My Primitive Mind and My Addiction
It’s embarrassing to admit this, but I struggle with an addiction. My addiction doesn’t involve cigarettes or alcohol. Nor does it relate to social media or opioids. My problem is that, sometimes, I follow politics way too closely.
There is a balance, of course. It is good to be informed about the world. Growing up, I knew the important news stories, but mostly, when reading The Washington Post at the breakfast table, I focused on the sports section. I followed the Washington Redskins, Capitals, and Wizards, as well as the Atlanta Braves and Baltimore Orioles. Most of all, I was obsessed with the Maryland Terrapins basketball team coached by Gary Williams. Outside of school, I played sports, watched movies and hung out with friends. I went to the gym and worked at Blockbuster Video. On Wednesday evenings, I went to confirmation class. In short, I was a normal teenager who happened to have an interest in history, politics, and foreign affairs. Then 9/11 happened.
At the age of seventeen, I became obsessed with the news. I watched Don Rumsfeld’s press conferences and Congressional hearings on C-Span. I stopped reading novels and started reading magazines like The Weekly Standard, The New Republic, and National Review. I even watched British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s question hour each week. After graduating high school, instead of enjoying Beach Week at Ocean City, I worked on a gubernatorial campaign. In placing political identity at the center of my self-image, I fractured important relationships. I criticized friends for not taking news events as seriously as I did and, at holidays, I focused more on arguing politics than on learning about the lives of my relatives. The changing headlines and news alerts provided dopamine hits, but “polititainment” increased my anxiety, as I hyperventilated over events that seemed important but weren’t.
Politics became the focus of my first dates, which meant I didn’t have many second ones. In certain respects, I looked to politics to provide the meaning I should have been deriving from traditional tribes of family, friends, religion, romance, and sports. Moreover, fighting for political candidates with a faith-like devotion felt fun. Each election cycle, I went into battle, thinking that, if my team won, my entire life would be great. More than anything else, I was part of a tribe— I was on Team Republican.
As Tim Urban writes in What’s Our Problem: A Self Help Book for Societies, each of us has a “primitive mind,” which is programmed for when we lived in small tribes. It’s instinctual for us to protect the clan by privilege those who look, sound, and think like us; after all, 10,000 years ago, it didn’t end well for people who challenged the tribe.
When my primitive mind takes over, I place myself in intolerant echo chambers. My primitive mind loves confirmation bias, and it dismisses dissenting viewpoints without thinking. It likes all information which reinforce my existing beliefs. Most of all, when my addiction is problematic, I band with my political team. As Urban observes, it takes a lot of work to turn off the “primitive mind” and turn on the “higher mind.” The “higher mind” loves the pursuit of truth even if it means embracing ideas that conflict with our tribe’s sacred beliefs.
Unfortunately, the modern day media landscape (e.g. 24-hour-news-cycles and social media algorithms) rewards the “primitive mind.” As University of Florida president Ben Sasse writes, “Modern media has transformed Americans’ conception of community. We’ve become more siloed and more lonely. We know less about our neighbors and more about the viral nut jobs who reinforce our polarized political opinions. Social media, cable television and click-bait news amplify the angriest voices. Social algorithms run on rage. Good-faith arguments don’t go viral.”
Over the years, my addiction has not only made me unhealthy. It has, in its own small way, made our politics less healthy. I still struggle with this addiction. Right now, if I’m being honest, it’s a problem that I’m on Nikki Haley’s “team.” I hope she wins the Republican nomination, and I’m rooting for her. Recognizing my potential for relapse, I asked my brother to place time controls on my phone and computer. While I struggle with this addiction of following “polititainment” and wanting to be on “Team Haley,” I also know, deep down inside, how good it feels to open myself to a variety of perspectives and to seek out views that challenge my preexisting beliefs.
This is one reason (among many) why I love being married to Jackie. We have similar values but different views on matters of public policy. Three weeks ago, she had me watch When They See Us. It’s a story of how the justice system failed five young teenagers in New York City in 1989. I had heard of the Central Park Five (now known as the “Exonerated Five”) but didn’t know much about the details. I’ve written about why America is imperfect but should always be celebrated, and I still believe with all my heart and soul that American is the greatest country in the history of the world. But watching this powerful documentary on Netflix challenged my core beliefs on the basic goodness of America.
As we enter what will be another tense presidential election year, it’s important to remember that effective self government requires us to embrace the “higher mind.” This takes a lot of work. It is harder to seek out people, articles, conversations, and art that challenge our tribal instinct. But our Democracy demands this. If we, as Americans, refuse to interact with other Americans who hold different opinions, we will lose the capacity for goodwill and we will lose the ability to govern ourselves.