Surround Yourself With Good People…and Their Words.

While the internet can easily go south (think election time Facebook posts), there’s also–thankfully–some beautiful human beings writing thoughtful (and sometimes funny) contributions to compassion, civility, friendship, and just general well-being.

While I may not agree with everything they say, the good questions and points raised here are plentiful. Together, we imagine how the world might grow to become a better place.

What if you could just be yourself on Facebook and Instagram?

The Marshmallow Test for Grownups by Ed Batista at the Harvard Business Review:

Not only are we constantly interrupted by alerts, alarms, beeps, and buzzes that tell us some new information has arrived, we constantly interrupt ourselves to seek out new information. We pull out our phones while we’re in the middle of a conversation with someone. We check our email while we’re engaged in a complex task that requires our full concentration. We scan our feeds even though we just checked them a minute ago. There’s increasing evidence suggesting that these disruptions make it difficult to do our best work, diminish our productivity, and contribute to a feeling of overwhelm.

From What I Instagrammed Vs. What Was Really Happening OR My Entire Life Was a Lie by Olivia Muenter

Instagram, like all social media, is about presenting the ideal version of yourself. It’s notnot yourself per se. … It’s more like, all the best parts of you displayed to the world and ignoring all the worst parts. Because as attractive as I am while I watch Real Housewives of Orange County and eat random food I find in the pantry (BTW, is eating uncooked pasta bad for you?), I feel like I should spare the world of that Olivia.

What if technology isn’t all good?

How I Switched Sides In the Technology Wars by Andrew Leonard:

When I started out with Salon, I sometimes had to explain to the people I was interviewing what exactly this thing we called the Internet was before I could explain what exactly an “Internet magazine” was. Eighteen years later, that’s no longer necessary. The Internet is embedded in every facet of our existence. And a funny thing happened to me along the way. I made a slow, painful transition from cheerleader to critic. You might even say I switched sides in the tech culture wars.

We Need to Pass Legislation on Artificial Intelligence Early and Often by John Frank Weaver:

One of the big reasons those technological advances were so hard on working and middle class workers is that we never adequately addressed them with legal changes as we did following the Industrial Revolution. But we also had much less time.

What if I still believe in Home Cooked Meals (but not the pressure to make them) no matter what this study says?

Let’s Stop Idealizing the Home-Cooked Family Dinner by Amanda Marcotte:

The home-cooked meal has long been romanticized, from ’50s-era sitcoms to thework of star food writer Michael Pollan, who once wrote, “far from oppressing them, the work of cooking approached in the proper spirit offered a kind of fulfillment and deserved an intelligent woman’s attention.” In recent years, the home-cooked meal has increasingly been offered up as the solution to our country’s burgeoning nutrition-related health problems of heart disease and diabetes. But while home-cooked meals are typically healthier than restaurant food, sociologists Sarah Bowen, Sinikka Elliott, and Joslyn Brenton from North Carolina State University argue that the stress that cooking puts on people, particularly women, may not be worth the trade-off.

What if someone confesses, to their own surprise, that they see something good in the Duggars?

The Counter-Cultural Appeal of 19 Kids and Counting by David Harsanyi:

I can recall that the shows my children grew up watching almost always featured some bratty kid with an endless supply of snappy comebacks and the ability to outwit all the hapless adults in their lives. Most reality TV I’ve run across oscillates between depravity and stupidity. 19 Kids and Counting is basically the most earnest show I’ve ever watched. And while almost any mainstream show I grew up watching saw social conservatives through a political prism—irrational and hopeless—the Duggars’ charitable spirit allows people to see the manifestation of religious ideals in real-time. Or so this apostate imagines. In any event, it’s almost impossible to not be charmed.

What if we replaced our theologians with robots?

Why Artificial Intelligence Is the Future of Religion and automation by Michael Schulson:

The robot’s biggest role may be in helping to thaw the long silence among evangelicals, and among religious groups of all kinds, on issues related to personal technology. I first noticed this silence last summer, while trying to find some kind of religious reaction to the NSA scandal. What I found instead was that, on issues of internet privacy and the growing role of personal technology in everyday life, religious groups were remarkably silent.

What if so many parents let their kids play outside that it didn’t seem strange to see them at the park?

From Stop Criminalizing Parenting by Nick Gillespie and Anthony Fisher:

“People say, ‘Now that I can get arrested any time I let my child play outside or walk to school, I won’t do it. And that’s the opposite of what Free Range Kids is about,” saysLenore Skenazy, proprietor of the blog FreeRangeKids.com. She adds, “Free Range Kids is about getting so many kids outside, that it doesn’t seem strange to see a child playing in the park.”

What if we really got enough sleep? No, really this time.

From The Power of Sleep  by Alice Park:

When our heads hit the pillow every night, we tend to think we’re surrendering. Not just to exhaustion, though there is that. We’re also surrendering our mind, taking leave of our focus on sensory cues, like noise and smell and blinking lights. It’s as if we’re powering ourselves down like we do the electronics at our bedside–going idle for a while, only to spring back into action when the alarm blasts hours later.

What if Friends (the sitcom) would’ve listened to their early (and negative) audience reviews?

From Not Very Entertaining, Clever, or Original by Andrew Harrison:

In May 1994, four months before the first episode screened at 8.30pm (PST) on Thursday September 22, an internal NBC report described the Friends pilot as “not very entertaining, clever, or original.” Of its six characters only Monica generated much interest from the test audience but even this approval was “well below desirable levels for a lead.” The appeal of the other cast members was considered marginal or lower. Rachel the runaway bride was a scarcely believable spoiled brat; Ross the divorcé “generated little sympathy and no one cared much what happened to his character.” Though teenagers quite liked Phoebe the “airhead,” the characters of Chandler and Joey barely registered. And apparently the coffee-house setting was “confusing.”

What if no matter how many gadgets you have, you still prefer words on paper?

From Millenial Generation Likes Old Fashioned Technology: Books with NPR’s Lynn Neary:

As it turns out, the generation that has grown up in the age of technology has a fondness for a very old-fashioned habit – reading. According to a new Pew Research Center report, those under 30 were more likely to have read a book in the last year than those over the age of 30.

What if the things people say in their Facebook feeds gives you something inspiring to live up to?*

Please feel free to email or leave links of other great stories you’ve read in the comments.

*Used with permission.
Photo Source: Girls