We are aware of the ill effects of air, water, soil, and noise pollution. One more pollution adversely affects our life by straightway affecting our mind. Our lack of consciousness lets the factors of this pollution easily flow within us.
They may distract us from our daily track of life or may create uneasiness and discomfort by their mere existence. In this article, I am trying to focus on this particular type of pollution that affects us through our vision. We may call it visual pollution.
Concept of Visual Pollution
The banners and hoarding found hanging in the streets; roads catch our attention. The purpose of placing them in a particular place is served when it grabs the passer-by’s attention.
Many of them provide us the information we need, and many of them, irrespective of the necessity, create a desire to attain the thing or the good showcased on it. Usually, the desires created regardless of the needs push other essential requirements to the back seat and make the mind run after something that may be beyond our affordability.
It pollutes our thoughts and may create tension in families. This pollution is invited through our eyes or vision. So we may term it as visual pollution.
Many banners and hoardings containing pictures that provoke negative emotions or such thoughts unsuitable for all age groups lay an adverse effect when they enter into the minds inappropriate for such thoughts. Even the dirty and unclean surroundings also create visual pollution.
The science behind perceiving thoughts through written words and pictures
The written words and pictures create an image in the human mind. This story starts from photons. Visualizing the term ‘death’ written somewhere doesn’t evoke the same feeling as the word’ festival.’ Every word has a soul. The souls of the words ‘Death’ and ‘Festival’ are different.
So they create different feelings. The soul of the words or images enters our mind through written words and pictures. The following lines of Elizabeth Dougherty may help to understand the scientific phenomenon behind it.
“The photons associated with the patterns of the letters hit your retina, and their energy triggers an electrical signal in the light-detecting cells there. That electrical signal propagates like a wave along the long threads called axons that are part of the connections between neurons.
When the signal reaches the end of an axon, it causes the release of chemical neurotransmitters into the synapse, a chemical junction between the axon tip and target neurons. A target neuron responds with its electrical signal, which, in turn, spreads to other neurons.
Within a few hundred milliseconds, the signal has spread to billions of neurons in several dozen interconnected areas of your brain and you have perceived these words.
The written words that we come across may be related to literature or any other field, but we, the ordinary people, are not aware of photons’ power in our daily lives. The photon concept is a part of physics, and the idea of neurons is related to neurosciences.
These concepts are confined to the compartments of different disciplines. If we do not combine these two disciplines, we will remain unaware of the holistic knowledge of ‘How we perceive thoughts or ideas from images and written words?’
Photons (a quantum or smallest unit of electromagnetic radiation, usually considered an elementary particle) play a vital role in our thinking and understanding process. They are not visible to physical eyes usually.
But their existence has the power to transform the culture. This form of energy is different from the nature and definition of energy taught in educational institutions. We interact with this energy daily without being aware of its effects.
The knowledge about photons’ power can help us understand the nature of photons created by specific types of pictures, environments, and music.
We could gain consciousness about, How the lack of awareness about photons brings adverse effects on culture? How to tackle the crises created by undesirable photons? And how to deal with the undesirable photons that get spread through visual pollution? Such Social and cultural awareness based on scientific understanding can enhance the quality of life.
Advertising through banners and hoardings lets people know about a new product or service available in society. But as they may create chaos in a person’s mind, determining specific policies regarding their print matter and the places for showcasing the products and services through them can save many minds from being the victim of visual pollution.
