. . . FALSE ALARM . . .
. . . for whatever reason, you haven't been on your mobile device in awhile (25-65 minutes) and you notice someone who looks just a little bit out of place intently swiping and poking at their screen. Almost like this person was on their way someplace, and they just had to stop to resynchronize with the permaflow of bad news. You seize up-maybe even in midstride as you're going through a door-your screen suddenly to hand. Is it a Big One-Nature's Vengeance, World War III, Democracy's Fall, Giant Meteor Coming Soon, A Famous Death, Terrorism, Total Economic Meltdown, Pandemic, A Mass Atrocity-and now you're late to the Gnawing Anxiety Party?
So.
You scroll.
You've no shortage of options: climate change, Vladimir Putin's crimes against humanity, regional megafires, fascism ascendant in the courts and state legislatures, plagues, wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, volcanoes, contaminated water sources, mass slaughter by fentanyl, mass misery by untreated mental illness, gun crimes on the rise, uptick in white supremacist hate crimes-
You look up at that out of place person as they put in some earbuds, stride off down the hall-were they just downloading some podcasts? Is this just a part of their daily walk? Maybe this person isn't out of place at all. Or maybe they've just decided to explore this area.
You're still halfway through the door. Now you're wondering if you're the one who is out of place. How could you have been so foolish as to think that you had earned a break from the Collective Doom Scroll of Absolute Fuckedness?
What a space cadet . . .
