From Freedom to Mental Automation
Image created by ChatGPT, click please to enlarge.
Introduction – When Freedom Becomes Reflex
Since the appearance of the internet — and even more with the explosion of Apps — our society has undergone a profound mental transformation. What was once presented as freedom has gradually shifted into something far more subtle and dangerous: mental automation.
A misunderstood form of liberalism, often reduced to “everything is allowed and nothing is forbidden”, has merged with digital technologies to reshape how people think, behave, and relate to one another. The internet has long been perceived as a free space where one can act anonymously, without consequences, hidden behind usernames and virtual identities. While everything is technically traceable, the sheer scale of millions of users creates a feeling of impunity.
Then came Apps.
One click.
Instant gratification.
No effort. No delay. No reflection.
This digital logic has not remained confined to the virtual world. It has migrated into real life. Today, people increasingly expect reality to behave like an app: immediate results, no frustration, no responsibility, no limits. The virtual world does not mirror reality anymore — reality mirrors the virtual world.
This tutorial explores how we arrived here, why it matters, and how #ReverseTHINKing can help us regain conscious, independent thought in the age of AI.
1. Real Life Before the Internet – Structure, Limits, Learning
Before the internet, life was governed by clear structures:
- Social rules
- Laws
- Delays
- Consequences
- Human interaction face-to-face
Waiting was normal. Effort was required. Mistakes had visible consequences. Learning happened through experience, frustration, dialogue, and correction. Freedom existed, but within boundaries, and those boundaries played an essential educational role.
Limits were not seen as oppression but as frameworks for living together (vivre ensemble). Society functioned because individuals adapted to shared rules — not because everyone did whatever they wanted.
2. Liberalism and the Promise of Freedom
Liberalism originally promised emancipation:
- Freedom of expression
- Freedom of thought
- Freedom from authoritarian control
However, over time, this idea was increasingly simplified and distorted. Freedom slowly became interpreted as:
“I can do whatever I want, whenever I want, without consequences.”
This shift marked a critical turning point. Freedom without responsibility turned into individualism without limits. Instead of asking “Should I?”, the dominant question became “Can I? WHY shouldn’t I!?”.
This mindset laid the perfect foundation for what would follow.
3. The Virtual World Meets Liberalism – A Rule-Free Illusion
The internet amplified this distorted liberalism. In the virtual world:
- Social pressure is reduced
- Identity is fragmented or hidden
- Consequences feel distant or nonexistent
Rules still exist, but they feel abstract, weak, and negotiable. Breaking norms becomes easier, faster, and often rewarded with visibility, likes, or attention. What was once unthinkable in real life becomes normalized online.
The virtual world thus acts as an accelerator of rule-breaking, reshaping moral reference points. Over time, repeated digital behaviors become habits — and habits become mindset.
Read my tutorials about #Liberalism below (in EN and in FR)
https://gustmees.wordpress.com/?s=liberalism
4. The App Revolution – The Birth of the 1-Click Mentality
Apps did not just simplify tasks. They reprogrammed expectations.
Everything is now designed to be:
- Instant
- Effortless
- Frictionless
One click replaces thinking. Algorithms anticipate desires before they are consciously formed. Waiting becomes intolerable. Frustration becomes unacceptable.
This creates what we can call the 1-Click Mentality:
- “I want it now.”
- “If it’s difficult, it’s wrong.”
- “If I’m frustrated, someone else is responsible.”
This mentality does not stop at the screen. It spills into:
- Education (learning without effort)
- Social relations (relationships without patience)
- Work (results without process)
- Democracy (opinions without understanding)
Reality, however, does not function like an app — and the clash is increasingly visible.
5. AI – The Ultimate Accelerator of Mental Passivity
Artificial Intelligence takes the 1-Click Mentality to a new level. AI systems:
- Answer instantly
- Decide for us
- Recommend instead of challenge
- Optimize instead of educate
Used uncritically, AI risks becoming a cognitive prosthesis that weakens independent thought. When answers are always immediate, the habit of questioning slowly disappears. When systems think for us, we stop thinking by ourselves.
