Thinking deeper...

 October 21, 2026

For the most part, and when it comes to new technologies, I do my best which is really not too bad. Now, I know very well that there are those out there, reading this essay, who would have stopped at the end of that first sentence and laughed—if not downright choked on their coffee. If it was the latter and not the former, I can only say: Sorry, Kelley.

All I know comes from my lived experience, right? And most of the people I know who are my age or a bit older have nearly made themselves bald, scratching their heads over all the whatsits, snappy chats and tickety-tocks that are a part of life in the 2020s. My brother and his wife never had cell phones. They did have a desktop computer and managed to do just enough to get themselves in trouble, from time to time. But they somehow never equated giving up on technology with giving up on the times. On the one hand, I’m sorry about that, and the experiences that they missed. On the other, I can acknowledge that their lives were likely less complicated for that lack.

My point is that for my age I feel as if I’m not doing too badly. I write my manuscripts on an MS word document. I perform my edits and all interactions with my publisher, online. I even do all my banking online. I pay all my bills that way, use my debit card while out and about and rarely have cash on hand!

That last one isn’t new. Back in the day rarely having cash on hand was an integral part of my ambidextrous lifestyle [note: if living hand-to-mouth it’s best to be ambidextrous]. I put the “UGG!” in struggle. What’s new is that “little cash on hand” is not the horror it once was, nor does it point to encroaching poverty—necessarily.

But I digress.

I’m spending a fair bit of my time behind the keyboard. I don’t have a lot of apps on my iPhone. My fingers have lost some of their dexterity in recent years, and I never mastered only using my thumbs to send texts. I’m an index finger all the way kind of gal. So when it comes to social media, all those things I do, I do on my desktop. No, not even a laptop, though I have a small one.

It’s on my desktop each evening, as I am winding down and looking forward to my bed, that I visit that rabbit-hole known as YouTube. I rarely go there in the course of the day, except for those moments when I’m looking either for a how-to video, or my next thought.

For those of us living in North America, social media plays what I would call an over-sized role in our lifestyle. The term “influencer” has become a title for many. Money is made and fame is achieved by those of an entrepreneurial bent with the exercise of the new trade, “influencer”.

I have trouble fully understanding the concept of being an influencer. But the one thing that nearly has me scratching my head?

Reaction videos.

I’ve watched a few. And I kind of understand their appeal. It’s like when we watch our friend for their reaction when someone tells them something important/amazing/dreadful/ that we already know.

On the surface, that’s…logical. But then I considered the fact that folks who put out reaction videos are making money from people reacting to them, experiencing whatever facet of life they’re reacting to. Digging deeper—or in this case thinking deeper—I could define the reaction video in a single sentence: People watching other people live life, instead of living it themselves.

There’s a part of me that sees this as a huge red flag, but conditionally so.

For a certain segment of the population—folks who are dealing with mobility issues and are therefore unable to much physically, folks who are more-or-less housebound, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Time spent on YouTube, Instagram and Tik-Tok is time spent at least mentally and intellectually engaged. They’ll laugh or shake their heads, or maybe even be really into whatever they’re watching. That’s time well spent for them, because it helps them to counter loneliness. It’s not as good as one-on-one human contact and engagement, but it’s better than endless silence and doing nothing at all.

However, I am certain there are those who are not in that category, who spend way too much time living their lives vicariously through others via social media.

When the health of a society calls for the participation of that society’s citizenry, this addiction to vicarious living serves no one well.

I’m not sure I have much optimism when it comes to this social media path we’re on. I am conscious that there have been many such warnings throughout history at those inflection points when society grew, changed, or shed its previous skin while slowly revealing the next.

But I just don’t know for sure. Only time will tell.

 

Love,

Morgan

http://www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury