No Coincidences

Tag: donald trump

  • Revenge and Forgiveness

    Revenge and Forgiveness

    Israel

    Palestine

    Israel and Palestine

    Israeli War

    Aggressors in War

    Revenge

    Forgiveness

    9/14/25

    As I prepared to write on this topic that I quite honestly don’t want to write about, I listed out those possible titles for this post. If that list is an indication of anything, it’s how scattered my thoughts on this topic will be.

    I actively avoid politics. I aggressively avoid current affairs.

    It’s not that I want to, I’d like to be aware of the important things happening around the world. It’s that I feel like I have to.

    Politics and current events are so filled with hatred, vitriol, unkindness, unfairness, poison, and frankly stupidity that I have chosen to actively avoid it. This becomes a problem when my wife wants to discuss these things, and would really like her husband to be able to discuss it with her, and then she has to watch me like an ostrich putting my head straight into a hole. I just want no part of it.

    Recent events have led to me looking into some things.

    I hear so much leftist this and right wing that – I am aggressively trying to keep myself from knowing what these distinctions mean. Call me naive. I think it’s all so stupid.

    What does this have to do with those topics listed above?

    Just saying Israel and Palestine, I believe, ignites passionate political beliefs.

    If you need proof, yes, even wars are split along party lines:

    I do not like passionate political beliefs. I hope this post has nothing to do with politics.

    I hope this post has something to do with history, what’s right, and prophesy.

    I’ve written about Israel and Palestine before HERE and ten months later HERE.

    The Book of Mormon was written so that we, the Gentiles of today, will understand what is coming in our future. The Book of Mormon is meant for our day and is meant to guide us.

    I’ve recently been reading Hugh Nibley’s thoughts on what the Book of Mormon teaches us about how a civilization and a people can go wrong and destroy themselves.

    I probably lost most people at “prophesy.” Prophesy is real. And while I put my head in the ground about political affairs and current events, I think the rest of the world puts its head in the ground when it comes to prophesy.

    Hugh Nibley emphasized, as I’ve been studying his words regarding Mormon chapters 1-9, how the ancient inhabitants of Mesoamerica ultimately destroyed themselves. He detailed how the chosen people of this land, those who were given this land and given God’s covenant that it would be their land as long as they followed Him – how those people lost their favor and were destroyed.

    The extinction of a people started with:

    Pride.

    No repentance.

    War.

    Revenge.

    War is justified when it comes in self-defense. The thing I want to focus on here is revenge. Hugh Nibley talks about how the Nephites of the Book of Mormon were destroyed when they officially became a bloodthirsty people bent on revenge. God withdrew from them when they decided they would avenge all their fallen brothers who had been killed.

    Which leads to me today, long having put my head in the ground since that post about Palestine and Israel four years ago.

    I accidentally read an article about the current state of the Israel – Palestine war.

    I decided to write this post when I read this:

    “Signs for this old-new vocabulary are everywhere. It is common among Jews, for example, to add the initials for “blessed his memory” next to the name of the dead – but in this war, almost every soldier or civilian victim is memorialized with the phrase “Hashem yikom damo” (God will avenge his blood).”

    God punishes the wicked with the wicked. You don’t want to become the people punishing the wicked in the name of God. Because at that point, you are the wicked. And at that point, your day will come too.

    I fear how long the United State of America has felt the need to be the aggressor in the war against wickedness around the world.

    There is a big difference between wars of self-defense, wars of aggression, and wars of revenge.

    Ceasing to remember the blessed memory of loved ones and instead seeking to avenge blood is not God’s way.

    The world has long said this is how God works. It is not how God works. It is how Satan works. And when people think they’re acting on behalf of God but really being led chain-linked by Satan, the worst atrocities happen.

    Prophesy is being fulfilled before our eyes and the world collectively puts its head in the ground.

    Which leads to my concluding point that Hugh Nibley mentions. Ultimately, we will all be judged for our own actions. What we do matters. All we can do is what we can do – kindness, forgiveness, love, peace, avoid contention, avoid fighting, avoid hatred, avoid judgment, meekness, humility, faith. These are the things we can do in a world that is lost and confused. A world that is deviating. A world that distances itself from God more and more every day.

    You do your part. You do what’s right.

    You love. That’s all.

    9/15/25 Update

    As I painfully, accidentally read more political information, I come back to add more because it seems relevant to what I’ve already written.

    Some recent quotes I’ve read from Donald Trump regarding Charlie Kirk’s assassination:

    “The radicals on the left are the problem. And they’re vicious and they’re horrible and they’re politically savvy.”

    “We have radical left lunatics out there, and we just have to beat the hell out of them.”

    And then I read articles and comments and it’s all attack attack attack hate hate hate while yelling at Trump for saying to attack attack attack. Does no one see the irony?

    The same article with the headline

    later, quietly, adds:

    “The president added in a separate answer that he would urge his supporters to follow a nonviolent path in response to the shooting. “He [Kirk] was an advocate of nonviolence,” Trump said. “That’s the way I’d like to see people respond.””

    Why does “beat the hell out of them” get the headline?

    Because it evokes emotion on both sides. It gets clicks.

    The same article that condemns Trump for violent speech chooses to promote the violent speech.

    Why?

    Because the violent inflammatory statement get the clicks.

    It is all hypocrisy.

    I’m not excusing Trump’s, “beat the hell out of them.” I am condemning it. But if we fail for this click-baiting and this hatred, this you against us mentality, we become part of the problem.

    Then I read Governor Cox of Utah’s statements:

    “We can return violence with violence; we can return hate with hate. That’s the problem with political violence. It metastasizes. We can always point the figure at the other side. At some point we have to find an off ramp, or else it’s going to get much worse.”

    I stand by the Governor Cox’s words.

    An eye for an eye quickly becomes lives for lives. Revenge hurts everyone.

    How do we find an off ramp?

    Again, from Governor Cox:

    “Social media is a cancer on our society right now,” Cox said. “And I would encourage people to log off, turn off, touch grass, hug a family member, go out and do good in your community.”

    Love. Forgive. Look past the thing you disagree with someone on and instead look at the beautiful, passionate, important person they are.

    We all have a divine heritage and one day we will be embarrassed about how we thought of the people around us.

    There is no other side. There are only people. We are all imperfect and the sooner we realize that and forgive and show love, the better we will all be. Only love can heal the divide in our world.

  • Republican

    Republican

    Ahead of the 2020 presidential election, I listened to an amazing, interesting, and intriguing podcast. This podcast hypothesized what would happen if Donald Trump lost the 2020 election and refused to give up the presidency. The podcast didn’t just hypothesize, they did a full-on war game.

    For those who don’t know, a war game is a military tactic to simulate an armed conflict between two sides. One general will make a decision – where troops go, where to attack, etc. and someone else plays the enemy, making counter moves. You attack here, I move my troops there.

    That is what this podcast did. It was described as “a political choose your own adventure.” So there were multiple teams: a Biden campaign team, a Trump campaign team, GOP elected officials team, Democratic elected officials team, a media team, and so on. The teams were presented with a scenerio and then they watched the teams respond. A literal political war game.

    What’s crazy is, I did some Google searching and couldn’t find the podcast. Why? Because no matter what I search, it comes up with a real result. For example –

    “Podcast about experiment if Trump didn’t give up 2020 presidency.”

    “Podcast about if Trump refused to give up the presidency in 2020.”

    These searches come up with REAL RESULTS. Does anyone realize how crazy that is?

    This podcast went through four scenarios. The one that they focused on was what would happen if the 2020 election results were ambiguous? In any close race there becomes some level of amiguous results.

    Do you know how some of those experiments ended? Protestors in the street. Everything short of civil war. The podcast noted that they had to cut some of their scenerios short because things got out of hand so quickly and the participants started to become unnerved at what they were learning.

    When I listened to that podcast originally, no joke, my first thought was, “oh this is how democracy in America collapses. Trump is going to refuse to accept election results and we’re going to have a civil war.”

    How close we came. I don’t think the average American knows how close we came to our democratic system falling apart. If not for a courageous decision by Mike Pence to defend democracy, that’s where we were headed. Mike Pence ended up getting death threats by members of his own party for that decision.

