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.
我曾经和一群朋友一起参加了一场喜剧演出。由于演出场地在另一个镇子那边，我们就拼车一起去了。我坐在后座。你知道的……后座的空间非常狭窄，以至于要像做体操一样努力才能回到座位上。
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.
从司机踩下油门的那一刻起，每个人都在不停地查看手机上的信息。从后排座位上，我观察到我的朋友们以极其专注的态度在社交媒体上浏览各种内容。有一件事特别引人注意：我前面的人所浏览的内容都是过去 24 小时内产生的。
No exceptions.没有例外。
I succumb to the same impulse. Chances are, so do you.
我也屈服于同样的冲动。很可能，你也是如此。
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.
我们的社交媒体信息流结构让我们处于一个永无止境的当下之中。就像仓鼠在轮子上奔跑一样，我们生活在一种无休止的内容消费循环中——一个越来越快但几乎无法前进的旋转圈。我们被当下的狂热所吞噬，像树叶在狂风中被吹动一样，陷入一片混乱之中。尽管在互联网上，我们距离那些最伟大的作家——从柏拉图到托尔斯泰——只有一次点击之遥，但我们却更倾向于追求新鲜感，而非永恒之美。
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.
我们被困在一个永无止境的当下之中——无法意识到自己在历史中的位置，完全沉浸在当下时刻中，被混沌的微风所淹没。
Here’s the bottom line: How can you prioritize the accumulated wisdom of humanity over the impulses of the past 24 hours?
归根结底，我们该如何将人类积累的智慧置于过去 24 小时中的冲动之上呢？