9 December

The difficult thing about discussing ideas with friends and family is that every idea is actually a social group. Groups which help give people their sense of identity. In the past this often meant the rule of thumb, don’t discuss religion or politics with people you like. It’s much broader now though, I think. It got broader because of social media. These platforms weaponise all ideas, turn them into team sports. It’s how they make money, driving likes and engagement. Societies can’t get a thing done now, because any attempt to do something is met with instant resistance from some social group, nearly always organised through social media. Even worse, people won’t even talk about things that need doing, let alone do them. Talking about them triggers the team sports between rival groups, and peoples’ identities feel threatened. Adult life is now like being perpetually stuck in high school, with its competing groups. Many go down the positivity path to try to avoid it, projecting and even living an image of a life free of all troubles. That’s just dangerously fake, for me, in the ‘let’s forget all our troubles with a bowl of strawberry ice cream’ Malibu Stacey way. The most ‘fun’ to be had in life, as an adult, is tackling adult problems. It’s the only real stuff of life. Anyway, looking forward to retirement because adult life now sucks balls, as teenagers say. Retirement may be some escape from the eternal high school.