    Let me pause real quick. You probably think, after reading thus far, where my allegiances lie in politics, or even who I voted for in 2020. You’re wrong. That’s all I’m going to say. My own wife doesn’t even know who I voted for in 2020. Well, she “knows,” but I’ve never said it. She can guess. My point is, I’ve had to take a look at some things I value.

    When Putin invaded Ukraine and Donald Trump talked about how it was a smart move, that’s when I had to rethink some things, personally. It was a one-off statement. Except if you take into account January 6th and Donald Trump’s apparent feelings about power, it becomes a much bigger statement.

    Here’s the thing.

    What if the election was rigged? What if those sneaky Democrats, and the media, and blah blah blah conspiracy. Look, I’m right there with you on conspiracies. Ask my wife, I’m all about conspiracies. It annoys her. Maybe those dirty Democrats did rig the election to destroy our country. Whatever. I say whatever not to make light of our country being “destroyed.” I don’t mean to make light of politics and the seriousness of say, a legitimately rigged election, like what happens in Russia. I say whatever to lead into this –

    What if the election was rigged?

    Then every election was rigged. Why did the Democrats rig the 2020 presidential election but not the congressional one?

    Don’t send me all this evidence about voter fraud and blah blah blah. I’m sorry, stop it. Enough.

    If the election was rigged, then it just all falls apart. Then there is no democracy, there is no voting, there is no America. There is only insurrection. There is vying for power. There is civil war.

    That’s where we’re headed when we deny election results. Period.

    Maybe you believe your candidate got screwed out of the election. Maybe he really did.

    What happens if Trump wins 2024? Are results accepted then?

    What happens if he loses 2024? Does he accept those results? (Answer to that seems obvious).

    Are we, Republicans, going to support the path to civil war? Are you that big of a supporter of Donald Trump? What has he done to earn this devout loyalty of yours?

    Can we all just shake our heads and get out of this spell for a second? Donald Trump is not the Republican party. When did that happen? When did it become the party of Donald Trump? It’s so crazy to me to take a step back and look at sometimes. How did we get here?

    I’m a firm believer in Republican values, policies, ideologies. But are those ideologies worth ending democracy? Worth civil war?

    I don’t think so.

    Specifically in Arizona, we just finished a primary where the Republican nominee for governor claimed the election was rigged… even after she won.

    When I lose a game in pickup basketball, I don’t argue fraud. I don’t go back and reconsider the process of a pickup basketball game, and call fouls that previously happened. When I start a pickup basketball game, I agree to the unspoken rules of a pickup basketball game. I agree that we call our own fouls and if my team ends up with less points at the end of the game, then our team is off the court.

    A similar analogy applies to teenage boys playing video games. Teenage boys go into a video game prepared to cry that they were cheated or that the game wasn’t fair. “How did he no scope me!? I shot him ten times and he didn’t die!” I’m out of touch with teenagers, hip lingo, and video games, so “the kids” might be saying some other phrase nowadays. Teenage boys are consistent though, that they don’t lose, they get cheated.

    I know these aren’t perfect analogies. But I still believe it illustrates an important point.

    Our Republican candidates are already decrying fraud and a corrupt election even before it starts. They’re going into a pickup game saying the game is rigged. They’re prepared, when they lose, to call fouls after the fact. This isn’t how it works. When did the Republican party become teenage boys, crying about a rigged game before it even starts?

    This, in my opinion, is wholly unacceptable. You’re playing the game; you’ve agreed to the rules. Don’t run if you’re going to refuse to accept results that don’t favor you. Can you imagine that person in pickup basketball? Every time they lose, they refuse to get off the court and claim they actually won? That person would be immediately ostracized and removed from the game. Nobody would put up with that. Why do we put up with it in politics? It’s unacceptable. Lose with dignity. If the results come back and a candidate is unhappy with the result, say the words, “I lost, I concede.”

    That’s it. There is no other way.

    Well, maybe there is another way, in their minds: insurrection, force, civil war. I don’t want representatives representing me who claim fraud even if results favor them, akin to teenage boys.

