ICYMI
I can sense the 'cycle' of news media as this rotating blob, tucked just inside a massive doorway, and the moment one tries to step away from it, a persistent wind continues pushing it closer and closer.It's unavoidable - even consciously trying to decide that I'm not ready to jump back in after a break, I can't go anywhere without incidentally grazing the 'rotating media blob'. I visualize it like Slimer from Ghostbusters, or the big ancient space portal in Stargate - in the case of Slimer, you're not going to outrun it - and in the case of Stargate, you've gotta step through, just because it's there.In the waiting room at the dentist's office, CNN blares the sound of gunshots in Paris. At home, my dormant iPad pushes alerts of Academy Award nominations; newspapers collect at the front door, and restaurants everywhere are painted with televisions that shower everyone passing by with what's 'happening.'
On the last day of my recent vacation an article was sent to me describing the ‘In Case You Missed It’ (ICYMI) phenomenon and how it has become a kind of permanent purgatory for modern information consumers (anyone in the world with a phone or laptop.) ("The Unending Anxiety of an ICYMI World," John Holcroft, NYT)Looking at the concept from the distance of having spent seven days alternating between a black sand beach and the cloudy rainforest, I could relate to the feeling of an itch that I had 'missed something,' but I felt no urgency or responsibility to catch up. It seemed that ICYMI only matters if you're already 'locked in.'Each time the media blob brushes against my sleeve as I try to pass by it, I know that once I fully submit to the cycle, I'll be pulled back in, and things will start to 'matter' again. Far away political events, trivial details of the intellectual arts, and incomprehensible fractions of data concerning the world economy will all congeal and form an awkward, incalculable load balanced across my knuckles as they hunch over their keyboard habitat.It felt wonderful for just a few days to leave that all behind, and to truly participate in the real world and people who are actually present - instead of expending mountains of energy trying to 'catch up' on everything I'm 'missing.'