Thanks for reading and your comments, JW. Apologies if this piece lacked my usual brightness, that was not my goal. I wanted to contrast T. S. Eliot’s concerns about negative technological effects on society with some of today’s challenges. No doubt, technology has improved our lives in countless ways. But the rise of social media and addictive online amusements is not bringing out the best in us. It seems to encourage narcissism, dogma, shallowness, degraded concentration/critical thinking. I tried to offer ways to combat this at the end of the essay, but perhaps I could have infused some more optimism.