    I know this will be very polarizing for some to ready. Surprisingly, it might have been polarizing to me a few months ago. By all means, I would love to have a candid discussion about this with anyone. Thoughts welcome. I would love to hear from those who support Donald Trump above all else. For example, I know the analogy of don’t play pickup basketball if you can’t play by the rules will have some say, “well then we just don’t run for office, or try? We just give over our values to the other party?” I know it’s not a perfect analogy. But what I’m saying is this:

    If you go down this rabbit hole of conspiracy, fraud, and rigged elections, then America as we know it is over. That’s it. Then it will be rioting in the streets, open warfare, civil war. If that’s what you believe needs to happen, if you’re that opposed to the other party’s ideologies and the risk of them winning an election, then ok, burn the whole thing to the ground. I disagree. But on that one, we’ll definitely have to agree to disagree.

    I HATE writing about politics. But I had to share my thoughts on this. Donald Trump still hasn’t accepted 2020’s election results. What happens when he denies 2024’s? Or, what happens when he wins 2024, but doesn’t want to be done in 2028 after serving 2 terms? If you can refuse to accept you lost an election, would it really be that shocking to refuse to only serve two terms?

    Then Donald Trump gets, potentially, his wish. He becomes Vladimir Putin.

    I don’t know about you, but that’s a scary thought, to me.

    P.S. It helped creatively to say I couldn’t Google search that podcast. Of course, I could go through my phone and find the played podcast. It’s a podcast called “Radiolab.” It is an episode titled “What if?” from October 22, 2020. Definitely go listen to it.

  • The Glory of the Sun

    The Glory of the Sun

    I recently finished a book that was so packed with wisdom I couldn’t come close to taking it all in.  Every page provided a new insight.  Every thought was provoking.  It is amazing to walk through the minds of men and women so in touch with the spirit or some form of knowledge I don’t yet have.  It’s my favorite part of reading.  From reading his words and thoughts I could feel his closeness to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and therefore come closer to them myself.

    The name of the book was The glory of the sun which refers to 1 Corinthians 15:41:

    “There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.”

    Doctrine and Covenants 76:70 reads:

    “These are they whose bodies are celestial, whose glory is that of the sun, even the glory of God, the highest of all, whose glory the sun of the firmament is written of as being typical.”

    Sterling W. Sill, author of this book, was a general authority in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  He was asked to share a series of gospel messages each week for a year over the radio.  The series was called “Sunday Evening from Temple Square.”  Those 52 addresses were put into this book.  It’s amazing to see that so many unique and powerful messages can come from one individual. 

    Sterling W. Sill

    Every message was so good, I could randomly turn to a page and share an important thought.  There was one in particular I found pertinent to our current moment in history.

    Elder Sill shared his messages at the height of the cold war so there is an emphasis of freedom and liberty throughout. 

    In one of his addresses titled “Five grains of Corn” Elder Sill reviewed the custom of Thanksgiving.  Elder Sill pointed out that Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday.  It is a day we give thanks to our ancestors who bravely came here and suffered through much hunger, affliction, and death.  He reminded me that during Thanksgiving we give “deep gratitude.. for the rich productivity of American soil.”

    I believe it is important for us to remember the blessed nation we are fortunate to live in.  The United States of America is a chosen land.  One thought Elder Sill presented was the idea that we live more lavishly and comfortably today than any king in history.  He pointed out that if we had to live as King Solomon, even in all the glory of his palace and kingdom, it would be a great hardship to us.

    What a thought!  The average person in America lives with more comfort than any historical king!  How blessed we are and how often we take for granted this great nation we live in.  It truly is a promised land. 

    What has always separated America from any other nation is our freedom – the freedom that gives us the ability to worship our God however we please. If you look at the short history of the United States it becomes quickly apparent what separates us.  It is the freedom we enjoy, particularly religious freedom.  It saddens me that as a nation we are turning from the God who has so blessed us.  It is part of the agency God has given us, the freedom this nation is founded on, that currently allows so many to turn from God.

