One of the things I've actually kept from growing up in the church is the mindset to be careful what you consume. Not foodwise so much, but media and influences. Though you are what you eat does work here.
Be careful what you consume lest it consume you.
The church was trying to keep us away from things like secular music and books, but it's actually good advice. Just make sure you are the one choosing, not some patriarchal organization that wants to limit your knowledge so they can control you.
Be mindful of what you are watching, who you are listening to, what media you consume.
There are a ton of studies out there that talk about how if you hear something multiple times you start to believe it. Or at least start to think, well there must be something there. Our minds really like short cuts. And hearing things over and over turns that bit into a yeah, I know this.
So be careful what and who you are listening to.
Brent and I get recommended TV shows all the time that we end up watching an episode or two and then stop. Sometimes we will get all the way to the end of the first season because everyone SWEARS it's great. But it's not great. Not for us. Our number one reason for not watching a show is that we don't like the characters. Like not that they are poorly acted, or the writing is bad, usually just the opposite. Really talented acting, really good writing, of really unlikable people. If there is nothing redeeming there, we don't watch. Both of us believe if we wouldn't be able to tolerate you in real life, we don't want to spend our entertainment time on you either.
That's not to say we don't watch things with bad guys, or anti heroes, we both loved Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. But there was something else there aside from just bad behavior by unpleasant people. Like you felt for Jesse. You wanted him to come to his senses. You watched Saul knowing it was a villain origin story. But White Lotus? Watch rich people out asshole each other? We made it all the way through the first season and I tried two episodes of season two because people SWORE it was so much better. But yuck. I don't want to be around any of them.
There is a whole kerfuffle right now happening in the world of the BookTok Girlies. There is a group of them who are lusting after an actual murderer. They've read so many books with toxic male leads that were turned around by the love of a good woman that they think real life is the same. It's not. I'd say to ask the women he murdered, but you know, he murdered them. Those girlies consumed way too much of the wrong kind of media. I get that it's just pretend, and it's just fiction, but they still filed it away in their brains as a thing that could happen. They could totally change the man with the swastika tattooed on his face into a good guy who only kills people who bother you like a good book boyfriend would.
I had a friend on Facebook that I had to drop off of my list. No matter how many ways I tried to get Facebook to stop showing me what he commented on it would show up in my feed. And he liked to go to the groups with the worst type of people and comment on their posts. He wasn't agreeing with them, he was seeking out the arguments. He enjoyed that. But what would happen is he would comment and it would show up in my feed. It was like having feces thrown at me when I logged on to Facebook. I do not want the shit on my feed. I don't like seeing that there are people out there in the world who think that way, who believe just awful things. But they are there and since he would comment it would show up on my feed. And since I'm not about to tell him what he can and cannot do in his free time I cut him off my list so I didn't have to see it anymore.
Politics. Oh my god...Did you know Joe Biden is old? I did. It's why I didn't watch the debate. I already know Biden is old and I already know Trump is incapable of telling the truth, and also old. One of those things really bothers me. One isn't ideal and I wish there was a younger viable candidate, but there isn't, this is what we have to choose from, and honestly Biden's done a decent job in his first term. So I didn't watch the debate. And I've tried really hard not to read much about it.
I checked with two different sources that I trust. One who I knew would put it all in perspective and one who would vent his spleen about it but not panic. The rest is just noise at this point.
I could spend the day reading opinion piece after opinion piece about how Biden being old is the worst thing in the world while they ignore the completely bat shit things Trump said. Or the fact that at no point in the debate was Trump asked about Project 2025 which he should have been. Like a lot of pointed and direct questions about what is in there. But he wasn't. Because the media is not your friend. They don't want answers, they want sensationalism. They want you terrified and tuning in every night to get that hit of fear.
Don't give them your fear. Find a few sources that you trust and check in with them. But don't just consume all of it like drinking from a fire hose. It's just not good for you.
And speaking of not good for you...
It's time for me to take another little breather from Facebook. My almost annual break at this point. Dry July in a different form? Like save me from drowning in bullshit dry?
It will sort of look like I'm there, because my pictures cross post from Instagram, and when I post a blog I'll link to my Totally Random Page but I won't really be there.
If you need me, or even just want a quick chat, messenger still works even when I'm not logging on to Facebook. And of course if you comment on Instagram I'll see it. And if you comment on the Totally Random Page I'll see it the next time I post a blog. So I'm not going to be totally gone, but I need a break.
Be careful what you consume lest it consume you.
I'm feeling a little like the negative political landscape is consuming me right now. I don't just mean the horrific things our Supreme Court is deciding right now (It's legal to take bribes as long as you call them gratuity and get them after you grant the favor {you know, like a tip for good service} and it's illegal to sleep on the street even if all of the shelter beds are full, basically it's not a crime to be a corrupt politician but it is a crime to be poor oh and they turned over another 50+ year precedent and made the judicial system the grand high rulers of interpreting everything right after legalizing bribes...so you know, yay...) So even though that's a lot. It's more the constant onslaught in statuses and news posts and just the bullshit people are saying.
And I don't even feel that badly about it this year. The whole internal debate of if I should or if I shouldn't that I normally struggle with. One of the things I found out when researching the ADD brain is how hard moderation is. The ADD brain is more likely to work like a switch than a slider. It's on or off for behaviors. For a long time I've struggle with the idea of just doing less with things, but my comfort zone is I'm either full on or full off. To quote the great rock band Guns N' Roses "I used to do a little but a little wouldn't do it so the little got more and more" That's my head. I can try to do a little but then an hour will have passed and I will have been absentmindedly scrolling along reading everything. It's the same reason I don't have Candy Crush or other little fun phone games on my phone. I will play them to the detriment of everything else.
So it's time for a break.
I also know it won't lead to me dropping Facebook, it never does, but it does reset my usage and for a while when I start again I won't be on as much, because there will be new habits. For awhile until it all creeps back up to too much, until next year when I start it all over again.
But that's July. So you'll see me everywhere over the weekend and then your feeds will get a lot quieter for a bit.
Which might give you time to decide if what you are consuming is good for you or not.
I hope to see you when I get back, if not I'll totally understand. (imagine a cheesy grin here, of course I think I'M good for you!)
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