Day: January 30, 2023

Hurt feelings online

A few days ago, B posted a meme that lampooned religious violence. One of her old boyfriends (probably in his 80’s) complained about the meme…and his complaints were less than well received.

That made me think:

  1. Why was he so confident about expressing his opinion and
  2. Why did he think it would be well received.

So..what was going on? My guess: he is probably well respected in his church, and when he speaks there, the others listen and appreciate his insights. But Facebook is not his church.

And I think about that about myself. In class: I know more math than my students and they KNOW that. So in class, I get listened to. At a conference, my credentials are respected. Now some in the audience may know more math, and often, they are better at it. But they know that I know the topic I am talking about.

But..on something like Twitter? Well, if I am not talking academic/math stuff, well, there is no reason for anyone to, a priori, take me seriously. Who in the heck am *I*? And on math topics, I hope my knowledge shows though, but you have to know some math to make a judgement.

Online, few have any prior knowledge of us and..if we are talking about something that someone feels passionately about, well, I, as a stranger, am not going to move them, at all.

I don’t miss the gym, at all

Yes, I still belong to two, and I might use the indoor track or perhaps the pool at some point in my recovery from COVID and, well, to be honest, recovery from the back stuff too. 2 miles walking seems doable.

But as far as lifting at the gym: I last lifted in March 2020, right before we went online. I have yet to lift in a gym since. But I did add to my own home gym and I enjoy the pull ups, push ups, bench presses, etc.

But…at the time I left, I admit that I was enjoying the gym atmosphere less and less.

Gone are the days when people, who didn’t know each other, worked in. And there are things like this:

It seems that few ever thing about other people and that other people might be trying to work out as well.

But …where this video stuff was non-existent for most of my gym using life (1972-2020), perhaps part of the reason is age. I do like an occasional self challenge but most of what I do is to try to keep from further falling apart.

Hey, my bench…I got 176 this year, and I got 314 with the low handle trap bar deadlift in December 2021. I am over 100 lb weaker in the bench and about 100 lb weaker in the deadlift than I once was.

It is just …different. And I don’t miss it.