I Just Can’t

 

Apparently, Americans are speaking less.  According to two researchers we are talking approximately 28% less than we did fifteen years ago.  We are using less words . . . 330 fewer words are spoken per day, roughly 120,000 less words spoken per year.  The researchers state, “It’s a substantial loss.”  This lack of speaking is a concern especially because the trend seems to be continuing annually. 

It seems that this lack of intercourse between folks is a determent to psychological and social well-being.  Talking contributes to our well-being and sense of belonging.  It eases anxiety.  Helps us to trust others.  Bottom that speaking or talking is a benefit and that this dwindling of intercourse is destroying society.  Logically the means of bucking this trend is to talk more to one another.  So, I am assuming we should all talk more.

 

I can’t . . . I just can’t.  There is no way I can talk more.  I just can’t.

 

It is not difficult to see how this decline in conversation has evolved over the years.  Technology has played a major role.  Smart phones with all their innovative means of connecting people have seen major movement towards texting and messaging apps especially among the young.  Texting seems the way to go for a lot of people.  There’s no real interaction.  I see this with my children.  They would rather text or message than have a real conversation.

 

Also, smart phones are a major distraction.  The average American spends four to five hours a day looking at their phone.  This is about 70 full days per year.  I’m fairly certain that little of that time is spend talking to other people.  Here is how it breaks down:

•      Gen Z averages 6.5 hours a day. 
•      Millennials roughly 4.5 hours a day.
•      Baby Boomers average 3 to 4 hours a day.
•     Teens, at least 20%, average 5 to 8 hours a day.

All are well over the recommended screen time of under two hours per day.  Research shows that people check their phones 58 times a day.  It is hard to converse when one’s nose and attention is focused on a cell phone screen.

Thanks to the Covid pandemic, there is the issue of social isolation.  Americans increasingly spend more time alone and are not as socially engaged.  This follows the trend of more people working remotely.  If you aren’t around people, you are not going to say much.  Technology has contributed by doing lots of tasks once done in person now done online.  Paying bills can be set up online. Retailers struggle as more shopping is done online.  Everything can be done online—who needs people?  That, which has made life more efficient has resulted in less verbal action.  Shoot!  With artificial intelligence (AI) there is no need for people at all. Your best friend can be AI.

 

This all adds up to less human-to-human interaction.  An average person has gone from 16,600 words per day to a measly 12,000 words per day.

 

Honestly, I do not see a problem.  Of course, I am an introvert.  I can do with fewer people and less verbal interaction.  I appreciate the peace and quiet.  Besides, people talk too much.  It was pointed out to me long ago that we should listen twice as much as we speak.  That is why God created humans with two ears and one mouth.  Where the researchers see a problem, I see a blessing.  For that reason, it is frustrating to be urged to take up the mantle and talk more.  I can’t do it.  It’s not in me.  I’m not built for it.

 

Now don’t get me wrong . . . I talk.  When I worked full-time, I spoke as necessitated and required by my employer.  I did my part though I doubt it was anywhere close to 12,000 to 16,600 words a day.  Same as the duties I performed for over 40 years as a pastor.  I spoke when the need came up or it was a part of the duties of ministry.  I can tell you that these verbal bouts wore me out by the end of the day.  By the time I got home in the evening I wanted peace and quiet. Which was okay.  In our marriage the wife is the verbal one.  She is an extrovert and never missed a conversation.  I estimate that she speaks 75% of the time we are together.  I just shake my head a lot.  Because I have two ears, I listen.  It works for us.

 

Socially I talk I greet people with “hello”, but never with “how you doing?”  “How you doing” opens a flood gate for an all-out dissertation.  I don’t have time for that.  I will speak when others speak to me.  That’s respect.  Because of that I tend not to be social.  I have been known to get “talkative” after a couple of beers.  Alcohol lowers inhibitions and makes people chatty.  I’m not inclined to be chatty, and I always regret it the next day when I am.  For the most part to be talkative you need people.  I prefer my own company.  At least I know how the conversation is going to go.  My sister gave me a sweatshirt years ago that said, “Ewww . . . people!”  It is one of my favorite sweatshirts, but it rarely gets worn outside of the house.  People don’t always appreciate humor or sarcasm.  I know, truth hurts.

 

When researchers discover and complain that people don’t talk enough . . . that people are talking to each other less . . . I don’t see the problem.  As far as I am concerned, it is a nice problem to have.  It is quieter.  An introvert’s dream.  When those researchers suggest that people need to talk more . . . well, I get anxious.  Talk more?  That’s a big request.  I’d love to help, but I can’t.  That’s a big ask.  It would mean I would have to get out of my comfort zone.  I would have to actually be around people . . . that I would have to converse . . . to speak.  An introvert’s worse nightmare.  I will let others do the talking.  I am certain that there are plenty of folks out there who can pick up the mantle and speak up a storm.  It is an election year with plenty of talking to go around.  I am sure that these people can do it and make America great once again as “talkers”.  It just won’t be me . . . I just can’t.

