There is no dunk
Reaction is a gift, leaving both the giver and receiver transformed
The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.
Carl Jung
Critique, feedback, reaction to one's work or the way they have presented it, regardless of intention, is a gift.
Mark Brand
Internet currency
It’s all about attention. Engagement. ‘Shifting the narrative,’ ‘moving the needle.’
A single action, a tweet or post, can incite millions of reactions across the globe. The nefarious ‘Share’ and ‘retweet’ has had untold ramifications on our collective psyche.
Our reaction is our currency in the digital realms we’re forced to navigate. Our attention has been captured and saturated, the only way to avoid it is fleeing to a cabin in the woods.
We’re left with choices. Agency to react, to engage, or to proceed with the understanding that your energy should not be applied to petty squabbles, to correcting misinformation, or simply standing up for your principles and beliefs.
We should act, never react. To boil it right down and simplify an ethos to approaching the internet: don’t react.
The action strategy to never react
Did you see a statement in a post that made you angry? Don’t react.
Post educational resources on your feed.
Did you see an answer to a question that’s wrong? Don’t react.
Post educational resources on your feed that answer the question.
Did you see a comment on a video that disparages the producer? Don’t react.
Post educational resources on your feed that boosts the producer and lifts their spirits.
Have you been confronted online? Don’t react.
You can walk away. They do not deserve nor demand your response. You will not change their mind.
Changing minds on the internet
“We found that when people are seeking new information about a topic, that social media can change people’s minds,” Dr. Michael Workman, associate professor of technology management at Texas A&M University School of Education & Human Development, said. “But if they have already made up their minds on something, say politics or religion, they mostly seek out information to confirm what they already believe.”
Less than a fifth of US adults admit to changing their opinions due to online discourse, with young men appearing to be most impressionable. Nonetheless, this implies that nearly 80% of Americans exit the online arena with the exact opinions they entered—no doubt reinforced, strengthened and deepened.
Preying on our lizard brains
If we’re not changing minds, what are we doing when we reply or engage? Enter, the dunk. noun. to publicly make fun of (someone or something) especially on social media.
If there’s one thing humans really like, it’s to be superior. Even more so, to do it in public with the support of our peers.
Our nomadic and territorial hunter ancestors could catch a rival tribesman off guard and attempt to dispatch them in a flurry of hand-to-hand combat. Trophies may be taken to demonstrate superiority and dominance.
Now, our statesmen and zeitgeisters catch rival tribesmen off guard and attempt to dispatch them in a flurry of post-to-post combat. Screenshots may be taken to demonstrate clout and ‘receipts.’
And this is what it is: combat. A spectacle. Blood sport without a drop shed. Only clout and engagement on the line—even reputation is an old-fashioned notion that’s been usurped by the fifteen-minute news cycle.
And we react.
I react, therefore I am
Perhaps our capacity for a measured reaction is the hallmark of humanity itself. To avoid reaction at all may be our transcendence.
Our distraction is reaction, an action in sheep’s clothing—giving the impression of what we need, but taking us out at the knees when reality strikes.
We’re being fed a torrent of actions, with our reaction expected.
Don’t react.
It’s time to act.
PS. Refined community
“Every addictive substance is something that we take from nature and we alter it, process it and refine it in a way that makes it more rewarding — and that is very clearly what happened with these hyper-palatable food substances,” said Gearhardt, who was not involved in the new study. “We treat these foods like they come from nature. Instead, they’re foods that come from big tobacco.”