I have a problem. I love technology and I really love the internet.

Like many of you I anxiously anticipate the happenings of the world when I wake up. I’m guilty of checking my phone for news from sun up to sun down. Sometimes I fall asleep looking at my phone or my iPad and I’m always engaged with social media in one way or another. I’m the epitome of a tech crazed millennial. I can’t ever seem to get enough.

Technology has made the world smaller and so easy to stay connected. It’s addictive and distracting, and many of us fall for it every single day. I always end up wondering how I get so much accomplished while taking quick glances at news alerts and articles. Shoot, I wonder sometimes if I could get even more done. Don’t answer that for me, I’m pretty sure I know what you’re thinking.

Anywho, I was having a conversation a few weeks back about a few of my friends deleting social media and later ran across this Time article about funny man/writer Aziz Ansari giving up the interwebs.

[su_quote cite=”I wanted to stop that thing where I get home and look at websites for an hour and a half, checking to see if there’s a new thing. And read a book instead. I’ve been doing it for a couple months and it’s worked. I’m reading, like, three books right now. I’m putting something in my mind. It feels so much better than just reading the Internet and not remembering anything.”][/su_quote]

Don’t we all Aziz, don’t we all…Well, sure some of you don’t. The internet is pretty fun but what I took away from this article and my chitty-chats was that there is so much trash that we’re feeding our brains for no good reason. We all know Trump is there, we all know natural disasters are a thing, we all know folks will put up a fabulous picture of their world travels and pretend they don’t still eat ramen or Easy Mac, we all know that everyone will show the best of themselves and if they don’t it’s because the sub-Tweet game is strong. We know those things are real but what we don’t know is how to turn away and take care of ourselves.

So what do we do?

Let’s be clear, I’m not giving up the internet or my beloved social media, that’s unreasonable for me but what I can do is lay off and maybe delete an app or two. I can make sure to be aware I’m not grabbing for my phone every five minutes like some red eyed tech junky. I can also make sure to work hard at not comparing myself to all the other amazing people I know. It’s unhealthy and ridiculous.

We have so much life to live and we should soak it in. My question to you is, are you going to break up with the internet? <3

-D.Wright

Photo courtesy of CNBC.

For those of you who have been living under a rock, comedian Kathy Griffin did the unthinkable for a good chuckle this week. That blurred out head you see there, and what’s been described as a piece of “art,” was actually made in the likeness of our current Commander in Covfefe…45 aka Donald Trump. Hear me now. I am NOT a fan of him, I think he’s a classless, chauvinist-bigot that got lucky a majority of his followers felt alienated enough to vote for him. I think he’s a terrible person, a decent business man and possibly the worst President in American history. However, I felt like this desperate attempt for a laugh was ridiculous and definitely inhumane.

Understand, I could care less about what 45 feels about it. I could care less about what his followers, his allies, or even what the White House feels about it. No one seemed to care when Obama was in office and had monkey emails being circulated by the very people he was supposed to lead and life-sized dolls of him being lynched in the streets. People on the Right weren’t even really taking a public stance of condemnation against that “repugnant” behavior but what I care about folks is our humanity. Have we lost it? Have we really gotten so numb and disconnected to where it’s now ok to pretend-kill real people in real life?

Photo courtesy of National Review.

I know it’s pretty hard to believe I could care about this person’s well-being but I do. What Kathy Griffin did was wrong and it was gross! So gross, it’s not even aesthetically sound enough to put up on this blog. I didn’t even get it! I don’t want to get it! And unless you’re in a movie playing Buffalo Bill or trying to win an Oscar, stuff like this is just disturbing. Shoot, even if you’re acting it’s still disturbing! But seriously, 45 is a human…Not a Voodoo doll. I want him out of office, not dead or with a bloody replica of his head in someone’s hands.

And let’s be honest, what she did was the type of behavior we expected from his extreme supporters. To agree with her, or to laugh with her is blatant hypocrisy on a human level even if we felt Obama wasn’t as horrid or as worthy of being knocked off.

Photo courtesy of The Odyssey Online.

But like I said…I don’t like him. He’s still the guy that could care less about the environment, poverty, civil issues, our lives, education, diplomacy, respect and all the other basic principles a solid leader should show concern for. And even though he might make those terrible faces and wear that thing on his head, he’s still a dude. He’s a human being with a body filled with life, maybe not a soul but life nonetheless. I just don’t feel right supporting someone mocking the loss of life because the person is hated or not liked. That’s also strange. It’s not normal. We can’t make extreme, violent behavior normal. She thought we were going to laugh and think it was normal. It’s not.

I’d maybe understand if we were applauding the take down of a violent terrorist group’s leader or folks we’re physically at war with. And the crazy thing is we don’t even really celebrate that! We basically say “got em” and keep it moving.

So here it is folks, don’t go all Huck on us, and fantasize about the thought of someone being lynched, tortured, or beheaded. Check your tendencies and your spirit.

Again Kathy, girl…why?

-D.Wright