 

(Blog based on article by Markham Heid, What We’re Losing by Talking Less, Time magazine, May 25, 2026.)

Resolutions

It was years ago that I made the only resolution that I have ever kept.  I do not know where the brilliance of that moment came from . . . whether it was some divine epiphany . . . or the alcohol, but years ago I made the last resolution that I ever kept.  It was quite simple: I resolve to never make another resolution.  That was it!  And, guess what . . . I have never broken that resolution since that fateful New Year’s evening many years ago.  Unlike 92 percent of the people who make resolutions, I have not failed at keeping this resolution year after year.

Actually, I never was big on resolutions.  I never made them, but I got tired of people asking me what my New Year’s resolutions were. I got tired of being hounded . . . teased . . . and being looked upon as something less than normal.  Then one night . . . it happened . . . I raised my glass and said in a loud voice, “I resolve to never make another resolution!”  And, so, I don’t; but I do not stop others from making resolutions.  Shoot!  More power to them . . . and, lots of luck.  The resolution business is tough to win.  The odds are against them from the moment that they are uttered.

Though I do not believe in making resolutions, resolutions fascinate me . . . especially around the first of January of each year.  Resolutions are fascinating.  Over the past 25 years or so the top resolution has usually dealt with better health . . . losing weight, quit smoking, cut down drinking, eat healthier, exercise more, and so on down the line towards a healthier lifestyle.  During that time period the number one resolution each year was to lose weight.  Makes sense as research states that nearly 70 percent of Americans are overweight.  If I made resolutions I am pretty sure that losing weight would be near the top of the list if not at the top of the list . . . but, I don’t make resolutions and I wear baggy clothes.

A healthier life . . . especially losing weight has been the trend for being number one for over a quarter of a century . . . until this year!  This year losing weight got bumped off the pedestal . . . in fact, it dropped to number three on the list of top resolutions.  Curious as to what replaced it?  You love this . . . I thought it was genius . . . the number one resolution for this New Year is “living life to its fullest.”

Researchers found this toppling of the “losing weight” as ironic.  It was ironic because 70 percent of Americans are overweight or obese—the highest that it has ever been.  We are a pudgy society . . . a pudgy nation.  Researchers have discovered that less than half of Americans want to diet.  Who can blame them . . . dieting is hard, hard, hard work.  It takes self-control, discipline, and staunch will-power . . . which I know I do not have when it comes to dieting, and I imagine most other people are in the same boat as I am.  No one likes dieting.  These scientific types think that there are two reasons for this shift at the top of the resolution chain: (1) society has pushed for “body positivity” mindset . . . like what you look like; and, (2) because everyone is overweight or obese, people have changed their perceptions of what “normal weight” is . . . pudgy is now acceptable! 

Whatever the reason for this shift at the top of the resolution chain really doesn’t matter . . . “losing weight” is last year’s trend . . . this year’s trend is “living life to its fullest.”  I think that this resolution is nearly as perfect as my original resolution years ago . . . what the hell does it mean “to live life to its fullest”?  I think the human race, or at least the American branch of it, has finally discovered the resolution loophole.  “To live life to its fullest” is the most ambiguous goal I have ever heard . . . just about anything can fall under this resolution.  Anything!

I am reminded of the writer of the Old Testament book, Ecclesiastes, who at one point declares that the purpose of life is to enjoy it to its fullest.  His motto, simplified here, was to “eat, drink, and be merry!”  For him, at least at that point in his life, life was one great big party in which just about anything goes as long as one was pleasing him or herself.  When I hear this “live life to its fullest”, I hear the battle cry to “eat, drink, and be merry!”  Defining what makes life its fullest can vary as much as the population of the planet . . . every person has his or her own definition and idea as to what makes life its fullest. 

For example, I would think that all the resolutions that fall under the number one resolution—“living life to its fullest”, would probably be the blueprint for a fuller and richer life.  You know, things like losing weight, eating healthier, stopping smoking, drinking less, watching one’s finances . . . the typical things that usually show up on a list of resolutions for the new year.  But, those things are hard . . . why do you think the failure rate for New Year’s resolutions hovers around 92 percent?  Because they are hard, and no one like failing. 

