Society has a (possibly unfortunate) addiction to "more." Or maybe the more accurate word to use would be "extra."
Unless it's over the top, nobody pays attention.
Aside from the fact that we consume more than we can possibly use, we have an addiction to overstating everything... perhaps only in service of making it sound interesting enough that somebody will take a look at it; buy it.
Ultimately, it seems like we no longer describe anything as it actually is, we describe it as something it's not; more than it actually is.
What made me contemplate this was looking at my email this morning and getting a notice from Instagram — a venue I virtually never use for anything — that "such-and-such a person and seven others" have followed me.
On the surface, that looks like what they're saying is you have 8 new followers!
Immediate reaction: "That's pretty cool, given that I almost never use Insta!" Secondary reaction: "That has to be a load of inflated bullshit!"
Of course, the announcement is not actually a reflection of what it means. In my particular case it means that such-and-such a person and seven others have followed me over the past two years.
Hardly a newsworthy item, what do you think?
When I sit with that for a bit, it all ends up sounding like even the mundane is being inflated into sensational news. Almost as if we don't accept the mundane as something that even exists.
The reality of life, however, is that probably 95% of what we experience on a daily basis is pretty mundane. We scoop litter boxes, mow lawns, take a shit, take out the garbage, do the dishes, fold laundry and so on and so forth. Move along, nothing to see here!
It's beyond me why we need to turn this into clickworthy entertainment.
Why do I even think this is worthy of being brought up? Because I think our senses are being dulled. With everything taking on a sensationalist leaning, we become desensitized to all the small and potentially beautiful things that happen all the time every day. It's so ordinary we don't care and yet there is beauty in the ordinary. Meanwhile, because everything IS "amazing," horrific school shootings that kill 30 increasingly end up on the same shelf as sorting our sock drawer. Desensitized.
What's more, because everything is being portrayed so exceptional and outstanding, there's a tendency to become depressed when we look at our lives through an actual objective lens. Rather than simply accepting the mundane as a normal part of life we put away our clean socks and feel regret that it's not a newsworthy item requiring a press conference.
Because, isn't that normal?
Given this backdrop, is it any wonder that so many people are posting pictures of their half eaten breakfast Taco on Twitter. And yes I'm old, I still can't wrap myself around calling it "X." X is a stupid name. The X.COM domain started out as a place where you could trade currencies and check out international exchange rates between currencies. That made sense for an exchange. X for a fncking social media site makes no fncking sense at all.
But I digress — as I often do.
A large part of the reason why I really don't use legacy social media to any great extent is precisely because it is a shouting match centered on turning the mundane into a headline news item. Give it up! It's not! Not everything in the world is supposed to entertain us.
If you can't function for five minutes without a dopamine hit, get professional help!
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great remainder of your weekend!
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Created at 2025.10.18 18:18 PST
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