How many people’s kids should I keep track of? Should I know all their names and ages? What if we’re related, does that change things? Nieces and nephews, how important are they? Are second cousins a real thing? Should I know what grade every one is in? Should I watch what my own kids did without me today or should I let them tell me about it?

How many friends’ weekends should I know about? Should I know what everyone did last summer? Should I follow all the updates and stay abreast of the current statuses? Should I reach out personally in case there’s something going on outside of what they’ve shared?

How many health and fitness gurus should I keep tabs on? Should I be taking notes or cataloging recipes? What about the new research they just mentioned, should I fact-check it? Should I make sure they’ve cited their sources, should I check Pubmed for a general consensus or opposing view from the scientific community?

How many celebrities should I follow? Musicians? Writers? Do they have a new project coming out or a Patreon I could be supporting? What about artists, how much time should I spend with each piece they share? Should I like it? What if its something painful and vulnerable, is Like really the best response?

What about comedians or satirists or political commentators? What if they have a great one-liner on todays headlines, should I read it? What if I don’t understand the context, should I find the news story they’re talking about?

How much news should I follow? Foreign affairs? Local? State? Domestic? What’s the government up to, especially those hundred new congressmen and women? Is it OK to just ignore anything about the President? Are there any bills I should be researching, Supreme Court cases I should have an opinion on?

Hows the global climate doing? Is there anything I can do about it? Is there anything I can learn about it? Were there any natural disasters? Should I be donating towards the relief efforts?

Maybe I should research the charities to make sure my donation is going to a good cause? Should I double back and research the news organization to make sure my information came from a good source? Should I triple back and make sure that the tech company’s platform that curated my newsfeed did so with minimal bias?

What about opinions that challenge my beliefs? Should I check in with the conservatives, with the christians, with the conspiracy theorists? Should I engage critically or just listen? Should I open a dialogue or shut my mouth?

What about my own thoughts, should I listen to them? Should I share them? Should I write them down and publish them immediately? Should I wait a day or will I wake up tomorrow in a completely new zeitgeist? Or will I wake up tomorrow and it’ll be exactly the same thing?