Enter the new, full-proof resolution: “to live life to its fullest.”  With this resolution, anything goes . . . anything goes as long as it is satisfying and makes you happy.  Eat that second helping of Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia ice cream . . . as long as it makes you happy, you are succeeding in meeting your resolution.  Trust me, I know.  A couple of weeks ago I finished off a pint of Cherry Garcia (six billion calories a helping—six helpings a pint).  After unbuttoning the top button of my pants, I looked to heaven and whispered, “This is the life!”  At that moment I was living life to its fullest . . . my stomach seconded that motion; and, my heart objected.  It did not matter, I was living life to its fullest.

See . . . the resolution is pure genius.  I wish I had thought of it way back when I made my original resolution . . . but, who would have ever thought that there were two perfect resolutions? 

Having made my resolution and sticking to it, I rattle the old beads for those who have started the year with the dauntless task of living up to drunken resolutions . . . or resolutions made in a time of self-pity . . . or even whimsical fancy . . . GOOD LUCK!  The odds are against you . . . overwhelming against you.  It is not the matter of effort, it is a matter of wording if one is to succeed.  Think about it . . .

Grasp the trend.  Adopt the key to success.  Go ahead . . . say it: “I resolve to live life to its fullest!”  Then go for it.  If that seem like too much, do what I did . . . resolve: “I resolve to never make another resolution!”  Either way you cannot lose.

In the meantime . . . HAPPY NEW YEAR . . . and, GOOD LUCK!  Join the eight percent!

Beer: Moving On Up

I like beer . . . the wife likes wine.  The wife and other wine lovers regard beer and beer drinkers as something less than refined when compared to wine drinkers . . . that they are second class citizens.  Often the reasoning for this is because wine is good for one’s health when imbibed in moderation . . . it is good for one’s heart and health.  Beer, on the other hand, isn’t.  At least that is the line beer drinkers have listened to for many, many years.  I think that is the propaganda of the vineyard lobby . . . a sort of stomping out the competition.  Yet, the bottom line is that for a long time beer was the second fiddle to wine’s more illustrious place in the world of drinking.

Not anymore!

Beer is moving up!

According to an article on the “never can miss or be wrong” Internet . . . put out there by the reliable MSN website . . . beer—in moderate consumption—can be healthy for those who drink it.  Based on three medical research projects the writer of the article even suggests  that this information is grounds for switching up the nightly red-wine routine.  Yeah, I heard a few corks pop on that suggestion.  Yet, facts are facts . . . beer—when drank in moderation—can provide health benefits.

Beer can reduce the risk of neurodegenerative disease.  One of the greatest myths about drinking beer was that it killed off brain cells . . . well, it’s not true!  Now, if you drink too much beer, or any alcohol for that matter, it is a proven fact that you can become stupid . . . but that is not because your brain cells are dropping over dead . . . nah, they are just drunk.  But that is a post for another time.  Researchers at China’s Lanzhou University subjected rat brain cells to a host of stressors, mimicking the conditions thought to cause diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.  What they discovered is that there is a potent antioxidant—Xanthohumol—that is found in the hops that make beer.  This antioxidant is found to protect brain cells from damage.  The conclusion?  Drink a beer a day and there is a five percent reduction in the risk of neurodegenerative disease.  I’ll buy it . . . the Chinese have never lied to us when it came to beer drinking.

Research shared in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (has to do with the study of kidneys and their function) over an eight year period shows that beer is more effective than coffee, tea, or orange juice at preventing kidney stones.  In fact, it slashes the risk of kidney stones by 41 percent!  Now, get this, wine was a distant second only reducing risk by 31 to 33 percent.  The researchers credited the beer’s diuretic effect for this particular benefit.  Now a logical person knows that beer makes you want to pee.  Peeing apparently has something to do with getting rid of all those chemicals that congregate in the kidneys to form kidney stones.  Thus, the more you pee the better for you.  Beer makes you pee.  Everyone knows that you don’t buy beer . . . you rent it.

Lastly, Harvard researchers pooled self-reported drinking data from more than 100,000 female nurses and found that women who drank beer two to four times weekly lowered the risk of rheumatoid arthritis by 31 percent.  They determined that it was the beer’s ability to suppress inflammatory proteins.  Hey, this comes from Harvard so it has to be true . . . drink beer and avoid arthritis . . . drink enough beer and you don’t care.  Yet, at the same time, this research concerned me . . . 100,000 nurses!  Makes you wonder about the state of health care.

Apparently the writer believes these health findings and benefits warrants a move up for beer in the world of “folk” and real health life styles . . . but not to the point of knocking wine off of it pedestal.  No, the anonymous writer only suggests that these findings open up the door for switching up the nightly wine consumption.  Instead of drinking wine all of the time . . . drink a beer every now and then.  Shoot!  If one is good for you, two should be even better . . . right?  Drink them both!  That is what I say!

