Short Story: You Might Too
It sure was better without social media…or was it? Or is it…
The podcast you are listening to is telling you directly that the internet has rewired our brains. We no longer think the way we used to – and there’s good and bad in that of course, you’ll always add that — to justify.
You’re walking down the hill and since the walk home is a lot easier the information is going in quicker and you have time to scroll on your phone, catch up with on your socials. You’ve been told so many times about how it is actually anti-social and so this is perfect since it’s just you and the dog. And the dog’s idea of a really good post is one to piss on…and hey, maybe you aren’t that different after all. Since you’ve been known to share an off-colour joke, or take a swipe. Or both.
Anyway, you are hearing all of this talk about how humanity’s hell is being handed to it – and deservedly. The handbasket is Big Tech-sponsored. The revolution took place after a 2litre of Mountain Dew was finished at 3am. The coders won. They had no moral drivers. Only function. That was fitted to form. And then became the norm. The ethics were outside of this reinvented wheel. Hovering in search of a new Venn diagram.
Then you see a cry for help. A person saying that they have no money and no way of working out what to do. Their kid has a birthday. They can’t throw a party. They can’t catch a break. They are well past breaking point.Set and match will be called very soon. And you scroll through strangers offering to lend a hand. Requests for the bank account so they can help. And then more comments praising those that are answering this call.
There is good in the world. There is hope. There is something really special. And though the noise is deafening, and it can feel impossible to tear a tiny corner let alone cut right through, you have to carry on reading, absorbing, learning. You have to try your best to care. You have to be on the lookout for the beacons. Little parcels of hope. You can see them. People are offering them.
You might offer one too.
Brilliant that your excellent story arrives in my inbox on the same day as this: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-13410289/Using-internet-boosts-wellbeing-life-satisfaction-despite-popular-concerns-effects-major-study-suggests.html
Yeah, man. In the circles I traverse around the socials, FB in particular, I think I'd be forgiven for concluding that the world is so completely fucked that we're never going to be able to back away from the terminal fall off the flat earth before it's too late.
But when I step back a bit I KNOW that my FB algorhythm is so terribly skewed in favour of interacting with the tin-foil hat, vest, panty, socks, and trouser brigade and that the rest of the world probably doesn't see any of that. It feels overwhelming a bit at times because I do see it. It does my head in, but it's just a part of the picture and the algorhythms are too fucking effective at narrowing the field of view.