Tasting Addiction – by Michael Morse

by Michael Morse, contributing writer

I think we are all getting a taste of the misery that is addiction. I know that social media is a distraction on its good days, a compulsion most of the time and an absolute obsession when things in the real world turn upside down.  

We all have an opinion, and we either cannot stop ourselves from expressing it, or if we are not good at articulating our thoughts we fritter away precious time scrolling away searching for validation. Even when our take on the day’s events are unpopular we can always find others who think like we do. 

We know that Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Google have far more power over the dissemination of information than is prudent, and a rational response to the invasion of privacy perpetrated by those entities would be to simply disengage, but we not only do not, we actually cannot.

We are addicted. And the ones who are not, are the ones who are not reading this because they figured out how to live without the burden of endless information, most of it contradictory and inflammatory.

I despise addiction, and have battled it many different ways and have managed to keep the monsters bent on killing me at bay. But this one, this addiction is proving to be the most persistent, invasive and dangerous one yet.

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Michael Morse spent 23 years as a firefighter/EMT with the Providence Fire Department before retiring in 2013 as Captain, Rescue Co. 5. He is an author of several books, most offering fellow firefighter/EMTs and the general population alike a poignant glimpse into one person’s journey through life, work and hope for the future. He is a Warwick resident.