From the editor in chief of Christianity Today, Russell Moore, from his piece “How to Get Through the Next Four Years.” These excerpts from that piece were shared as part of our January 5 worship service, “Drinking from the Fire Hose, Or Too Much Internet.”

The last thing I [want] to talk about, after ten years of talking about him, [is] Donald Trump. Now the news cycle will be the Donald Trump Show all day, every day, for four more years.…

Wherever someone falls on the political spectrum, that’s where “doomscrolling” comes into play. We feel we are informed by having a steady stream of drama in front of us, our emotions driven up or down by the news cycle.

We’ve seen the end result of that. The constant flow of (real and fake) information spikes our adrenaline, activating our “lizard brains.” We throw our limbic systems into the sense of having to support or to oppose something—when, much of the time, there’s actually nothing we can do about it. And this works because many people like it.

What we call “politics” these days offers people a sense of meaning and purpose, an interruption to the dead everydayness of life. A jolt of adrenaline can feel almost like life—for a little while.…

The stakes are too high for us to see our country as a reality television show. You can’t opt out of the country, but you can opt out of the show. In some ways, you get there by subtraction. Don’t rely on social media for your news, for instance. Don’t fall into the trap of every-ten-minute hits of dopamine about how your side is losing something or winning something.…

The news cycle will be crazy for the next four years. You don’t have to be.

Bright blessings,
Sharon