Delete Your News App

At the beginning of last month I bought a new phone. Immediately I commenced the drawn out process of installing useful apps and widgets as and when I was reminded of their utility. About two weeks into owning the device I had a twofold realisation. First off I noticed that I had not installed a news app. Secondly I realised that my general levels of anger and anxiety had dropped. I decided to run with the hypothesis that the two might potentially be linked, so I kept my phone free of constantly updated news.

Some people might call this decision an act of wilful ignorance. Why would anyone decide not to know what is going on in the world? It’s important to stay informed! To that I say: it’s not really that important to my immediate existence, in fact it’s detrimental given my temperament. Before I had built myself up into a state of constant low level resentment and anxiety about the world. ‘Is the US going to start a nuclear war with North Korea?’ ‘how am I going to cope with the economic catastrophe that is Brexit?’ ‘why are people stupid enough to have voted for it in the first place?’ – all this stuff just made me bitter and not want to engage with the world in a positive way. Now I feel more able to focus on the things that are within my control, rather than resenting things that aren’t. I have lost a substantial amount of weight, I have stuck with a frequent programme of exercise, I have collaborated on an album, and am about to start a project that I have been putting off for the best part of a year.

Perhaps not all of this is directly linked to not installing a news app on my phone, but the negative state of mind that constant news updates puts me in is not conducive to a positive life. Not looking at the news first thing every day has also helped me to realise how little impact these stories have beyond their capacity to generate fear and anger. Now, when the news has filtered through to me I see it for what it is, something beyond my control, something that I will not allow to break the positivity in my life. In large doses I don’t think it is very easy to view it in that way.

If you suffer with bouts of dread and anger over the state of the world and you find yourself resenting your fellow humans, I would suggest deleting your news app. Combine that with a concerted effort to exert control over the things you are able to and you might be surprised at how much your life improves.

On Internet Power, and What to Do With It

The internet is immensely powerful. It provides a space for ideas to catch on in an instant. Anybody, with the right [or ‘right’ wrong] idea, presented in the right way can change the world. We are currently seeing a lot of the negative effects of this power with the advent of fake news and all the scandals about hacking etc. It can almost feel at times like the internet has just gone off the rails, that it has spilled beyond it’s bounds and now trolls are attacking our democracy and ability to determine truth.

I started to think about this topic yesterday when I saw two viral posts. The first was a video of a Second Amendment advocate destroying his AR-15 because he couldn’t bring himself to continue owning it, nor could he sell it in light of the most recent school shooting in Florida. The second was a photo of a nasty note left on an ambulance that had blocked someone in their driveway.

The first was an example of someone doing something to change the world, by being truthful and honest with themselves. It might not change US gun legislation, but it might prompt more people to make similar videos. Maybe it will reduce the number of existing assault weapons out there, maybe it will reduce the sales of such weapons. Who knows. The video connects with the viewer because it shows a man being honest about his inner conflict between his enjoyment of guns and his horror at the carnage of the recent attacks. He then makes a moral choice and acts upon it. Powerful stuff, go watch it.

The second is more complex. It has the outward appearance of being a good use of internet power, but I believe it is far from black and white. I ought to be clear, prior to entering into sticky territory that I think the note was reprehensible, and if it was a public order offence under British law, the person that left it ought to face the repercussions of that. Being upset that an ambulance has inconvenienced you while they go around potentially saving lives is petty and selfish in itself, leaving a nasty note for the paramedics is just vile.  Having said that, I don’t think putting an image of the note on Twitter is necessarily a good thing, or that all the possible motivations for doing so are wholesome. I don’t claim to know why the paramedic did it. Perhaps they were just blindly enraged by it, or other similar instances had pushed them to want to take action, but maybe not? They might have wanted the image to go viral and boost their Twitter followers. Or worse perhaps they wanted to unleash the dark side of the internet on that person. I’m not saying this is the case, but those are certainly possible motivating factors. Regardless of whether or not that was their intention, it is sure to happen. The woman who left the note has been named. It won’t take much for the internet to find them, and make their life a misery. Does the person who left that note deserve that on top of any criminal charges against them? I don’t think so, I think they are just a selfish person that got angry. How many of us have done something stupid in a moment of selfish anger? We know nothing else about the person who did this. Anyone can look like a monster if we take one mistake and show it to the world. Monster or not though, I don’t know that many victims of the internet mob deserve it. To be clear I think wrongdoers should be judged and sentenced by the law, not a worldwide gang of vigilantes.

If you think that the woman who left the note deserves to be subject to abuse and threats then clearly your ethics are somewhat confused. What shall we do to people who are abusive and threatening? “Threaten and abuse them!” Alright then, lets see where that gets us!

I realised that there is so much false information. So much fake virtue and mob-mindedness on the internet. This is why the first video was so powerful. Because it was a man being honest and defying his fellow gun enthusiasts. He was at once vulnerable in his exposing himself as conflicted, but also strong in his absolute resolution of it despite it probably putting him at odds with other Second Amendment folks. Honesty shines brightly. It’s inspiring. It has inspired me, I’ve been thinking about what I can do with my passion for writing, how I can improve my own personal situation. It’s hard to do that without an aim, but now I think I have found one; to tell my honest truth. The good thing with that aim is that it doesn’t have to be effective in the outside world to have a positive effect upon me. So that is it, that is what I am going to do with this blog, I’m going to be honest, and see where it takes me.