Will the world implode because I wasn’t watching, or will I implode because I don’t know the world is imploding?
These days, unfortunately, have been a busy time for my morbid services, and too often I find myself saying, “Oy, Moish, you know who died?”
My husband doesn’t want to be kept updated about everything. But the 24-hour news cycle was created with me in mind, the consumer who wants to hear about each minute update, each new analysis, no matter how far-fetched it might be. And in today’s COVID-19 news frenzy, I’m working overtime.
The only time I stop is Shabbos, which is nice, I’ll admit, but the moment Shabbos is out, I’m refreshing my News Feed on Apple, checking The Yeshiva World, and Vos Iz Neias (updates from Israel, maybe). I check Drudge Report, the Atlantic and New York Times, Yahoo News, everything and anything I can get my hands on.
And guess what? It’s not good for me. Not just me, anyone. The constant click to refresh, and read about more tragedy, more guidelines, more speculation — it eats at the nervous system. I can’t sleep these days. I’m in bed, I feel fine, but sleep doesn’t come. And what do I do when I can’t sleep? Flip? Flip through my phone and read more news articles. I often don’t even read the articles; the headlines and subtitles are enough.
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