If your 2008 self got into a time machine, would you think that 2018 was a true story or fiction?

One thing I’ve noticed is that in this era of lightning-fast opinions, everyone is playing to appeal to social media. Think about that.

Howard Schulz might run for President. If his bumper sticker reads: “He’ll Do a Latte for America” I’d only be surprised for a minute.

Apple’s new iPhone OS best new feature is a tool to cut the amount of time you waste using it. The Fox is guarding the Hen house.

Conservatives think it’s cool to negotiate with a murderous dictator, or two. And Liberals are defending the casual use of the C-word as long as it’s aimed at a conservative B-word.

Vermont is offering you $10,000 to move here. There’s a catch. Vermont has no jobs, so you have to bring one with you. Not kidding. Read the fine print. If this program is a smashing success, it could increase our population by 25. People. Total. The press release went viral. Nobody had time to read the fine print.

https://www.salon.com/2018/06/04/vermonts-plan-to-pay-people-to-move-there-went-viral-but-dont-believe-the-hype/

The NFL last week announced a new rule making it mandatory to stand during the National Anthem, unless you stay in the locker room. The idea is not to show anyone kneeling on the field. Today the President disinvited the Philadelphia Eagles to the White House celebration of their Super Bowl win, because not all of the players were coming. Which is ironic, because he sort of wants them all to bow down and kneel before him. Metaphorically.

If you have to look that word up, you don’t get the joke.

So this is just the random stuff that made me think we’ve gone crazy, from just one day.
And I didn’t have to look hard. This is just some of what passes for news.

What does this tell you? That all content is pitching to be viral.

You might think I’m going to rant about how we’re going to hell in a hand basket, losing our marbles, a few cards short of a full deck, but we’re not. This is how humans play. We’ve got the media we want, a 24/7 Adrenalin rush! And we’re engaged! This is a Game Show folks.

I don’t know about you, but for a good chunk of my young life “news” was largely dull and predictable. At least thats the way they made it sound. You had a newspaper once a day and the evening news to fill. 6pm and 11pm. Politicians played the same games, but with more decorum. Backstabbing occurred, but more politely so.

In truth, there’s very little new under the sun. When you break it down by offense or topic, we’ve always been here before. Which is not an accident.

Humans are, after all… very human.

What’s different now is the delivery system, its bandwidth with infinite channels, and the “always on” nature of our collective storytelling. Virtually everybody and every business plays to the social media ecosystem. And it’s a rush. It’s the sugar of our time. It dwarfs television, which worried our parents. It’s more like opiates than we yet admit. Easily as transformative as the invention of the wheel and the harnessing of fire.

I don’t know, but I have a feeling it’s not all bad. We’re connected. That feels good. Lets not to be swept up in the drama too much. By all means stand up for what you believe in, but be wary of fighting culture wars as a virtual pawn, when there are so many real people you can impact one on one.