Gio Lodi

In the span of a few hours, two posts¹ popped in my inbox both referring to The Current Thing show.

The Current Thing show is whatever everyone is talking, pontificating, screaming about on social media and on the news. At the time of writing, playing on the show we have Elon Musk buying Twitter. But you might be reading this in the future, where something new will be on.

In the same way that you don’t have to have an opinion on whether Elon acquiring Twitter is good or bad, just yet at least, you can also turn off The Current Thing show.

We do have a moral duty to be informed about global and local events, but The Current Thing show is hardly the best way to do so. Whatever informative signal each episode may contain gets lost in the political discourse and online battle noise that comes with it.

The Current Thing show is distracting, to say the least. You have to watch it through platforms engineered for engagement and retention. It will get under your skin. By following the show, you risk diverting energy and focus you could have used to build something useful, learn something new, be present with your family, or relax and recharge.

Besides, most episodes are ephemeral. Once a new one hires, the whole machine focuses on it, and the old one is history.

We only have a finite amount of time and energy. We owe it to ourselves and our loved ones to use them in the best possible way. Allocating large amounts of time and energy to events outside of our control and that will soon be forgotten doesn’t sound like a good investment of either.

The best way to experience The Current Thing show might be via the one-minute recaps, not the full episodes.

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1. I’m not linking to either because the whole point here is to take a step back from The Current Thing show, not watch its spinoffs and deep dives.

Cover image by freestocks on Unsplash.