The Industrial revolution in the 19th century led to mass production of everything especially things that were essential in our daily lives. One such basic necessity was the mass production of milk and meat for which animal husbandry took centre stage. It was soon realized that surplus milk would get wasted due to limited consumption and shorter shelf life.
The smarter minds devised an idea to utilize surplus produce by making cheese and other milk solids with longer lifespans. But there was a need to push these products into every household as the concept of cheese was unpopular so the industry came up with a clever idea to combine milk products with meat. With the help of TV, advertisements, and by normalizing fast food consumption like cheeseburgers and pizzas the processed food industry took over mainstream food consumption.
This obviously generated employment which was much needed at that time but it made an irreversible paradigm shift in our consumption psychology. Consumption of natural produce like fruits and vegetables slowly decreased and economies of scale amplified by lifestyle status quotient advertisements totally damaged our thought process. Under the veil of making life easier and simpler, the processed food industry began gaining market share and portrayed that eating fruits was dumb and drinking juice was cool and slowly there was no fruit juice but only an adulterated mixture of cheap fructose and sugar substitutes.
Repercussions of the above altercation took some time to be realized as diabetes, hypertension, obesity and other lifestyle diseases which were rare at certain times are one of the primary causes of death today. The rise of these lifestyle diseases was again taken as a new business opportunity and Pharma companies made billions by knowing that instead of fixing the root cause of the issue it was much more profitable to just contain the situation by producing slow-death poison pills. There is no going back from these genetically engineered taste buds stimulating processed foods.
A similar behavioral revolution occurred with the invention of the telephone and communication mediums and electronic digital media. Yes, the telephone did solve the problem of long-distance communication but further technology advancements totally altered human behavior of having a simple face-to-face conversation without getting awkward. Today we are hooked to our computers and smartphones and our damaged short attention span, lack of focus, and relentless drive for instant gratification along with attention-seeking fragile expression less human nature is at the cusp of total breakdown. Yet the clever and opportunist corporations have monetized this human behavior by serving us TikTok, Shorts, and Reels.
There is absolutely no going back from this current state and only a catastrophic event can help reset our way of life.
BUT...
I am of a strong belief that this phenomenon can still be reversed. If corporations, governments and societies made of individuals like you and me come together keeping our profit mindset aside with honest and pure intentions. Instead of chasing profits, corporations must focus and contribute towards our farming community so they don't get lured to cultivate cash crops but rather focus on simple produce like basic and staple fruits and vegetables. We need to shift our mindset from consumption and teach ourselves the concept of having enough and being satisfied.
By no means, I am promoting the other cult of going vegan etc.
As an individual, we can start with the simplest of gestures like having prolonged face-to-face conversations. Thinking of each other well being, reading food labels, taking our heads and minds away from laptops and smartphones, embracing nature by taking walks in gardens and fields, going for treks in the wilderness, and simply disconnecting from mind-altering and engrossing apps. We need to inculcate a sense of gratitude in ourselves and future generations, less of judging people and behaving normal rather than feeling awkward and insecure in their company. This will surely lead to our physical and mental well-being and you never know we might reverse the circle of life. :)
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