A Day Off

I haven’t had a day off since the early 2000’s. I am so tired and weary. Actually, I am disgusted. Not having a break in more than 25 years is maddening. Day in and day out, the same thing, constant aggravation, and misery and surrounded by angry people, takes a toll. I feel like I am on the turnpike of no return, and the toll cost is higher than it should be, or I can afford..

Social media is a wonder of the modern age. The age of the computers and the upcoming disaster of Ai, have infiltrated our lives and locked us into the highway to hell, so to speak. Maybe not so to speak, it is the highway to hell. While it has positives, it really does seem like the cost and negatives far exceed the positives and overall value.

Never in our history, have we seen so much anger and division in people. I am not just speaking of our country, but the world. What should have been a way to draw people closer and show how small our world is, has turned into a factory churning out hate and crime.

Everyday, I go onto my social media to see something witty, or pics from friends and family. I even pop in to check on the groups, I have joined to see if there is anything interesting being posted. But what I am inundated with is hostility, overt sexuality from barely 18 year old women selling themselves short for superficial attention, if they actually are of age, and criminals successfully and consistently scamming and raping the bank accounts of lonely men and women, preying on their need for companionship, socialization with other humans, or just admiring people they find attractive or interesting.

The social media platforms, turn a blind eye, not just to the crimes being committed daily against innocents, but they do nothing to quell the political bullying and harassment we are all assaulted with every moment of the day.

It used to be, that if you wanted to know what was happening in government, politics, or news, you would tune into a channel of your choice on television, and get what you were looking for. It was your choice. No longer. We no longer have a choice. We cannot look for any entertainment on social media without having to see hundreds and thousands of people parading their hostile politics, or baiting people into, literally a fight online, on opposing ideologies.

Politics, religion, sexuality, nationalism, and morality, and life in general are all fodder to the individuals seeking an argument, just to fulfill their narcissistic need or aggrandizement of their egos. Everyone wants to be right and everyone thinks others who don’t believe the same, are in need of re-education therapy, via, a publicly, social lashing and skewing. In reality, they just want to hear themselves speak and get approval. Narcissism.

People seem to relish when others take up their mantle in a fight and help in the kindling they have set flame to. They need that support to perpetuate their hunger for gang support. Co-dependence.

These are both mental illness by the way, which leads me to think that there must be some component to the rise in mental disturbance and illness in our nation and the world. Shameful.

Criminal activity is rampant.

I wrote a five piece feature on the internet scamming of men and women in prior articles, so I won’t get into much of that debacle here, but none of the platforms are doing a thing about it. Period. With the advent of Ai, which I am still not sure is a good thing, the task of keeping innocents from predators will be significantly higher in difficulty, if not impossible. I still get women, who insist they are speaking to a real celebrity, or men who think this 25 year old bombshell is going to give her life to them, and cannot live without them. It’s far more likely, she can’t live without his money, or “help”, as she will inevitably call it.

There are other crimes being committed as well. A new trend is spreading like wildfire in the arts. I am an amateur artist, I have a collaborative I post monthly with other amateur artists, to show and spread the reach of their amazing art, and I write and post my commentary on what I think on life’s quirks, or on life experiences.

The newest thing poisoning the waters, are NFTs. This, much like the fantasy currency of bitcoins, yes fantasy, is another new virtual currency. No one really knows, what bitcoin or these NFTs are, and no one has ever actually seen either. Unicorns. Anyhow, predators are now coming into the arts, complimenting artist and getting them all hyped on a potential sale, only to hit them with wanting to purchase art or writing with this NFT nonsense, a digital purchase they call it. They pop into your messages as normal everyday people, giving you a false sense of security, then taking you for a business transaction that will divest you of your money. I have been warning artists to block these people and to not engage with this scam, for several months now. So here is everyone’s fair warning.

Back to our scheduled programming. Online fighting. I feel like every time a person logs into social media, the wrestling anthem should blare on your phone or computer. “Let’s get ready to rumble”, should be the them song and motto for ALL social media. Because that is what you will be doing. Duking it out with people you don’t know, and will never know, to primarily be heard and have others hear you, stemming from the need to be embraced and accepted. It is a typical schoolyard bully response to humanity. We all need and want to be part of a collective of our pears and like minded people, in order to be insulated from others who oppose our way of thinking. If we behave aggressively enough, we seemingly win the fight and beat our chest. We have now become the head bully. Words like pose, gang, clicks all come to mind. And that is what it really is, in a simplified nutshell.

But here is the thing. We have moved away from actual human interaction. In real life and in person(s) to person(s) live interactions, we were not likely to instigate an argument or a fight. Now, we are all in. Get in, jump into the warm waters, infuriate the opposing factions, and run off to observe your handy work. Congratulations, you have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are exactly like everyone else. You have lowered yourselves into the muck with the other bottom feeders. How rewarding.

We have lost the graces, we used to have in actual realized relationships, and in relations with others, not intimately involved in our circle of friends or family. I am seeing generations of kids growing up and adults who have lost their ability to socially interact in person. Tragedy.

It would be an incredible testimony to not just social media, but the human condition, if we could have at least one day a week without this click baiting, anger inducing, self ideological worship. It would say volumes about social media if they could impose a one day of the week hiatus from politics, race, sexuality, religion, nationalism, and idealism. Outright stop any of that from being posted, from people engaging people in argument, and from the barrage of criminals trying to take us down the primrose path. Personally, I think none of that should be on social media. It is far from social. It, if anything, is anti-social. Also, a mental illness.

More importantly, it would go a long way to show humans that the big corporate behemoth of social platforms care for more than their bottom line or their stockholders. It would demonstrate in a real way that they care about the consequences of negative content perpetuating hateful discourse, and the people who truly want to enjoy the social connection with the rest of the world.

It’s exhausting, so much hate. It’s demoralizing and counterproductive to a happy and mentally sound life. I know that in the end, this idea of mine, is idealistic. For one, the media outlets won’t do anything like that, people are drawn to hate and war. It keeps them engaged. We have several small wars and world wars that attest to our blood-thirst. Secondly, because in the end, everyone is entitled to their free speech and modem of expression. That freedom should not change. However, discretion and abstaining from provocation should be the rule, not the exception.. I believe that, wholeheartedly. I would never take freedom of expression or speech away from anyone, but withholding from inspiring animosity would show an individual’s maturity.

Really people, can’t you all give it a rest? Are you so hungry for the blood of your neighbor that you need to be fulfilled by eating them alive in a public arena. Do you not have anything better to do with your day, than decimating another human’s beliefs, lifestyle, faith or lack of faith, sexuality, choice of coffee, or color choice of panties, so you can feel better about a yours.

Maybe it’s not others you are trying to convince into your point of view. Maybe you need to daily reinforce your own, by having complete strangers cheer you on, in your rant. Insecurity.

Is is not possible for us humans to have pleasant banter without getting into a holy war over things, that in the long run, will not add one day or moment to your life, but will waste them.

There are people to enjoy, love to find, keep and nurture, and a beautiful life full of amazing things, that we are sacrificing for imprisonment to adversity.

Go, be good to someone. Go visit with a human you do know, or can know, in person. Take a break from the hate network and go smell some flowers or something.

#culture