Ponder Block

September 2025

Today, I am pondering why I don’t ponder as much anymore. Yes, something has transpired in my life that has slowed down my creative process. I seem to have a severe case of writer’s block. I’ve been at a loss for inspiration and I’m trying to figure out why. This is a fairly new and highly unusual circumstance.

In the past I would find myself writing almost constantly. Every topic seemed to interest me. I would see or hear something, and a switch would just flip and I had to ponder. The words would just flow out onto the page, and if I needed to, I would conduct a little research to broaden my knowledge of the topic I was pondering.  I often had to stop myself from investigating and writing, just to go and get some exercise. But things have changed. After giving it a bit of thought, I’m moderately certain I know where the problem lies. It’s the noise.

Today’s world is so noisy, with bad news and conjecture peddled upon us like medicine designed to keep us constantly agitated. It is like snake oil being offered to deceive us, or lead us fraudulently to think a certain way, or believe particular things. Even if it isn’t intentional, it is undoubtedly what’s happening. And all of this noise and confusion get in my way of being able to think about things for any length of time. Which is pretty much the definition of pondering. I am sure this is happening to all of us in one way, shape or form.

Personally, in the current environment of information exchange, I never really know what the facts are, what is fiction, or what is purely hogwash from someone’s imagination. I am referring to the news media, social media and electronic communication here.  The way modern humans share information.  Undeniably, communication for human beings is critical to our overall health and wellness.  We need to know things and share information.  Direct human to human interaction is critical.  And we are doing that less and less. We get our information from essentially unknown sources.  Of course that is the internet.  The primary news and information source for most people. It’s faceless, with no real accountability for what people say.  It makes me wonder if we aren’t headed for trouble.  Maybe we are already there?  

All media is suspect. Television can be a real noisemaker. But social media is the actual bad guy.  It can create controversies out of human behavior, and our frailty, that are beyond ridiculous.  We see things on TikTok or Reels that are outlandish or provocative.  Actions we once easily dismissed as being human but now they become a social storm, even a witch hunt. Amateur pundits use these instances as a forum to influence and gain followers.  Their condemning or condoning actions all too often give people a reason to comment and then a voice.  A voice too many of us listen to. It’s a stark reminder that today’s social media landscape has almost unfathomable power. The power to influence both thought and behavior. Without having to be in any way factual.

I spend a great deal of time now researching the validity of what I read or hear. And that is a new activity for me. Maybe something we are all doing, or should be doing anyway, before we draw any conclusions in today’s world. A world where so much of what we are fed as “news” is not really newsworthy.  Nor is it free from bias or editorialization. It is often fashioned to make us interested enough to go beyond the headlines and read it. Often so we can catch a glimpse of an advertisement from a sponsor.  So, the author is motivated to sensationalize. What we read is rarely fact based. It is occasionally pure fiction. But we read it, listen to it, see it and believe it anyway. And, oddly enough, much of what we are fed is highly political in character.

Politics as a vocation is nebulous and nefarious enough by its very nature.  Our modern world has forced politicians to adapt to be even more so, in order to be effective.  Or even get elected to office. Without proper moral standards, politicians can abuse the power of the various social mediums to influence beyond the definition of governing.  It has become highly self-aggrandizing. Making the political vocation a haven for those looking for power, not seeking to lead or govern for society’s betterment.

The next noisemaker for me is Artificial Intelligence.  AI is complex, with so many potential benefits yet an equal number of concerns.  At a very basic level it is scary.  Within social media it has shifted the way we need to think, making us wonder what to believe, or helping us believe what we want to. And let’s face it, if the algorithms AI is working with are flawed, what will be produced is also flawed. Garbage in, garbage out.  These algorithms are initially provided by humans, by the way.  I guess that would be “Natural Intelligence”. So having natural human flaws.

You may ask what I am referring to.  Let me give you a singular example.  Right now, AI generated information can superimpose your image anywhere.  It can be fun to play with but what if it is for something more serious, like putting you at a crime scene? At a strip club. Or show you attending a Klu Klux Klan rally.  Not so funny.  And this is happening.

It can also feed you a bunch of rubbish.  Fun to read, good for a laugh, but not factual.  And from this information many establish their belief structure.  Too naïve to look further into something, to check and see if it’s accurate.  People believe what they are told, especially if they are repeatedly fed the same information. 

So now jet contrails are for mind control, the moon landings were fake, 9/11 was an inside job, UFOs exist, aliens walk among us, and bigfoot just got a job at 7-Eleven. Sadly, we all help spread this stuff. Just by viewing it to be amused. If we look at something once it follows us around as a cookie algorithm in our phones or on our computer.  They even listen to what we say. 

Also, in our new world we all have a voice.  But most of us don’t remember or care that our voice is like our breath.  Remember the adage; your breath can be used with equal effectiveness to blow out a fire or hasten its spread. And we are spreading a lot of misinformation nowadays. Unintentionally maybe. But does that matter?  It’s still a part of the social pandemonium.

Yes, there is a lot of noise out there.  And yes, it is hard to filter it away. But the effort is certainly worth the prize.  I personally will go out of my way not to be a part of this chaos.  To work my way through the mire of dogma and find facts. Remembering advice I received as a young man, prior to social media; “Don’t believe anything you hear or half what you see”. Excellent guidance that was way ahead of its time. 

If I can screen out the bullshit maybe, and stop worrying about it, maybe my creativity and desire to ponder will return.  Because it used to be such a big part of my life. Hopefully I can then write what might someday be read as informative, thought-provoking or maybe even funny.  Hopefully factual or obvious fiction.  But write I will.  But first I need to find my desert island.  Or just some ear plugs.