The Constant Tragedy Feed of Social Media & the Beauty of Our World

What are the effects of being constantly inundated with tragedy after tragedy as it happens to any and every of the 7 odd billion human beings on the beautiful blue-green orb suspended in infinite space that we all entered into through a portal between our mother’s legs?

Truth is… nobody knows. The advent of mass media wasn’t even a blink of an eye ago in our species’ history, and social media is a split split split split second old.

For all of human history, the only way you could experience a mass tragedy was if it was visited immediately upon your village/town/hunter-gatherer band/city by someone else. If some survivors of tragedy/war/plague in another place sought refuge in your town you would hear about that tragedy second hand and witness the effect of it in that person.

But now, with the internet and social media feeds we are “fed” news about every evil and atrocity that happens anywhere on earth in real time. We see graphic pictures, live video, hear screams amidst the rubble, bloody bodies, mangled children. Horror. We read and listen to pundits argue, critique and offer commentary; often spinning this raw human suffering into some political angle. We witness horror after horror after horror. To add to the insanity, the horror comes in our social media feeds amidst cat videos, a silly prank video, a deep Rumi quote, a sports update, a selfie from someone you went to high school with, an update that your ex is “in a relationship”. It is a totally insane way to process trauma and tragedy. It literally causes the natural empathy response to overload, to short circuit, and to go numb.

What are we doing to ourselves?

Refined/Processed carbohydrates and sugars were introduced to the human diet decades ago. For tens of thousands of years before that we ate mostly meat, vegetables, fruit, grains, and legumes (last two became more prominent only in the last 10,000 years). All of a sudden, we introduce something we did not evolve to process (refined carbs and sugars) and in the blink of an eye (historically) 1/3rd of the population is obese, 1/6th has diabetes and 8 of the top 10 causes of death in our country are diet related (excepting accidents and suicide). This is insane considering obesity and diabetes and most of these diet related causes of death were almost completely non-existent less than 100 years ago. We are so arrogant and foolhardy (and really just out of touch with the natural order) that we believe that we can just totally switch the way we live and what we put inside of ourselves without contemplating the adverse effects of those changes.

So, if that is what a radically unnatural rapid shift in our diets does to the human body then what is this constant tragedy “feed” doing to our psyches? I think it is totally reasonable that, if fed a diet of constant tragedy, a human being may feel A) depressed, disturbed, perturbed, frightened, mentally unstable, alienated, cynical, misanthropic or B) numb

Is it all bad?

Perspective.

On the nature show they always show the animal getting eaten by a predator and then the voice over says “this is the carnage and savagery of nature… kill or be killed… the vicious cycle of life and death… the grueling and terrible life of a seal…” I mean, that’s one part of it. But that seal that was just enveloped in the jaws of a Great White shark lived two to three decades of its life frolicking with his family, and mating with his lady, and barking at the moon with his homies, and then in one painless instant was taken out of this life by a sea monster with 306 teeth before he even knew what was going on.*

It is easy to lose track of the fact that the light far outweighs the dark. Is it not newsworthy that at any given moment most human beings are in relative ease, free of traumatic pain and tragic suffering? The vast majority of people, all around us and all around the planet, are planting trees, playing with children, laughing with friends in cafes, cuddling with lovers, or otherwise creating beauty and goodness in the world.

I can hear the keyboard warriors’ social justice fingers twitching already…..So here is me stating the obvious: It goes without saying that this is not to be callous or uncaring about the suffering of others. Obviously, it is not to minimize or make light of the suffering of any being. But, if we aren’t actually benefiting anyone then isn’t our online display of outrage just sanctimonious egoism? I really think we need to distinguish between the following two categories:

Sphere of Concern vs. Sphere of Influence

Who/what do you care about? Your nation? Your race? Your religious group? Your family? Your tribe? Your team? Whatever your answer is is your Sphere of Concern. I believe that most of you reading this care deeply about all beings. Your sphere of concern is the entire universe. You care about the well being and happiness of every being in the cosmos, every last Boddhisatva on my friend list. But very few of you are world leaders or heads of major corporations or influencers of policy or filthy rich philanthropists or government agents (the Feds reading this aside). Your sphere of influence is your family, your friends, your co-workers, your neighbors, your community. That is were your effect is deeply felt: in each and every interaction, word, and deed, in each and every one of those relationships. You have a major influence on the people around you. Even though you sometimes forget that you do. So, if your focus on your Sphere of Concern (keyboard social justice warriors I’m talking to you) is taking away from, or otherwise reducing your capacity to add peace, joy, ease, happiness, meaning, charity (even a smile is charity), presence, tranquility, growth, love, service, adab, laughter, compassion, guidance, healing etc. then what exactly is the purpose of your concern?

All I know is I don’t feel like focusing more energy posting about the crises in the world make any of them improve. Thinking obsessively about Donald Trump has not made the world a better place. It just makes my heart disturbed. It makes me angry, depressed, argumentative, distrustful of people, and cynical. There has to be a balance. It is obviously not about being uninformed and disinterested in what is going on in the world. But it is about truly serving your purpose and knowing when what you are consuming (or posting) is not benefitting anyone. And making sure you are focusing on magnifying the light and not the darkness.

Someone I would like to be like when I grow up turned off his TV, stopped tweeting or posting about Trump, ISIS, and Syria, put down his phone and walked in the other room and looked his father in his eye, told his little sister he loved her, helped his niece take her first step, gave some extra time and money to charity, wrote a poem for his mother that brought her tears of joy, took care of his body with healthy food and exercise, gave a birthday gift to his friend, visited his grandmother, forgave his ex, mentored a youth who looked up to him, was honest with himself, struggled with the egotistical and lower desires that held him back from his full potential and that would, if left unchecked, continue to negatively effect those around him, tried to spend his money on the most ethical options, supported local businesses, artists, and farmers, went to a rally for a cause he believed in, learned something new, laughed with his homies out way too late, and then shed tears in prayers and prostrations for all those beings in the cosmos suffering and enduring unimaginable hardship.

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*The seal example is adapted from a story that Dr. Chris Ryan told on his podcast, “Tangentially Speaking”. His forthcoming book, “Civilized to Death” explores what was lost on the way to modernity.