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These are the times that try men’s souls. This phrase came from Thomas Paine’s “The American Crisis,” written during the American Revolution, talking about the challenges faced by freedom fighters. NGL though, I looked up the origin on my iphone, with which I had spent the morning calling a tow truck, contacting an estate planner, listening to Spotify, checking out the Athletic, and watching ICE attack families in Minneapolis on Instagram.
People, we’ve got a fever, and the only prescription is less scrolling!
There are all these time stealers that we have swallowed through doom scrolling on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Reddit, Yelp, Rumble, or any personal imprisoner. We are enslaved by social media. Admit it, we have all been screen captured, mentally kidnapped, held hostage by algorithms.
There was a time when we went through a supermarket checkout line, picked up TV Guide, figured out what we wanted to watch, sat down with family, and watched whatever shows ABC, CBS, and NBC had to offer. This included ABC’s Wide World of Sports or the game of the week, but of course, inevitably, the goose that laid the golden egg got murdered by something called progress.
As a result, these days, as we all know, it isn’t difficult to binge episodes of Stranger Things, The Pitt, Severance, or any old thing that Netflix, Apple TV, HBO, Max, Hulu, Peacock or Paramount+ offers us. We can find even the old things – I Love Lucy, Password, Ed Sullivan, Drake & Josh, The Office, iCarly – on demand. Many of us spend hours every day scrolling through news, sports weather, fashion, cars, food and travel.
If you’re a parent, you might go to your child’s volleyball game, a JV basketball game, a soccer match, or a swim meet but rarely does the community seem to join in such things as communities once did. I go to big time basketball games at the U and despite the wonderful arena and high-quality product, the crowds are small. Certainly, the U is not Duke or North Carolina with 15,000 rabid college students dressed up, screaming, and avoiding midterms. Still, it’s amazing how few people take advantage of the chance to socially gather.
The same is true with cinema, though movie theaters are not dead, and the big screen experience has not completely cratered. Yet it definitely isn’t what it used to be. Our lives seem isolated and fragmented. Yes, we have families. Yes, we have friends. Yes, we have schools, houses of worship and community centers. But friends and families isolate themselves with a five inch screen.
I’ve never watched a movie on my phone and it’s not because of my bad eyesight.
Algorithms are so deviously sophisticated that all of us are seemingly on phone arrest. It’s virtually AND literally impossible to put down. This addiction is an embarrassing shame.
There are remedies. Films, plays, bike rides, walks in the park, afternoons at the beach, boat shows, markets, concerts, bakeries, gyms, family get-togethers, dancing, cooking – even God forbid – pickleball.
So put your phone down. Do something without your little friend. Don’t let the algorithm get you. Put it down. It’s boring. Prove me wrong.
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