Matrix Noise: Why We’re Stressing Over the Wrong Things


Every day, we wake up to a flood of information — headlines, notifications, trending topics, viral videos, influencer drama, and manufactured outrage. Our attention is under constant attack, and the weapons are shiny, loud, and perfectly tailored to our insecurities and fears. We stress over what they put in our faces. But ask yourself: Who are “they”? And more importantly, what are they distracting us from?

The Great Misdirection

It’s like a magician’s trick — show you one hand so you don’t notice the other. We're served a never-ending buffet of superficial problems: the latest celebrity breakup, an offensive tweet from someone we’ve never met, or the color of a dress that went viral. Social media algorithms amplify the noise because it keeps us scrolling, clicking, arguing. We think we’re “informed” because we saw a TikTok rant or read a headline. But we’re not informed. We’re emotionally hijacked.

Meanwhile, real issues go unnoticed. We’re so busy arguing about nonsense that we forget to ask real questions.

  • Why are so many people still struggling to afford basic healthcare, housing, and food in some of the richest countries on Earth?

  • Why is mental health getting worse despite the rise in “wellness” culture?

  • Why are we okay with systems that profit off keeping people poor, sick, addicted, or uneducated?

  • Why are we still destroying the planet we live on, while corporations make short-term profits and politicians stay silent?

These aren’t conspiracy theories. They’re inconvenient truths we’ve been trained to overlook.

Manufactured Outrage, Manufactured Stress

Let’s be real: a lot of the stuff that stresses us out isn’t even ours. It’s given to us — pumped into our minds by algorithms, marketers, media outlets, and cultural noise. We absorb it like it's our own. We stress over trends we didn’t ask for. We get mad about things that don’t affect our lives, while ignoring things that absolutely do.

We are blinded — not by accident, but by design.

Because if you're too stressed, too anxious, too outraged, or too distracted, you won't have the energy to pay attention to the structures that actually control your life. You won’t ask why the rent is rising faster than wages. You won’t notice who profits from division, chaos, and confusion. You won’t take a breath and say, “Wait... what actually matters?”

So What Does Matter?

We need to wake up to the truth that not everything demanding our attention deserves it. Start asking:

  • What kind of life do I want to live — and what’s getting in the way?

  • Who benefits from my distraction?

  • What am I ignoring that actually impacts my future, my community, or the world?

Maybe it’s time to pay more attention to:

  • Local elections and how policies affect real lives

  • Mental and physical well-being — our own and others’

  • The economy beyond just the stock market — real jobs, real people

  • The climate crisis and the long-term survival of the planet

  • The growing gap between rich and poor, and who gets left behind

Final Thought: Reclaim Your Attention

We won’t fix the world by ourselves overnight. But we can reclaim our attention. We can choose what we give energy to. We can unplug from the noise and plug into reality.

Because the truth is, we’ve been tricked into fighting each other while the house burns down. It’s time to stop obsessing over the smoke and look for the fire.

The Matrix is quite real and that movie came out 11 June 1999! Imagine what has happened since...

Go figure, Just remember, we have the power to choose...

Kerwin Boxill

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