Hype and hope

The world is loud these days.

Social media 
Fake news
Gaslighting
Identity politics

These are words that barely existed ten years ago.

What they all have in common is that they are the result of hype. And they cause hype.

Hype: “extravagant or intensive publicity or promotion.”

The hype levels in our world are increasing. Everyone’s got an opinion (whether grounded in fact or not).

The thing is, hype depends upon bad news and emotional reaction for its momentum.

More bad news and more emotional reaction equals more hype.

That’s the cycle we are stuck in.

Social and conventional media feeds us bad news.
We react emotionally.
Hype grows.

The problem for us is that hype has an inverse relationship to hope. 

More hype results in less hope.

And so, we have to manage our hype diet. How much hype do we allow into our system?

The more hype we let in, the less room there is for hope. We can’t live with hype and hope. 
They’re not friends. 
They don’t co-exist. 
They don’t play nicely.

We get to decide. Feed the hype. Or feed the hope. 

But we can only feed one.

Be careful which you feed.
Because what you feed grows.

I want my hope to grow.

So I’m done with the hype.