The internet has brought benefits undreamed of for most of human history. The ability to communicate instantly with anyone in the world, to share thoughts, images, streaming video, insights into lives we could otherwise never experience. But that brings with it a host of situations we have never before had to think about.
Nostalgia for social norms has always been a bugbear of mine, it’s almost never based in reality of times gone by and ignores the truth that human nature hasn’t really changed a great deal. We are, and always have been, driven by passions and prejudices, aspired to great things and small, been powerless in the face of other’s sins and generosities. And we have always been tribal, with all the costs and benefits that brings. Very few things under our sun are new.
But instant communication has brought with it some new aspects to our lives that we do not know how to manage.
How do we process the horrors of the world that now visit us even when we ourselves are living in the safest of places? How do we respond in a global online world when anger and pain of others is only a click away and there is very little escape?
It can be, it often is, overwhelming.
Sometimes I have to switch it all off, walk away and bury myself in small comforts. Low-brow novels, cuddles with dogs, silly jokes with family. As much as those things can help, they are momentary lapses, and I know too much about what is happening outside my tiny space. I feel guilty for looking away, I know the grief that continues unabated while I play. It feels shallow or selfish switching off when too many people don’t have that option.
Global tragedies, like Paris and Beirut and all the other atrocities happening too often around the world have a wide effect, but even the daily tragedies of Australia, where we are blessedly free of war’s trauma, can reach into all our lives and make us sad and afraid.
And all too often when we do respond to the immediate fact in front of us we are told we are getting it wrong, that we didn’t also respond to another horror, a different vulnerable group, further suffering, more pain. Those points are almost always valid, and necessary, but they are no less overwhelming for that.
The privilege of being a global citizen brings with it an obligation to understand the world beyond our own boundaries, particularly when that information is so readily at our fingertips. But there are times when it becomes too much, when there is only so much tragedy you can take on board at one time.
The online space also brings hope and joy, and laughter, to be sure, but sometimes I even feel guilty for taking that solace. Is it weird or vapid to share funny cat videos in the middle of a stream of stories about death and terror? Is it weak to scroll past another story about suicide bombings and millions of fleeing refugees because I just can’t read any more about it? Is it irresponsible to let another ignorant or racist post go past without protest because I can’t take another pointless fight?
I know a break is necessary, no one can take on all the sins of the world all the time, that way lies madness, but I don’t always know how to not feel guilt for having that freedom.
Most of the time I am grateful that I have all the opportunities the online world has given me. Friends I would otherwise have never know, ideas I might otherwise have never understood, world-views I would otherwise have never heard, even a career I would otherwise have never had. And I feel like there should be a price for that, such blessings should not be taken for granted.
But at some point the whirlwind has to stop. So, just for now, I am going to take my dog for a walk, revel in the peace and sunshine I have such unthinking access to, and try not to feel bad for feeling good. I hope everyone else who needs it can do the same.