We must haver way too much time on our hands. I mean, how else could we possibly have so much freaking time shouting into our social media echo chambers and attacking those with different views?
Not to mention all the time we spend watching everyone else — the media, talk shows, podcasts — doing exactly the same thing.
Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. Okay, maybe some of you don’t, but I bet most of you do.
The funny thing is, none of those activities impact the result let alone change the outcome of elections or anything else that matters. They’re just enormous wastes of time.
So why do we do it?
I’ve come up with five reasons off the top of my head, although I’m sure there are more:
It makes us feel important, like we matter.
It makes us feel like we’re doing something about it, even though we’re not.
It’s a distraction — an escape from our tedious lives and personal problems.
It’s a lot easier to let our inner child throw temper tantrums than to act like a mature adult.
It’s virtue signaling in the hopes of boosting our status among our ideological tribe.
Don’t get me wrong. You know I care about who runs this country and how it’s run. I just don’t obsess about it to the point where it affects my mental state and dominates my life. And I don’t delude myself into believing that activities that don’t matter do matter.
Besides, when I’m not working I’d rather do things I actually enjoy with the people I enjoy being with, not puffing myself up with an overinflated sense of self-importance.
Yup, we do have way too much time on our hands. People really do need to get out and get a life. Wasting your life away with your eyes glued to a two-dimensional screen is no way to live.
Image credit Ed Yourdon / Flickr