed by the slightest breeze of chaos.

Here’s the bottom line: How can you prioritize the accumulated wisdom of humanity over the impulses of the past 24 hours?

机器翻译：

永无止境的现在

我曾经和一群朋友一起参加过一个喜剧表演。由于场地在镇对面，我们分了一辆SUV。我坐在后面。你知道…… 一直在后面，那里的座位太窄了，你不得不做体操才能回到那里。

从司机踩油门的那一刻起，每个人都在打电话。从后排，我看着我的朋友以凶猛的强度滚动他们的社交媒体。有一件事突出了: 我前面的人只消费过去24小时内创建的内容。

无例外。

我屈服于同样的冲动。很有可能，你也是。

我们社交媒体的结构使我们处于永无止境的现在。就像仓鼠在轮子上奔跑一样，我们生活在

短暂内容消费的无限循环-旋转速度越来越快但几乎无处可去的旋转木马。被困在当下的愤怒中，我们陷入了令人眼花缭乱的混乱中，就像大风中的树叶。即使在互联网上，从柏拉图到托尔斯泰，我们距离有史以来最伟大的作家只有几步之遥，但我们默认是新奇而不是永恒。

我们被困在一个永无止境的现在 -- 对我们在历史上的地位视而不见，被现在的时刻吞没，被最轻微的混乱的微风淹没。

底线是: 你如何将人类积累的智慧优先于过去24小时的冲动？

打开网站或 App，首页永远是最近发生的事情。

互联网引导我们关注过去24小时内发生的事情，将时效性置于重要性和深度之上，使我们远离了很多深刻的想法。结果，我们陷入了一个永无止境的现在时。