Keyboard Warriors Take Care!

Advice for the Frantically Posting.

Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash

I know these are crazy times. And I know that folks are out there busily posting memes, articles, links, research, counter-research, jeremiads and all the rest.

I realize that it’s nice to know that our posts, or our courageous counterpoint to those we consider our enemies, are the things standing between health, happiness and freedom and the end of life as we know it.

I know I’m throwing stones in a glass house here. I do love posting fun links and I adore some of the memes that I find.

That said, allow me to make a couple of suggestions for keyboard warriors of every stripe. Think of me as your team doctor!

Here goes:

Hydrate! That energy drink, coffee, or soda is just going to make you dehydrated as you race across the keyboard typing your views and frantically search for the latest news or expose.

Get up and move! First of all, “sitting is the new smoking,” as they say. It’s important to keep fit and simply moving frequently goes a long way. It won’t take many weeks of sharing memes to lose muscle mass.

Furthermore, a few years ago a study suggested that sitting and streaming movies could increase the risk of pulmonary embolism. (A blood clot in your lung that usually comes from the pelvis or legs and is sometimes associated with immobility. These can be quite dangerous.)

Take a walk! Throw a ball for the dog! Bathe the cat! Wrestle with the kids! Hug your spouse! Take a shower! (Civilization can wait.)

Your insights aren’t worth an ER visit. Or your life.

Or maybe they are…that’s your call.

Eat healthy! You can kill two birds with one stone if you go to the store, come home and cook something healthy. Neither the Internet nor your fellow-believers are going anywhere. Ditto for your detractors. Or politicians. Or cultural commentators. You get it.

Rest your hands, wrists and shoulders! Between working in an ER and my writing activities, I sometimes get pain in my wrists, elbows and shoulders from using a keyboard. Some advocate a vertical mouse for its ergonomic properties. It’s probably worth a couple of hundred bucks to keep defend your viewpoints and saving the country, while avoiding carpal tunnel syndrome. Or, you could see the point above about getting up and moving. Or, surely there’s an unused gym membership that might be helpful in these times!

Absorb some beauty! Kiss your husband or wife and remember why they are the most important person in your life. Read a book to the kids. Walk in the woods in the snow. Search for great art. Go to an art museum. Listen to Bach. Listen to Mozart. Listen to Pink Floyd. Or create! Draw, sculpt, write a poem unrelated to current events. Go to a comedy club or watch a comedy movie.

Take a bit and listen to this, one of my very favorite pieces of music.

We just aren’t made for endless frustration and outrage. It’s too exhausting.

Remember history! Our ancestors endured countless invasions, pandemics, icy winters, predatory wolf-packs, attacking raiders, seasons of famine and all the rest. How much of it does your family recall? Beyond the last century precious little, I fear. Maybe that’s bad. Or maybe it’s good. Life moves in cycles and we can control so little of it. And in the end, the pendulum of politics and culture always swings back and forth.

Keep this in Mind!

This is how elections and politics work. One side wins, one side loses. For a while the winner gets what they want. (In a democracy, that’s just how it goes.)

In short order, things will switch up once more.

It’s all going to be OK.

Just wait and see.