We Hear Everything. But We Don’t Really Listen.

We are living in a time where we hear people, but we don’t truly listen to them. It might not make sense at first as a sentence, but let’s try to explore it.

In the era of social media, there is an overwhelming number of people sharing their perspective on life, how we should live, how we should overcome difficulties, what we should think or feel. There is even a kind of contrast between those who are considered “serious” and those who are not, and vice versa.

We hear a lot. And we try to hold on to even more.

The production of books is massive. Nowadays, almost anyone with an idea can publish a book. So many ideas. Or maybe not just ideas, but sometimes a feeling of “I understand life better” or “I have something important to say.” And to some extent, it feels like the exposure of the internet has turned people into philosophers with an audience. Into judges.

And all of this can slowly make us more self-centered. More insecure.

It can make us hold tightly onto our own opinion, feeling that it must stand out from the rest. And this is where the second phase begins.

We don’t listen.

How can someone truly listen to another person when they may have already placed them lower?

When they feel they already know the truth, and hearing something different, which happens constantly online, might shake their own sense of stability?

And it feels like there is no longer a person you can say “I’m not feeling well today” to,
without receiving advice like:

“Focus on your breathing,” “Try slow living,” “Go to the gym,” “Meditate,” “Pray…”

when maybe, in that exact moment, all that person really needs is time to be heard.

We hear a lot, but we don’t truly listen. Social media slowly becomes a kind of social prison of the self. In Greece, we have a saying:

“When many roosters crow, the morning comes late.”

And with so many voices, so many suggestions, so many “I know better,” it feels like the morning inside our hearts is also delayed. So many different ways of living — and yet, the result often feels the same. Turning inward, in the era of social media.

Isn’t that a bit paradoxical?