I’M part way through a book given to me for a birthday marking a significant and only reasonably depressing number.
How Not To Become A Grumpy Old Bugger by former journalist Geoff Hutchison is a good-humoured look at how blokes can help themselves to avoid the pitfalls that turn them into “unhappy husbands”, “disengaged grandfathers” or “letter to the editor’ writers” (which is the only stereotype I disagree with. Keep them coming, fellas and ladies! editorial@gcnews.com.au).
For a while there I was of the opinion that I could stay true to my – admittedly self-labelled – unabashed optimism no matter the weariness of the years.
But then I looked up from my newspaper at the phone and the apple truly started to crumble.
Yet another story about millions of people using chatbots as partners – sexual and otherwise – and actually marrying these avatars.
Another half hour lost in daft social media reels.
Another email I didn’t have to see or read. I’m also doing a course about increasing online news engagement and a guest speaker showed us a video that generated 100 million views.
It was her in the backseat of a car testing if she could cook a burger faster than getting through the drive thru.
Look, I mean, maybe we could do that here, but I …I just can’t go there. But this is what gets lapped up online.
We are meant to believe that influencers and their quick-witted observations as they answer all the world’s questions and solve your problems in 30 second know-it-all morsels. But we all suspect (or know) it’s garbage.
As a bit of light relief I took myself to see new movie Bugonia.
I should have known better.
A conspiracy theorist whose brain had been cooked from online activity kidnaps a CEO believing she is an alien sent to earth to destroy all humans.
It was therefore a relief to get back to Hutchison’s book, where I landed on the chapter “Hearing and Listening” – a pretty good starting point to being a better person I thought.
The chapter asserts that you can’t be a good listener if you think you’re always right.
This rings true to me.
The obsession with black and white and right and wrong in a world with all colours and shades of the rainbow is not doing anybody any favours.
As journalists, listening is something we apply professionally every day – it’s always seemed the only way to get close to the truth of any matter.
But this skill is increasingly lost in the irritating shouty look-at-me metaspehere.
In fact, sitting on the fence is more or less seen as weak or ineffective. That seems a big mountain to climb, but imagine being comfortable enough not to have a fixed position and just listen. Suddenly the conversations change.
I don’t know if any of this will help me swim against the incoming tide of grumpiness, but I’m all ears for any other ideas!