    This paragraph from the book rings so familiar to our current landscape that I will quote it in whole.  Elder Sill says:

    “In the United States we have just gone through a great political election to decide who would represent us in the governing councils of our country for the next four years.  We have been sharply divided on issues and people.  We have settled the matter by an appeal to the ballot box.  No blood was shed, no life was in danger, no one had any thought of trying to liquidate his opponent.  No one even pounded with his shoe or threatened to throw it at anyone.  Now all Americans will settle down and give full support to the government that they, under God, have created.  Now we will all unite in building a greater America and help to carry out our divine mission to promote freedom, justice, and happiness in the world.”

    Election day is tomorrow.  It is my sincere prayer that we as a nation can unite and support whoever wins this election.  It is my prayer that there is no bloodshed, danger, threats, or pounding of feat.

    The final and important point Elder Sill gives in this message is about our faith in God that I have already mentioned.  Specifically, the devotion to His Son, Jesus Christ. 

    The Mayflower Compact, written by those coming to settle a new America reads, “We whose names are underwritten have undertaken for the glory of God to establish in Virginia the first colony for the advancement of the Christian faith.”

    The New England Federation Compact Agreement reads similarly, “We all have come into these parts of America with one and the same end, namely to advance the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

    I hope we can remember our Thanksgiving for this promised land.  I hope we can remember the freedoms and liberties we enjoy, and how great it is to be a part of the democratic process.  Finally, I hope we can remember who it is our ancestors came to America to serve, who’s kingdom they wished to establish. 

    “America was established as a kind of laboratory or experiment station to show what would happen to any people who cared and dared to follow Jesus Christ.” – Elder Sill.

    How blessed our ancestors were and how blessed we’ve been as we’ve looked to Jesus Christ.  I hope that can continue.

  • I Voted

    I Voted

    This is the fourth time I’ve voted for a President of the United States.  My enthusiasm for politics has ebbed and flowed every four years for each election. 

    This is the first time I’ve voted since I’ve been developing a politically focused mobile app and for that reason the first time I’ve voted while having serious thoughts about our political system, especially the flaws in it.

    As I voted, one flaw screamed in my face: the two party system.

    From what I’ve read, seen, and studied about George Washington there are two things I know about him.

    George Washington | Facts and Brief Biography
    1. He was one of the most extraordinary individuals to ever walk this planet.
    2. He HATED the two-party system.

    I believe some historians credit the development of a two-party system in his time as the reason he left the presidency after two terms.  That and his out of this world humility (see point 1 about his extraordinary nature).

    As I went down my ballot I was struck by the amount of research I’d have to do to be an educated voter.  I was discouraged at the thought that very few people are putting in that much effort.

    After all the protests, outrage, and anger over the past few months, are people voting?  Are they just voting for the President?  The President is important but he’s one piece to a huge puzzle. Albeit a bigger than average piece.  What do I know about my congressman?  My Attorney General?  My local officials?  Nothing.  I go to the internet, look up their page where they give themselves a portrayal of only smelling like flowers, decide I like their smile, and they get my vote.

    That’s the best-case scenario.

    What scared me the most was my own biases. 

    I won’t write here what my political affiliation is.  What I will say is, as I went down my ballot, the desire to simply choose the person from my party, with no research whatsoever, was terribly tempting.  It was going to be so much work to truly vet these people.  Who has the time?

    I desperately wanted to make voting easy.

    The way to make it easy was to blindly support a party.

    How many others fall into this category?  How many millions voted for all Democrats because that’s their party.  How many millions voted all Republican without any knowledge of the ethics or morals of those they were voting for?

    The two party system is a great danger to our democracy.  It has created so much hate and vitriol in the political system, which I’ve written about often. See The Social Dilemma and -ites: Politics for two examples.

    The slogan of our app is: “We believe good government starts with informed voters!”

    How many of us are informed?

    I don’t know how to fix America.  I don’t know how to fix our political system.  I wish I did.  I do know there’s a problem when we blindly vote for those, we *think we agree with.

    I’m as guilty of this flaw as the rest of America. 

    If anyone has suggestions or answers about ways to actually fix this, I’d love to hear it.  Not hypothetical “tear the system down!”  No, how can we actually start tomorrow to try to fix this?

