Day 5. March 20th, 2020
I just noticed that I titled yesterday’s post as Day 3 instead of Day 4. I didn’t even have to try and it shows how this week has been one long day.
I think more than anything what people are realizing is that Internet and Social Media is no good without places to go, places to be, meals to show, conversations to report, essentially, without living life. And maybe when this is over (and it will be over) everyone will realize the only sharing that matters is where someone on the other end genuinely cares what you ate, where you went, what you bought etc. As compared to putting it “out there” in someone’s Facebook/Twitter/Instagram or any other “feed”. Think about that word–feed–having a second or a third or a fourth helping when you are full. Stuffed. No more. Trough.
My friend Shayne (check out his music if you haven’t) said that people are “experiencing ennui and anxiety at the same time and those two haven’t made a joint appearance for people in a very long time.” People are either bored/restless or people just seem to have anxiety, together it’s a terrifying headspace to inhibit. There is this, and I borrow his words, “rush to feel relevant” and we both concluded our conversation by hoping that the current events will allow people to de-program themselves.
Other than that…
I am beyond infuriated by American “news” networks; they are gasping for air as they try to compete with the panic and outrage culture of social media. The news makes me so upset because I have friends in other countries, including Italy, who are in much dire situations than any place in U.S. Their response to altered plans, cancelled schools, income loss, cancelled plans is…quite naturally…sadness and sometimes frustration (also, quite natural, human beings prefer knowing what-next; they prefer routines). But their response is NOT fear and panic. And I have been thinking a lot about why that is? Why are they concerned but not afraid? Why are they cautious but not filled with rage? And the answer isn’t because they are ill-informed; in fact, they are more informed than Americans. Then what? It’s their news.
I would like to share two quotes from, “Coronavirus is Serious, But Panic is Optional“. The rest you already know but you may still need to click on that link and remind yourself that you knew this 20 years ago.
Agenda-setting happens as a result of two things. One is attention. By giving certain topics more attention than others, it creates the illusion that these topics are more important. So, the more ‘air time,’ a topic gets, the more you assume it matters. Air-time is unrelated to the importance of a topic, but our brains don’t know that. We make the cognitive leap that ‘more time = more important.’
you have to understand that it doesn’t matter to CNN’s bottom line if you read the article you’ve clicked on on their website. Which is strange if their goal is to keep you informed. It only matters that you clicked on the link and the page loaded. There’s no incentive to keep you on the page, which means there’s no incentive to produce quality content. They assume, correctly, that when you arrive on a page, you skim it, get bored quickly, and then click out to another story.
Today the highlight of the day, in addition to Jamie surprising me with flowers, was seeing several of my (writing) friends in Ireland during a Zoom video chat. One of the Dooligans signed with an agent (!) and another has wonderful news regarding her published books that’s too soon to share here. My heart is full.
I am grateful it’s the weekend which is not supposed to have the structure of the “week”. No posts over the weekend. After next week, I am supposed to be on “spring break”. After that, I am supposed to return to teaching?
I leave you with this short poem by Mary Oliver from her collection, A Thousand Mornings.
“Three Things to Remember”
As long as you’re dancing, you can
break the rules.
Sometimes breaking the rules is just
extending the rules.
Sometimes there are no rules.
