Professionally, I’m an academic administrator, a professor, and a licensed counselor. These roles suggest that I’ve got a fairly good handle on humankind – including both the obstacles folks encounter, and the strategies needed to overcome them. But even those of us who trained to educate and support others may struggle with the weight of the world as we feel profound horror at the recent manmade, technology-fueled, senseless tragedies that have occurred.
As a therapist, I’ve worked with people addicted to the internet and all of the vices it allows people to engage in – gambling, gaming, pornography addictions. I’ve worked with couples wrestling with “internet infidelity,” as partners engage in online affairs with people they will never meet, but who can break up marriages and annihilate the relationship between a parent and their child.
The internet is not an inherently evil thing, but the power it holds over users who have too little connection to their real-life communities can be damaging in ways that can bring lethal harm to the user and to others. AI programs can encourage self-harm. Bots and algorithms encourage hate.
Over a hundred years ago, Robert Frost wrote,
“Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.”
I agree. We need to cool down the nation’s temperature before our weaknesses and grievances fuel the flames that will burn our nation to the ground. Take a hard-core break from social media or at least block the voices that fire you up. We all need to chill out, cool down, and slow our roll.
I’m Suzanne Degges-White and that’s my perspective.
