Bizarre Take #17: Why Do We Do Things That Are Bad For Us?

 



Why do we do things that are bad for us? A rare question that we never consider and causes one to step back and think for a second. Smoking. Drinking. Doing drugs. Procrastination. All these things are conceived in a bad connotation and are disregarded in society, yet so many do it unconsciously. Akrasia, a lack of self control or acting against one's better judgment, stems from a desire to experience thrill as well as a habit of thinking in the present.


 Certain things that are deemed as bad, such as teen pregnancy and drunk driving, are considered taboo, yet we hear about cases occurring  on a daily basis. For example, when Iwent to the Somerset mall with my mom, we saw a bunch of people smoking outside. My mom told me to cover my nose and I remember wondering, How are these people just smoking without a single worry for their health?? Do they not think about the future consequences? This is a clear example of akrasia, where people simply go for activities despite knowing that they are bad. They seem appealing as they provide an opportunity to experience thrill. This lack of self control over one's actions stems from the person's desire to live in the moment: A term that has remained popular in society, YOLO, is coined as a way for people to just go for activities that may seem risky or threatening.

This has been popularized quite a lot on the internet, and leads to the main reasons why we do things knowing they are bad.

The idea of the thrill is what draws us and causes us to lose focus of our self control, leading to potentially harmful decisions. 


However, we also do bad actions due to the concept of living in the present. Lots of college kids, despite being underage,

tend to drink alcohol. With no parental influences being around, along with the common practice of peer pressure, many end up consuming a lot of alcohol. They keep thinking in the present, and fail to account for the potentially harmful long term effects it would potentially have.

  • Prisha 

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