The Blue Mantle

YEAH SURE here's this strange epidemic spreading through the way we live, and before anyone goes about disinfecting their doorknobs, no, this isn't another COVID -19, it isn't Nipah Virus, and it's definitely not something the World Health Organization is losing sleep over because this one doesn't target your immune system. It attacks something far more inconvenient: your willingness to care openly, without shame, and without calculating how it will look to the invisible audience that somehow matters more than your actual feelings.

OSNS, Coolness in Doing Less

THAT JOKE WAS TOO INGEN SITIVE казит

PRI

IMBA impressed-slowly became something to aspire to. Somewhere alongthe line, we all decided that showing any kind of emotional investment in something is embarrassing. And naturally, everyone adapted.

ACADEMIC YEAR 2025 2026 THE BLUE MANTLE,

VOLUME 2 ISSUE 1

BY GERALDINE TERRENCIO the easiest way out is through detachment because it requires the least amount of risk. Rather than own up to something having affected you, you downplay it and tell yourself it never even mattered much in the first place. It's far easier to seem like you don't care than to seem like you're lost, and far easier to act distant than to admit you're vulnerable. Over time, this persona becomes a defense mechanism that protects you from heartbreak by pretending there was nothing to lose to But the thing is, the act of pretending you don't care about something is, ironically, the clearest evidence of how much you care about how others perceive your actions and begin with. reactions. What gets called "maturity" or "being chill" is often just being afraid of What makes the whole thing slightly looking like a fool, being afraid of being the ridiculous is that while everyone is trying to one who cares more, being afraid of being seen one-up each other in terms of looking the as the naive one, and being afraid of giving least attached, everyone is also complaining someone the upper hand. about shallow connections and surface-level conversations. But you can't call for depth and honesty, then treat it like it's something to be ridiculed. You can't keep doing less and expect to feel more.

The first symptom is deceptively simple; you get excited about something, something you worked for, something that actually matters to you, and instead of celebrating it with pride or telling someone, you dilute it before anyone can even process what's happening.

The second symptom appears in relationships and interactions; you care about someone, but you act like you don't. You write a long message, then delete half of it because you don't want to look "too invested." The best way to go about it, apparently, is to always look like you could take it or leave it.

Sincerity is scary because it puts you out there in any way that can't be undone once it's been done. The moment you say what you really mean instead of trying to hide behind a joke or a shrug, you give someone the power to react to it however they want, including rejecting it or not valuing it the same way you do. And that possibility—that your honesty might not be met with the same honesty—is exactly why so many people choose to hold back instead.

We worry about being too sensitive and feeling too much, but the more disturbing thing is how comfortable we are with feeling none of it at all. If there's anything that defines us as humans, it's our ability to feel, and maybe, the bravest thing we can do in a culture obsessed with looking unbothered is simply admitting

While social media went from being a mess to being curated, people started learning to control how they felt in public. The rise of the nonchalant persona-the one who replies late, And so, when things get too chaotic and what you think and what you care about and reacts minimally, and never looks emotions get too complicated not apologizing for it.