Emotions in Rapid Succession

I feel so much has been forgotten in the world, the simple things, the slowing down and taking time to read and imagine, and out ability to empathize and feel for others.

Life has turned into a meme.

If it takes me longer than 2-seconds to read your idea I have wasted my time. We devolve into animals, creatures of pure emotion and feeling - you hurt me so I hurt you - sort of behavior in social media. You are in my pack. You are not. Here is something sexy. Here is something funny. Here is something sad. Here is something that will make you angry. Anger. Funny. Sexy. Sad. Anger. Hate. Anger.

React.

Now.

Instant.

Move onto the next.

Quick.

Faster. Faster. Faster.

React. React. React.

How can you live like this? I can't see it. In fact, I bought into it during my years-long hiatus, watching social media degenerate into turning its users into packs of ravenous hyenas, roaming around, fighting each other, yelling loudly, yapping and barking for attention, participating in some "meaningful" war of ideas while everyone is trapped in some cage and learning how to hate each other.

All the while subject to rapidly flashing images of violence, porn, hate, fear, anger, news, politics, and raw emotion. It is like a scene out of a Clockwork Orange type movie of mind control being inflicted by a series of rapid-fire images of extreme emotion, one after the other, until the viewer snaps and is unable to live a normal life again. Their ability to empathize with others is destroyed. They see an image and it turns into a base emotion. Women = sex. Politician = hate. Money = good. Food = eat. Cat = cute.

Different = bad. Same = good.

I honestly question the wisdom of putting hardcore porn right next to a news story crafted to anger you in a Twitter feed. Your brain will go into a mating mode, and then slip right into a fight for survival mode if the story makes you angry.

"But I can handle it!"

I told myself that for years after my life tragedy and it was a lie. Part of me wonders why we do not hear a damn thing from psychologists these days. It is like the science disappeared like medieval alchemy. Maybe because what they would say would anger big tech, or big tech creates its own studies with all the money in the world that say, "this is fine."

I stay away from Twitter these days, it honestly feels like a dangerous place where I could be virtually mugged. Facebook, I know lame grandparent choice, seems safer and more like a community to me. There are controls there. There is curation. As moderators of groups we abide by community standards and work to make things a safer more inclusive place. Facebook does a lot of bad and wrong things, especially in regards to privacy, but the site does not feel like wading into a war zone every time I log on.

This is why I use a Mac to log into Facebook and I do not put it on my phone. Apple fights back for me. And yes, they are guilty of plenty too. Lesser of two evils here, but I choose those who do the least damage.

I have trust and safety standards too, social media companies.

And I keep my porn separate from my news.