Of course, the wife and my other whiners . . . I mean, winers . . . don’t agree.  They still point out that wine is the better of the two . . . has a lot more research to back them up . . . and, besides, wine doesn’t create the infamous “beer belly”.  When was the last time you ever saw a “wine belly”?  They rest their case.  The benefits of beer for health research is catching up . . . beer is moving up.  Someday beer will climb up onto that pedestal alongside wine . . . in the meantime, both sides disagree.  I can live with that . . . let’s disagree to disagree and go on.  I can drink to that . . . but a bunch of Chinese and Harvard researchers can’t be wrong!  It was on the Internet!  It has to be true!

I Knew It!

I knew it!  I knew it!  I knew it!

What did I know?  I knew that people could not be stupid without a reason . . . that there had to be a reason for there being so many stupid people in the world . . . and, I was right.  According to American scientists they may have found a virus that attacks human DNA which renders those infected by it to be less intelligent, having impaired brain activity, learning and memory.  There is now an excuse for stupid people and it is the “stupid virus”!  I always knew that people just could not be stupid on their own.  Now there is evidence . . . and, an excuse.

Researchers from John Hopkins School of Medicine and the University of Nebraska have identified traces of algal virus—known as ATCV-1—in throat swabs drawn from healthy volunteers which seem to lessen their mental capacity.  Approximately 44 percent of the volunteers were infected with the virus.    According to the study, those infected with the virus performed worse on tests.  What the researchers discovered is that those infected by the virus had lower attention spans, decreased spatial awareness, and a “statistically significant decrease in the performance on cognitive assessments of visual processing and visual motor speed.”  In other words, the virus made the infected stupid. 

Not wanting to confine their findings on purely humans the researchers decided to test it out on mice.  The researchers injected the virus into the mouths of mice and put them through a series of lab tests.  The result showed that the mice became stupid . . . the infected mice took ten percent longer to find their way out of mazes and spent twenty percent less time exploring new objects . . . just like it did on the human subjects.  According to the study, the virus seemed to impair the “learning, memory formation, and immune response to viral exposure” in the mice.  It was nice to know that the researchers were able to replicate their findings in mice to prove that their original study proved that there is an excuse for stupidity.  Seems a little backassward to me . . . almost stupid . . . I wonder if they tested themselves for the virus?

I have been waiting for this for a long, long time . . . an excuse for stupidity.  That time when I stepped on the yard rake to see whether or not it would smack in the face—and, it did . . . it wasn’t stupidity, it was a virus making me stupid.  That time I wanted to see whether or not my tongue would stick to the flag pole on a sub-freezing day in the fifth grade . . . yep, a virus making me stupid.  That time I sat on the park bench with the “wet paint” sign because I thought it was a joke . . . yep, a virus.  That time when I was in Wyoming on vacation during college with a bunch of friends and they told me to ask the cowboy if it was true that in Wyoming “men are men and sheep are scared” . . . got me stuffed into a trash can . . . yep, virus. 

Man, I could have used this when I was a kid and my father would ask me, “Are you stupid?”  I could have replied, “Nope, it is a virus!”  When a principal wanted to know why I threw the snowball in the hallway between classes . . . “Are you stupid?”  Nope, just a virus.  It is just a virus that drops my IQ by ten percent . . . that makes it difficult to think . . . difficult to remember . . . difficult to compete with mice in a maze run.  It is not stupidity . . . it is an algal virus known as ATCV-1.  Researchers at John Hopkins School of Medicine and the University of Nebraska . . . two of the most prestigious research universities in the world . . . proved it.  Everyone knows that the “N” on the University of Nebraska football team’s helmets stands for “’nowledge”.  I’m not stupid . . . I’m viral challenged.

Knowing this now, I think the federal government should screen for stupidity . . . I mean, ATCV-1 . . . at birth.  To make it a requirement so that people know from the beginning as to why they are stupid.  I also think that if it is truly a virus that is making people stupid, then there also has to be a cure.  It seems to me that there is a shot for just about every virus out there, so why not one for ATCV-1?  We could hold annual telethons to rid the United States—shoot, the world—of stupidity.  We could hold it every April 1^st . . . raise millions to stomp out stupidity.  We could get someone like Jim Carrey to be the celebrity host . . . or any number of rappers out there . . . or maybe the latest and hottest politician.  We could rid the world of stupidity.

Wouldn’t it be great.  Then again, this whole thing sounds stupid to me.  Must be the virus talking.  Stupid is as stupid does . . . at least now I have an excuse.