    The app I’m working on will work to keep us more informed about our local leaders so we can hopefully keep them more accountable.  Does anyone even know who their local officials are?

    If you’re interested in the app please let me know.  Looking for feedback on it now. The web version can be viewed here: https://politikilocal.com/

    If you have thoughts on how to fix politics, please let us all know.  Something has to change. 

  • The Social Dilemma (Netflix)

    The Social Dilemma (Netflix)

    What is truth?

    How do we know?

    If you haven’t watched The Social Dilemma on Netflix, watch it as soon as possible.  Could end up being the most important documentary of our generation.  Given that we are the generation of documentaries, that would make it the most important documentary ever.

    Why is this documentary important?  Because it’s real and it’s happening now. 

    What will be the downfall of America?  Have we given Civil War enough consideration?

    Let’s do a quick thought experiment.  What happens if Donald Trump wins the election this November?  There will be 165 million mad people.  Mad enough, maybe, to protest, riot, and maybe fight.

    What happens if Joe Biden wins the election in November?  There will be 165 million mad people.  Mad enough, maybe, to protest, riot, and maybe fight.

    Of course, 165 million people is an exaggeration because not everybody is this passionate, or angry, or inflamed about the upcoming election.

    Let’s call the number 30 million on each side.  Sound much better?

    Why is this happening?  Why are people always so angry?

    There is an increasing gap between what we would deem the “center.”  Center of anything.  Not overly passionate about one side or the other.  I’m not just talking about politics.  I’m talking about anything.  The middle is gone.  The “hear the other side,” “hear them out,” “hear their opinions,” are disappearing.  We’re turning into a world of people who think we know everything while not knowing anything.

    So much from The Social Dilemma gave me an intense feeling of anxiety.  One statistic mentioned was that a study showed lies are spread on the internet/social media 6 times more quickly than truths.  What happens if a lie always has a 6x head start on the truth?  What happens is what we’re seeing happen.  Contention.  Hatred.  Vitriol.  Anger.  Confusion.  Aggression.  Fighting.

    This brings me to the most important point.

    What is truth?

    Can we even know what truth is?

    Truth is a concept society is starting to wonder exists.  How do we find something our society is starting to believe is a myth?

    This is where I turn off all my non-religious friends, but I would ask my non-religious friends:  What is your truth?  What do you turn to when everything around you is chaos, and confusion, and darkness?

    I don’t say this to spread the divide more.  I say this to invite others to find truth and make that truth love-based at all costs. 

    I love God because He loved me first.

    What is truth?

    God is truth. 

    He’s my truth.  Maybe He isn’t yours.  But you must find a truth to hold to dearly.  This truth must be centered on love.  We’ve seen what hate-filled “truth” results in.

    How do we survive in an age of disinformation?

    What do we do to protect ourselves?

    I think first we follow all the suggestions given during the credits of The Social Dilemma documentary.  I will list those here and then add my own suggestions.

    1. Uninstall apps from your phone that waste your time.
      • Hint: most of them.
    2. Turn off notifications.  Especially for anything that vibrates your leg that doesn’t provide an immediate and important alert you need to see at that moment.
    3. Use a search engines besides Google.
    4. Never watch a video recommended to you anywhere:  Facebook, Youtube, etc.  If it’s not something you went there to search for and to watch, just don’t watch it.
      • Wayyyyy easier said than done (but let’s all try!)
    5. Use a Chrome extension to remove recommendations.  Below are some options.
    6. Before you share anything online, fact check, consider the source, do the extra research (make sure it is GOOD).
      • If it looks like it’s designed to push your emotional buttons, it probably is.  Don’t share it.
    7. You vote with your clicks.  If you click on clickbate you’re perpetuating the problem.  Reward GOOD material.
    8. Get different kinds of information.
      • If you are on Twitter, add people who have different opinions from you.
      • Talk to people in the real world about real issues.
      • When you find enough people in the real world to talk to, delete your Twitter.
    9. Delete the social media accounts you really don’t need, that you don’t feel are healthy, that are taking you away from life.  Delete it and embrace the freedom!
    10. Get out of the system.
    11. The World is beautiful.  Live.

