History
Sociologist Georg Simmel contributed to the description of sensory overload in the early 1900s. Writer of The Metropolis and Mental Life, Simmel writes about an urban scenario of constantly appearing stimuli that trigger the brain’s senses. He writes about a barrier that must protect the individual from this constant stimulation in order to keep one sane. In short, Simmel concludes with stating that the urban life, full of its stimulations at different scenarios, provides excitement to our nervous system. The downside is that too much exposure of this sensory overload depletes the body’s energy reservoirs. Lacking the appropriate energy to react at new situations can form the bland mentality of an individual. A person’s mentality can be detrimental with a high degree of exposure of sensory overload. The raw reaction to new stimuli will be different when a person’s sensory experiences are overloaded (from past stimuli), compared to when they are not overloaded, the experience will be more pure.
Read more about this topic: Sensory Overload
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Spain is an overflow of sombreness ... a strong and threatening tide of history meets you at the frontier.”
—Wyndham Lewis (1882–1957)
“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“Three million of such stones would be needed before the work was done. Three million stones of an average weight of 5,000 pounds, every stone cut precisely to fit into its destined place in the great pyramid. From the quarries they pulled the stones across the desert to the banks of the Nile. Never in the history of the world had so great a task been performed. Their faith gave them strength, and their joy gave them song.”
—William Faulkner (1897–1962)