Last week I received two unique notes.  Both were from friends.  Both included quotes that made me think.  I like that.

One note said, ‘And now let us welcome the new year, full of things that have never been.’ How can that be true? There is nothing new under the sun.  Perhaps it means ‘things that have never been done this way. Or appeared this way. Or made you think this way.

The second note was a warning: ‘You cannot look into the pit all day. It will hypnotize you and you will fall in.’  True. Easy to understand. Compare it with today’s on-line obsession.

Compulsive doom-scrolling is like looking into the pit. We get hypnotized. Waiting to hear that ping. Stay abreast of the doom, gloom, scandals.  Everyone will be talking about them.  We need to know.

Race car drivers are warned ‘keep your eyes off the wall.’ Cyclists ‘keep your eyes off the ditch.’   If you don’t that’s where you’ll end up.  Their formula for avoidance. For staying alive:  Focus. Discipline. Awareness.

Some call our scrolling addiction emotional roulette.  The next ping might be important. Maybe someone we know. We might miss something. We will. It’s called life.

Focus. Discipline. Awareness. Life.  Respond to every ping? Silent mode? We have a choice.

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