> Growing up in middle class family, I had almost no internet access till high school. I could read a book till hours and no one would bother me. I was not affected by any social media announcements or fast track news making my brain(tinkered by thousand years of evolution) go into panic stage. Life was more routined and controlled as I wanted to be. Less access to resources meaning I had to work around solutions and do things creatively without pressure of posting it on internet.
This!
My sister and I had talk about this many times. We came to the conclusion that a constrained life is more content life. The more you have it, the more miserable you become because there is no bounds to the artificial needs.
We came from a lower middle-class family. Almost everyone in our neighbourhood had "enough" to have two meals a day and send children to low-cost schools. That is it. Nothing more. But there was happiness around! Families and kids met everyday. I still remember women from near-by households use to gather at our home every afternoon after lunch just for meeting/talking etc for 2-3 hrs! And the families use to hit bed 8:30pm-9:00pm everday (no late night TV). We use to have, as kids, very limited options for chocolates, ice-creams, clothes etc. Not that we could afford it. (btw, that I ice-cream part, in today's marketing speak it was "organic" and home made; that shows what type of progress humanity has made!) People in the neighbourhood use to form groups to buy groceries so that we could bulk-buy as it use to reduce the cost. Celebrate everthing together, like once in a year "full moon sweet milk party" called "Kojaagiri", or ice-cream party where the whole neighbourhood use to contribute funds and make our own ice-cream so that it is affordable.
As one becomes affluent, the community spirit dies. People get more into silos. My parents had hard time adjusting to that change. When my parents moved in with me after my Dad's retirement, I was living in a "gated community of 'comfortable living' people" with swimming pools, private gym, sauna etc. But there was serious lack of connection between people. People rarely knew who was their neighbour. When my parents arrived, they became instantly well-known! Out of old-habit my Mom use to ask me to give neighbours what we cooked for lunch as a gesture of sharing, and my Dad use to go do small DIY tasks for neighbours to help them :) They made so many friends(young and old).
Things have changed a lot now as societies have become "modern". No one has time for even their own, let alone their neighbour.
> Now, I get distracted by so many new things coming up. Each new venue or event brings up a new opportunity. I am in my mid 20s and planning to get married. So, I have to invest in future like Mutual funds, stocks etc. I have to think about buying a house in next 10 years as the real estate prices are going up. I have a decent paying job but I have a fear that it will not be be enough for my retirement. So, I have either invest in opportunities like NFTs, cyrptocurrency, real estate etc. or start working on my own startup. I wanted to learn a lot of things but keep getting distracted.
This is same for every generation. This is not peculiar to any one generation. When a person decides to start a family, s/he has lot of thoughts flowing through the mind because it is a huge undertaking and responsibility.
> So, how can I get boring once again? Boringly passionate about what I want to do. Is there any stream where I can work in and feel safe about it? Or Is it even possible for the remanants of Industrial Age to work in boringly passionate way as this doesn't suit work style of information age?
Start by reverting to budget phone(you won't be alone in this endeavour; just search for "phone detox"). And mark some part of your day for cooking your own meal and going for a walk. Try few pranayams everday. And try to sleep early and wakeup early.
This ancient day routine helps a lot, both for mental and physical health:
0. Wake up early in the morning and do light exercise and pranayams.
1. Cook your own meal.
2. Have your "lunch" before 7:00am in the morning. This should be your biggest meal of the day.
3. Through out the day drink lot of water (2.5-3 lts).
4. Through out the day eat only dry-fruits and fruits, when hungry.
5. Walk as much as possible. Try to avoid taking any transport, if possible.
6. Take light dinner before 5:00pm.
7. Go for a light evening walk.
8. Listen to light music.
9. Massage your head and do pranayams before hitting bed by 8:00pm.
10. Try to eat as much "light on digestive system" food as possible i.e. fruity-vegetables, fruits, light pulses etc. Avoid the so called "exotic" food.
Try this and in few months you will realise that you have more time in a day for extra activity(both physical and mental, like deep thinking)