In one part of my life (ahem) I’m compelled to use Microsoft Windows products. (In my personal life I’ve used Macs since before 1990.) On a recent update they’ve added little, frequently changing icons in the lower left end of the task bar. It took me a few days to figure out how to stop it from sending distracting news and sports updates (I don’t need these, and they disrupt my concentration). They also send weather updates. I couldn’t figure out how to turn off the weather, so I let it stand. Perhaps it’s a sop thrown to workers who now spend more hours a day on the job because commuting is becoming less of a thing, a bit of relief from staying on task. Something to make you feel connected. Fine and good. But does it have to be so alarmist?
Some of us can’t ignore sudden changes on the screen (much of advertising relies on this). When the weather icon shifts, which it does periodically, it draws my eye. It uses the language that’s become typical to dramatize the weather. Temperatures will “plummet” on Saturday, for example. I looked at a more sober weather website. The high would be ten degrees lower than it was for that day. Hardly a “plummet.” Or it will tell me, in rather heightened tones, that four inches of snow are coming on Wednesday. The more sober site says possibly one inch. An hour or so later, the icon humbly admits maybe it’ll just be one inch. The question is, do we really need these constant updates? With theatrical exaggeration? I turned off news and sports, otherwise the work day would include an almost subliminal news feed that goes from boot-up to log-off.
I get through these difficult days by mostly ignoring the news. I don’t ignore the weather—it seems more real than what’s happening in Washington. Besides, I wrote a weather-oriented book once upon a time, and I haven’t lost the interest. We’re going through the time of year when spring and winter are duking it out. Every few days it snows or ices, and in-between I find wasps inside that think maybe it’s time we should just be getting on with this. Meanwhile, each day, all day, I’m sent weather updates meant to shock and awe me. Into what? Yet more panic? I’ve noted before that in some respects I have a monastic personality. I prefer calm, most of the time, without too much extraneous stimulation. I go for hours each day without even glancing at my phone. And for the weather, I prefer just to look out the window.
