After an almost balmy and mostly sunny January we are now back to the usual westcoast weather. Leaden skies, drizzly, dark days with the occasional glimpse of blue sky. But the days are getting longer.

I look forward to my regular get togethers with Camp, even though it’s doesn’t happen every week as it used to. We still regurgitate and distill the discouraging barrage of news and politics, rumours and philosophical musings with a couple of pints and are always glad for the few things that haven’t changed like our corner table on the glassed-in veranda by the shore and also our steadfast servers Vicky and Rosy, who have been our compass to reality more than once in this ever changing world. 

‘I hate to bring this up again and again but the issue isn’t going away Camp. TikTok and Co. are undermining traditional media at an ever-faster pace, especially amongst young people. For example, as I read in my Swiss newspaper, 46 percent of Swiss people now hardly read the news, more than double of the 21 percent in 2009.’

‘No surprise there. It’s a generational reality where the young don’t subscribe to the New York Times or the Guardian but get their updates on their silly phones. So, if we want to continue reading about research and analyses in the future, then maybe it’s time to ask ourselves this question. Is it really necessary to permanently take refuge in the illusory world of social media?’ 

‘Teenagers never did read the news but today they are flooded with opinions and instant messages by self-serving so-called influencers and manipulators. These short video clips and self-stylised portraits target young minds that have yet to learn critical thinking and have no reference than their own age and peer groups since teenagers do not trust their parents or educators.’

‘Yes, it’s an age-old dilemma but what can we do about it? I don’t mean you and me but we as in a society.’

‘We could unsubscribe and regulate the platforms but they tend to hide behind a free speech argument which is an excuse for hate mongering, bullying or outright attacks on opinions or even people.’

‘It’s hard to stick to reality when you have an American president and a paralysed congress that has completely gone down the rabbit hole of conspiracies, cuddling up to dictators and warmongers and instead attacking friends and allies. It’s almost as if an evil AI avatar is taking over the world we know.’

‘Could you be more gloomy Camp? I never used to be scared of the future but these days it’s the daily present that scares me more because no matter what we as a society and people do today, it will shape tomorrow’s reality. That’s not a conspiracy theory, it’s a truism that has endured through the ages as in: Only change endures.’

‘It’s shaping up to be an interesting four years and no matter how bad the economics get and how many people die, go hungry or go broke, the ‘others’ will be blamed.’

‘How many blind Americans does it take to see the light?’

‘Seventy-seven million as of the last count.’

‘Do you two ever just talk about the weather or sports?’ Vicky asked as she swapped out our empties.

‘Of course, we do. The weather is more reliable than politics these days and we both love hockey. We’re watching the game tonight.’

‘Go Canada go!’ all three of us shouted. 

It started with Chantel Kreviazuk changing the first verse of the Canadian Anthem from ‘true patriot love, in all of us command, to ‘in true patriot love that none but us command,’ in response to Trump’s mad ramblings about annexing Canada.

‘That will get the antisocial networks humming, I said.

It turned out to be an epic, even matched battle with Canada’s Connor McDavid scoring the winner in overtime.