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I mentioned that I\u2019d like to see photos of our galaxy.\u00a0<\/p>\nOk, social media is definitely not for me.<\/p>\n
Picture it as a broken sewer main of shitty people with a very occasional super nice person.<\/p>\n
LinkedIn – For fucks sake has turned into Facebook with a pseudo business bent. I\u2019ve been on LinkedIn since 2019, when much to my dismay I was told I needed to have it so that HR people could reach out to me, as our company was laying us all off.<\/p>\n
Since then it\u2019s been completely useless as a vehicle for finding a job and NO, I repeat, NO HR person has reached out to me. For a while it looked like they were turning it into a dating, pro-Palestine, DEI, & god knows what else kind of site. \u00a0None of which I\u2019m interested in.<\/p>\n
X\/Twitter – OMG! Talk about a broken sewer pipe! Perhaps it\u2019s that I\u2019m easily bored. But damn! My most recent mistake on that site is that I commented on someone I didn\u2019t realize was a flat Earther about being unsurprised that satellites wouldn\u2019t show up in photos of astronauts working outside the ISS.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Satellites are relatively small, tend not to have running lights and most likely wouldn\u2019t be seen unless they happened to reflect sunlight.<\/p>\n
I went on to say I always missed seeing stars in the NASA photos and it bugged me. I once asked NASA why that was. They told me that often photos of planets would have the backgrounds blacked out to enhance the photo of the planet or object that was the actual subject of the photo.<\/p>\n
Okay, that makes sense.<\/p>\n
I mentioned that I\u2019d like to see photos of our galaxy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then what happened was hundreds of people describing the way cameras work and this, that, and the other thing, including that space wasn\u2019t real, we didn\u2019t have people orbiting the earth, it was all fake etc. In the miasma of following shitposting, one post caught my attention.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This post was from the son of an actual astronaut and very nicely explained that the ISS when on the daylight side of Earth had the same problem as we do. The stars are simply too dim versus the brightness of the sun to see. Then he included some breathtakingly beautiful photos his Dad had taken from the ISS while on the dark side of Earth. When I say breathtaking I mean it. Seeing those photos brought tears to my eyes because of their beauty.<\/p>\n
I thanked him for the concise explanation, (even though I felt like, \u201cDuhhhh,” I should have figured that out myself,) and for sharing the beautiful photos has Dad took. We had a pleasant exchange and he directed me to his Father\u2019s account, the NASA website, and a Flickr account that I\u2019d never heard of, where the astronauts posted more personal pictures they\u2019d taken.<\/p>\n
Basically it was a super nice adult exchange and I genuinely appreciated the information. I told him so, and thanked he & his Father for sharing. Then, thinking that was the end of it I went to bed.<\/p>\n
This morning, my X account was still blowing up. People were still reiterating what had already been discussed and piling on. Then more people, the flat earth folks were denying that the photos were real and just going on & on about that.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t like controversy and really don\u2019t like people piling on without reading the whole thread. Generally, I read all of a thread before opening my mouth and adding my 2 cents. Yes, sometimes I screw up and add something redundant to a thread but I really try to avoid doing that, as it\u2019s a waste of my time and everyone else\u2019s time who may be in the comment thread.<\/p>\n
However, in this case, (which is only the most recent in a long line of similar events,) I found myself being very depressed by it all.<\/p>\n
Reevaluating my interactions on X I came to the realization that the vast majority of people on the site are\u2026 well, terrible people.<\/p>\n
I partially remembered a line from Hitchhiker\u2019s Guide to the Galaxy where Marvin the robot had just witnessed another robot destroy itself in a fit of anger and said, something like, \u201cWhat a depressingly stupid robot.”<\/p>\n
That sentiment is what I felt this morning. These people couldn\u2019t just go, \u201cOh, that\u2019s a lovely respectful conversation. Wow, those photos are really beautiful.\u201d Instead, they had to drag it through absolute shit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I have a very hard time seeing the good in people. Jerry would often remind me that not all people in the world are shitheads. Since he\u2019s been gone, I\u2019m having a harder time remembering there are some good people.<\/p>\n
Between the network news, X, LinkedIn, and just dealing with people in the grocery store it\u2019s easy to have the \u201cshitty people\u201d belief reenforced.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just this one instance. However, this one seems to have broken the camels back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Going through the list of things I can\u2019t stand hearing about anymore, I\u2019ve concluded that too much interaction with the world is very depressing.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t care about Palestine, or Trans rights, the LGBT community, or the Democrats, politics, Republicans, Trump, the failure that is Congress, our broken Judiciary, the price of eggs, people demanding that Trump voters regret their vote, who\u2019s talking about running for President in 2028, the welfare state, DOGE, government employees being laid off, taxes, the next iPhone, Ukraine, or much of anything else.<\/p>\n
I realized, I miss looking up at the stars, (which I can\u2019t see anymore because everyone around me is afraid of the dark). I miss simplicity, and beauty. Both of which are easily seen and appreciated, if you turn off the constant bullshit.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what I\u2019m going to do. Turn off the constant bullshit. I want peace & quiet.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I want a little job that brings in enough money but not 100K. I want to be off mailing lists and urgent notifications, and to turn off the firehose of \u201cInformation\u201d.<\/p>\n
To that end, I\u2019m closing accounts. I\u2019m removing myself from mailing lists and locking down the flow of senseless conflict and controversy. This mechanized abomination we call “modern life” has made me unhappy.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not angry about it, (although It\u2019s going to be a while before I\u2019m not assuming people are all shitty).<\/p>\n
I\u2019m looking at this as a mistake and fortunately it\u2019s one I can correct.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m trying a hiatus. I\u2019ll let you know how it goes\u2026 or not.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ok, social media is definitely not for me. Picture it as a broken sewer main of shitty people with a very occasional super nice person. LinkedIn – For fucks sake has turned into Facebook with a pseudo business bent. I\u2019ve been on LinkedIn since 2019, when much to my dismay I was told I needed … <\/p>\n