Hello, my name is Darien Laurencin, and I’m pursuing a major in Computer Systems Technology at New York City College of Technology. A topic I would like to discuss that is personal to me is the impact that negativity has on the mind. It is personal to me, because as I walk through life I have dealt with a great deal of negativity, and learned to withdraw from it, but unfortunately for others, things turn for the worst. I believe that negativity weakens the mind mental capacity in which it is not able to function properly. There are different variations of negativity in the world. As I progress through life from a young boy, to becoming a college student, negative influences, or thoughts, changes the mind as a person ages. The human mind is like a super computer, but like everything else, there is a limit to what something could take, and like a computer, the mind can only take a certain amount of negativity, then starts to turn against its carrier by embracing the side effects of what negativity causes. Like negativity in the physical world, in this generation the digital world is also very important, showing how negative variations can be exemplified across the world, by Facebook, Twitter, CNN and other media, which can then alter the state of mind. By preserving my mind with positive thoughts, and emotions I’m not only nurturing a healthy mind, but also strengthening it to fight against negativity when it comes my way.
The human brain is an amazing thing. Age however changes the human brain as we grow. During my transition from a young boy to a man, my mind gradually developed, based on my life experiences. One important experience that changed my mindset as I grew up was in middle school. Throughout my time in middle school, I was a straight “A” student. I worked hard, studied hard, and tried to the best of my ability to stay in my high level class. Marine Park was the name of my middle school, it is a dominantly white school with both staff, and students. The class level ranged from 8-1 to 8-12, 8-12 being the highest level. The level of classes was based on academic performance. I was in 8-8, which meant I had privileges classes 8-1 to 8-4 didn’t have, such as band class, art, and music. One day during my walk to math class, one of my friends got in trouble, so I asked him, “What’s wrong?” The teacher standing by him told me to mind my business, and then I told her to “watch who you talk to.” After that incident the “white” principal, and “white” dean of the school demoted me from 8-8 to 8-4. The teacher who I had the conflict with was not one of my 8-8 class teachers, therefore that punishment was invalid. In addition to that I also lost my 8-8 privileges. Being one of only three black students in my 8-8 class, and now I’m being forced to leave, something felt wrong. Even though I was demoted to a lower level class, which included mostly African-Americans, I maintained my 90 average, but still wasn’t able to move back up to a high level class. The negative value of that situation created a dramatic change in my minds view point on education. I believe that I was targeted as a black man doing well in a dominantly “white” environment. This belief made me think that in education, African-Americans are being downgraded no matter how much they try to achieve their goals. The negative mindset I had in the past still haunts me till this day, because now that I’m in college, I’m scared to even talk to my professors, thinking that they only want me to fail. Negative thinking like this weakens a student’s mind ability to function properly when confronted by their professor, or teacher. It does not only weaken the mind ability, but also weakens the connection between teacher, and student because of the distrust from the student.
Have you ever watch a commercial about some sort of drug? The commercial starts saying the positive values about the drugs, but then a few seconds before the end the commercial, it talks about all the side effects such as nausea, depression, and suicidal thoughts. Negativity is similar to these commercials. Negativity feeds the mind into thinking that whatever negative circumstances a person is surrounded by, must happen. To elaborate on that, 2 years ago in 11th grade at Acorn Community High School there was this student by the name of Danny. Danny loved to fight from boys his age, to even the school safety agents. At only age 17 I’ve seen Danny in three fights, so one day I approached Danny to ask him, “why do you fight so much?” Danny simply answered, “I like to fight.” In Danny’s case he feels the negative attribute of fighting is a part of him. Like the commercials I stated earlier, fighting was like Danny’s pill, and soon after he will have to face the side effects. When it was time to transition from 11th grade to 12th grade, I didn’t see Danny in the senior orientation. 3 months pass by, and I finally saw him in school. Danny didn’t seem that he was fighting anymore, but did seem depressed and sad. I soon realize that the negative influence of fighting consumed Danny’s mind. Danny wasn’t able to focus in school, and eventually I stopped seeing him in school. What I learned from this experience is to get out of your negative influence, pleasure, or emotions before it’s too late. People are surrounded by negativity every day; we do not have to embrace it. The side effects of negativity are much more drastic. Similar to Danny case, after negativity consumes the mind to the limit it can take, the mind starts to give up on its carrier. Danny kept on fighting, and fighting until soon after he couldn’t bare the sight of fighting anymore. He faced the backlash of the constant fighting, by falling under depression and sadness. Don’t let your mind give up on you. The biggest side effect of the mind turning against its carrier is suicide, and everyday an increase in suicide is shown on the news. If we stop those negative influences, pleasures, and conflictions early we are giving our minds a second chance to not only function better, but to also help the mind distinguish from what’s right, and what’s wrong.
Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram all share one major thing in common, they are all connected to the internet. All these applications and websites are able to share news and information quicker. Some news are loveable such as a picture of a kitten to a dog getting rescued, but as I observe the activity on these sites, the information people are more attracted to is rather negative. Negativity is generated faster, and easier through the internet without someone even leaving their home. When I’m on Facebook, I would usually see funny videos, lovable videos, but the more viewed videos are negative videos, such as fights, bullying, and gossip. The negative videos would usually get the most likes then the uplifting videos. A few weeks ago I decided to conduct my own study on Facebook. On the first week of September, I wrote positive uplifting statuses for example, “Keep pushing no matter how much you fall down,” “Remember to love yourself,” and “You are amazing never forget that.” The likes I got for these statuses were around 10 to 14 with no comments. The week after I wrote negative statuses such as, “I’m tired of people, they get on my nerves,” “I hate this girl,” and “Ready to fight someone.” The likes I got for these statuses was around 17 to 25, which is above average for my Facebook. As I observe the negative statuses outcome, I had got many comments, including inboxes asking for more information about them. The comments and inboxes seemed to be more nosey, and trying to gossip, then caring comments to help me. This led me to the conclusion about what negativity on the internet have done to the mind. People, mainly the youth minds are being program to react to negativity, and withdraw from positivity. The human minds adapts to what a person do every day. If someone is consistently flooding their mind with scenes of fighting, arguing, and other negative things, then the mind will be program so that negativity is all a person be attracted to. I also being a victim to this form of programming, the mind want to be able to find out more on the negative interest a person is watching, that is why drama shows gets more, and more views each episode. I’m always watching fights, and arguments, not because I love watching fights, but because my mind have been program to be focus on only negativity on the internet. The mind have been so used to seeing negativity, it is unable to distinguish the positive aspects of something on the internet, making it unable to function properly. So whenever you see something that looks like any form of negativity, KEEP SCROLLING!
The mind needs to be preserved with positive thoughts and emotions. Because of continuous negativity, one cannot love or feel love the way a positive person would. The minds functionality is based on what you see, hear and feel. When I filled my mind with the negative environment I stated in my previous paragraphs, my mind was unaware of the positivity I was surrounded by. I have a wonderful family, and great friends. My mom would be always there for me, no matter how much I annoyed her. When I’m feeling down, or angry, I have good friends to cheer me up with laughter, hugs and food. With these positive aspects in my life, I was able to now withdraw from negativity, and pull in positivity. Knowing that I am surrounded by an army of positivity, it relaxes that mind to a state of peace and calmness which helps the brain function properly. One day while walking down the streets of Manhattan, I came across two homeless brothers asking for food. At first I passed the homeless brothers and went in Dunkin Donuts. While I was on the line, I was thinking to myself what if that was me, and my brother. I decided to get them a sandwich and orange juice. When I gave the two brothers the food and drink, they broke down into tears, then started thanking me a lot. That moment filled my heart with joy, and so much love, I wanted to do more. If I ever come across a homeless person, I would try my best to give them what I can, even if it’s the only change I have. I am not only filling my mind with positivity, but I am also passing on my positive vibe to anyone I help. The same way this positive chain works, a negative chains could be created. If I didn’t help the two homeless brother, other people would take notice and not help them either, but because I decided to help the homeless brothers, people took notice of that and gave them money. With a great deal of positivity, one is putting less stress on the mind, and giving it a healthy antidepressant. Ways that I keep my mind on the positive side is by helping others, writing positive statuses on social media, and listening to uplifting music. When I do those things my mind stay worry free and functions better.
Peace, happiness and good vibes should be in all of us. Positivity comes to those who stay positive through it all. In the future I seek to gain a deeper understanding of the mind connection to negativity. By learning this I am able to overcome all obstacles. As technology advances, the sight of negativity will increase in the minds of the youth. I want to be able to speak to the youth and share my experiences with them, so that I’m able to shield them from the negative world. It is a harsh world out there, and the mind is too important to waste. The mind is your overall control center that guides you through life. We need to be able to say at the end of the day, “I lived a good life.” On quote that I made for myself to stay positive is, “Be kind to your mind, because with that, positivity you will find.”
