Connecting

(I first published this in May 2023.)

In the early days and weeks of the pandemic, I posted these daily essays on my personal Facebook page, where my modest network of friends and family quickly ballooned to the site limit of 5,000. My sense was that the actual size of the potential audience for my work was many times that number, but there was no practical way to break through the ceiling established by Mr. Zuckerberg and friends.

I was writing mainly about the dangers of isolation and loneliness that the social distancing necessitated by the pandemic would inevitably lead to — and the strategies we might use to counter those dangers.

That the essays resonated with others, most of whom were strangers, encouraged me to keep going. It was my way of trying to provide a social service to anyone who wanted to receive it.

But, of course, as any social worker, counselor, minister or teacher could have told me, doing what I did was providing a major benefit to me in return. I felt like I was connecting with people day after day, thereby helping to break down the growing isolation and loneliness I myself felt from the social restrictions we had to endure.

That loneliness was compounded by my recent retirement and a long, slow recovery from a stroke, among other heath problems. But those were hardly issues unique to me. Over and over again, thinking of the pandemic period to come, I found myself composing the phrase in my head, “isolation can kill as surely as the virus.”

Those words came back to me this week when the U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, warned that loneliness has reached emergency levels in this country, and that the only solution is for all of us to seek greater social connection.

The pandemic is behind us now, thankfully, but the other epidemic — isolation — remains. So let’s do something about it!

***

Today’s reading: The appeals court ruling that Trump does not have immunity (57 pages).

HEADLINES:

• In stunner, House GOP bid to impeach Mayorkas fails (The Hill)

• Takeaways from the scathing appeals court ruling denying immunity to Donald Trump (CNN)

• Donald Trump's immunity appeal failed, but delaying may be the goal (BBC)

• How using the 14th Amendment against Trump went from a ‘pipe-dream fantasy’ to the Supreme Court (CNN)

• Hundreds of mudslides devastate Los Angeles as California reels from deadly storm (Independent)

• Tech Layoffs Just Keep Coming as Sector Resets for AI (WSJ)

• Google to pay $350 million to settle shareholders' data privacy lawsuit (Reuters)

• Mother of Oxford, Michigan, school shooter found guilty of manslaughter (CNN)

• Senate GOP will block border deal, leaving Ukraine in limbo (The Hill)

• Joe Biden blames Donald Trump for sinking US deal to fund Ukraine war effort (Financial Times)

• Goofy 'God's Army' convoy on Texas border shows Trump's MAGA movement is just one long con (USA Today)

• Congress devolves into chaos over border and national security funding (NPR)

• McConnell staked his legacy on a border-Ukraine deal. He may be too out of step with the GOP to save it. (Business Insider)

• Republicans fear they will be targets in Trump’s ‘retribution’ campaign (WP)

• At least 32 of remaining hostages in Gaza are dead, report says (Guardian)

• Blinken seeks progress on Gaza cease-fire-for-hostages deal in meetings with Egyptian mediators (AP)

• Iran goes public with stark warning over suspected spy ship as U.S. refuses to rule out more strikes (NBC)

• CNN staff say network’s pro-Israel slant amounts to ‘journalistic malpractice’ (Guardian)

• Why white-collar jobs are more likely to see AI displacement (Yahoo)

• Meta Calls for Industry Effort to Label A.I.-Generated Content (NYT)

• A newly-streamlined process for fake IDs says it’s using AI. (Verge)

• The real wolf menacing the news business? AI. (WP)

• Amelia Earhart’s Long-Lost Plane Discovered On Auxiliary Runway At LaGuardia (The Onion)