How is “social media” reconciled with the anti-social impact it’s had on society?

For a “connected” world, we have never been so isolated and disconnected as we are right now.

There are children – right now – that lack the brain chemistry or social skills to have a face-to-face conversation with another human being.

We have relinquished control and accountability for whatever we say or do. Meaningful dialogue is dead (or at least in a deep coma.) It was put there by our own failure to account for the magnificent power and unlimited capacity of the human mind.

Why know anything when all you could want to know or need is in that little package of electronics permanently attached to your hand?

You think I’m kidding? Try smashing that device with a hammer or dropping it down a sewer drain and see how you feel. Someone takes your “smart” phone away and you scream bloody murder, as if someone is actually ripping your brain out of your skull. You’d do anything to make the “pain” stop.

I find it hard to believe that this aspect of the influence of immediate data access wasn’t considered. We’re hooked on the electronic drug, and it has become so much a part of our lives that it is, literally, another organ for our bodies to account for. It has meant that nobody has to learn anything, because any problem that comes up in life is solved by anyone if they simply (say it with me…):

Google it

I’m not a young person. I grew up with pencils, rotary dial phones, school books, cursive and Lawn Darts and I came out (at least I think so) fine. But, I joined the “digital cult” to keep current in my professional life (primarily.) But I, like a lot of others, became slowly addicted to the immediate gratification these devices brought. Immediate communication. Immediate knowledge. Immediate entertainment. Immediate shopping…you name it. Very soon after, the thing was always in my hand or very close by and I was looking at it all the fucking time.

I guess I can say that I’m as “hooked” as anyone. But I look on this parasitic thing and question it’s real benefit to my life every day. I like to think that I am an intelligent person, with critical thinking abilities and the desire to express myself creatively to the benefit of others.

What I am getting at is, we were a siloed society before this Covid19 stuff hit us. And, thanks to the incompetence of the gang of idiots in D.C., the entire fucking nation had to shut down and isolate. It was further driving us, as a community, apart. In a pandemic, a new phrase shot to the forefront of everyone’s vocabulary – social distancing. As if to explain it away as just another method to combat the further transmission of this disease, it also had the effect of people clutching their devices even tighter, literally crawling inside of them to interact with other human beings. And, outside of our immediate family with whom we are sequestered, ALL of our contact is in the digital realm…ALL OF IT.

Now, as we slowly venture back out into the community, we are still isolated. Masks, gloves, no closer than 6 feet, no hand shake or hugs…it’s a start. But the way things were seems so foreign now. Don’t you think?

I miss those days.

They were stolen from us – likely never to be quite the same again.

They were stolen from us by the incompetence of the clowns at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and the Capitol. The Republican “party” have raped and pillaged this nation for the last 4 years. They have murdered good citizens for no reason. They have garnered hate and division amongst us, destroying the founding fathers vision, trashing the principals and integrity we once cherished and stolen the very future of our planet. These are the highest crimes against humanity and they must be dispensed with the highest penalty we can exact on those that perpetrated them.

I’m having a hard time with my depression these days. I know everyone is having their own problems with the world, and my issues don’t even register on the scale in the greater scheme of things. But, to me, the darkness is very real and very frightening. My inner demons get louder and louder and it takes more and more of my energy to keep them in check. I could get some replenishment from being free to go where I want and interact with real live people. It didn’t fix everything, but it seemed to help (as I recall.)

Now, with that contact gone, and the anger inside me growing at these fascist pieces of shit robbing and killing in the name of the Mango Messiah, I have never felt more empty in my life. My heart and my soul feel dark and cold. Digital interactions with my fellow humans does nothing to truly connect me to a real, living and breathing person. I feel like the HUMANITY in this country is in danger of being extinguished. I want to fight…

But I have nothing left inside.

I am the hollow shell of a person. – a person that used to be me.

I find myself wondering if I can make it this time. I can feel the sadness welling up inside me. But I am unable to weep. No tears come.

Those that foment division and violence against other humans that don’t fit their narrow picture of what is “right” display their ignorance and total lack of intelligence every night on the news, as well as ever minute of every hour on social media. It wells the anger up inside me. I am not an inherently violent person. But I will defend my family and our home however I have to. And I want immediate and sharp action against this scourge – scorched earth, wiped clean of this vermin. Sometimes, one needs to do what it takes to get the job done.

I bide my time until November 3rd. I hope and I pray for our country’s future – that evil will be vanquished. I sit here as the empty husk of a person that once wanted this country to live up to it’s promise –

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

I hope I am there to see it.

Peace.