Updates and Forcefields

The updates buzzed, beeped, swarmed and hovered. Things were bad and seemed to be getting worse by the day. The sun broke through the clouds, but for some...the clouds became permanent. The sun remained out of reach.

The sun would rise, but fewer noticed. Morning routines. Coughs and colds. Coffee and dog walks. There was always the phone. There were the headlines. Everything was happening. All the time.

Some chose to listen. Podcast episodes with people talking. Interviews with smart people. New ideas and thoughtful commentary. Though the commentary was often focused on the thickening clouds and the cloudy future.

The reality became an avalanche. A stress test on the system to see what would give way and break off. What could withstand the threats. The stress invaded the daily lives of many of the people. The people had to create forcefields around themselves. We can survive mildly toxic levels of exposure for short periods of time. Heavier levels of exposure for prolonged periods of time are fatal.

Each person had to become careful of the phone and careful of the news. Of the updates. Of their own exposure. Of their own tolerance. Ignoring the problems would not make them go away. Overdosing on the toxicity wouldn’t solve the problems, either. What would become more important, and more challenging, in this age of attention-hijacking and distraction, was staying conscious of the intake. Of knowing how to listen, how to watch, how to read, and how to talk about the chaos, as it often threatened to overwhelm the cycle of information, day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute.

There were always other choices, but they became harder to recognize. Especially without the forcefield.