Mediocrity of the Group Mind

Something startling hit me tonight, and it was that many a times we all do things not because they are fitting, but simply because it will gain the validation of another person.

And though this revelation is not new, what really struck me was that we do not just seek validation, we actually live our life based on what others validate. This is even most evident on social media, where many toll the line drawn by others and will not draw their thoughts without bringing others into it.

My real worry is the fact that we leave what we want to express and rather want to mirror our thought by the prisms of others. We define our reasoning not in clear terms but as a platform to call out others or to validate what another person in their own right has thought to be true. We lose our identity and take up what others have taken out time to contrive and envision. For us, as long our clique agrees with our thoughts, and then it’s all that matters. No thought is given to ourselves, what we really believe and what our thoughts are. By pursuing this world of validation we become a little closer to robots, the main difference being that we can mouth our independence when in actual fact we gave it up for validation.

So bad is this act of search for acceptance that we go above board to make certain that we get validated by the groups we seek so much to be identified with. Today we cannot even define what we stand for because the group controls our choices and our perspective. We dare not disagree with the group mind because it will not just stop at our being ostracized, we will be christened 'the fallen', and then we do not even want to be the one standing aloof. No, you must join then, don't bother to beat them; it is now a crime to be different.

The internet has helped us to build bonds and create a new circle of interaction and a new world, and one of the social proclivities it has given birth to is one where we just join the bandwagon. No thoughts are given to how these reflect on us. The group mind principle leaves us all lazy and the strength it comes with is not even harnessed, rather we just take to the first thought from the ‘influencers’ among us.

So do you want to go farther than you have imagined, the groupthink will not help you; study and grow your confidence. Do not fall for the trick to validate you within a group. Indeed, it is good to have norms and values that guide us, but it makes more sense to own those mores and allow them to become your choices rather than the group's choice. Dare to be different, dare to turn those commands to yours not just those of the group. Just dare to use your thoughts to decipher and not just to contrive compliance. Dare to be you.

Nugget: When we only see the world through the lenses of the group, we may never grow out of the mediocrity of that mind.