Static

A long time ago, in a world far, far away, where dinosaurs roamed the earth, there was a time of day when all your media would stop. Yes, you read that right. It would stop completely and shut down. For anywhere from one hour to six hours at a time, there would be nothing but static.

We didn’t have cell phones, the internet, or any of the technology that seems to complicate life rather than simplify it. We had television, and it was more than enough to change a generation and contribute to the decline of the family in society.

Radio was fine, and in many cases it brought families closer together. Families would gather to listen to their favorite music, and eventually there would be storytelling on the radio. It was a simpler time. You younger generations won’t ever get to experience such luxuries as using your imagination, as someone reads and enacts scenes you can only see in your mind.

Listening to music on the radio was similar because it required the same imagination to envision the singers, the instrumentation, and so on. Imagination is lacking these days, in epic proportion.

Hollywood is an excellent example of how we are losing our imaginations in society. There has not been an original concept in what feels like a decade or more. Movie makers and TV show creators have long been resorting to regurgitating themes and stories we have already seen.

Sometimes they make and remake the same movie over and over again. Maybe they think one version will someday improve on the rest. I don’t know, but it’s dull and a waste of time, in my opinion.

Then there is the incessant trend of remaking movies that were so classic, thinking they can improve them and give them a fresher look; but in actuality, they make a shadow of what the originals were. No wonder these up-and-coming generations watch YouTube and Twitch. Those channels at least have new and authentic content.

I mean, how many disasters like The Bachelor, Whatever City Housewives, or The Masked Stupidity can a generation watch? Whenever someone says they actually watch those shows, my brain immediately categorizes them as not very bright and easily influenced by celebrity culture: heck, just plain easily influenced.

They dive into it like it’s the most engaging thing on the planet. Maybe it is for them. I have higher aspirations. I find it terribly sad that we are entertained by someone else’s depravity or by the loneliness of single people. I find it deplorable that we enjoy watching selfish, materialistic wives catfight their way to fame.

I see no value in the television families who spend their entire lives in front of a camera to remain relevant in culture. They should turn off the cameras and pay attention to their miserable lives and their children. Their children are being raised by television and gossip, not by their parents.

Anyway, where was I? Back in the less techie generations, we had radio and TV. That’s it. You could listen to and watch them for a good part of the day, and then, every night, they would all turn off. Off. Radio silence, clear airwaves. Silence.

Save for the static you would hear, or, in the case of television, see and hear, there was nothing that constantly droned in the background. Every evening or in the wee hours of the morning, this glorious thing happened.

Now, understand this about then. People didn’t work every single day of the week. No matter who you were, beyond essential employees like medical staff, firefighters, and the like, we had at least Sunday off and another day off as well.

There was no 24-hour news, no internet to troll in the middle of the night, and no constant barrage of reruns on cable or to stream. We had lives. We lived them. We lived our own lives for ourselves, not through the vicariousness of others. People were happy, engaged with their families and neighborhoods.

We spent time talking and socializing. We had dinner together as a family. Everyone sat at the table together, and no one ate in their rooms or in front of a screen unless they were sick and couldn’t get out of bed because they needed rest.

This decline began with color television. All of a sudden, you had a color screen in your home, and the viewing began. But at least the channels would run out of programming and shut down for part of the day. Some were only on for a set amount of time, to air their shows and then go off. Simpler times. Nicer times.

Today we don’t have an off switch in our lives. None. We wake up with a cellphone in our hands. We sit at every meal with it in our hands, delving into the day’s trolling for whatever floats your boat, be it memes, news, absurd content, or the worst of the media, politics.

Porn was not an epidemic because you had to actually buy it in the form of a magazine and then hide it. Many men just didn’t risk their moms, girlfriends, or wives seeing it.

We didn’t carry our master with us. Phones were tethered at home, not in our back pockets. I have never kept my cell ringer on. Never. Everyone complains about it, but I think it is the height of rudeness and conceit to be fixated on your device in front of people. I refuse to be its slave. We should fixate on humans.

We didn’t need or have “social” media. We were social. I have said it before, and I will say it again: social media is anything but social.

It’s unfortunate labeling. It should have been called isolation media. That is what it does. It could have been called hate media. That is what it perpetuates. Social media should have been called retaliation media. After all, that is why it was created: by a little man who was jilted.

It is a cool thing, don’t get me wrong. But just because something is cool and novel does not make it good. Unfortunately, this monster that a small, bitter little man created has become an ever-unfolding propaganda of hate, loneliness, and the stunting of our minds. And here comes AI, the lazy factor.

Why do I say lazy? Because you are going to see the generations from here on out not want to do anything but ask AI for the answers to everything. No more research needed, no more work to search and find answers. That actually makes you not just remember things you had to work to determine, but it makes your imagination work and grow.

If you didn’t know or find something, you had to use that brain to figure out how to get your answers. You had to use it to make something you found people needed or could use, and then go about creating it.

This worked our brains. It made us smarter. It helped us remember concepts that we would not ask some machine to provide to us without a single drop of sweat.

What will you value if you don’t have to work for it? Nothing.

What will you remember if you don’t have to use your brain to discover it? Nothing.

What will you believe if you have not done the work to verify it? Everything it tells you.

This is the decline of civilization. It’s in your hands right now as you read me.

Teachers will become obsolete; artists and writers, physicians, and everything you can imagine will be placed at the whim of AI, and everyone will follow the leader as it orchestrates how and what society does.

This is why we need static. We need to have all of this garbage shut off for a few hours of the day. We need no channels, no cell service, no round-the-clock misery on the news to just shut up for a few hours, every single day.

Look up from your phone, sit a moment, and look around you. Just quietly look at everyone around you. These are shells of human beings, enslaved to tech and the dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine that it manipulates in us every moment of the day.

That manipulation is feeding a world into starvation. Starvation for human contact, human interaction, and human touch. It is creating a pharmaceutical windfall as more and more people are living depressed and lonely.

You can’t win. They win, the creators and manipulators. You lose. Take back your peace, your joy, your humanity. Put the phone down, close the laptop, and shut off the computer screen. I promise you the misery you seek each day will be there when you return to it. But I warn you. You may find you don’t need it as much as you think you do, and that you are far happier, more content, and more present if you do.

(Published on Substack, August 2026)

#technology #socialmedia #popculture #mentalhealth #culture