The No Break Break

The stress level of the day had grown with each new tab Grayson opened on his browser window. The research spiral continued to grow wider instead of narrowing toward a refined consensus. Legal research seldom ends up in a neatly-tied package all wrapped up with a bow. But after a while the authorities begin to repeat themselves and the essential arguments that frame the possible outcomes tend to emerge. Today the common convergence escaped any meaningful structure as each jurisdiction and opinion seemed to fragment every cogent thought put forth in the previous decision. Grayson found himself swimming in an ocean of jurisprudential confusion and he wasn’t wearing a life jacket. He could feel his brain drowning in an intellectual soup in which Eris would take great pride.

Grayson’s one hope for relief was to catch up with his friends, something he had neglected as he spent extended hours at the office for the past several weeks. He took his chances and opened another tab and typed in Fac, the computer auto-filled the rest and his Facebook page tempted him with a gorgeous shot of his college roommate’s last-night’s dinner. Grayson smiled as he knew that he’d soon be able to return to a life where he could take the time to enjoy his food. But for now, eating served the basic need of sustenance and there wasn’t any time for the culinary arts and clever presentations offered at the high-end restaurants. But it had been a trick. The next seventeen posts hit him like the blaring national news: SHUTDOWN, fraud, immigration, Liars, sponsored ads and a warning to not accept a friend request.

Finally one friend changed a profile picture. Wait, the new picture just added an anti-Trump message to the old one. Twitter wasn’t any better. “Fox posted a deceptive photo.” An ad. #WatchPBS, #Criminals are amongst us. The Supreme Court let’s Donald get away with it. Even the Spanish language threads lack the images that inspire travel and discovery. Instead, it's the politics of the awful juxtapositioned with the politics of the horrible. There was nothing that justified a click. Even still with some relief and distraction needed, Grayson took the bait and hoped for an actually useful life hack. Grayson painfully perused all 35 and wondered when he’d ever to diffuse his too bright phone flashlight with a bottle of water.

Grayson rolled his eyes and shrugged, even though no one was around to see him. There was no escape. His lived in times that were more confused than the legal casserole that compelled him to seek some intellectual relief in the first place by consuming some social media candy. Instead, the sites dispensed a streaming flow of unregulated prescriptions that promised nothing but guaranteed that the other guy’s snake oil will kill you. With endorsements like that it was time to shut down social media and go back to work. One click on the x and the tab would close and Grayson’s brain moved on.