What I'm Thinking About Today

After the 2024 United States Presidential Election

I’m thinking about what the world was like when television arrived. Imagine being the age you are right now, as you’re reading this, and suddenly something drops out of the sky and changes your life, and changes the world. Information is transmitted much faster, and by proxy consumed much faster. You have to keep up. I’m sure there were plenty of people who simply couldn’t.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that a tidal wave of social change happened as soon as television transitioned from a luxury to a standard. After all, the people causing this change were the first to grow up in a world where television was ubiquitous.

That’s a bit like what’s been happening the past 20 years. Grown adults, set in their ways, had to adapt to this powerful new technology that dropped from the sky, called “the Internet.” Some people, like my dad, scrambled. He’s the most well-read guy I’ve ever known, and he was printing out emails from Ebay and Amazon because “it means more when it’s on paper.” Sure, okay.

I’m thinking that we’ve been scrambling since social media was dropped into our laps, the same way people had to have been flabbergasted when television first arrived. I don’t think we’re handling it well.

I’m thinking I feel badly for my nieces and nephews. They don’t know of a world without social media. It’s second-nature to them, an entirely different language. But they still gotta sit and watch us fuck everything up. I think we’ll eventually be in a better place once my generation has aged out, and the people that were raised with the omnipresence of social media will look back and say, “Remember when we let a chat app get a guy elected to the highest office in the world?”

I’m thinking phrases like “the highest office in the world” have a short lifespan. I don’t think we’re going to be a “world leader” much longer. At least not like we were in the 20th century.

I’m thinking, thank god my nieces and nephews are nearly out of high school, and by proxy will be less likely to be gunned down. I’m thinking that’s a sad sentence to write, one I didn’t used to have to think about, but it’s been dropped into our laps. I watched someone get shot at a high school commencement ceremony, about twenty feet to my right. I’m thinking any faith in potential Federal gun laws will be misplaced. This is what we are now, get used to it.

I’m thinking that, thank god I got those solar panels on our roof when I did. I don’t think another 1500 days of climate change denial will bode well. The reason I made the leap was because our electricity bill was regularly $300+. Now, that number seems quaint.

I’m thinking, of course the rich people got their way. The United States has flourished over time because it’s a good place to make money. The rich people usually get their way.

I’m thinking, I wonder how this 78-year-old will age. I wonder if he’ll drop dead in office. I wonder how he’ll die. I wonder what kind of crazy conspiracies will pop up when he does die. I wonder what would’ve happened if that guy in Pennsylvania, enabled and emboldened by the same rhetoric that got this 78-year-old elected twice, didn’t miss.

I’m also thinking, think global but act local. I’m happy to live in a blue state, where we have adults in the room handling things. I’m thankful for people like Martin Heinrich, Melanie Stansbury, and Deb Haaland, just to name a few.

But as I finish this, I’m thinking that I’m tired of letting things out of my control dictate my mental health.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the rest of your day,

-Alex