    For Families:

    1. Don’t give devices to your children.  Don’t allow them on social media.  Just don’t.
    2. Minimal screen time.
      • Set a limit and stick to it.  It was suggested to ask your child what they think is a good amount of time to spend looking at a screen each day.  Your child will often give a reasonable response.
      • Create that limit and then give rewards for going under it.  Set a 7 hour per week limit for screen time and your child spent 6 hours?  1-hour reward is a bowling trip or mini golf outing.  I used to love incentives like these as a kid.  I hope kids still do.
    3. No devices in the bedroom a set amount of time before bedtime. This will also help with sleep because you’re removing blue light which signals to your brain that it’s time to wind down.
      • Here’s a suggestion – read a book instead of your phone!
    4. Treat Social Media how Latter-day Saints treat dating – not before 16.

    Here are my suggestions.  If you can- delete it all.  Just do it.  I can almost promise you’ll feel better within a couple weeks, after the withdrawals stop.

    Me personally, I have a Facebook.  I use it so I can share my blog.  It’s good to have.  I see the use.  I’m working on limiting my scrolling down my timeline to zero and especially not watching suggested videos in my feed.  Suggested videos inevitably lead me to watching video after video of garbage material.

    Another thing that has helped me a ton has been moving the Facebook app from my main page.  I have it on page two.  That way I’m not constantly slapped in the face by that addictive, dopamine-igniting red alert symbol.  I have my Gospel Library on my home screen and if I find myself instinctively (or robotically) looking at my phone I do my best to open the scriptures and read those instead. 

    I understand all these things are easier said than done.  It’s not easy to delete social media.  It’s not easy, I get it.  I’m right there with you.  Technology is so good.  It can be used for so much good.  Why don’t we start using it for good again? 

    That brings me to my last point.

    My final and most important point.  What can we do to make a difference:  Share GOOD stuff. 

    Emphasis on GOOD MATERIAL.

    By good material I don’t mean you like it, or it tickled your fancy.  I mean it is GOOD.  It is wholesome.  It is kind.  It doesn’t make you explosively emotional but makes you feel gentle in your emotions. I mean good as in the good guided by the spirit.  I mean good as in loving.  I mean good as in spreading positivity. 

    I’m guilty like everyone else.  I see a post from the Church, and I scroll right through.  The AI (artificial intelligence) involved sees that (how scary is that?!).  They know I scrolled quickly past something GOOD.  We each need to make a conscious effort to spend time on the good stuff.  Read the good stuff.  Watch the good stuff.  If you don’t have good stuff on your Facebook timeline, use AI for good!  Go to google and search for Jesus Christ, the scriptures, conference talks, missionary messages.  You know how when you search for that cute new jacket for winter and there are suddenly cute winter jackets on your timeline?  Works the same way for good stuff.  Search for good stuff.  You’ll see more good stuff.  Spend more time with the good stuff. 

    This is how we can combat and fight the echo chamber of hatred.  This is how we remove political polarization.  This is how we remove lies.

    In the steps above I mentioned fact-checking what you share.  How about this? Spiritually check what you share.  Stop.  Say a prayer.  Ask yourself if what you’re sharing is spreading goodness, positivity, or love. If not, it can be deleted.

    I often pray before I write, and I often pray before I share what I write.  I always hope what I write is guided by something bigger and better than me. 

    Spiritually check everything you do online.  Is this making me a better person?  No.  Get it out of here.  Could this make someone’s day, bring a smile, alter someone for the better – SHARE IT. 

    This is what we can do.  This is how we can make a difference.

    I don’t ever say like and share on my blog posts because it’s become such a stupid thing to say.  But we need to say it for the things that deserve it.  Maybe we should change it to “LIKE AND SHARE GOODNESS.”

    So, if you think this was worth reading, did something positive for you, or helped you in any way, please share it.

    We can all do our part by sharing goodness.

    You can join the discussion and learn more about the Social Dilemma documentary at TheSocialDilemma.com

    I think this is important and I think it should be something we all start thinking about.  Let’s start thinking about it.  Let’s start doing our part.