Looking at the last published date is a bit weird for me. Granted, I don't keep a strict weekly schedule here, almost a month without writing is pretty bad. On the other hand, I have been trying to juggle doing training classes for work at night and keeping some kind of downtime, so I don't pull the remaining few hairs out of my skull.

In the middle of our ongoing series of slow-motion apocalypses, taking a moment to look away can feel like an indulgence. The media machine both social and otherwise constantly reinforces that starting at scrolling headlines of information is your civic duty. Is it, though?

It is fair to criticize the voter base in 2016 for believing every dumb thing that scrolled from the bottom of their phone. On the other hand, more media isn't going to help that. People who spend most of their time embroiled in the political corners of Twitter seem to be the least informed about how any of this works. They are the least prone to understand the inner dynamics of political parties, and they seem to work from either a soap opera or sports angle that doesn't help anyone.

Though why wouldn't they? Large amounts of even the least melodramatic news outlets are merely distilling he said/she said info into dueling headlines. There's not a ton of context or actual information just quoting opinions and responses to those opinions.

If you're feeling overwhelmed, you have the right to turn it off. There's not an obligation to stare into the abyss. Spend some more time reading books and playing video games and less time figuring out how many of your friends and relatives have no idea that an image macro isn't a trusted source of information. Listen to some good records and remember that the hellscape is fueled by attention. Looking away starves the beast.

There is no returning to normal, but we can at least stop actively feeding the fire consuming our brains.