The danger is not AI itself — but a society already conditioned to mental laziness, now reinforced by intelligent systems.
6. #ReverseTHINKing – Reclaiming Conscious Thought
This is where #ReverseTHINKing becomes essential.
#ReverseTHINKing is not about rejecting technology or freedom. It is about breaking automatisms:
- Questioning instant answers
- Re-introducing delay and reflection
- Re-learning effort as a value
- Reconnecting freedom with responsibility
It asks uncomfortable but necessary questions:
- What did we lose in the name of convenience?
- When did freedom stop educating us?
- Who benefits from a society that no longer thinks deeply?
By deliberately slowing down thinking processes, #ReverseTHINKing helps individuals regain autonomy in a system designed to remove it.
Learn more by reading my articles, tutorials about #ReverseTHINKing in EN and FR:
Conclusion – From 1 Click Back to Conscious Choice
The 1-Click Mentality did not appear overnight. It is the result of decades of technological evolution combined with a misunderstood liberalism that confused freedom with absence of limits.
We now face a crucial choice:
- Continue drifting toward mental passivity, or
- Reclaim conscious, responsible, independent thought
AI, Apps, and the internet are not the enemy. The real danger lies in unquestioned usage, in surrendering thinking to systems designed for speed, not wisdom.
#ReverseTHINKing offers a path back — not to the past, but to a future where technology serves human intelligence, not replaces it.
Freedom without thinking is not freedom.
It is dependency disguised as choice.
===> Main tutorial ends here! <===
A Small Reminder:
- #ReverseTHINKing — Learning to Unlearn in Order to Rebuild Better
- Understanding becomes more difficult when the basics haven’t been learned.
- And you — when did you stop questioning what is presented to you as “obvious”?
- Is it time to relearn how to think… before someone else does it for you?
- #ReverseTHINKing is essential for regaining control over our attention, our choices, and our digital autonomy.
- To explore further:
- ReverseTHINKing: A Necessity for Rethinking Our Place in a Changing Society?
===> For readers: explore a tutorial, subscribe, or reflect on a question.
Final Call:
What if we reactivated the filter between our two ears — also known as the “brain” — to get those grey cells moving again?
Further Reading & Related Tutorials
- 21st Century Innovative Technologies and Developments – AI
- The Synthesizing Mind in Education: Tackling the Challenges of a Changing World
- A Modern Ethical Framework for a Changing World: Rebuilding Lost Wisdom and Knowledge
- ChatGPT Free for Windows Desktop Users – Part 73
My curated resources on Scoop.it:
Check ALSO my Curation and EDU-related articles on my Blog
- https://www.scoop.it/topic/21st-century-learning-and-teaching?tag=AI
- https://www.scoop.it/topic/21st-century-innovative-technologies-and-developments?tag=AI
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| L’auteur Gust MEES est Formateur andragogique / pédagogique TIC, membre du “Comité Conseil” de “Luxembourg Safer Internet” (LuSI), appelé maintenant BEESECURE, partenaire officiel (consultant) du Ministère de l’éducation au Luxembourg du projet ”MySecureIT“, partenaire officiel du Ministère du Commerce au Luxembourg du projet ”CASES” (Cyberworld Awareness and Security Enhancement Structure).. The author Gust MEES is ICT Course Instructor, ”Member of the Advisory Board” from “Luxembourg Safer Internet” (LuSI), BEESECURE, Official Partner (Consultant) from the Ministry of Education in Luxembourg, project “MySecureIT“, Official Partner from the Ministry of Commerce in Luxembourg, project “CASES” (Cyberworld Awareness and Security Enhancement Structure). |
Keywords for me to create this tutorial:
#ChatGPT #AI #ReverseTHINKing #CriticalTHINKing #ProactiveTHINKing #DeepTHINKing #ETHICS #Democracy #ModernEDUcation #DigitalAwareness #EllbowSociety #UnderstandingAI #SynthesizingMind #RealWorld_VirtualWorld #Liberalism #BidirectionalTHINKing #1ClickMentality.
EDU: Digital CitiZENship, CyberSecurity, eSkills, Modern EDU by Gust MEES 
