As I look through my RSS feed to nourish and enrich my daily dose of ‘wtf is going on in the world’, I consider how having an endless buffet of information and stimulus at our fingertips impacts our ability to digest mentally, emotionally, intellectually.

No sooner than we are done chewing on reports of genocide in one part of the world do we chase those images with a tall glass of homegrown government corruption.

Before either entree has had a chance to be considered, pondered, put into perspective or acknowledged in any meaningful and insightful way, we scroll on to find desert. That meme with the cherry on top. We see the wildest shit online and just keep scrolling.

“We see the wildest shit online and just keep scrolling.”

The natural knee-jerk response to this take is what else do you want me to do?’ And that’s fair. I can’t remember where I first heard or read this idea but it has never left my mind: “thoughts become words, words become actions, actions become habits, habits become character.”

(That may not be the exact quote). So if I asked anyone to try anything it would be to pause. Then, think.

A steady diet of ‘pause and think’ has side effects, including but not limited to:

• independent research
• engaging conversation
• critical thinking
• thoughtful commentary
• increased empathy
• using the internet with intent (breaking free of the algorithms)
• and a heightened ability to sniff out the bullshit.

You can start now. Pausing and thinking… the internet will be here when you get back.

-say2rue